Daniel 1

Bible study with Dr. Chuck Missler

The Book of Daniel is the most authenticated book of the Bible--It is supported by plenty of archaeological evidence (which will be addressed in future posts).

JESUS CALLED HIM, DANIEL THE PROPHET
Daniel was regarded as a government official by the Jews. He was not a prophet by the traditional sense. He didn't hold the typical office of a prophet. He wasn't trained as a prophet. However, his role as a prophet was confirmed by Jesus.

OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL
Daniel 1-6: Historical narrative
Daniel 7-12: Visions of Daniel

Special note on Daniel 2-7: The focus of this portion is on the Gentile world (rare, if not the only passage about the Gentile passage)! This passage was written in Aramaic (language of the Gentiles), as opposed to Hebrew (language of the Jews).

The Book of Daniel is not in chronological order
- Daniel 7-8 are visions that occurred between Daniel 4-5. 
- Daniel 9 occurred between Daniel 5-6.
- Daniel 10-12 are Daniel's closing visions.

606 BC: Nebuchadnezzar conquers for Babylon. This marks the beginning of the Babylonian empire. Before then, Babylon had been under the rule of the Assyrians for centuries. On the way back home, Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, taking with him 4 young prominent teenagers: Daniel was one of them. Daniel, note, was of royal blood line, destined to be king.

Nebuchadnezzar took these youths and trained them to be top officials in order secure loyalty from the Jews. This first siege of Jerusalem begins the 70 year period of prophesied servitude. Why 70 years? Because God told them to rest the land for every 6 years, and they failed to do so for 70 years (Jeremiah 25, 2 Chronicles 36).

Jehoiakim still reigned as king of Jerusalem, though under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar. Jehoiakim's false prophets urged him to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar. Only two prophets told him not to rebel, that this was God's will, that God was using Nebuchadnezzar as His arm of judgment, that they should yield to the Word of God. These two prophets were Jeremiah and Ezekiel! Yet, the people did not want to hear it and treated them as traitors. Jeremiah was thrown into prison, and his counsel was ignored by Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim went on to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar, leading to the second siege and a battle of 5 years.

Jehoiakim dies, and his son, Jehoiachin, takes over.

Side Note: God curses the royal blood line!
Jeremiah 22:30 records God's curse on the royal blood line through Jehoiachin, "Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah."

But, how can this be? The Messiah was prophesied to come from the line of David! To circumvent this blood curse, voila, the virgin birth! I won't spend time elaborating on this here, as my previous posts have addressed this. But briefly, compare and contrast the genealogies listed by Matthew and Luke. Joseph, from the line of Jehoiachin (David to Solomon), is Jesus's legal father (not blood), but his royal blood line is through Mary, from the line of David to Obed. Mary's father had no son. Therefore, when Joseph married Mary, Joseph was taken in as son, who would receive inheritance. Jesus therefore inherited the line of David through Mary, circumventing the blood curse.

Jehoiachin was captured during this second siege, and Ezekiel was taken to Babylon. That is, we now have Jeremiah in Jerusalem and Ezekiel in Babylon, both preaching! Since Jehoiachin was captured, his uncle, Zedekiah took over as king.

Both Ezekiel and Jeremiah continued to urge not to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar. They warned Zedekiah, "Don't rebel, or you'll destroy the city! (Even up to this point, Nebuchadnezzar never destroyed Jerusalem. He controlled it but never destroyed it.) And of course, the false prophets encouraged the king, saying "We are God's people, so who can stand against us?" And of course, they rebelled
against Nebuchadnezzar, leading to siege 3.

During the third siege, Nebuchadnezzar wiped out the whole city, just as Ezekiel and Jeremiah predicted. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple and plundered the place.

This marks the beginning of the Desolations of Jerusalem, also a 70-year period. The servitude of the nation of Israel started with the first siege. It ended when Cyrus the Persian conquered Babylon.

Side Note: Cyrus, a pagan, was called by God!
As Cyrus walked into Babylon, he was presented with a 150-year old book called Isaiah, which called him by name and outlined his career! Cyrus was so blown away, he released the Jews and gave them the money to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple! This ended the servitude but also marked the beginning of the Persian empire.

The rebuilding of the Temple did not progress much during Cyrus's reign, because the Jews were harassed too much until Nehemiah came along. He was God's prophet, but he was also the cup-bearer to the Persian king, Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes allowed the Jews to go back and rebuild not just the Temple but also Jerusalem. This decree of Artaxerxes triggers Daniel's 70-week prophecy (Daniel 9:25-27).

DANIEL WAS CAPTURED AND TRAINED

Daniel 1:2
God gave Nebuchadnezzar the victory whether Nebuchadnezzar knew it or not.

Shinar (KJV) is used 7 times in the Old Testament. It represents Babylon.

Daniel 1:3-4
Nebuchadnezzar took the best of his captives to train them to be his leaders. To those who think there are 10 lost tribes, pay attention to the term "children of Israel" (Daniel 1:3, KJV), which is used to refer to the WHOLE nation of Israel. We may think there are 10 lost tribes. God knows where they are. This is my facetious way of saying, as long as God knows where the 12 tribes of Israel are, who am I to say there are 10 tribes that are lost?!

