12:5), and if Daniel is commanded to preserve the words of the scroll (12:4), then Danielic authorship is an easy inference. The external evidence is simple, yet profoundly important. Jesus speaks of Daniel as having foretold the abomination of desolation (Dan 9:27; 11:31; 12:11). In Matthew 24:15–16 we read, “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the
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