English: A hilltop view of the ancient city of Babylon, where King Nebuchadnezzar II, whose life spanned 630-562 B.C., built his hanging gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dreams(v1-13)
Nebuchadnezzar had a dream repeated that deeply trouble him to a point he could not sleep (v1). The wanted to know the meaning of the dream, so he choose to ask people what the dream was and the meaning of it. He did not want to tell what the dream was, so that when someone could tell it, his explanation would be trustable (v5).
We notice that Nebuchadnezzar was a cruel king, he would cut the magicians into pieces and their houses turned into plies of rubble (v5).
Daniel’s Prayer and Praise to God (v14-23)
When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard came to kill the magicians include Daniel and friends, Daniel urged his friends to pled for mercy from the God of heaven (v18). When God reveal the meaning of the dream to him, he praised the God of heaven.
Daniel’s praise to God reveals God is sovereign and He is in control of this world. “He changes times and seasons; He sets up kings and deposes them” (v21)
Do you come to the Lord in prayers like Daniel and his friends? Do you remember to praise God when God answer your prayers?
God can still use dreams to communicate with people, but that is not His usual approach. In NT, God mainly guide believers through the Holy Spirit, and through His words. Be careful about claiming dreams as communication from God. Human brain is capable of generating dreams ourselves, and the enemy is capable to using dreams to lie and to attack man. “I am against those who prophesy false dreams” (Jer 23:32)
Explanation of the dream (v24-45)
head made of pure gold – Babylon (636 BC – 539 BC)
chest and arms of silver – Medo-Persian (539BC – 330 BC)
belly thighs of bronze – Greece (330BC-63BC)
Legs of iron – Rome (63BC – 475AD)
feet of partly iron and partly backed clay – eastern and western rome
A rock that became a huge mountain – Jesus Christ (v34,45)
A kingdom that will never be destroyed – the kingdom of heaven
What we can learn from the dream:
The dream reveals that God is in control of history.
Human enterprises decline as time goes, the kingdom of heaven goes on forever
Iron mixed with clay. It will be difficult for things to hold together at the end of the age
This prophesies also is a extremely strong prove of the bible as words of God.
God, Daniel and Friends were exalted (v46-49)
Nebuchadnezzar praised God (v47)
Daniel was appointed as the ruler of the entire province of Babylon (v48)
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego became administrators over the province of Babylon (v49)
What started as a disaster, through prayers and faithful to God, Daniel has turned it into a triumph, for God, and his people.
English: An image of Daniel interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, as described in the Second Chapter of Daniel. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
God’s prophets has been warning Judah regarding God’s coming judgement because of their idolatry, immorality, and injustice toward the poor and needy.
Isaiah prophesied the falled of Judah (Isa 13;31 and 39)
“The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” (Isaiah 39:6-7)
Micah prophesied Judah would go to Babylon (Micah 4:10)
“Writhe in agony, O Daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you must leave the city to camp in the open field. You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued. There the LORD will redeem you out of the hand of your enemies.” (Micah 4:10)
Habakkuk couldn’t understand how God could use the godless Babylonians to chasten His own people (Hab 1)
Jeremiah lived to see these and his own prophesies came true (Jer 20;25;27).”This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years” (Jer 25:11)
God has fulfilled His promised to the Jews. If Israel obeyed His commandments, He would bless them. If Israel disobeyed, God would chasten and scatter them among the Gentiles (Lev 26; Deut 27-30)
Sins of Israel includes ungodly kings, priests and false prophets.
But it happened because of the sins of her prophets
and the iniquities of her priests,
who shed within her
the blood of the righteous. (Lam 4:13)
9 Concerning the prophets:
My heart is broken within me;
all my bones tremble.
I am like a drunken man,
like a strong man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord
and his holy words. 10 The land is full of adulterers;
because of the curse the land lies parched
and the pastures in the wilderness are withered.
The prophets follow an evil course
and use their power unjustly.
11 “Both prophet and priest are godless;
even in my temple I find their wickedness,”
declares the Lord. 12 “Therefore their path will become slippery;
they will be banished to darkness
and there they will fall.
I will bring disaster on them
in the year they are punished,”
declares the Lord.
