Is the Book of Daniel a book of folk tales?
The genre of Daniel is prophecy. But as with any book, there are sub genres. None of them is a folk tale. There are historical accounts of Daniel’s three friends and himself standing up to the Babylonian regime while in captivity.
The majorly prophetic parts are visions that Daniel has throughout the book. For instance, the prophecy concerning the beasts that represent the empires of the world in history is prophetic. When Daniel talks at the end of the book about his prayers being hindered by angels and demons, it’s prophetic.
And at the very end of the book when he talks about the book of life and other events yet to come, that is why the major genre is prophecy. When he sees the Son of Man in the clouds in Daniel 7:13-14, this is prophetic of Jesus.
But when he talks about how his three friends refused to bow down to the golden image can measure had made, these show how allegiance to God and faith in him is rewarded. When they are tossed into the fiery furnace, they live, and a fourth Person shows up in the furnace with them. This is most likely Jesus.
When Daniel tells the account of how he continued to pray three times a day even though this was considered a legal in Babylon, God protected him in the lions’ den. These character accounts show us that when we are faithful to the Lord he takes care of us.
But none of these are considered myths, legends, or folk tales. Anyone who studies God’s Word knows that it presents itself as truth and is accurate to what happened. We must approach what the Bible says as God’s truth.
These are not just stories made up that we use for fun. God wrote these down for us so we might believe in his incredible and impossible supernatural abilities. He wants to do great things in our lives. When we believe he is who he says he is, we will see him do incredible things.things.
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