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)
