Q: In the June 10, 2013, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel, the writer of the article about the weekly Christian Science Bible Lesson explained that most Bible scholars today believe the story of Daniel in the lions’ den is fiction. I’ve read that many other early Bible stories are also viewed as fictitious. Mary Baker Eddy referred to many of these stories in a way that doesn’t seem as though she thought them to be fiction. I know it’s important to find the spiritual meaning of the Bible; however, if the stories are fiction, does that take away from their value to us?
A: Even though the account of Daniel surviving a night in a den of lions is generally considered fictional, it still rings with spiritual truth. A man named Daniel may have held a high position in King Darius’ court during the Exile in the sixth century bc, but the stories about him in the Bible are not written with historical accuracy in mind. Actually, scholars believe the book of Daniel is pseudepigraphic, written by a devout Jew to encourage his fellow Israelites to stay faithful during the cruel persecution (167–164 bc) of the Syrian ruler Antiochus Epiphanes .
The author of the book of Daniel tells six such stories—known as “midrashes” in Jewish culture—to teach truth. As The Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary on the Bible explains: “The story in a midrash may of course be historical fact, or it may be a tale based on history, as in Daniel, or it may be wholly fabricated, as some of Jesus’ parables obviously are. It is the truth conveyed by a midrash that is all-important” (p. 437).
