Editing Book of Daniel (section)

=== Genre ===
[[File:Daniel dans la fosse aux lions.jpg|thumb|upright|Daniel in the lions' den saved by [[Habakkuk]] (France, 15th century)]]
The Book of Daniel is an [[apocalypse]], a [[literary genre]] in which a heavenly reality is revealed to a human recipient; such works are characterized by visions, symbolism, an other-worldly mediator, an emphasis on cosmic events, angels and demons, and [[pseudonymity]] (false authorship).{{sfn|Crawford|2000|p= 73}} The production of apocalypses occurred commonly from 300 BC to 100 AD, not only among Jews and Christians, but also among Greeks, [[Ancient Rome|Romans]], Persians and [[Egyptians]], and Daniel is a representative apocalyptic seer, the recipient of divine revelation: he has learned the wisdom of the Babylonian magicians and surpassed them because his God is the true source of knowledge; he is one of the [[maskil (honorific)|''maskilim'']] (משכלים), the wise ones, who have the task of teaching righteousness and whose number may be considered to include the authors of the book itself.{{sfn|Davies|2006|pp= 397–406}} The book is also an [[eschatology]], as the divine revelation concerns the end of the present age, a predicted moment in which God will intervene in history to usher in the final kingdom.{{sfn|Carroll|2000|pp= 420–421}} It gives no real details of the end-time, but it seems that God's kingdom will be on this earth, that it will be governed by justice and righteousness, and that the tables will be turned on the Seleucids and those Jews who have cooperated with them.{{sfn|Redditt|2008|p=187}}