Author's Notes
Introduction
Daniel: 605-633 B.C.
Many
miracles occur in the book, and he writes much about end-times events. He is
the only prophet who deals with the 400 years of silence between the Old and
New Testaments (Daniel 11).
In Chapter 11 Daniel gives us a prophetic view of the world events that will happen in the 400 years between the Old and New Testaments. I find it amazing that Daniel prophesies all these events from 533 B.C., nearly 100 years before the actual historical events begin to take place.
It is interesting that the end of Chapter 11:36-45, deals with the tribulation period and Antichrist’s future career. We’ll look at the events of Chapter 11 in detail when we get there.
Chapter 1
Vv 1 – 7 The Choice Young Men
V 1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim (609-597 B. C.) king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar
king
of
A. We have determined in our
introduction that the year was 606 B.C.
1. Other dates can be found, but much depends
on whose view you take.
2. The Jews counted the very year a king
began his reign as the first year.
a. Example. If I became king today,
September, 2009, the nations would say that my first
year was 2009.
b. However, the Jews would not count my
reign as one year until I had held office
for a full year, September, 2010 would then by my first
year.
3. In the third year of Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar—605
to 562 B.C.—he came to
4. From 2 Kings 24 and 2 Chronicles 36, we
learn that he takes valuables from the
and Daniel tells us that he takes sons of the royal
family, or the young men who where
being trained to serve in the King’s court, back to
5. Daniel was one of these “royal family”
kids.
6. He was probably 12 or 13 years old at the
time.
7. Why is this year important in Jewish
history? Because 70 years later, Cyrus takes
and he lets the Jews go back to
V 2 The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of
house
of God; and he brought them to the
brought
the vessels into the treasury of his god.
B. Interesting to note that
Daniel ascribes the takeover of
1. Without the Lord, nothing takes place that
takes place in history.
a. WW1 and WW2, took place so that
b. Without an
2. The
3. The pagans honored their gods and gave
them credit for the victory by decorating around
them with the gods from the lands they took.
V 3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in
some of the sons of
Israel,
including some of the royal family and of the nobles,
C. After placing his trophies
in his god-room, the king wants to see these prize young men he’s
taken, too.
V 4 youths in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence
in every branch
of
wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had
ability
for
serving in the king's court; and he ordered him to teach them the literature
and
language
of the Chaldean's.
D. The young men that he had
taken were examined as one might examine a good horse or cow.
1. These young men could have no defect,
injury, limp or scar.
2. They had to be handsome.
3. Intelligence has always been regarded as a
good trait.
4. Not only intelligent but able to show that
in all wisdom.
5. They had to be endowed with understanding.
6. The knowledge to be discerning, to know right from wrong, which spoon to use or
which fork to hold, etc.
7. They had to possess the intelligence and
wisdom to serve in the King’s court.
a. You know they don’t allow just anyone to
be around the king, don’t you?
b. You have to know how to act, when to
speak and when to be silent, etc.
8. Then the king ordered that they be taught
literature and the Babylonian language.
V 5 The king appointed for them a daily ration from the king's choice food
and from the wine
which
he drank, and appointed that they should be educated three years, at the end of
which
they were to enter the king's personal service.
E. These young men were
treated very well.
1. Given a daily ration of food and wine.
a. Not just any ordinary food and wine.
b. No, it was the same food and wine the
king ate and drank.
2. What kind of education do you think they
received?
a. Educated in all the ways of the
Babylonians.
b. The purpose was to train them to be good
little Babylonians.
c. If they could get these kids to forget
home and their religion and adopt the ways of
3. Later they would enter the service of the
king in some capacity depending on how well
well they did in their studies and capabilities to add to
his kingdom.
V 6 Now among them from the sons of
F. We do not know how many
young men the king took from
1. We only learn about 4.
2. The reason we learn about these 4 young
men is because they would not change from being
Jews regardless of the penalty.
V 7 Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them; and to
Daniel he assigned
the
name Belteshazzar, to Hananiah Shadrach, to Mishael Meshach and to Azariah
Abed-nego.
G. We’re going to hang out
here just a little bit.
1. What’s in a name?
2. In the case of a Jew, everything.
3. A Jew was taught to see everything from
the perspective of his name.
a. Abram to Abraham—high father to father
of many.
b. Abraham begin to view himself as just
that, the father of many even though he had no
children.
4. The Babylonians thought that by changing
the names of these young men it would change
their religious views, too.
a. Their name change would make them see
themselves as who their new name represented.
b. They would become valuable assets to the
King because they would buy into the Babylonian
ways of life, education, literature, history and
religion.
5. Apparently, the Babylonian was worked with
all the other Jewish boys brought there;
however, it did not work with these four.
6. Daniel meant, God is my Judge.
a. His name was changed to Belteshazzar.
b. His Babylonian name means, May Bel
protect his life.
c. Daniel saw the world through his name,
God is my Judge.
d. If you asked Daniel a question on any
subject, he’d reply, “As God is my judge, here is
the answer.
e. You’ll see this played out through out
the book of Daniel.
7. Hananiah means, “Yahweh is gracious.”
a. His name was changed to Shadrach which meant “command of Aku” the moon God.
b. Hananiah saw the world through his name.
c. If you asked him a question, he’d answer
it with, “Just remember how gracious the Lord
is to you.”