13 “Among the prophets of Samaria
I saw this repulsive thing:
They prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray. 14 And among the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen something horrible:
They commit adultery and live a lie.
They strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that not one of them turns from their wickedness.
They are all like Sodom to me;
the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”(Jer 23:9-16)
Exiled and Training (v3-6)
Daniel and his three friends are from the tribe of Judah (v6).
They were from royal or noble family (v3)
They were healthy, handsome, smart, knowledgable, the best of the Jews (v4)
The Babylonians attempt to brainwash Daniel and his friends for three years. The Babylonians wanted Daniel and his friends to speak, think and eat and them (v4).
The Babylonians gave them new names to exalt the Babylonians’ gods
Daniel (God is my Judge) -> Belteshazzar (Bel protect his life)
Hananiah (the Lord shows grace) -> Shadrach (command of Aku)
Mishael (Who is like God) -> Meshach (Who is as Aku is)
Azariah (The Lord is my help) -> Abednego (Servant of Nebo)
Refused to Eat defiled Food (v8-16)
God gave the Jews very specific commandments of clean and unclean food in Leviticus chapter 11. “I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy” (Lev 11:44).
God also forbidden them to eat blood in Leviticus chapter 17. ” … I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people. For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar..” (Lev 17:10-11)
Daniel and friends must have remember God’s word: “… man does not live on bread alone but on ever word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deut 8:4)
God intervened by causing the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel (v9)
When faced with the options to obey God or to obey man, Daniel and friends chose to obey God. However they did not threaten anybody, did not stage a protect, did not act violently. Instead they took the wise and gentle approach to ask the guard of the official to test them for ten days (v12).
Being Used by God for God’s Glory
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matt 6:33)
Daniel and friends were faithful to the Lord in small things, can the Lord blessed them with knowledge and understanding of all kind of literature (v17).
Daniel received double portion of blessing, he was blessed with gift to interprete dreams and visions (v17)
It is like God is telling us, be faithful to me in small things, and see how I could use you for His glory.
Daniel lived till Cyrus reign to see the return of Jews to Jerusalem (v21)
English: An image of Daniel interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, as described in the Second Chapter of Daniel. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Daniel’s Answer to the King (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Background
White still a mere youth, Daniel was kidnaped from his noble family in Judah and deported to Babylon to be brainwashed into Babylonian culture for the task of assisting with the imported Jews. He lived during the whole period of the Babylonian exile, at times occupying high office in the Babylonian and Persian empires.
Nine of the twelve chapters relate revelation through dreams and visions. What Revelation is to the NT prophetically and apocalyptically, Daniel is to the OT.
The book covers the entire seventy years of the Babylonian captivity (1:1;9:1-3). It begins in 605 BC when Babylon conquered Jerusalem (1:1) and exiled Daniel, his friends and others (1:6). It continues on to the eventual demise of Babylonian supremacy in 539 BC, when Medo-Persian besiegers conquered Babylon (5:30-31), and goes even beyond that to 536 BC (10:1).
Judah was in sins without national repentance, eventually led to God’s judgement for which Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah had given fair warning. Earlier prophets like Isaiah had also sounded the alarm.
Assyrian’s power declined since 625 BC, its capital Nineveh was conquered by Babylon in 612 BC. Babylon conquered Egypt and then Judah in 605 BC for the first time, followed by two more attacks in 597 BC and 586 BC. Daniel was captured on the first exile, followed by Ezekiel on the second exile (597BC).
Daniel passionately remembered his home, particularly the temple at Jerusalem, almost seventy years after having been taken away from it (6:10).
Author
Daniel is the author of this book. From chapter 7 to 12, he frequently used the first person singular pronoun “I, Daniel” in this book (7:1, 28; 8:2; 15, 27; 9:2 10:1-2; 12:4-5).
The meaning of Daniel is “God is my judge”.
There was three other Daniels in OT (1 Chr 3:1; Ezra 8:2; Neh 10:6), they are not the same person as the prophet Daniel.
Daniel successfully exalting God by his character and service. He quickly rose to the role of statesman by royal appointment and served as a confidant of kings (5:29), as well as a prophet of God, in two world empires: the Babylonian (2:48) and the Medo-Persian (6:1-2).
