Daniel
Daniel's
name means;
“God
is my Judge.”
Who
was Daniel?
Daniel
had great faithfulness in God,
Because
of this,
Daniel
was given by God the ability to understand dreams and visions of all kinds.
Daniel
is well known for the prophetic dreams and visions God gave him.
Daniel
was given a new name; Belshazzar by the King Nebuchadnezzar.
Belshazzar's feast, with the writing on the wall >>>>
We
can read about the life of Daniel in his own writings in the book of Daniel and
also in Ezekiel 14:14, 20 and 28:3. There are some
striking similarities between the life of Daniel and that of Jacob’s son
Joseph. Both of them prospered in foreign lands after interpreting dreams for
their rulers, and both were elevated to high office as a result of their
faithfulness to God.
After
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, besieged Jerusalem, he chose noble men from
Israel’s royal household who were handsome and showed an aptitude for learning,
to be trained in the ways of the Babylonians. After their three years’
training, they would be put into the king’s service (Daniel 1:1-6).
Daniel, whose name means “God is my judge,” and his three countrymen from Judea
were chosen and given new names. Daniel became “Belteshazzar,” while Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah became “Shadrach," "Meshach," and
"Abednego.” The Babylonians most likely gave them new names that were
completely disassociated with their Hebrew roots to hasten Daniel and his
friends’ assimilation into the Babylonian culture.
Daniel
and his compatriots proved to be the wisest of all the trainees, and, at the
end of their training, they entered the service of King Nebuchadnezzar.
Daniel’s first sign of faithfulness to God was when he and his three friends
rejected the rich food and wine from the king’s table, because they deemed it a
defilement, and became vegetarians. As their health improved, they were
permitted to continue with their chosen diet. In their education, the four men
from Judah became knowledgeable in all Babylonian matters, and Daniel was given
by God the ability to understand dreams and visions of all kinds (Daniel
1:17).
In
the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar was troubled with a dream that he
could not interpret. Beyond interpretation, Nebuchadnezzar commanded his
magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers to also describe his dream.
These men were willing to try to interpret the dream if Nebuchadnezzar first
told them what it was, but they said that revealing the dream itself was an
impossible task for humans. The king decreed that all the wise men, including
Daniel and his companions, must be put to death. However, after Daniel sought
God in prayer, the mystery of the king’s dream was revealed to Daniel, and he
was taken to the king to interpret it. Daniel immediately attributed his
ability to interpret dreams to the one true God (Daniel 2:28). The key
feature of the dream was that one day there will be a kingdom set up by God
that will last forever, and that God’s kingdom will destroy all previous,
man-made kingdoms (Daniel 2:44-45). For his wisdom, Daniel was honored by
King Nebuchadnezzar and placed in authority over all the wise men of Babylon.
At Daniel’s request, his three countrymen were also placed in positions of
authority as administrators of Babylon.
Later,
King Nebuchadnezzar had another dream, and again Daniel was able to interpret
it. The king acknowledged that Daniel had the spirit of his holy God within him
(Daniel 4:9). Daniel’s interpretation of the dream was correct. After
experiencing a period of insanity, Nebuchadnezzar was restored to health, and
he praised and honored Daniel’s God as the Most High (Daniel 4:34-37).
Nebuchadnezzar’s
son, Belshazzar, became the new king, and during a banquet he ordered the gold
and silver goblets that had been stolen from the holy temple in Jerusalem to be
brought out for use. In response to the defilement of such holy items,
Belshazzar sees a hand writing on the wall. His astrologers are unable to
assist him in its translation, and so Daniel is called upon to interpret the
writing (Daniel 5:13-16). As a reward for interpreting the writing,
Daniel is promoted by King Belshazzar to the third highest position in the
Babylonian kingdom (verse 29). That night, as Daniel had prophesied, the king
was slain in battle, and his kingdom was taken over by the Persian Cyrus the
Great, and Darius the Mede was made king.
Under
the new ruler, Daniel excelled in his duties as one of the administrators to
such a degree that King Darius was contemplating making him head over all the
kingdom (Daniel 6:1-3). This infuriated the other administrators so much
that they looked for a way to bring Daniel down. They could find no wrongdoing
on Daniel’s part, so they focused on the matter of Daniel’s religion. Using
flattery, the administrators coaxed Darius into issuing a decree forbidding
prayers to any god other than the king for the next thirty days. The penalty
for disobedience was to be thrown into a den of lions. Daniel disobeyed the
edict, of course, and continued to pray openly to the true God. As Daniel made
no attempt to hide his activity, he was seen praying and arrested. With much
regret the king gave the order for Daniel to be thrown into the lions’ den, but
not without a prayer that Daniel’s God would rescue him (Daniel 6:16).
