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Daniel and Its Discourse Structure
The traditional Seventh-day Adventist perspective on the content organization in Daniel has been that chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are distinct, chapter 9 is an appendix to chapter 8, and chapters 10-12 run together as a whole. The discourse analysis of the book, though, suggests a different content organization. It appears, instead, that the chapters or discourse fragments 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are distinct, while chapters or discourse fragments 10-12 are a whole. This means that, in fact, there are 10 discourse fragments, and not 9, in the whole prophetic book. The evidence for such structure is in organization of the discourse fragments that compose the book. The boundaries between the 10 fragments are indicated with discourse markers and specific topics for the 10 discourse fragments or chapters in the book.
Historicist Claim on Daniel 8 and 9
The historicist theologians have maintained that Daniel 8 and Daniel 9 are connected through a common topic, that Daniel 9 is an appendix to Daniel 8, and that in Daniel 9 the angel Gabriel returns after 10 years to Daniel in order to finish explaining to him “the 2300 years prophecy.” State the SDABC commentators at Daniel 9:21:
Some commentators have missed the close connection between chs. 8 and 9, and thus the relationship between the 2300 “days” of ch. 8 and the 70 “weeks” of ch. 9. The context, however, requires precisely this relationship.
The above claim is not based on textual evidence. While Daniel 8 and 9 are interconnected and related with each other as fragments of the same discourse, the two chapters are at the same time distinct because (1) each chapter is marked by opening and closing statements that separates one from the other and indicates that the chapters are autonomous, and (2) Daniel 8 and 9 also contain different and separate sub-topics. The topic shifts from Daniel 8 to Daniel 9 – another indicator that the chapter 9 is not an appendix to chapter 8.
Features in Discourse Structure
The text or discourse of the entire book of Daniel can be seen as “a continuous stretch of speech (or less commonly writing) which can reasonably be regarded as forming a unit, in that it has some kind of recognizable structure.” From this perspective, “a discourse differs from a random sequence of sentences because it has coherence – it conveys meaning that is greater than the sum of its parts,” and cohesion, that is, “information [is joined] together as a text” through “cohesive ties” among which are repetition, reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical relations. The main features of discourse structure in Daniel are: 1. discourse topic, 2. discourse fragments, 3. discourse fragment boundaries or markers, and 4. topic shifts between discourse fragments.
Discourse Topic
Brown and Yule define “discourse topic” as “what is being talked about in a conversation,” and mention that discourse topic is not the same as sentential topic that can be expressed in a “simple NP [noun phrase], but a proposition (about which some claim is made or elicited).” Because “there is no such thing as one correct expression of the topic for any fragment of discourse,” and “there will always be a set of possible expressions of the topic,” a better definition of “topic” is needed, the “characterization of ‘topic’ which would allow each of the possible expressions, including titles, to be considered (partially) correct, thus incorporating all reasonable judgments of ‘what is being talked about.’” Their suggestion for such an expanded definition is formulated as follows: “We suggest that such a characterization can be developed in terms of a topic framework.”
Discourse Fragments
In the act of communication, the writer needs to divide the discourse information into smaller “chunks” of discourse – discourse fragments – in order to facilitate the information exchange. State Brown and Yule:
According to Halliday, the speaker [writer] is obliged to chunk his speech [written text] into information units. He has to present his message in a series of packages. He is, however, free to decide how he wishes to package the information. He is ‘free to decide where each information unit begins and ends, and how it is organized internally’ [emphasis added] (1967:200).
Each one of these smaller discourse chunks or fragments will further develop, from the “discourse topic,” within its particular fragment or passage boundaries, its own sub-topic, or the passage topic as “a chunk of conversational discourse,” which, then, can be treated as a unit of some kind because it is on its own specific topic, which means that as part of discourse as a whole, “one stretch [or fragment] of discourse [could be] about something and the next stretch ‘about’ something else.”
Discourse Boundaries
In order to deliver a clear information package through the information units that are the discourse fragments, the writer needs to organize or structure the discourse and “decide where each information unit begins and ends,” that is, to establish passage boundaries or markers, which “set one chunk of discourse off from the rest.” As to the linguistic nature of these boundary markers, Brown and Yule state:
Formulaic expressions such as ‘Once upon a time…and they lived happily ever after’ can be used explicitly to mark the boundaries of a fragment. Other familiar markers are ‘Have you heard the one about…?’, ‘Did I tell you what happened to me last week…?’ and various forms which can be used to mark the beginning of a joke or anecdote. These markers help the analyst decide where the beginning of a coherent fragment of discourse occurs.
The above indicators or pointers are just some of “the formal devices used to mark the boundaries of chunks of both written and spoken discourse which form large units of some kind, such as paragraphs,” and are essential for the interpreter who attempts to recognize the discourse structure of a text.
