“Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians” (nrsv Daniel 4:9): Explorations in Identity and Context from the Career of Daniel

Abstract

In Daniel 4:9, the faithful Jewish wise man is addressed by King Nebuchadnezzar as “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians”. This is a telling phrase in two respects. First, it shows Daniel bearing, apparently without protest, the name given to him by the Babylonians in honor partly of their deity Bel. It thus raises questions of identity. Secondly, it places Daniel/Belteshazzar squarely in the context of the court practitioners of the pagan arts of the Babylonian wise men. It thus also raises questions of the level of Daniel’s adoption of the mores of the Babylonian court context in which he finds himself. Both of these questions, of identity and of context, run through the biblical book of Daniel and its account of his life. These are explored in a close study of Daniel 1 and the subsequent court tales of conflict and contest (Daniel 2–6). The study culminates in a consideration of the one like a son of man in Daniel 7.1