Throughout the visions of Daniel, such monstrous animals represent foreign rulers and nations who threaten Israel. When Daniel, trembling with awe and terror, prays for his people, he is rewarded with divine assurance that all Israelites who remain true to God will survive (12:1–3). Thus the book of Daniel powerfully reaffirms the integrity of Israel’s moral and ethnic identity. It is for this reason, I suggest, that Daniel, unlike such other apocalyptic books as the Book of the Watchers and Jubilees, is included in the canonical collection that we call the Hebrew Bible and not relegated to
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