Topic Shifts
As mentioned above, the fragments, develop their own sub-topics as expansions of the discourse topic, and are preceded and followed by boundaries or markers that indicate or mark where these passages begin and end. Sometimes, though, such “start and end” markers are not obvious or easy to notice, and this might confuse the exegete during text interpretation as to what part of the text should belong or should not belong to the fragment under investigation. The solution to this problem is for interpreter to look for topic shifts in the text.
State Brown and Yule:
It has been suggested (e.g. by Schank, 1977:424; Maynard, 1980) that instead of undertaking the difficult task of attempting to define ‘what a topic is,’ we should concentrate on describing what we recognize as topic-shift. That is, between two contiguous pieces of discourse which are intuitively considered to have two different ‘topics,’ there should be a point at which the shift from one topic to the next is marked. If we characterize this marking of topic-shift, then we shall have found a structural basis for dividing up stretches of discourse into a series of smaller units, each on a separate topic. This type of approach to the analysis of discourse is based on the principle that, if we can identify the boundaries of units – where one unit ends and another begins – then we need not have a priori specifications for the content of such units.
In other words, if we recognize a topic shift somewhere in the text of the discourse which we are examining we will also be able to understand the structure of that discourse because we will be able to distinguish the smaller chunks or fragments that comprise the discourse, and we can achieve this smaller parts’ identification without the need to understand first the content of the parts or passages.
The Discourse Structure in Daniel
From the discourse perspective, the book of Daniel as a whole is without doubt recognizable as discourse, and therefore we can refer to its text as “the discourse of the book of Daniel,” which means that the book should be expected to behave as a coherent, cohesive, and discrete text unit with a recognizable discourse structure. The book seems to have clear boundaries that mark where the book begins (Daniel 1:1:“In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah…) and where it ends (Daniel 12:13…to receive your allotted inheritance.”), and appears to stand on its own. The book has also a clear general topic which could be formulated, from the topic framework perspective, as: “Daniel as a deportee in Babylon and the visions he received there,” or “Daniel the prophet in Babylon and the visions he received there.”
The Discourse Fragments in Daniel
Further examination of the book of Daniel reveals that the book appears to be divided into twelve discourse chunks that seem to overlap with the twelve chapters, with one exception, Daniel 11:1, which appears to be part of passage 10 (chapter 10) in the book. While some of these discourse chunks are interconnected and related with one another as subdivisions of the book’s discourse, they also seem to be identifiable as discourse fragments, due to the fact that they have their own sub-topics and are separated from one another by discourse markers that delimit the opening and closing of each fragment so that the fragments appear to show discreteness as autonomous linguistic units. The only exception is that chunk 10 (chapter 10) seems to continue into chunk 11 (chapter 11) and chunk 12 (chapter 12) as the opening marker to chunk 11 (chapter 11) seems to indicate, and as the man in linen’s narrative continues in chunk 12 (chapter 12).
Discourse Fragment 1
Discourse fragment 1 (chapter 1) has the sub-topic “Daniel and three other young men are deported to Babylon and trained there for king Nebuchadnezzar’s service.” The fragment opens with the marker, “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it (Daniel 1:1 NIV),” and closes with the marker, “And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus (Daniel 1:21 NIV).” The above markers delimit fragment 1 and define it as autonomous in the book.
Discourse Fragment 2
Discourse fragment 2 (chapter 2) has the sub-topic, “Nebuchadnezzar has a dream and Daniel narrates and explains the king’s dream to him.” The fragment opens with the marker, “In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep (Daniel 2:1),” and closes with the marker, “Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court (Daniel 2:49 NIV).” The above markers delimit fragment 2 and define it as autonomous in the book. There is another feature that confirms that Daniel 2 is autonomous from Daniel 1, and that is the topic shift between the two fragments. This shift occurs in Daniel 2:1 where a new sub-topic is introduced: “In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams [emphasis added].”
Discourse Fragment 3
Discourse fragment 3 (chapter 3) has the sub-topic, “Nebuchadnezzar builds a gold image and demands worship to it, but Daniel’s companions refuse to worship the image.” The fragment opens with the marker, “King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, ninety feet high and nine feet wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon (Daniel 3:1 NIV),” and closes with the marker, “Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon (Daniel 3:30 NIV).” The above markers delimit fragment 3 and establish it as autonomous in the book. There is another feature that confirms that Daniel 3 is autonomous from Daniel 2, and that is the topic shift between the two chapters. This shift occurs in Daniel 3:1 where a new sub-topic is introduced: “King Nebuchadnezzar made of image of gold [emphasis added].”