Daniel is very devoted following of God. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to God (6:10).
The contemporaries of Daniel are Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Jeremiah, and Zephaniah.
Daniel was mentioned by God as a righteous man, together with Noah and Job (Ezekiel 14:14).
Reference in NT
The Lord Jesus referenced Daniel in Matthew 24:15, a proved of the authority of Daniel as a prophet of God. “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel, let the reader understand” (Matt 24:15). Abomination that causes desolation is a special word used only by Daniel (9:27; 11:31; 12:11).
Daniel was alluded in Hebrew when the author mentioned the list of men of faith as someone who shut the mouths of lions (Heb 11:32).
Language
This book is written in Hebrew, except 2:4 – 7:28, which is in Aramaic (what used to be called Chaldee). Aramaic was the commercial and diplomatic language of the time. This is not unusual since this book was written for Jews living among Babylonians.
Division
Background of Daniel (1:1-21)
Conquest of Jerusalem (1:1-2)
Conscription of Jews for Training (1:3-7)
Courage of Four Men in Trial (1:8-16)
Choice of Four Men for Royal Positions (1:17-21)
The prophetic Course of Gentile Dominion (2:1-7:28)
Dilemmas of Nebuchadnezzar (2:1-4:37)
Debauchery and Demise of Belshazzar (5:1-31)
Deliverance of Daniel (6:1-28)
Dream of Daniel (7:1-28)
The Prophetic Course of Israel’s Destiny (8:1-12-13)
Prophecy of the Ram and Male Goat (8:1-27)
Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks (9:1-27)
Prophecy of Israel’s Humiliation and Restoration (10:1-12:13)
Themes
Daniel was written to encourage the exiled Jews by revealing God’s plans for them, both during and after the time of Gentile power in the world. The prominent theme of the book is God’s sovereign control over the affairs of all rulers and nations, and their final replacement with the true King.
The key verses are 2:20-22:
Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are His.
He changes times and seasons;
He deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.
He reveals deep and hidden things;
He knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him.
God sovereignly allowed Gentiles to dominate Israel:
These stages of Gentile power are set forth in chapters 2 to 7. The same them is repeated in chapters 8-12.
Messiah future coming to rule the world in glory over all people is prophesied throughout this book:
2:35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
2:45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
7:13-14 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
7:27 Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.
Chapter 9 provides the chronological framework from Daniel’s time to Christ’s kingdom. The death of Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah was prophesied in 9:26:
9:26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
Miracles in Daniel
The book of Daniel is filled by miracles. God performed these miracles to reveal He is the Creator and Ruler of His creations. These miracles includes:
dreams and their interpretation (chapter 2; 4; 7)
His protection of the three men in a blazing furnace (chapter 3)
His writing on the wall and Daniel’s interpretation of it (chapter 5)
His provision of safety for Daniel in a lions’ den (chapter 6)
God had victory over Satan. Satan challenged God that if Job lost everything that he has, he would surely curse God (1:11). Although Job had questioned God why he suffered, Job never curse God. At the end, Job came to a greater understanding and experience of the greatness and sovereignty of God. Job no longer wanted to know the reason of his suffering, and he no longer ask God for clearing his name (42:1-6). This happened before God blessed Job with double portion of blessings. This proved that Job was fearful to God because of who God is, not because of the blessings he received from God.
Job was vindicated. God finally did vindicate Job by telling his friend Eliphaz that God’s wrath was against them. God did not approve the speeches of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. On top of that, God approved Job’s speeches in front of his friends (42:7). Job must have felt with joy when his name was finally cleared. God even called Job His servant twice in front of his friends (42:7,8).
Job’s friendship with his friends restored. God asked Job’s friends to offer burn offering and asked Job to pray for them (42:8). God wanted Job to learn the lesson of forgiveness.
Job has grown spiritually. After Job had gone through all the sufferings, he now has first hand experience with God. He had a greater understanding of the characters of God. “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You;” (Job 42:5).
Job received double portion of earthly blessings. Because of Job’s endurance, God blessed him with double portions of all that he lost. This shows that our God is full of compassion and is merciful (James 5:11).
