DELCOR (1968:
302 [“Les sources du chapiter VII de Daniel,” VT 18:290-312] = ibid. 171: 150
[Le levre de Daniel]), although not absolutely convinced that the title “Ancient
of days” derives from the Ugaritic ab šnm, held that the concept of the
elderly God in Dan 7 corresponds to the Ugaritic description of El.
Furthermore, he added a new feature by pointing to the judicial function of the
“Ancient of days” which is paralleled in the Ugaritic texts since the god Yam
is also qualified as judge (tpṭ nhr “Judge River”) indicating his
power as victor. In Dan 7 this view had been demythologised in so far as
that it was now applied to the “Ancient of days” who judged the four empires
which received their power from the sea. (Jürg Eggler, Influences and
Traditions Underlying the Vision of Daniel 7:2-14: The Research from the End of
the 19th Century to the Present [Orbis Biblicus et Orentalis 177; Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2000], 59, emphasis in bold added)