Discourse Fragment 4
Discourse fragment 4 (chapter 4) has the sub-topic, “Nebuchadnezzar has a dream of a tree, Daniel interprets the dream, and then the dream is fulfilled.” The fragment opens with the marker, “King Nebuchadnezzar, To the peoples, nations and men of every language, who live in all the world: May you prosper greatly! (Daniel 4:1 NIV),” and closes with the marker, “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble (Daniel 4:37 NIV).” The above markers delimit fragment 4 and establish it as autonomous in the book. There is another feature that confirms that Daniel 4 is autonomous from Daniel 3, and that is the topic shift between the two chapters. This shift occurs in Daniel 4:10 where a new sub-topic is introduced: “…I looked, and there stood a tree [emphasis added] in the middle of the land.”
Discourse Fragment 5
Discourse fragment 5 (chapter 5) has the sub-topic, “At Belshazzar’s banquet a hand writes on the wall, and Daniel interprets the writing.” The fragment opens with the marker, “King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles, and drank wine with them (Daniel 5:1 NIV),” and closes with the marker, “That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom at the age of sixty-two (Daniel 5:30 NIV).” The above markers delimit fragment 5 and establish it as autonomous in the book. There is another feature that confirms that Daniel 5 is autonomous from Daniel 4, and that is the topic shift between the two chapters. This shift occurs in Daniel 5:5, where a new sub-topic is introduced: “Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appears and wrote on the plaster of the wall… [emphasis added].”
Discourse Fragment 6
Discourse fragment 6 (chapter 6) has the sub-topic, “Daniel is thrown in the lions’ den for his worship to God, but an angel saves him.” The fragment opens with the marker, “It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel (Daniel 6:1 NIV),” and closes with the marker, “So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian (Daniel 6:28 NIV).” The above markers delimit fragment 6 and establish it as autonomous in the book. There is another feature that confirms that Daniel 6 is autonomous from Daniel 5, and that is the topic shift between the two chapters. This shift occurs in Daniel 6:1 where a new sub-topic is introduced, “…to appoint 120 satraps… with three administrators over them [emphasis added].”
Discourse Fragment 7
Discourse fragment 7 (chapter 7) has the sub-topic, “Daniel has a vision of four beasts and the judgment of the little horn, and an angel explains the vision to him.” The fragment opens with the marker, “In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind, as he was lying on his bed. He wrote the substance of his dream (Daniel 7:1),” and closes with the marker, “This is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself (Daniel 7:28 NIV).” The above markers delimit fragment 7 and establish it as autonomous in the book. There is another feature that confirms that Daniel 7 is autonomous from Daniel 6, and that is the topic shift between the two chapters. This shift occurs in Daniel 7:1 where a new sub-topic is introduced: “…Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind… [emphasis added].”
Discourse Fragment 8
8. Discourse fragment 8 (chapter 8) has the sub-topic, “Daniel has a vision of a goat, ram, and horn, and the angel Gabriel interprets the vision for him.” The fragment opens with the marker, “In the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, I, Daniel, had a vision, after the one that had already appeared to me (Daniel 8:1 NIV),” and closes with the marker, “I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for several days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding (Daniel 8:27).” The above markers delimit fragment 8 and establish it as a distinct fragment in the book. There is another feature that confirms that Daniel 8 is distinct from Daniel 7 – the topic shift between the two chapters. This shift occurs in Daniel 8:1 where the new sub-topic is introduced: “I, Daniel, had a vision, after the one that had already appeared to me [emphasis added].” Both the open-close markers and the topic shift marker seem to indicate that chapter 8 is distinct from chapter 7, that is, that chapter 8 is not joined sub-topically to chapter 7 in the book.
Discourse Fragment 9
Discourse fragment 9 (chapter 9) has the sub-topic, “Daniel prays to God for himself and for his people for the end of Jerusalem’s desolation, and Gabriel comes to let him know the future of Israel.” The fragment opens with the marker, “In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent) who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom (Daniel 9:1 NIV),” and closes with the marker, “…And on a wing of the temple, he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him (Daniel 9:27 NIV).” The above markers delimit fragment 9 and establish it as a distinct fragment in the book. There is another feature that confirms that Daniel 9 is distinct from Daniel 8 – the topic shift between the two chapters. The shift occurs in Daniel 9:2: “…I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures…that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.” Both the open-close markers and the topic shift marker seem to indicate that chapter 9 is distinct from chapter 8, that is, that chapter 9 is not joined sub-topically to chapter 8 in the book.
