DanielThe Grace InstituteGrace Community FellowshipApril 16, 1998 |
During the first of three assaults on Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (604 BC), the best and brightest of Judah were taken captive to be trained in the service of the King. The purpose of their captivity was two fold: 1) By taking the best and brightest, the conquered nation is left with less capable leadership and the poor. 2) By indoctrinating these men with Babylonian culture, they strip the conquered land of its cultural and religious heritage. It is in the second point that the conquering Babylonians had not counted on the faith of four young men named Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
There are four crisis's which these young men must face. In each situation they respond by trusting God. In each situation, God delivers them. And in each situation, thier faith is observed by the King. In the final three, this observed faith provokes the King to recognize and honor God. Here we see God's people being a light to the nations. Daniel and his companions are revealing to Kings the greatness and the mercy of the God of Israel, and his sovereignty over all other gods and kings.
The Babylonian strategy to strip these captives of their native culture and religion began with a change of names. The four Hebrews are now known as Beltshazzar, Shaadrach, Meshach, and Abed Nego. While this was not a problem for these young men, when their trainer, Ashpenaz, innocuously provided them with food which was against the Mosaic law, they were faced with a decision. They could either forsake their Jewish heritage and accept the Babylonian heritage, or they could cling to their faith in God, trusting Him with their future.
Daniel respectfully proposed a solution to Ashpenaz which would allow them to keep the law without risking Ashpenaz's life. The Hebrews would be given vegetables and water for 10 days. If after that time they were less healthy than the others, they'd be allowed to keep their diet. This was a statement of faith on the young Jews part. They trusted that God would not have given them a commandment which was not good for them. God did not arbitrarily create commandments. These four men believed this and were willing to stake their future on this.
God delivers. At the end of the test period, God has caused the Hebrews to be more healthy than any of the other trainees. God is faithful to his promise.
Both Ashpenaz and Nebuchadnezzar promoted the young men to positions of prominence. The Gentile leaders recognized the outstanding character of these men; a character which was exhibited in their faithfulness to their God, their people, and their heritage.
God initiates the next crisis by giving the King a disturbing dream. Nebuchadnezzar uses this dream as a means to test his Wise Men, asking them not only to interpret the dream, but to tell him what the dream was.
(Daniel 2:9 NKJV) "If you do not make known the dream to me, there is only one decree for you! For you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the time has changed. Therefore tell me the dream and I shall know that you can give me its interpretation."
Nebuchadnezzar, frustrated at his wise men, decides to kill them all, including Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
Daniel and his friends came together "that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon" (2:18). They responded with humility before God, placing their trouble at His feet.
God gives Daniel knowledge of the dream and it's interpretation. Daniel is excited about God's responsiveness [2:20-23] and is ready to share with Nebuchadnezzar the greatness of God's mercy [2:28]. In Daniel's response we see the theme of the book first revealed:
(Daniel 3:20-21 NKJV) "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding."
Nebuchadnezzar responds to Daniel's statement of faith:
(Daniel 3:47 NKJV) "Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret"
The Hebrews are a light showing God's character to the Gentiles, revealing his sovereignty to the King of Babylon himself.
Nebuchadnezzar may have learned that the Hebrew's God was the God of gods, but he didn't learn that He himself was not a god. In chapter 3, Nebuchadnezzar builds a statue in honor to himself, and requires that all his subject bow down to his image. Those that don't are thrown into the fiery furnace.
Shadrack, Meshach, and Abed-Nego are caught not bowing to this image. There statement of faith is respectful of the King, but bold in its message. They state that our God is greater than the King and is greater than the gods of the Babylonians:
(Daniel 4:16-18 NKJV) "'O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the golden image which you have set up.'"
God responds by bringing these faithful me through the fire.
Nebuchadnezzar is impressed with the willingness of Shadrack, Meshach, and Abed-Nego to yield their bodies to honor their God by not worshipping any other god. The King again is shown the greatness of the God of the Jews, and declares himself, "there is no other God who can deliver like this." (3:29).
Nebuchadnezzar again proclaims the supremacy of the God of Israel.
Several years later, after Babylon is conquered by Persia, the king set in charge of Babylon decides to have his subjects petition only himself.
The response of Daniel, who is now an old man, is a beautiful statement of faith in God. In 6:10 we see that Daniel opened up his windows and knelt down facing Jerusalem and prayed to God as was his custom. He knew the law, and chose to disobey openly. He did not have to open the windows for all to see. He could have prayed silently. But Daniel was making a statement that his God was greater than Darius.
