Saturday, June 25, 2022

James M. Hamilton Jr. on the Parallels between Song of Solomon 5 and Daniel 2

While one might disagree with the dating of the Song of Solomon and Daniel, James M. Hamilton Jr., notes the following parallels between Song 5 and Dan 2:

 

There are several features of Song of Songs 5:10-16 that seem to have provided the terms and concepts later employed by Daniel as he described the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream detailed in Daniel 2. If this is correct, Daniel would have been thoroughly familiar with the Song of Sons, and then when Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was revealed to him, the terms he found ready to hand for describing that statue came from his awareness of this passage in Song 5. The Bride describes the radiance of the King in Song 5:10. Daniel described the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream as shimmering with 'exceeding brightness' (Dan. 2:31). Song 5 is in Hebrew whereas Daniel 2:31 is in Aramaic, so the same terms are not used. The concepts and symbolism, however, are synonymous. The statue was of Nebuchadnezzar and the kingdoms that followed him (2:38-40). Here in Song 5 the Bride will describe the King, and just as Daniel does with the statute, she peaks of his head, his arms, his body, legs, and bases (feet) (Song 5:11, 14, 15; cf. 2:32-33, 38-43).

 

Since Solomon lived and wrote in the 900s B.C., with Daniel living later in the 500s B.C., in view of the fact that Scriptural writings were likely memorized in ancient Israel, it seems that what Solomon wrote influenced Daniel. Daniel being aware of and shaped by texts like Song 5, when he beheld in vision (Dan. 2:19) the content of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, his perception of that dream and its meaning were informed by what he knew form biblical texts like song 5. The evidence indicates that Daniel’s presentation of the contents of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was shaped in vocabulary and structure by Song 5. (James M. Hamilton Jr., Song of Songs: A Biblical-Theological, Allegorical, Christological Interpretation [Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, Inc., 2015], 105-6)