Go to Related Reading
About this book

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 12:3 and Matthew 13:43

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

Share:

Summary

In Matthew 13, Jesus echoes the language in Daniel 12 to describe the righteous shining like the sun. Matthew connects resurrection and final judgment with Daniel’s apocalyptic vision and uses this to shape his portrayal of the future messianic age.

Passages

Daniel 12:3

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.
200–101 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Daniel

Matthew 13:43

New Testament
40 As the poisonous weeds are collected and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom everything that causes sin as well as all lawbreakers. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The one who has ears had better listen! 44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, hidden in a field, that a person found and hid. Then because of joy he went and sold all that he had and bought that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls.
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... A few references to resurrection are unique to Matthew. Only in Matthew’s mission discourse are Jesus’ disciples granted the authority to “raise the dead” (Matthew 10:8). Though unparalleled, this comports with the messianic profile in the double tradition (Matthew 11:5 // Luke 7:22) and thus is fitting for the Messiah’s agents. In Jesus’ interpretation of his parable of the weeds the apocalyptic imagery of the harvesting of wheat and destruction of weeds “at the end of the age” is topped off by a possible allusion to Daniel 12:3: “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43). Later, Jesus’ face “shone like the sun” (Matthew 17:2) at his transfiguration, itself a prefiguration of his resurrected glory. At the judgment of the sheep and the goats, the accursed “will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Mt 25:46)—an echo of the dual fate for the resurrected in Daniel 12:2. These references are consonant with Matthew’s theological interest in apocalyptic themes ..."
Joel B. Green, Jeannine K. Brown, and Nicholas Perrin, eds., Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2018), 780–781.

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

Your feedback

Daniel 12:3 and Matthew 13:43

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library