Ancient of Days: The Name From the Throne Room of Daniel

One name in this series appears in a single chapter, in a language that is not Hebrew, and in a vision rather than a story. The Ancient of Days sits on a throne of fire while the beasts of empire are judged, and a figure like a son of man is brought before him. Who each of them is has been argued for two thousand years, and the argument runs through the middle of the New Testament.

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Lesson 10 of 12 · The name in the vision

The Ancient of Days is Daniel’s name for God seated in judgment: old beyond the empires that rise and fall in front of him, white-haired, on a throne of flame, with the books open. It is Aramaic, not Hebrew, said three times in Daniel 7 and nowhere else in the Bible. The name is about time. Four beasts have risen from the sea, each an empire that thought itself permanent, and the one who judges them is called ancient because he was there before the first and will be there after the last. Into that court comes one like a son of man, and receives a kingdom that does not end. Christian readers have always read that figure as Jesus, because Jesus took the title; Jewish readers have read him as Israel, because the chapter itself says the kingdom is given to the saints. Both readings are in the chapter, and the name does not depend on settling them.

The throne of fire

Daniel sees the beasts first, and then the court that judges them.

“I watched until thrones were placed, and one who was Ancient of Days sat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames, and its wheels burning fire. — Daniel 7:9 · WEB

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Thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days sat. His clothing white as snow, the hair of his head like pure wool, the throne fiery flames, its wheels burning fire. The picture is of age and of judgment together: the white hair is the one thing in the vision that is not fire, and it is the thing that says how long he has been there. The beasts are described by what they devour; the judge is described by how old he is.

עַתִּיק ʻattîyq H6268

(Aramaic) corresponding to עַתִּיק; venerable; ancient.

Aramaic: ancient, venerable, advanced in days. The word is used only here, three times in Daniel 7, and Daniel 2 through 7 are written in Aramaic, the language of the empires the book stands inside. Attiq yomin, Ancient of Days, is therefore the one name in this series that Israel said in the language of its conquerors, about the God who was older than they were. It is not the same word as the Hebrew olam, everlasting, which the Psalms use of God; it means old, and in a court of law it means senior. The judge outranks the beasts by age.

One like a son of man

The scene has a second figure, and he is the reason the chapter is argued about.

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. Dominion was given him, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be destroyed. — Daniel 7:13–14 · WEB

Read the comment on Dominion to One Like a Son of Man

One like a son of man came with the clouds of the sky, and came to the Ancient of Days, and was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples should serve him: an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away. Clouds are how God travels in the Old Testament; a human figure riding them and receiving a kingdom from the Ancient of Days is something the vision does not explain. The chapter’s own interpreter says the kingdom is given to the saints of the Most High (7:18, 7:27), and that is the older Jewish reading: the son of man is Israel, as the beasts are empires. Jesus, asked at his trial whether he was the Christ, answered by quoting this verse of himself (Mark 14:62), and that is the Christian reading: the son of man is a person, and he is standing in the dock. Both readings sit in the text. What is not in dispute is who gives the kingdom, and the name he is given while he gives it.

Judgment for the saints

The name’s third use is the one that turns the vision toward the people watching it.

until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. — Daniel 7:22 · WEB

Read the comment on The Horn That Made War

Until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. The fourth beast has been making war on the saints and prevailing; the sentence that stops it is the arrival of the one who is older than the beast. Judgment in Daniel 7 is not a threat to the faithful. It is what they are waiting for.

Older than the empires

The name is Daniel’s alone, but the thing it names is throughout the Old Testament.

“Before the mountains were born, before you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.” Psalm 90:2 · WEB
Before the mountains were born, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God: Moses’ psalm, the oldest statement of the idea.
“Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable.” Isaiah 40:28 · WEB
The everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint, he isn’t weary: age without decline, which is what makes the judge in Daniel able to sit.
“The eternal God is your dwelling place. Underneath are the everlasting arms. He thrust out the enemy from before you, and said, ‘Destroy!’” Deuteronomy 33:27 · WEB
The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms: the same age, felt from underneath rather than seen from a throne.
“His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire.” Revelation 1:14 · WEB
His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow: John describes the risen Christ with the hair of the Ancient of Days, and the transfer is deliberate.

The last item is the New Testament doing what it did with Isaiah’s throne room in the fifth lesson: taking a description of God and setting it on Jesus. Revelation gives the son of man the white hair of the one he came before. A reader can see the claim without having to state it in a formula.

What the name asks

It asks for patience of a particular kind. Daniel wrote for people living under the fourth beast, whose war on the saints was prevailing, and the name he gave God says that the beast is young. Every empire in the vision believed itself permanent; the one who judges them is called ancient because he has seen them all begin. A reader under any power that seems permanent has, in Daniel 7, the name of the one who was there first.