“The Law and the Prophets” in MT Daniel 9:3–19

Many see Dan 9:3–19 as a late Deuteronomistic redaction that sets confession within a frame of determinism. Others see the insertion as a means of revelation meant to disclose future events (9:24–27). In either case, the prayer is secondary and instrumental. Moreover, the impetus for the prayer, according to these lines of interpretation, tends to be little more than a response to the Seleucid oppression (175–164 B.C.). This essay argues for a different impetus—the dual authority of the Law and the Prophets. Based on this reading, we can see how Daniel shifts the moorings of the prayer from the simple tag of revelation or confession and resets it within his own interpretive logic. “The Law and the Prophets” is a theological grammar informing the author’s method of tracing earlier biblical traditions (Sabbath violation, land restoration, and so on). These traditions run through Lev 25–26 and Jer 25:11–14, 29:10, 32 and rematerialize into the author’s own conclusions in Dan 9:24–27. What are these conclusions? Full “rest” (cf. Lev 26:35–40) will come to those in exile (cf. Jer 25:11–12; 29:10–11) and their land will be restored.