Job forgave his wife. Although this is not explicitly mentioned, just the fact that God had blessed Job with ten more children hints that Job has forgiven his wife and continue to be the spiritual leader for his family.
Life’s Lesson
When we are in sufferings, we need to ask the question: “what does God want me to learn?”. Time of suffering is the greatest time for us to have first hand experience with the almighty God. We need to trust that the Lord is compassion and merciful (James 5:11). He is a faithful God, that means He would keep all His promises.
“… but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” (Rom 5:3)
“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.” (James 1:12)
It is God’s greatest desire to have all his children to be mold into the image of His Son Jesus Christ (Rom 8:28-29). I pray that it is my greatest desire as well to be more like my Lord Jesus Christ every time I experienced suffering.
Behemoth and Levaithan (watercolor by William Blake from his 1826 Illustrations of the Book of Job) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Overview
After God has asked Job’s questions regarding the nature and animals, God told Job to answer Him (40:1). Job started to realize about his insignificant and was not able to answer God (40:4-5). However Job is not at the level of understanding of himself and of God where God wanted him to be. So God selected two animals out of all His creations to continue to show His majesty.
The reason why God asked Job questions about His creations was because Job was willing to condemn God by accusing God for being injustice to defense and justify himself (v8). God wanted to show Job that He is the creator of all things, His wisdom and power is infinitely higher than Job. God has the authority to govern His creations according to His perfect good will.
Since Job thought he was more righteous than God, God told Job why don’t he cloth himself with honor and majesty and judge the world by humbling the proud (40:12), by punishing the wicked (40:12)? In another words, God was telling Job: “Why don’t you try to be Me and do My job, and see if you have the wisdom and power to do the job (40:10-13). If Job could do that, God would confess Job’s own right hand could save himself (40:14).
God used two powerful and fearful creatures to challenge Job. The one in chapter 40 is called Behemoth, and the one is chapter 41 is called Leviathan (Job 3:8; Ps 74:14; 104:26; Is 27:1). Some people suggested Behemoth is referring to hippopotamus, and Leviathan is referring to crocodiles. However hippos have short tail, the Behemoth described in chapter 40 has a tail like cedar (40:17). As for Leviathan, the descriptions do not completely match a crocodile neither. 41:18-21 seems to suggest that this creature could breath fire out of its mouth!
These two creatures could possibly referring to dinosaurs.
God challenged Job to capture a Behemoth (v24)? How about could he subdue a Leviathan (41:1)? If Job could not conquer these creatures, on what basis he stood to challenge the Creator (41:10)?
Life’s Lesson
Have you ever questioned or accused God so that we ourselves could be justified? If we could spend time to observe God’s creations, we will surely marvel at His wisdom and power, which is infinitely higher than ours. We have not given anything to God, because whatever is under the whole heaven belongs to God (41:11-12). Thus everything God has given to us are given by His grace. God knows what He is doing. Our job is to trust in Him.
God finally spoke to Job (v1). God was speaking to Job in the midst of a storm (v1). However instead of answering Job’s request to vindicate him, God asked Job a series of questions. Between chapter 38 – 41, God has asked 77 questions to Job.
God told Job to instruct Him (v3) and tell Him (v4, v18) if Job knew the answers to these questions.
The questions in chapter 38 and 39 are in two major categories. First is the nature, second is the animals, both are amazingly designed and created by God.
Nature: earth (v4), sea (v8), sun (v12), gates of death (v17), light (v19), snow (v22), wind (v24), rain (v26), land (v27), seeds (v27), dew (v28), stars (v31-33), clouds (v34), lightning (v35),
The purpose of God asking these questions is so that Job would come to the revelation that God is infinitely more powerful than Job.
It is worth noting that God’s is referenced as Yahweh (H3068) between chapter 38-42. This name of God has not been used after chapter 2, except 12:9. God has been referred as Elowah (H433) or Almighty between chapter 3 to 37. Yahweh means “I am”. I think God wanted Job to know that God is the creator, He is above all. God has total sovereignty of all His creations. He does not owe anyone any answers.
