Getting Biblical in Daily Life
Jack Miles—who wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of the Biblical God, entitled God: A Biography—says that God seems to be more obviously in control in Daniel than in other books in the Hebrew Bible, while also seeming more distant and reserved. For example, Daniel makes it clear that God is totally above history. Miles says that it makes history look like a reel of film that God has prepared (or, at least, looked over) and gradually projects onto the screen of Life, showing it happen piece by piece: each of the Four Empires falls just as God revealed they would.
Sometimes, in earlier books of the Bible, it seems like God isn't above history or time. He's another player in the game, helping Israel fight his wars. In other words, God in those earlier books appears to be in history but not above it. But Daniel's God is clearly in control of everything. Even Gentile kings owe all their power and glory to him. And God is leading history towards a meaningful conclusion, one that is partly revealed to Daniel.
But, here's the key to understanding apocalyptic theology: sure thing, God's calling the shots. But his special and apparently unprecedented revelation to Daniel comes with a serious bump in status for Daniel. God explains the past, present, and future from a birds-eye view, as one above history and time. But, in order to understand this, Daniel has to quite literally get on his level. Daniel recounts his vision of the heavenly realm, describing things as one who'd seen them himself.
For other prophets, like Isaiah or Jeremiah, they basically have to wait around on the earthly plane and transcribe God's commands and exhortations, whenever they come. But Daniel isn't just a messenger; he's an eyewitness. He's an intermediary, but one who is empowered to speak from his own perspective and with his own words. It's a pretty serious promotion, for ye olde Israelite prophets.
So, maybe it makes sense that God hangs back in Daniel and doesn't get too many speaking lines. Miles points out that Gabriel and Michael seem to be the ones charged with fighting the guardian angels of various empires (the "Prince of Persia," for example) and protecting Israel. They're given a more active role while God himself seems rather shy and retiring. But Miles might be a bit too emphatic in claiming that God is sort of old and worn out at this point in the narrative. Withdrawal doesn't mean tiredness. God might be working through intermediaries, but he is still actively blessing his faithful followers—Daniel and his friends—and even demanding the allegiance and reverence of Gentile kings, like Nebuchadnezzar and Darius.
As far as morality and conduct goes, Daniel shows a world where, rather than being martyred for their sins, the faithful followers of God are saved or rewarded. They'll be rewarded after death—if Antiochus IV Epiphanes happens to persecute and kill them—and come to shine like stars in the sky, but they can also quite easily be rewarded in this life, too. Daniel receives promotion after promotion from leaders to whom he has not pledged allegiance because, implicitly, those promotions are really coming from the God to whom Daniel has committed himself. God might be behind the scenes, but he still seems to be very active.