Is Daniel 7:14 evidence of Jesus’ divinity?
by Ibn Anwar, BHsc (Hons)
The verse reads as follows :
“He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”
The Christian Jesus-worshiper will claim that the above verse shows Jesus as deity because it says that everyone will worship him. First of all, notice that the verse says that “all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him”. Does it say that they will worship him? No, it does not. It says that they DID worship him. So it’s not actually talking about everyone from time immemorial to the end of days. The Christian will claim that the verse says that all authority, glory and sovereign power is given to him so that makes him God. Notice that the verse says that authority was given to him. When was Jesus given authority? Authority was given to Jesus approximately 1920 something years ago as Matthew 28:18 says, “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” When we take Matthew 28:18 into consideration and compare it to Daniel 7:14 we can safely confirm that the latter isn’t referring to the former. The person in Daniel 7:14 was given authority in Daniel’s time or before it, but Jesus was only given authority in his time centuries after Daniel. However, coming back to the first point, does Jesus being worshiped makes him God? First of all, the verse does not have to be translated as worshiped. The New Living Translation translates it as follows:
“He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal–it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.”
Obeying Jesus makes him God? Other versions of the Bible render the word as ‘serve’. Serving Jesus makes him God? If that is the case then those who serve in governments around the world must be serving God. How many governments are there in the world? They are all Gods? The clever Christian will say something along the lines of, “Wait a minute, if you go back to the Hebrew the world is yiflichun which comes from palach and rendered as latreuo in the Spetuagint. These are terms that can only be used for God.”
The following is the explanation that I provided in a previous article on this very point:
What does Daniel 7:14 actually say? The verse in English reads as follows:
“And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.”
The key word in that verse which according to Trinitarians designates Jesus as God is ‘serve’ which according to them is letreuo in the Septuagint. This conclusion is actually inaccurate because there are two readings of the same verse in Greek. The one that is appealed to by Trinitarians is the LXX manuscript Codex Syro-hexaplaris Ambrosianus 88 reading which is as follows:
καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ ἐξουσία, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τῆς γῆς κατὰ γένη καὶ πᾶσα δόξα αὐτῷ λατρεύουσα· καὶ ἡ ἐξουσία αὐτοῦ ἐξουσία αἰώνιος, ἥτις οὐ μὴ ἀρθῇ, καὶ ἡ βασιλεία αὐτοῦ, ἥτις οὐ μὴ φθαρῇ.
The above reading certainly does have the word λατρεύουσα or latreousa. However, many scholars will argue that a better reading comes from Theodotian’s Greek text which reads as follows:
καὶ αὐτῷ ἐδόθη ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ ἡ τιμὴ καὶ ἡ βασιλεία, καὶ πάντες οἱ λαοί, φυλαί, γλῶσσαι αὐτῷ δουλεύσουσιν· ἡ ἐξουσία αὐτοῦ ἐξουσία αἰώνιος, ἥτις οὐ παρελεύσεται, καὶ ἡ βασιλεία αὐτοῦ οὐ διαφθαρήσεται.
As opposed to the LXX, Theodotian’s text reads douleusousin which comes from douleo. The theologian Sir Anthony Buzzard commenting on this says, “The Septuagint chooses latreuo (worship) in 7:14, but Theodotian, another Greek version of the Old Testament, uses the verb douleuo, a neutral word meaning to serve. The word latreuo, used in the Greek New Testament only of divine service, is not applied to Jesus.”[3] In the same discussion Buzzard cites Professor of New Testament Emeritus at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Arthur Wainwright who says in his book The Trinity in the New Testament, “there is no instance of latreuein [to do religious service to] which has Christ as its object”. [4] Agreeing with Buzzard, Biblical scholar Dr. T.J. Meadowcroft of the Auckland Bible College says, “Incidentally, in v. 14 θ chooses to translate פלח with δουλεύω, a term which we have noted is more generally applicable than λατρεύω to human relationships of subservience.” [5] Elsewhere he notes that “As a rule, the θ translator follows the sense of the Aramaic closely but not slavishly.” (The θ [theta] symbol represents Theodotian’s Greek text) This means that douleuo is a close rendering of the Aramaic פלח (palach). The Eminent British Biblical scholar and Lightfoot Professor of Divinity Emeritus at the University of Durham, James Dunn unequivocally says, “Cultic worship or service (latreuein, latreia) as such is never offered to Christ…”[6]. In conclusion, Jesus did not receive unique worship as the Father did which clearly shows that he is lower in status to the Father, hence doing away with the Athanasian creed which suggests equality between the two.The verdict is NOT to worship Jesus as one would worship the Creator God.
-end of quote- (taken from Is Jesus God because he was worshiped?)
What about the fact that the verse says that “He was given authority, glory and sovereign power…His rule is eternal–it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.”
If being given authority, glory and sovereign power with an eternal kingdom makes the person(supposedly Jesus) God then the saints must be God too! Consider the following verses from the same passage:
“But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever-yes, for ever and ever.’ “(Daniel 7:18)
“until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom.” (Daniel 7:22)
“And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them.’ “(Daniel 7:27)
So according to the above verses everything that is given to the person in Daniel 7:14 will be given to the saints too! According to the Christian logic the saints are equally Gods. How many Gods are there exactly?
Jesus is said to reign everything and sit on a throne. These in the Christian view which are discerned from Daniel 7:13 and other such verses make him God. Following this logic the saints are yet again promoted to divinity as we read the following:
“I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. ” (Revelation 20:4; See also Revelation 22:5)
The above says that others who will also be sitting on thrones to judge will reign with Jesus for a thousand years, but Revelation 22:5 says they will reign forever and ever. Either way, they must be Gods too according to the Christian line of thought! It is a sad thing that Christians though claiming to be staunch monotheists time and again inadvertently create for themselves a pantheon of Gods and Deities, hence making them polytheists.
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