Hebrew of Daniel. Driver claimed that the Hebrew of Daniel
suggests a second-century date. (Driver, Literature, 504-8; also
Jeffrey, “Book of Daniel,” 349) He contended that the Hebrew of the book is not
as polished as preexilic or even early postexilic biblical material. (Driver, Literature,
505)
Concerning spelling, place names, and
the like, the Hebrew of the book would have been modernized throughout the
centuries as was the Aramaic, although there is nothing in the language that
would preclude authorship by Daniel in the sixth century B.C. (cf. Young, Introduction,
371) The Hebrew portion contains words, phrases, and grammar common throughout
the Hebrew Bible.
Moreover, the Hebrew of Daniel
resembles that of Ezekiel, Haggai, Ezra, and Chronicles more than that of the
later Qumran scrolls. (cf. Harrison, Introduction, 1125) In one study
Archer exampled sample Hebrew texts from Qumran (1QS and 1QM) and determined on
the basis of the language that Daniel’s Hebrew came from an earlier period. (G.
L. Archer, Jr., “Daniel,” EBC [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995], 23-24) Thus to
insist that the Book of Daniel is late on the basis of the Hebrew is not in
accordance with the available data. (For a further discussion of Hebrew and the
date of the Book of Daniel, see R. D. Wilson, “Evidence in Hebrew Diction for
the Dates of Documents,” PTR 25 [1927]: 353-88) (Stephen R. Miller, Daniel:
An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture [The New
American Commentary 18; Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1994], 31-32)