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The Christian theologian Irenaeus quotes the Greek Bel and the Dragon, where the king refuses idols made with hands. Irenaeus attributes the quote to Daniel, showing how early Christian tradition considered it a part of that book.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Bel and the Dragon 1:5
Deuterocanon
3 Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel, and every day twelve great measures of fine flour, forty sheep, and six measures of wine were spent on it. 4 The king honored it and went daily to worship it; but Daniel worshiped his own God. The king said to him, “Why don’t you worship Bel?” 5 He said, “Because I don’t honor idols made with hands, but only the living God, who has created the sky and the earth, and has sovereignty over all flesh.” 6 Then the king said to him, “Don’t you think that Bel is a living god? Don’t you see how much he eats and drinks every day?” 7 Then Daniel laughed, and said, “O king, don’t be deceived; for this is just clay inside, and bronze outside, and never ate or drank anything.”
Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.5.2
Early Christian
2 For our Lord and Master, in the answer which He gave to the Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection, and who do therefore dishonour God, and lower the credit of the law, did both indicate a resurrection, and reveal God, saying to them, You err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For, touching the resurrection of the dead, He says, have you not read that which was spoken by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? And He added, He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to Him. By these arguments He unquestionably made it clear, that He who spoke to Moses out of the bush, and declared Himself to be the God of the fathers, He is the God of the living. For who is the God of the living unless He who is God, and above whom there is no other God? Whom also Daniel the prophet, when Cyrus king of the Persians said to him, Why do you not worship Bel? did proclaim, saying, Because I do not worship idols made with hands, but the living God, who established the heaven and the earth and has dominion over all flesh. Again did he say, I will adore the Lord my God, because He is the living God. He, then, who was adored by the prophets as the living God, He is the God of the living; and His Word is He who also spoke to Moses, who also put the Sadducees to silence, who also bestowed the gift of resurrection, thus revealing [both] truths to those who are blind, that is, the resurrection and God [in His true character]. For if He be not the God of the dead, but of the living, yet was called the God of the fathers who were sleeping, they do indubitably live to God, and have not passed out of existence, since they are children of the resurrection. But our Lord is Himself the resurrection, as He does Himself declare, I am the resurrection and the life. But the fathers are His children; for it is said by the prophet: Instead of your fathers, your children have been made to you. Christ Himself, therefore, together with the Father, is the God of the living, who spoke to Moses, and who was also manifested to the fathers.
Date: 175-190 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... Internal evidence appears to shew that both these stories originally had a separate circulation; Susanna does not form a suitable prologue to Dan. i. 2, for v. 6 introduces Daniel as a person hitherto unknown to the reader; and the position of Bel as an epilogue to the prophetic portion of the book is still less appropriate. From the Fathers, however, it is clear that in the earliest Christian copies of the LXX. both Susanna and Bel formed a part of Daniel, to which they are ascribed by Irenaeus and Tertullian, and implicitly by Hippolytus. The remarkable letter of Julius Africanus to Origen which throws doubt on the genuineness of Susanna, calling attention to indications of its Greek origin, forms a solitary exception to the general view; even Origen labours to maintain their canonicity. Iren. iv. 26. 3 "et audient eas quae sunt a Daniele propheta voces" (Sus. 56, 52 f.), iv. 5. 2 "quem et Daniel propheta ... annuntiavit" (Bel 4 f., 25). Tert. de idololatria, 18 (Bel 4 f.). ...”
Swete, Henry Barclay
An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek: With an Appendix Containing the Letter of Aristeas
(p. 260) Cambridge University Press, 1900
* 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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