Daniel had been captured and taken to Babylon in the fourth year of king Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, along with some precious vessels plundered from the house of God. Notice in verse two that, even though Daniel was only about 16 years old, the Lord’s hand was in all this for he had allowed it to happen. Nebuchadnezzar’s father had died while besieging Jerusalem and this was the first year of his son’s reign. It was also a momentous time for world affairs, for Jeremiah 46:1-3 tells us that this was also the same year as the historic battle of Carchemish when Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pharaoh Neco of Egypt to bring both Egypt and Assyria into the Babylonian empire. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, God was speaking to Jeremiah who prophesied that the exile would last 70 years starting with that very year (Jer 25v 1,11). Ezekiel, a prophet to the exiles, by comparison, was not taken captive until 8 years later when Nebuchadnezzar made his second invasion.
ROYAL TRAINING BUT GOD’S WISDOM
The first captivity included the educated royal family and nobility and it is interesting that the king decided to train the young and most promising to serve in his palace (v3,4). They were to be dined royally and educated for 3 years in the ways of Chaldean culture. Among them were Daniel, and 3 others from the tribe of Judah, who had their names changed from those which honoured God to names that honoured pagan gods. It is unsurprising to learn that Daniel, for one, never really lost his true name because later on he is referred to as Daniel, rather than the Babylonian Belteshazzar.
Daniel, a young man on a fast-track promotion course, showed early on that he was determined to go God’s way and would not defile himself with the king’s food (v8). Daniel received favour and compassion from the palace master but notice though that it was God who arranged that favour (v9). We read, in verse 17, that the knowledge, wisdom and skills came from God himself, not their Babylonian education, and Daniel was given unique insight into “all” visions and dreams. At the end of their training period, the king found them ten times wiser than his Babylonian team of magicians and enchanters (v20). Daniel was to remain in the kings palace until king Cyrus (v21) who allowed the first Jews to return to Jerusalem; in other words, for the whole 70 years of exile.
Looking at the history books we read that the Sumerians in 3000BC, predecessors of the Chaldeans, pioneered many major discoveries and inventions. They were inventors of the first system of writing, the founders of the first school, the pioneers of mathematical principles and calculations. From them sprang the first astronomers, the first legislature and jurisprudence, the first library and the first pharmacy, the first prose and the first poem, the first irrigation system and the first city plan and even the first parliament. Mesopotamia was the cradle of civilisation. The Chaldean empire was the last and most glorious expression of national identity for the people of ancient Mesopotamia before falling under the rule of foreign powers. Facts taken from a website.
NEBUCHANEZZAR’S DREAM BUT GOD’S INTERPRETATION
In only his second year, Nebuchadnezzar had his first dream which troubled him greatly (2v1). The problem that confronted the court magicians was that the king insisted that they tell him the dream before explaining the meaning. Furthermore, failure would mean being torn limb from limb etc. Just before the execution, Daniel promised he would come up with the goods and he sought his friends to seek mercy from God to reveal the mystery. The revelation came in a night vision and Daniel, confident it was a word from God, burst out praising and honouring the Lord (20-23). Daniel then explained to the king that there was a God in heaven and, as he gave the interpretation, he humbly took no credit for himself (v30). He had seen a statue with a golden head, a silver middle, bronze thighs, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay. He had, then, watched a stone being cut (not by human hands) and, when it struck the statue, it broke it into pieces. Amazingly, the stone then became a mountain and filled the whole earth (v35). Parts of the statue refer to Babylon (the gold head v38), the empires that followed and the last one, probably, the Roman empire when Christ appeared to set up the greatest kingdom of all, the kingdom of God. Verse 28 says that this would happen at the “end of days” but the end of days appears to mean the end of the period before Christ and the start of a kingdom that lasts for ever (v44). Nebuchadnezzar praised God (v47) and appointed Daniel to rule the Babylon province and become chief among his wise men. Daniel persuaded the king to appoint his three friends as joint provincial rulers while he stayed in court (v49).
THE FIERY FURNACE
King Nebuchadnezzar (ch3) decided to set up a golden statue 125 feet high and when the musical instruments started everyone was expected to bow down, for fear of being thrown into a fiery furnace. Certain Chaldeans came forward (v8) and denounced the Jews Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, the provincial rulers, who had refused to bow down to the statue. The young men would not be intimidated and replied in those classic words of verses 16-18, in faith that their God could deliver them if He wanted. Nebuchadnezzar was not used to anyone standing up to him and he ordered the furnace to be seven times hotter than usual. All this managed to do was incinerate those who threw the men in. Whilst in the fire a fourth presence, the appearance of a god (v25), stood with them and they came out without even the smell of fire. Nebuchanezzar honoured God and gave the Jews protected status during his reign.
GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY AND MAN’S PRIDE
Chapter 4 is an interesting autobiography by king Nebuchanezzar where he gave testimony to the “wonders of the Most High God” (v2). He had dreamed again, this time a great tree grew until its top reached heaven but then a heavenly, holy watcher commanded it to be cut down. Daniel explained to Nebuchanezzar that he had grown great but would be driven from human society for 7 years until he learned that the true God was sovereign over the earth (v25). God struck him down, when he was boasting of his power, and he became insane. Eventually he acknowledged the greatness of God who (v37) was “able to bring low those who walk in pride.”
EVEN EMPIRES CANNOT EXALT THEMSEVES AGAINST GOD
We move on to a time when Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar’s son, was feasting with a thousand of his lords (5v1). in a drunken state he requested, and drank out of, the old temple vessels plundered by his father from Jerusalem. This was a big mistake for a human finger began to write on the wall MENE MENE TEKEL PARSIN which Daniel interpreted in verses 24-28. Belshazzar had exalted himself against the Lord of heaven and that very night he was killed. The great Chaldean empire fell apart, immediately, and (v31) Darius of the Medes and Persians took control of the kingdom.
