Texts in Conversation
Daniel 6 shows Daniel praying three times a day with his windows open toward Jerusalem, and Tobit also describes prayer offered at an open window facing the city. Together they reflect a common Jewish tradition of orienting prayer.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Tobit 3:11
Deuterocanon
10 In that day she was grieved in her soul and wept; and she went up into her father’s upper room, and desired to hang herself; and again she considered and said, No, lest they reproach my father; and shall say to him, You had one beloved daughter, and she has hanged herself because of her calamities! and I shall bring down my father's old age with sorrow to Hades. It is fitter for me not to hang myself, but to supplicate the Lord that I may die and no longer hear reproaches during my life. 11 At the very same time she stretched forth her hands towards the window and prayed, and said, Blessed are you, merciful God, and blessed is your name for ever: and let all your works bless you for ever. 12 And now to you my face and my eyes I lift up: 13 command that I be released from the earth, and that I no more hear reproaches.
Date: 225–175 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Daniel 6:10
Hebrew Bible
9 So King Darius issued the written interdict. 10 When Daniel realized that a written decree had been issued, he entered his home, where the windows in his upper room opened toward Jerusalem. Three times daily he was kneeling and offering prayers and thanks to his God just as he had been accustomed to do previously. 11 Then those officials who had gone to the king came by collusion and found Daniel praying and asking for help before his God. 12 So they approached the king and said to him, “Did you not issue an edict to the effect that for the next 30 days anyone who prays to any god or human other than to you, O king, would be thrown into a den of lions?” The king replied, “That is correct, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed.” 13 Then they said to the king, “Daniel, who is one of the captives from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the edict that you issued. Three times daily he offers his prayer.”
Date: 200–101 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Despite the minimal references to Cyrus in the book, the importance of this date (“the first year of King Cyrus”) elsewhere in the OT should cause the reader to pause and take note (e.g. Ezra 1:1; 2 Chr 36:22). As well, when the book of Daniel itself is examined more closely, it is found that this date is by no means ignored nor its significance forgotten (pace Collins). 18 Despite the variety of scholarly views as to the identity of “Darius the Mede,” he is probably to be equated with Cyrus, interpreting the conjunction in 6:28 (Aramaic 6:29) as a waw-explicativum (“the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian”). On this understanding, the events of Daniel 6 take place during this important year, the first year of Darius (= Cyrus; 5:31 [Aram. 6:1]). This explains Daniel’s deliberate continuation of his pious custom of daily prayers despite the personal risk involved (“When Daniel knew that the document had been signed ...”; 6:10 [Aram. 6:11]). He prays in an upper room whose windows are “open toward Jerusalem,” (On this feature, see 1 Kings 8:30, 35, 38, 42, 44, 48; 2 Chronicles 6:34; also see Tobit 3:11 for praying toward an open window ...) because he is praying for Jerusalem, as shown by the recorded prayer of Daniel 9 (dated the same year, NB 9:1) ..."
Greg Goswell, “The Temple Theme in the Book of Daniel,” JETS 55.3 (2012): 509–520.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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