Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 14:14

"though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord Jehovah." — Ezekiel 14:14 (ASV)

Noah, Daniel, and Job. — These three are selected, no doubt, not only as examples of eminent holiness themselves, but as men who had been allowed to be the means of saving others. For Noah’s sake his whole family had been spared (Genesis 6:18); Daniel was the means of saving his companions (Daniel 2:17–18); and Job’s friends had been spared in consequence of his intercession (Job 42:7–8). Moses and Samuel might seem still more remarkable instances of the value of intercessory prayer, but these had already been cited by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 15:1).

The mention of Daniel, a contemporary of Ezekiel, with the ancient patriarchs, Noah and Job, need not cause surprise. The distance in time between Noah and Job was greater than between Job and Daniel, and it has been well said that there was a need to mention a contemporary to bring out the thought: even if the most holy men of either past or present times were in Jerusalem, it would accomplish nothing.

It is also to be remembered that Daniel was separated from Ezekiel by circumstances that created a distance between them corresponding to that which separated him in time from the patriarchs. Ezekiel was a captive among the captives; Daniel had now been for about twelve years in an important office at the royal court and possessed the very highest rank. There is, therefore, no reason for the strange supposition that the reference is to some older Daniel, of such eminence as to be spoken of in the way he is here and in Ezekiel 28:3, and yet whose name has otherwise completely faded from history.

But besides all this, there was a particular appropriateness, and even necessity for the purpose at hand, that Daniel should be mentioned. He was not only in high office but was the trusted counselor of Nebuchadnezzar, by whom Jerusalem was to be destroyed. He was also a very holy man and a most patriotic Israelite. The Jews, therefore, might well have thought that his influence would serve to avert the threatened calamity, and by placing his name in the list, their last hope was to be dashed as it could be by nothing else.