NOT INTIMIDATED BY LIONS
Daniel, as usual, distinguished himself above all the other leaders and king Darius was about to appoint him leader over the whole kingdom (6v3) because an “excellent spirit was within him”. In their quest for power, other leaders tried to discredit Daniel but found (v4) that they could “find no grounds for complaint or any corruption” and they could only use his love of God against him. They appealed to the pride of Darius by instituting a law which insisted on worshipping the king, alone, for 30 days. Daniel, being the man that he was, refused to be intimidated and, openly, carried on praying and praising three times a day (v10). The distressed king tried to change matters but the laws of the Medes and Persians could never be changed and Daniel (probably more than 80 years old at the time) was brought to be thrown into the den of lions. Not to worry, for God had sent his angel to shut the lion’s mouths. Darius, like Nebuchanezzar, was to honour the living God and decree that, in all his dominion, everyone should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel (v26).
RISE AND FALL OF EMPIRES
Chapters 7 and 8 go back to when Daniel had two visions, of his own, in the reign of Belshazzar. The first one told of four great beasts coming out of the sea: a lion, a bear, a leopard and a strange, terrifying beast with iron teeth and 10 horns. The revelation was similar to Nebuchanezzar’s dream of the statue, one of coming empires, and includes a great passage prophesying the everlasting kingdom of Jesus (13-14). In a second vision (ch8) Daniel was carried to see a 2-horned ram standing by a river and nothing could stand in the way of this charging ram. Then a one-horned male goat approached from the West and ran at the ram with savage force, breaking its’ horns and trampling upon it. At the height of its power, the goats’ own great horn was broken and four grew instead. One of them grew another little horn and caused much trouble for Gods people and the place of the sanctuary. This little horn refers to Antiochus Epiphanes, a Greek ruler in Syria, who abused the Jews and trampled on the temple for 2,300 evenings and mornings (8v14). The chapter goes on to explain that the ram represented the Medes and Persians(v20), the male goat the king of Greece, Alexander the Great v21, and the four horns the four divisions of the Greek empire after he was unexpectedly killed (v22). The point of all these visions would appear to be to warn Israel that over the next centuries there would be great turbulence in their world, kingdoms would come and go and, there would be an evil defiling of the place of God’s presence.
DANIEL UNDERSTOOD THE HEART OF THE LORD
In chapter 9, Daniel had been reading Jeremiah’s prophesy about the 70 years exile and this led him to make prayerful supplication to the Lord. I think it was a heart like this that God had been looking for all through those years. Daniel recognised the greatness of God, his covenant promises and love (v4) and understood clearly how the country had rebelled and not listened to the prophets (v6). He knew the righteousness of the Lord and the shame of His people and believed that God had been right to exile them (v7). One thing he also knew (v9) was that “to the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness.” He prayed to God that His face would, once again, shine upon His deserted sanctuary (v17), for His own sake and because his city and people bore His name (v19). No surprise that this prayer led to powerful heavenly activity and Gabriel, himself, came swiftly with a word from God to Daniel who was “greatly loved” (v23). In verse 24 we hear about 70 weeks needed to “finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness” and most believe that the 69 weeks are 69 weeks of years ending with the coming of Christ. The seven years could cover the life of Jesus and the first years of the Holy Spirit. The destroying prince (v26) could be the Roman general Titus who, finally, destroyed Jerusalem in AD70.
SPIRITUAL BATTLES IN THE HEAVENLIES
We then move to the third year of king Cyrus (2 years after Israel started returning to Jerusalem) and Daniel had another vision, this time of a glorious man by the river Tigris (10v5,6). The man addressed him, again, as “Daniel, greatly beloved” (v11). We learn that the angelic visitor had actually been delayed by demonic princes in the heavenlies, see verse 13 about the prince of the kingdom of Persia, and how Michael, the warrior angel, had gone to confront him (v13). This was followed by a battle against the prince of Greece (v20).
Chapter 11 and chapter 12 conclude the book with some very detailed prophesies of the future. It is clear that the first ones cover similar ground to previous prophesies which led to Alexander the Great and the Greek empire. This time they included Antiochus of the Syrian empire and a vivid picture of the Syrian-Egyptian conflict. These took place in the period between Malachi and Matthew; great empires aspiring for dominance, but leading up to the momentous coming of Jesus and the inauguration of the new kingdom of God in peoples hearts.
A LEGEND IN HIS OWN LIFETIME
Daniel seems to have remained in the kings court but, no doubt, had a significant role in preparing God’s people for their return to Jerusalem. His ministry seemed to end soon after the people started to return, under Zerubbabel and Jeshua. He was an old man by then and you can only speculate that he died soon afterwards. His reward would be at the end of days (12v13).
It is interesting to see that his compatriot, the prophet, Ezekiel, put him in stature alongside their great ancestors Noah and Job (Ezekiel 14v 14, 20). Daniel was a righteous legend in his own lifetime. His qualities were recognised by kings of different empires and more importantly, the King of Kings. The quality of his life could never be questioned, even by those who were his jealous enemies, and he refused to be intimidated. His humility, despite his position of great influence, was remarkable and chapter 9 shows us his accurate understanding of God’s plans and ways. Daniel was the kind of man God was looking for when he decided to work his purposes through the exiles. His understanding of God, and the need for repentance, mercy and love is the foundation of the gospel revealed by Jesus Christ.