Judgment in Daniel 7

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Judgment in Daniel 7tions is appropriate for the insights this kind ofliterary form will provide.Our analysis will start then with a literal translation ofthe passages.Daniel 7:9-10Parallelism VerbalTheme Verse Translation and Meter· Forms··I kept looking ext pt + pfA:.9a Until thrones were set synt,3:3 pfand One ancient of days sat;pfB:9b His garment (was) white like snow,and the hair of His head (was) puresyn,3:4 existlike wool;9cc:His throne (was) flames offire,Its wheels (were) burning fire.syn,3:3 existe':lOa A stream offire precededsyn,3:3ptand went forth before it;ptB':lOb A thousand thousands served Him,syn,3:4impften thousand ten thousands stoodimpfbefore Him;A:lOe The judgment sat,synt,2:2pfand books were opened.pf·Ext =extrametrical; synt =synthetic; syn =synonymous.•·Pt =participle; pf =perfect; exist =existential; impf =imperfect.The beautiful balance of this powerful description of theophany injudgment is readily apparent. The six bicola (or couplets) employed in thisdescription are thematically related in the same chiastic pattern ofA:B:C::C':B':~ that we found previously in apocalyptic. This is evident from themeter, from the types of parallelism employed, and from their thematicand lexical relations.A + X. The use ofthe plural "thrones" in verse 9a has raised the questionamong commentators about who was to sit on them. A study of thepoetic relations in the chiasm indicates that the angelic host ofverse lObis described in verse tOe as sitting on them. This explains why a singularnoun andverbwere used in verse 1Oc-"thejudgmentsat." Why did Danielnot say that those in attendance at the judgment sat down? The answer isthat to have done so would have required a plural subject and verb. Thiswould have destroyed the correspondence of the phrase ("the judgment116
Judgment in Daniel 7sat")with theearlierexpression ("Oneancientofdays sat"). Thusthesameverb,ye@. (to sit), is used in verse 9a for God and in verse lOe for the angelichost who sat down with Him in judgment.This direct verbal relationship is further emphasized by the verbs usedalong with ye@. (to sit) in these two bicola. They are both perfect passiveplural verbs. Thus verse 9 reads, thrones "were cast, placed, set" (rernUl);and verse 10 states, books "were opened" (petf{za). Thus the relation ofthese two sets ofverbs in verses 9a and lOe in their respective sequence is:vs. 9: A verb in the perfect, passive plural form (''were placed"): yeliQ.(to sit).vs. 10: Yet.i~ (to sit): a verb in the perfect passive plural form ("wereopened").In this manner these two sets of verbs form an inclusio around thisstanza and bind it together. This binding effect is further emphasized bythe fact that both bicola are written in synthetic parallelism in contrast tothe synonymous parallelism ofthe other couplets, and by the fact that theyare the only bicola in this stanza to employ verbs in the perfect. (See thechart above giving translation, meter, and verb forms.)B + B'• The thoughts expressed in verses 9b and lOb may not appearat first to be directly related. Upon closer inspection, however, it can beseen that the first refers to the person of God; the second to the personsof the angels gathered before Him. Therefore, there is a relationship ofpersons being paired in these two corresponding bicola.The useofthesuffIXed pronouns emphasizes this relationship. Inverse9b the pronoun "his" is suffIXed on the nouns ("his garment," "his head")at the beginning of the two cola; while in verse lOb the pronoun "him" issuffIXed on the verbs ("served him," "stood before him") at the ends ofthetwo cola; thus providing a perfect poetic balance between "his" and "him."These two bicola are also balanced, in that they arewritten in the same3:4 meter. The useofthis particular paired meterin the two bicola requiredthe alteration ofnormal grammatical expression. For example, in verse 9bthe prophet-poet speaks of "the hair of his head" instead of the simplephrase, "his hair." In the second colon ofverse lOb he inserts a preposition("before") towhich hesuffIXed the pronoun ("him"), insteadofsimplysuffIXing it to the verb as he had done in the first colon ofverse lOb.Thesynonymous parallelism employed in these two bicola is also directand complete in bothcases. Anothersimilaritymay be noted in theirsimilarorder of sequence. For example, in verse 9b both cola consist of a noun("garment") or noun phrase ("hair ofHis head") that is linked to its predi-117
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Judgment in Daniel 7

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