Wednesday, December 8, 2021

C.L. Seow, "Ancient of Days," in The New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible

  

ANCIENT OF DAYS [עַתִּ֥יק יוֹמִ֖ין ‘attiq yomin; παλαιος ημερων palaios hēmerōn]. In his vision of divine judgment, the sage Daniel sees a celestial court, where a certain “Ancient of Days” sits enthroned to attend to the threat of cosmic chaos represented by terrible monsters arising from the sea (Dan 7:1-14). The mythological background of the vision is suggested by the plurality of thrones, which would have been occupied by other deities of the divine council.

 

The god ‘El, whose name appears within Daniel’s own (Dani’el, “My Judge is El”) is the supreme ruler of the Canaanite pantheon in mythology—El appears as an old god, sitting enthroned in both texts and iconography. In Ugaritic literature, this gray-haired god is called mlkh av hnm “king, father of years,” that is, an ancient one. The deity in Daniel’s vision is a white-haired being, sitting on a fiery, mobile throne that recalls the vision of Ezekiel (Ezek 1). In mythology, the threat to world order is represented by various sea monsters, while the young champion in EL’s council, who arises to meet the threat, is the storm god, Baal, known also as “the Rider of the Cloud. This champion’s victory over the forces of chaos brought him kingship and dominion. IT is interesting, therefore, that the champion in Daniel’s vision is one who “comes with the clouds” (Dan 7:13) and his victory would also bring dominion and kingship (Dan 7:14). (C. L Seow, “Ancient of Days,” in Katharine Doob Sakenfeld et al. eds., The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, 5 vols. [Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2006], 1:146)