The next day, when Daniel was found alive and well, he told the king that God
had sent an angel to shut the lions’ mouths and so he had remained unharmed.
This miracle resulted in King Darius sending out a decree that all his subjects
were to worship the God of Daniel. Daniel continued to prosper throughout King
Darius’ reign.
Daniel
is also well known for the prophetic dreams and visions God gave him, recorded
in the book of Daniel. Daniel’s prophecies cover a broad range of human
history, as he predicted the rise and fall of the Greek and Roman Empires and
the rise of a powerful king who “will do as he pleases. He will exalt and
magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God
of gods” (Daniel 11:36). Daniel’s “seventy weeks” prophecy spoke of a
Messiah who would be killed (Daniel 9:24–27). We saw this prophecy
fulfilled with Jesus. The remainder of the prophecy—the seventieth week—will be
fulfilled in the end times. Daniel had other apocalyptic visions as well, and
understanding his prophecies is important to eschatology.
Daniel
exercised great integrity and, in doing so, received the respect and affection
of the powerful rulers he served. However, his honesty and loyalty to his
masters never led him to compromise his faith in the one true God. Rather than
it being an obstacle to his success, Daniel’s continual devotion to God brought
him the admiration of the unbelievers in his circle. When delivering his
interpretations, he was quick to give God the credit for his ability to do so (Daniel
2:28).
Daniel’s
integrity as a man of God gained him favor with the secular world, yet he
refused to compromise his faith in God. Even under the intimidation of kings
and rulers, Daniel remained steadfast in his commitment to God. Daniel also
teaches us that, no matter whom we are dealing with, no matter what their
status is, we are to treat them with compassion. See how concerned he was when
delivering the interpretation to Nebuchadnezzar’s second dream (Daniel 4:19).
As Christians, we are called to obey the rulers and authorities that God has
put in place, treating them with respect and compassion; however, as we see
from Daniel’s example, obeying God’s law must always take precedence over
obeying men (Romans 13:1–7; Acts 5:29).
As a
result of his devotion, Daniel found favor with man and with God (Daniel
9:20-23). Notice also in those verses what the angel Gabriel told Daniel
about how swiftly the answer to his prayer was dispatched. This shows us how
ready the Lord is to hear the prayers of His people. Daniel’s strength lay in
his devotion to prayer and is a lesson for us all. It is not just in the bad
times but on a daily basis that we must come to God in prayer.
From;
Gotquestionsdotorg
__________
7
Fascinating Facts That Will Change How You Read the Book of Daniel
In
Discover Truth by Biblica Staff October 2, 2018
If
you grew up in church, you probably cut your teeth (so to speak) on stories of
Daniel in the lions’ den. You may also have heard about Daniel’s friends, Shadrach,
Meshack, and Abednego, who faced a similar—ahem—degree of persecution. (Okay,
we’ll stop now.) But wait! There’s so much more! Read on to discover seven
things about Daniel we think you’ll find fascinating!
1.
Daniel had two, maybe three, names.
Daniel’s
parents chose a Hebrew name for their son meaning “God is my judge,” testifying
of their faith in the one, true God. But when Daniel was a young man—around 13
or 14—Jerusalem was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and Daniel and
many others were taken into captivity.
In
short order, Daniel’s name was changed by his captors, most likely in an
attempt to erase the connection to Daniel’s Hebrew heritage and to the true God
to whom his name referred. Daniel explains, in Daniel 1:6, that his new name
became Belteshazzar.
The
Babylonians also changed the names of three of Daniel’s friends who were
captured. The young men had been named by their parents Hananiah, Mishael, and
Azariah (their names meaning “Jehovah is Gracious,” “Who Belongs to God,” and
“Jehovah Helps”). According to Daniel, in Babylon these three young men were
given the names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 1:6).
The
four Babylonian names described by Daniel seem to refer to the false gods
worshipped by the Babylonians, but there appear to be a few extra letters or
slight misspellings. Some folks theorize that young men were actually given the
names “Belshazzar,” “Shaduku,” “Meshaku” and “Abednebo” to honor Babylonian
pagan deities Bel, Marduk, Aku, and Nebo—but that Daniel changed the spelling slightly
to remove direct references to the Babylonian gods.
In
addition, the young men were put through an intense re-education process for
three years, during which time they were taught the language, literature, and
culture of the Babylonians before entering the king’s service.
In
other words, every possible effort was made to make them forget the God of
their people, and embrace Babylonian’s pagan culture. Instead, Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah remained true to Jehovah throughout their years
in Babylon.
