Daniel דניאל
a sage at the Babylonian court, interpreter of dreams and visions
Daniel was taken to Babylon in the first exile of 3319, still a youth, together with Chananiah, Mishael and Azariah. Trained for court service, they refused the king's food and asked for vegetables and water — and proved healthier than the rest.
His gift is the reading of dreams and visions. He interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the statue of four metals — the four kingdoms, a framework that shaped the Jewish view of history — and was able to tell the king what he had dreamed, though the dream was forgotten. He read the words that blazed on the wall at Belshazzar's feast: «mene, mene, tekel, upharsin» — and Babylon fell that night.
Under the Persians, jealous officials obtained a decree that for thirty days one might pray only to the king. Daniel, knowing of it, opened his windows towards Jerusalem «as he had done before» and prayed three times a day. Thrown into the lions' den, he came out unharmed.
His book is the only one in Scripture that openly counts years to redemption.