The term, "children of Israel," is used here to call the people of Judah, Israel. That is, Israel the nation was represented fully by Judah. How is that possible? There were mingling of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. Yes, each tribe was designated a specific area of land, but that didn't prevent the people from moving between the lands!

Daniel 1:5-7
Nebuchadnezzar gave these prisoners-in-training a king's meals to ensure that they would not waste away in captivity, that 3 years later, they would be well-presented princes. 

Daniel and his three friends (Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah) received Babylonian names (Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Mechach, and Abednego), which symbolized their conversion (or Nebuchadnezzar's attempt to convert them anyway) to Babylonians. The point here is to change their identify from God's children to Babylon's children and to change their destiny from Jerusalem to Babylon. Both of these objectives were enforced by the constant use of their Babylonian names.

DANIEL WAS DETERMINED TO REMAIN AS GOD'S PEOPLE

Daniel 1:8
Daniel's plea to not eat meat or drink wine was not a request to become a vegetarian. (I'm being facetious because some people quote this verse to support their cause to be vegetarians or to refrain from any alcoholic drinks.)

This passage is also not saying meat is bad, and we need to all stay away from it. (Today, Jesus made all things clean. ALL!)

The point here is showing us Daniel's resolve to stay pure. Here, Daniel refused to eat the meat because that meat was was sacrificed to foreign gods! He was okay with eating "pulse" (vegetables and grains) because those were not used to worship false gods.

Daniel 5:9
The eunuchs, effectively Daniel's bosses, feared for their lives upon Daniel's request, which is not unreasonable. Nebuchadnezzar wanted these young men to be well-fed. If his orders were not fulfilled to his liking, Nebuchadnezzar was known to rapidly decrease the head count.

What would you do if you were Daniel? What do we do when our faithfulness to God endangers those around us? Do we give in? Or, do we force everyone else conform to our values?

Look what Daniel did:
Daniel 1:11-16
"Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat: and as thou seest, deal with they servants."

Daniel, instead of giving in or forcing others to be in a tight spot because of him, asked for a trial period (10 days often represents a period of trials in the Bible). Daniel's faith in God was so great, he knew God would provide in the sense that as long as Daniel continued to walk in the way of the Lord, he would be protected.

And indeed, he and his friends were. Not only did they not lose weight, they looked even healthier than the other prisoners!

Having proven Daniel's wishes wouldn't jeopardize the eunuchs' lives, Daniel and his friends were granted their special diet.

DANIEL WAS THE WISEST OF THEM ALL

Daniel 1:17
Daniel and his three friends obtained knowledge and wisdom from God. In today's terms, we could consider them scholars who are well-versed in literature and science.

Daniel 1:18-21
Daniel and his friends outperformed all the other prisoners, showing intellect beyond even the king's advisors. (Magicians and astrologers/enchanters were high political positions in those times.)

DANIEL WAS A GODLY TEENAGER
We often gloss over the fact that Daniel stood for God as a teenager! How many of us knew enough in our teens to be able to withstand the pressures of being captives of war, let alone stand strong in our faith? How many of us are willing to go against the grain and risk become "unpopular" by continuing our walk with God?

Godly Characteristics of These 4 Jewish Teenagers

1. They had discernment.
They knew it was not right to eat foods sacrificed to false god. They were taught well. Where would they have learned this? IN THEIR HOMES. (Deuteronomy 6:4-6 illustrates the importance of parental schooling in the home.)

2. They were trained with resistance to evil.
Just because they were distant from home, that did not diminish their resolve to keep distant from evil. They were in the capitol of the world! They could have easily fallen prey to the temptations of the city. We were all young once. We do not resist evil well. In fact, we tend to embrace it. Being labeled as a "Rebel" was cool. The fact that Daniel and his friends were able to resist evil at such a young age and so far away from home is a testimony to their home education.

3. They had the power of voice to disagreement.
They were not pulled by peer pressure. They knew what was right and what was not right IN THE EYES OF THE LORD, and they stood up for it. Key phrase: To know what is right IN THE EYES OF THE LORD, not in our own eyes.

4. The had physical courage, perseverance, and determination to stand for God.

5. Their stewardship started in their heart.
When Daniel proposed the change in his food, he didn't do it to be heroic or to put on a show. He did it meekly. He did it for the simple reason that it was God's will. And, he did it respectfully of the authorities.

There are a lot of things about a Christian's walk that we can learn from Daniel just from this chapter.

We are told to stand for God's Word, but we are also taught to respect authorities even when they are corrupted and go against God's Word. How do we do that? How did Daniel do it?

The Christian walk is not just following a book of do's and don'ts. Those who thinks that way often run into problems of extremes, or worse, become overly religious.

The Christian walk is building a personal relationship with God. This sounds vague, and the best way I can describe is that this process is very similar to go from meeting and dating a person to ultimately marrying him/her. And just because the two are now married, that doesn't mean their relationship is done. They now get to build their lives as one, continuing to learn and grow together. There is no specific do's and don'ts, because different situations may require different tactics. However, the one thing that never changes is our heart of love.

Jesus's top two commands all revolve around love. We are to love God and to love others. That's it. Simple to say but very difficult to achieve. How do we love people who annoy the heck out of us? How do we love people who take advantage of us? How do we love people who hurt us? How do we love people who hate us? Daniel shows us how: Follow God, and He will guide us. And this all begins with a genuine heart of humility.