Books Jesus Read

Chapter 7 Spiritual Discernment – Daniel

Background If you know the story of the three Hebrew children thrown into the fiery furnace, perhaps you have wondered what they experienced as they walked in the midst of the fire. The apocryphal additions to Daniel offer an answer to this question, and convey other legends of Daniel’s God- given gift of discernment. The biblical book of Daniel, originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic, was translated into Greek around 100 BC, and included in the Septuagint along with several additions: “Susanna” was placed before Daniel, and tells of a godly Jewish woman who is sexually harassed by corrupt Jewish elders; “Bel and the Dragon” was placed just after Daniel, and tells of the exposure of false gods in two episodes; “The Prayer of Azariah” and the “Song of the Three Jews” are inserted between Daniel 3:23 and 3:24, and expand on the experience of the three Hebrew

151