Moses in the book of Daniel

Abstract

In the Hebrew Bible, the name of Moses appears most frequently in the Hexateuch. Outside this corpus that is closely related to the life of this main character in the narrative, the name of Moses is found mostly in post-exilic material. This article focuses on the use of this name in what is generally accepted to be the youngest book in the Hebrew Bible, namely the book of Daniel. In Daniel 9, Moses' name appears in the construct form torat moshe (Law of Moses). After analysing this chapter from both a literary and a historical perspective and taking the results of this analysis into account, a suggestion is made regarding the reason why the compiler(s) of the book of Daniel may have used this phrase.