How Did Prophets Predict the Future? Daniel Gives It Away.

Links Mentioned in this Episode:
- https://www.bartehrman.com/gospelcontradictions - Dr. James Barker's course, The Gospels Contradict Each Other. Now What?, will be recorded live over eight lectures, October 19th to 22nd, with early-bird discounts available until October 10th. You can find out more and sign up at this link.

*Episode Outline:*

0:00 Did the Book of Daniel actually predict the future?
2:14 Why modern Christians use biblical prophecy to predict the end of the world
3:27 How Christians historically interpreted prophecy before the modern end-times movement
7:12 Apocalyptic Judaism and why Jesus expected the end to come soon
9:23 How persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes helped produce the Book of Daniel
11:59 The two halves of Daniel: court stories and apocalyptic visions
14:12 Daniel 7: the four beasts, the little horn, and the “Son of Man”
17:34 How Daniel’s four kingdoms map onto Babylon, Media, Persia, and Greece
19:08 Why Daniel becomes more precise as the “predictions” approach the author’s own time
23:45 William Miller, Daniel, and the prediction that the world would end in 1843
26:15 The Great Disappointment of 1844 and what happened when the prediction failed
28:32 How apocalyptic writers create the appearance of fulfilled prophecy
30:41 Was Daniel considered Scripture in Jesus’ time?
33:05 How the Book of Daniel may have shaped Jesus’ apocalyptic worldview
34:33 What did Jesus mean by “the Son of Man”?
37:29 Bart’s Books: John Collins’ scholarly commentary on Daniel

*Episode Description*

For centuries, the Book of Daniel has fascinated readers with stories like the lion’s den and visions of terrifying beasts. But was it really predicting the future? In this episode of *Misquoting Jesus*, Dr. Bart Ehrman explores Daniel’s historical setting, literary purpose, and enormous influence.

Bart begins with his own evangelical upbringing, when biblical prophecy was often used both to prove Jesus was the Messiah and to calculate the end times. In the 1970s, he and others in his community expected the end to come by 1988.

He explains that modern end-times speculation is not as ancient as many assume. After Augustine, much of Christianity interpreted the “millennium” symbolically rather than as a literal future event. Widespread prophetic calculation became especially popular in the 19th century.

To understand Daniel, Bart turns to its historical context. Although the story is set in the 6th century BCE, mainstream scholarship dates the book to the 160s BCE, during the persecution of Jews under Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Daniel’s visions offered hope that God would soon overthrow their oppressor and restore justice.

The episode also explores Daniel’s influence on Jesus. His references to the “Son of Man” coming with heavenly authority closely echo Daniel 7. Like Daniel’s author, Jesus shared an apocalyptic worldview in which evil ruled temporarily but God’s intervention was near.

Finally, Bart examines failed attempts to use Daniel as a timetable for the future. William Miller famously used its numbers to predict the end in 1843 and later October 22, 1844, leading to the “Great Disappointment.”

Rather than functioning as a crystal ball for modern readers, Daniel is best understood as a message of hope written during a specific ancient crisis, one that profoundly shaped later Jewish and Christian apocalyptic thought.

*Three Key Takeaways from the Episode:*

1. *Context is King:* Daniel was written during a 2nd-century BCE crisis to encourage persecuted Jews. Its visions use past empires to support the expectation of God’s imminent defeat of Antiochus Epiphanes.

2. *The "Son of Man" and Jesus' Worldview:* Daniel strongly shaped Jewish apocalyptic thought. Jesus’ use of “Son of Man” connects closely with Daniel 7 and its vision of judgment and God’s coming kingdom.

3. *A History of Failed Predictions:* Attempts to use Daniel to calculate the end times misread its genre and purpose. Repeated failed predictions, from William Miller onward, show the risks of treating it as a timetable for the future.

*Also watch these episodes:*

Does the Book of Revelation Predict our Future?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hXfQCnTJgA

The Coming Apocalypse! Jewish and Christian Views of the End of the World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8gMplzvCM0

Why isn't Christianity a Doomsday Cult?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV_L_FfdMdw

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#BiblicalProphecy
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#Apocalypticism
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