who we will later see are the likely audience of the book of Daniel, as those who will “shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever” (Dan 12:3). The imagery strikes modern readers as bizarre and obscure. We will explore the meaning of these and the other images later in this book, but for now we should note that the characteristic imagery of apocalyptic literature, while odd to us, was not odd to its ancient, original audience.