2. Daniel
may have been famous for doing this for other people, but he needed help doing
it for himself.
Even
as a young man, Daniel had a knack for understanding visions and dreams (Daniel
1:17). A few years later, when Daniel had an opportunity to interpret a
troubling dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, he enlisted the prayer support of the
three Jewish friends who had been taken with him into captivity.
The
result? In a stunning display of God’s power, Daniel told the King the details
and meaning of his dream (Daniel 2:27). In fact, he continued to interpret
crazy, disturbing dreams for the King (Daniel 4:24) and his son (Daniel
5:24-30).
But
when Daniel has his own intriguing vision in Daniel 7: 1-14, he doesn’t know
what it means, so he asks someone else to interpret his vision for him.
Granted, it’s someone in his vision—perhaps an angel—so we have a situation of
Daniel’s vision interpreting itself (not quite an Inceptionesque twist, but
certainly intriguing!), which we think qualifies as Daniel getting help and not
doing it himself. We think.
3.
Daniel lived at the same time as another influential guy (someone you might
associate with cookies)
While
Daniel was serving in Babylon, Confucius was growing up in a region that today
is known as Qufu, China. (Babylon, by the way, was located about 60 miles from
present-day Bagdad, Iraq). That puts these two famous, historical men about
4000 miles from each other during the years BC 550-538.
Confucius,
as you probably know, was a Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and
philosopher. He’s known for his teachings about morality, virtues, and society,
and after his death a book was written containing many of his wise thoughts and
sayings. (Maybe this is why we associate him with the pithy sayings in Fortune
Cookies, even though the cookies were actually invented in California in the
early 1900’s.)
4.
Daniel maintained a vibrant faith in God despite living and working in an
ungodly culture surrounded by unbelievers.
Believe
it or not, Daniel was eventually made the chief of the magicians, enchanters,
astrologers and diviners (Daniel 5:11). He was in charge of all these men
(Daniel 2:48), which sounds like they were not just his colleagues, they may
actually have answered to him. Did they share his faith in God? Of course not.
They looked to other things for their false power, and were involved in
practices that were forbidden by God (Leviticus 19:26).
What
does it take to live uncompromisingly for God in a Godless environment? From
the time Daniel arrived in Babylon, the pressure was on to be indoctrinated
into the Babylonian culture.
And
yet despite all the brainwashing, these four men stayed true to the faith of
their fathers, living and working (and even thriving) in that culture without
letting it undermine their relationship with God (just like we are challenged
to do today!).
5.
Daniel is written in two languages.
The
book of Daniel is written in Hebrew—except for most of chapter 2 and all
of chapters 3-7. These passages are written in Aramaic.
The
languages are closely related, indeed, but why the shift? Theories vary, but a
lot of folks think that the portions of the book of Daniel intended
specifically for Jews were written in Hebrew, while portions with a broader
message to the nations were written in the language used across that world for
diplomacy and commerce, which was Aramaic.
6.
Daniel served under four different kings.
Babylon’s
King Nebuchadnezzar ransacked Jerusalem and, in the process, took many of the
Children of Israel to Babylon in captivity. When Nebuchadnezzar died, his son
Belshazzar became King. He was followed by kings Darius and Cyrus. We know that
Daniel remained in Babylon through the first year of the reign of King Cyrus
(Daniel 1:21).
7.
Daniel was in his eighties when he was thrown into the lions’ den.
You
may have seen drawings of Daniel as a strapping young man looking peaceful in
the midst of pacing, hungry lions. The reality is that Daniel is estimated to
have been in his early eighties when this event happened. He was also, by that
point, so respected by his superiors that King Cyrus was planning to put Daniel
in charge of the entire Kingdom.
That
is, until jealous peers tricked the King into passing an irrevocable degree
that landed Daniel in the lions’ den, much to the King’s chagrin. No one seemed
happier than the remorseful King when he rushed to the mouth of the lions’ den
at dawn and discovered that Daniel was alive and unhurt.
By
the way, shortly after this event, King Cyrus allowed the Jews that
Nebuchadnezzar brought to Babylon in captivity to return home to Jerusalem,
instructing them to rebuild the temple of the God of Israel that Nebuchadnezzar
had destroyed. Cyrus also returned more than 5000 priceless articles—including
gold and silver dishes, pans, and bowls—that Nebuchadnezzar had stolen from the
temple in Jerusalem 70 years earlier. He even financed the whole thing, giving
them whatever they needed—including bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings;
as well as wheat and oil and wine to sustain them—until the job was done (Ezra
1:1-4).
In
essence, King Cyrus did everything he could to undo the destruction that had
been wrought upon the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar.