rather than to detail particulars. To take the images of Daniel as specific markers on a timetable for the end of human history misunderstands their symbolic functions. (See Longman 1999, 176–79, and Sandy 2002, 103–28, for further discussion.) The other distraction is the debate over the date of composition. While a position on the issue bears on some aspects of interpretation, it is not determinative for most of the book’s message. Questions about original author and audience and compositional