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Daniel

About this book
Chapter 12

1 “At that time Michael, the great prince who watches over your people,⁠ will arise.⁠ There will be a time of distress unlike any other from the nation’s beginning up to that time.⁠ But at that time your own people, all those whose names are found written in the book, will escape.⁠ 2 Many of those who sleep in the dusty ground will awake—some⁠ to everlasting life, and others to shame and everlasting abhorrence.⁠ 3 But the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavenly expanse.⁠ And those bringing many to righteousness will be like the stars forever and ever.⁠ 4 “But you, Daniel, close up these words and seal the book until the time of the end.⁠ Many will dash about, and knowledge will increase.”⁠ 5 I, Daniel, watched as two others stood there, one on each side of the river. 6 One said to the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river, “When will the end of these wondrous events occur?” 7 Then I heard the man clothed in linen who was over the waters of the river as he raised both his right and left hands to the sky and made an oath by the one who lives forever:⁠ “It is for a time, times, and half a time.⁠ Then, when the power of the one who shatters the holy people has been exhausted, all these things will be finished.” 8 I heard, but I did not understand. So I said, “Sir, what will happen after these things?” 9 He said, “Go, Daniel. For these matters are closed and sealed until the time of the end. 10 Many will be purified, made clean, and refined, but the wicked will go on being wicked. None of the wicked will understand, though the wise will understand. 11 From the time that the daily sacrifice is removed and the abomination that causes desolation is set in place, there are 1,290 days. 12 Blessed is the one who waits and attains to the 1,335 days. 13 But you should go your way until the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will arise to receive what you have been allotted.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Daniel 12:2 and Matthew 25:46

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

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Summary

Daniel 12 describes a future resurrection, some to life and others to shame. In Matthew, Jesus echoes this by contrasting eternal life with eternal punishment in an eschatological judgment, which may indicate shame as the punishment.

Passages

Daniel 12:2

Hebrew Bible
1 “At that time Michael, the great prince who watches over your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress unlike any other from the nation’s beginning up to that time. But at that time your own people, all those whose names are found written in the book, will escape. 2 Many of those who sleep in the dusty ground will awake—some to everlasting life, and others to shame and everlasting abhorrence. 3 But the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavenly expanse. And those bringing many to righteousness will be like the stars forever and ever. 4 “But you, Daniel, close up these words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will dash about, and knowledge will increase.”
200–101 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Daniel

Matthew 25:46

New Testament
44 Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’ 46 And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... Although Daniel is not the most influential from the Hebrew Bible upon Matthew, it plays a decisive role in key eschatological facets of the first gospel. The judgment upon the wicked (Matt 13:42, 50; Dan 3:6) and the deliverance of the righteous unto eternal life (Matt 25:46; Dan 12:2) are cast in Danielic terms. So are Matthew’s anticipation of “desolating sacrilege” and “great tribulation”. Matthew clearly identifies the Danielic “son of man” with Jesus, who will “sit on his glorious throne” in the age to come and come “on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” to gather his elect. Matthew’s Jesus seems to lay claim to the authority given to Daniel’s son of man, and his death precedes the eschatological resurrection anticipated in Daniel (12:2; Matt 27:52) ..."
Daniel M. Gurtner, "Danielic Influence at the Intersection of Matthew and the Dead Sea Scrolls" in Anders Runesson and Daniel M. Gurtner, Ed., Matthew Within Judaism: Israel and the Nations in the First Gospel (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2019), 1–24.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Daniel 12:2 and Matthew 25:46

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