Life’s Lesson
When you experienced hardship in life, do you often ask the Lord the why questions, or do you submit to the Lordship of Christ in our life, and ask the what questions. “Dear Lord, what do You want me to learn this time, teach me O Lord.”
This is the conclusion of Elihu’s speech. As Elihu was concluding his speech, a storm was forming in the horizon, wind was howling towards them, rain started to drip from the skies, lightning and thunder started to strike out of the cloud (v2-5). Elihu said storms were under the commands of God. God causes storms to punish men, or to water His earth and show His love(v13).
And then Elihu asked Job to listen, stand and consider the wonders of God (v14). He asked whether Job knew how God controls the clouds and makes lighting flash, whether Job knew about the wonders of one perfect in knowledge (v16), and can Job spread out the skies together with God?
Life’s Lesson
God frequently puts people in needs around us. Are you ready to guide them towards Christ? Elihu did not try to answer Job’s questions himself, and he did not try to draw Job to himself.
I don’t think Elihu knew God was preparing to speak to Job in the storm, but God used Elihu to prepare Job’s heart for God.
We do not need to know the answers to help people, our parts is to direct them to Christ, and Christ will do His part.
In this chapter, Elihu praised God’s power (v5, 24-30). Although God is all powerful, He does not despise men (v5). God is righteous, He punished the wicked (v6) and gives justice to the afflicted (v6). God has special purpose for people in affliction (v10, 11, 15). That purpose is for them to hear God.
Life’s Lesson
Do you hear God when you are in affliction? When Jesus was on the cross, He spoke to God the father. Our Lord Jesus went through the cross, and set the best example for us to fellow. He knows about affliction, for the sins of the whole world of all times was upon Him. Instead of complaining to God, or being self-pity, why don’t we concentrate in hearing God.
In this chapter, Elihu tried to give explanations to Job’s questions on the characters of God.
v1-8: Job had two questions about God. First, Job thought his righteousness is more than God’s (v2), because God punished an upright man like him. Second, he thought whether man is a good or bad man does not matter to God, because being fearful to God has no benefits compare to the ones who sinned (v3). Job is comparing himself and his righteousness against God and God’s righteousness.
Elihu explained to Job that God is higher than cloud, higher than heavens, of course higher than men (v5). Men are not even in the same level as God, men righteousness and men wickedness affected men, not God. (v6-8)
v9-16: Job has been crying out to God but God did not answer him. Elihu explained that God does not answer empty cry (v13), but God did not forget him. Job’s case is before God, he told Job to wait for God (v14). Elihu comforted Job by saying God gives songs in the night(v10), and God teaches men more than any animal on earth (v11).
Life’s Lesson
Our understanding and experience of God’s characters is challenged when we go through hardship in life.
Nothing we do can add any righteousness to God, and nothing we do can subtract holiness from God. God characters are unchanging from eternity to eternity.
On the other hand, everything we do affect the heart of God. Because God desires to see us to be like Christ. If we are unlike Christ, we hurt God. We are more Christ like, we please God.
In Chapter 33, Elihu spoke to Job. In this chapter, Elihu spoke to Job’s friends. The main purpose of Elihu’s speech in chapter 34 is to vindicates God’s justice before Job and his friends(v1). Job defensed himself as one without transgression (v6), and thus accused God of being unjust for punishing him. Elihu set out to defense for God in this chapter.
The following are Elihu’s main points to show that God is righteous:
God pays a man according to his work (v11)
God alone has authority over this world (v13)
God judge men regardless of their positions (v19)
God see and know about everything about men (v21-23), thus God does not need to inquire men like human judges do (v24)
To defense God’s justice, Elihu criticized Job with the following sins:
drinks up derision like water (v7). In another word, laugh at others frequently
walks with wicked men (v8)
speaks without knowledge and wisdom(v35)
answers like wicked men (v36)
rebellion (v37)
multiplies his words against God (v37).
Life’s Lesson
There are times we need to be like Elihu to defense for God. Are you equipped with His words to defense for God? When the enemy attacks us, our weapon is the sword of the Spirit, which is the words of God.
If we do not know the Lord, we cannot defense for Him. To know Him is to spend time with Him, in His words, in prayers.
