translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: DAN

label: NET study note

text: The identity of this Darius is a major problem in correlating the biblical material with the extra-biblical records of this period. Most modern scholars treat the reference as a mistaken allusion to Darius Hystaspes (ca. 522-486 B.C. ). Others have maintained instead that this name is a reference to the Persian governor Gubaru. Still others understand the reference to be to the Persian king Cyrus (cf. 6:28 , where the vav ( ו ) may be understood as vav explicativum , meaning “even”). Under either of these latter two interpretations, the first year of Darius would have been ca. 538 B.C . Daniel would have been approximately eighty-two years old at this time.


text: The tetragrammaton (the four Hebrew letters which constitute the divine Name, YHWH) appears eight times in this chapter, and nowhere else in the book of Daniel.


text: When lamenting, ancient Israelites would fast, wear sackcloth, and put ashes on their heads to show their sorrow and contrition.


text: The act of sealing in the OT is a sign of authentication. Cf. 1 Kgs 21:8 ; Jer 32:10, 11, 44 .


text: The expression have nothing is difficult. Presumably it refers to an absence of support or assistance for the anointed one at the time of his “cutting off.” The KJV rendering “but not for himself,” apparently suggesting a vicarious death, cannot be defended.


text: Flood here is a metaphor for sudden destruction.