8. Mishael means, “Who is what God is?”
a. His name was changed to Meshach which
means, “Who is what Aku is?”
b. Mishael saw the world through his name.
c. If you asked him a question, he’d answer
with, “There’s nothing like God is.”
9. Azariah means, “Whom Yahweh helps.”
a. His name was changed to Abed-nego which
means, “Servant of Nebo.”
b. Azariah saw the world through his name.
c. If you asked Azariah a question, he’d
answer with, “Whomever Yahweh helps is helped
indeed.”
10. If you asked Daniel, What
is life? He’d say, “Life is Great because it is judged by God.”
11. If you asked Hananiah,
What is life? He’d say, “God deals with life in a gracious manner.”
12. If you asked Mishael,
What is life? He’d say, “Life is what God is all about!”
13. If you asked Azariah,
What is life? He’d say, “God will help me through life.”
14. Each Jewish name contains
a name for the true God, el or iah.
15. Each Babylonian name
contains a name for a heathen god.
16. Isn’t it amazing how
Satan always tries to imitate God.
a. That’s all he knows.
b. He has nothing original in him at all.
c. He only knows lies, and an imitation of
God for Satan is a lie.
Vv 8 – 21 Daniel's Resolve
V 8 But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the
king's choice food or
with
the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the
officials
that he might not defile himself.
A. Daniel decides to stay
Kosher.
1. Now this was not only a choice that Daniel
makes.
2. The other three young men made their
choice along with Daniel.
3. They decide that they will only eat
vegetables and drink water.
4. Now they just didn’t refuse to do this.
5. They asked the man in charge if it would
be o.k.
V 9 Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the
commander of the
Officials.
B. Whoever was in charge of
the men, God granted favor in his eyes.
V 10 And the commander of the officials said to Daniel, I am afraid of my
lord the king, who has
appointed
your food and your drink; for why should he see your faces looking more
haggard
than the youths who are your own age? Then you would make me forfeit my
head
to the king.
C. When Daniel asks the man
in charge, he tells him, no way. Do you want to get me
beheaded? If you guys show up in front of the king and he
sees you all skinny,
he’ll want to know why I haven’t been feeding you.
V 11 But Daniel said to the overseer whom the commander of the officials had
appointed over
Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, V 12 Please test your servants for ten days, and
let
us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink.
D. God gives Daniel the right
words to say, Test us for ten days and see if we are different from
the others.
V 13 Then let our appearance be observed in your presence and the appearance
of the youths
who
are eating the king's choice food; and deal with your servants according to
what you
see.
E. At the end of ten days,
see if we look any differently than those eating the kings food.
V 14 So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days.
F. You knew he was going to
listen because God had given them favor, remember!
V 15 At the end of ten days their appearance seemed better and they were
fatter than all the
youths
who had been eating the king's choice food.
G. After the test days were
over, the four men appeared to be in better health than the rest.
V 16 So the overseer continued to withhold their choice food and the wine
they were to drink, and
kept giving
them vegetables.
H. So the man in charge
allowed them to remain on Kosher foods rather than defile their bodies
with food of the pagans.
V 17 As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in
every branch of
literature
and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams.
I. Because they remain
faithful to God, he causes them to excel in all their studies.
1. He gives them wisdom and discernment.
2. He gives Daniel the ability to understand
dreams and visions.
3. However, only God can do this through
someone.
V 18 Then at the end of the days which the king had specified for presenting
them, the
commander
of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar.
J. How long were they in
training? 3 years.
V 19 The king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel,
Hananiah,
Mishael
and Azariah; so they entered the king's personal service.
K. These four young Jews
exceeded all the others in looks, manners, intelligence, wisdom and
discernment.
1. Their faithfulness to God paid off big
time.
2. Because of their choices, God honored them
and caused them to go to the head of the class.
3. They didn’t just go into the King’s
service, they went into his “personal service.”
4. Wonder what happened to the rest of the
class?
V 20 As for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king
consulted them, he
found
them ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all his
realm.
L. Now they weren’t just
smatter than their peers, they were far advanced to the king’s own
wise men—even ten times smarter.
V 21 And Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus the king.
M. If he started after a
three-year training period, Daniel served the kings of
67 years.
Study Questions
Daniel Chapter 1
1. When was Daniel
taken captive?
2. Why is it important to know the year?
3. What is to happen 70 years later?
4. Where is the
5. Who gave the Israelis to the Babylonians?
6. Why did the king treat these young captives so well?
7. What kind of food and drank were they served?
8. What kind of an education do you think they received?
9. What was the purpose of the education?
10. Which branch of service would they enter whenever they finished school?
11. Why are we only told about four young Jewish boys from all that were taken?
12. Why did they change their names?
13. What does Daniel’s name mean?
14. What does Belteshazzar mean?
15. What does Hananiah mean?
16 What does Shadrach mean?
17. What did God give to the four young Jews for being faithful to Him?
18. How long were these young men in training?
19. How many years did Daniel serve the kings of
Howard
Who You Are Isn't Based on Performance with God. Who You Are Should Have A Direct Bearing on How You Perform.
No comments:
Post a Comment