Daniel was of the tribe of Judah, and it is thought, of the
royal family. Ezekiel, his cotemporary, but much his senior, speaks of
him as wise to a proverb, when he upbraids the king of Tyre with his
self-conceit, Thou art wiser than Daniel. He likewise names Noah,
Daniel, and Job, as having the greatest interest in heaven of any. He
lived a long and active life in the courts and councils of some of the
greatest monarchs the world ever had. Yet none was more intimately
acquainted with the mind of God than he that was a courtier, a
statesman, and a man of business. It is generally supposed he lived to
be very old, and died at Shushan in Persia. The first chapter of this
book, and the three first verses of the second are in Hebrew: and so are
the four last chapters. The rest of the book is in the Chaldee: Daniel
continues the holy story, from the first taking of Jerusalem by the
Chaldean Babel, 'till the last destruction of it by Rome, the mystical
Babel.