Discourse Fragment 10
Discourse fragment 10 (chapter 10) has the sub-topic, “Daniel has a vision of a man who has come to him to ‘explain what will happen to his [Daniel’s] people in the future.’” The fragment opens with the marker, “In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel… (Daniel 10:1 NIV),” and closes with the marker, “And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I took my stand to support and protect him (Daniel 11:1 NIV).” The opening marker delimits fragment 10 from passage 9 and establishes it as a distinct fragment. There is another feature that confirms that Daniel 10 is distinct from Daniel 9 – the topic shift between the two chapters. The shift occurs in Daniel 10:1: “…Its message is true and it concerned a great war.” The passage 10, though, ends with a connection marker, which indicates that passage 10 is connected to fragment 11.
Discourse Fragment 11
Discourse fragment 11 (chapter 11) has the sub-topic, “The man narrates to Daniel, in detail, future events related to the kings of the South and North.” The passage opens with the marker, “Now, then, I tell you the truth… (Daniel 11:2 NIV),” and closes with the connection marker, “…Yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him (Daniel 11:45 NIV).” Verses 20 and 21 in Daniel 10 contain a clear signal that the sub-topic of Daniel 10 fragment (chapter) continues into the Daniel 11 fragment (chapter) as the man in linen tells Daniel: “20. ‘Do you know why I have come to you? …21. but first I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth.” There is no topic shift between the fragments (chapters) 10 and 11 in the book of Daniel. The man in linen makes this matter clear when he explains to Daniel that he has come to tell the prophet about the future and does so in passage 11 (chapter 11). These are sections in the book of Daniel that seem to be topically connected, and the end verses of passage 11 together with the absence of topic shift between passage 10 and passage 11 and the connection marker in Daniel 11:45 make this matter clear.
Discourse Fragment 12
Discourse fragment 12 (chapter 12) has the subtopic, “The man in linen continues to narrate to Daniel events of the future, and the coming of Michael, and concludes his narrative.” The fragment opens with the marker, “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise… (Daniel 12:1 NIV),” and closes with the marker, “As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance (Daniel 12:13 NIV).” The fragment 12 opener, which is a connection marker, makes it clear that the man in linen continues to inform Daniel about the future, and there is no topic shift between fragment (chapter) 11 and fragment (chapter) 12 that would separate the two fragments (chapters). Fragment 11 and fragment 12 in the book of Daniel are also connected through a common topic, as the man in linen continues the narrative about the future which he had started in Daniel passage (chapter) 10.
Summarized Topics, Open-Close Markers, Continuation Markers, and Topic Shifts
Fragment
(Chapter) Fragment Topic Opening Marker Closing Marker Connection Marker Topic Shift
1 Captivity and training Daniel 1:1 Daniel 1:21
2 Nebuchadnezzar’s dream Daniel 2:1 Daniel 2:49 Daniel 2:1
3 The image of gold Daniel 3:1 Daniel 3:30 Daniel 3:1
4 Nebuchadnezzar’s tree Daniel 4:1 Daniel 4:37 Daniel 4:10
5 The writing on the wall Daniel 5:1 Daniel 5:31 Daniel 5:5
6 Daniel in the lion’s den Daniel 6:1 Daniel 6:28 Daniel 6:1
7 Daniel’s vision of four beasts Daniel 7:1 Daniel 7:28 Daniel 7:1
8 Daniel’s vision of beasts and horn Daniel 8:1 Daniel 8:27 Daniel 8:1
9 Daniel’s vision of 70 weeks Daniel 9:1 Daniel 9:27 Daniel 9:2
10 Daniel’s vision of a man Daniel 10: 1 Daniel 10:21 Daniel 10:1
11 The South and North Kings Daniel 11:2 Daniel 11:45 Daniel 11:2
12 The times of the end Daniel 12:1 Daniel 12:13
Conclusion
The data collected on the discourse structure of the book of Daniel makes it clear that while fragments (chapters) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 in the book are distinct and autonomous, fragments (chapters) 10-12 are connected to one another through a common and shared sub-topic of the book. There is no sub-topic shift from fragment (chapter) 10 to fragment (chapter) 11 or fragment (chapter) 12. The obvious opening and closing markers between fragments (chapters) 1and 2, 2 and 3, 3 and 4, 4 and 5, 5 and 6, 6 and 7, 7 and 8, and 8 and 9 make it clear that these fragments (chapters) and independent and autonomous, white the evident connection markers between fragments (chapters) 10 and 11 and 11 and 12 are one more indication that the last three fragments (chapters) in the book of Daniel constitute one cohesive discourse fragment.
The entire research document, Daniel 9 Is Not an Appendix to Daniel 8, can be downloaded from the Frontier Adventist website through the document link:
https://sites.google.com/site/frontieradventist
Last edited by Eduard (11-20-13 12:10 pm)
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