Much to the dismay of the king, Daniel is thrown into the lion's den. Darius himself, at this point makes a statement in 6:16, "Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you." Darius was aware of Daniel's faithful service to God, and knew enough about his God that he believed Daniel would be saved.
Upon Daniel's deliverance, Darius writes a decree recorded in Daniel 6:25-28 proclaiming God's greatness, and repeating the theme of the book.
In each of the above situations, the faith of the Hebrews provoked a response in the king of Babylon. They recognized not only the courage and faithfulness of the men, but they recognized the sovereignty of God. Through these men's actions, the kings learned humility before God.
Although Nebuchadnezzar had seen God's sovereignty at work, he did not completely understand his own position in relation to God. Nebuchadnezzar, walking around Babylon takes the credit for the greatness of his kingdom:
(Daniel 4:30 NKJV) "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?"
The king is humble immediately by God, going insane. God revealed to the king that God is greater than kings and has the power to raise them up or bring them down according to His purposes.
After Nebuchadnezzar recognized this, he is restored. But now the king humbly understands his position before God:
(Daniel 4:34-34 NKJV) "For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven. And among the inhabitants of the earth, no on can restrain His hand or say to Him, 'What have You done?'"
Belshazzar was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, and was co-regent of Babylon in the days before its fall to Persia. His father, King Nabonidus was unpopular with the priestly class in the city of Babylon, and moved his throne to Taima in north Arabia and left control of the city and a major part of his army to his son in the city [1].
Chapter 5 takes place on the eve of Persia's invasion of Babylon. Belshazzar's father, Nabonidus, has already been defeated by the Persians in a battle north of the city. Many of the priestly class have betrayed Belshazzar, promising the King of Persia that they would surrender Babylon without a fight in exchange for certain privileges.
In this context, Belshazzar decides to throw a party. He invites his lords, brings out the gold and silver vessels taken from the temple in Jerusalem, drinks wine with the concubines, "praising the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone."(5:4)
During the feast he sees the hand writing on the wall, saying "mene, mene, tekel, upharsin." No one can understand the meaning, so Daniel is brought in to interpret.
Daniel recounts for Belshazzar the humility of his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, when confronted with an Almighty God. But "you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven... and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified." (5:22-23)
Belshazzar was not humble, and did not believe that God ruled over the nations and directed kings. The result was his destruction as "that very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain." (5:30)
Nebuchadnezzar's dream in chapter 2 and the final 6 chapters of Daniel gives predictions as to the upcoming events in the history of the world. Five kingdoms are mentioned, and their rise and fall is described as being under the control of God. This continual theme of the book is emphasized first for the Gentile nations, but also as a reassurance to Israel that even while under the subjugation of other nations, God is still in control and He will someday restore their kingdom.
Babylon is considered to be the greatest of the coming kingdoms. While not the largest nor the longest lasting, Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom was the first "world-wide" empire. This kingdom was an agent of God to provide punishment to Judah.
In Daniel's first vision, Babylon is represented by a winged lion. This lion, however, was deprived of its wings and given a human heart. This suggests that this kingdom was deprived of its violent animal nature and was given a compassionate heart. This could refer to Nebuchadnezzar's humiliation found in chapter 4 [2].
The second kingdom is described as inferior to the Babylonian empire. Although this empire was larger and bureaucratically more sophisticated, this empire merely built upon the empire already established by Babylon. In fact, as discussed above, the Babylonian empire was nearly handed to Persia by the enemies of Belshazzar.
In 539 BC Cyrus defeated Babylon and Lydia. Persia expanded far into Asia Minor, and "devoured much flesh."
Cyrus had defeated the Medes and merged their empires into the Medio-Persian empire. This is represented in Daniel's vision by the two horns, the greater horn representing Persia. And, just as predicted in the vision, the empire grew northward towards Armenia, westward towards Greece and southward towards Egypt..
The four kings which follow are Cambyses, Pseudo-Smerdis, Darius the Great, and Xerxes (the king in the book of Esther) [3].
This is the kingdom of Alexander the Great and his successors.
Alexander was like a leopard in that his conquering army was very swift, conquering the Persians, Egyptians, and all other nations quickly. Upon Alexander's untimely death in 323, the empire was divided his four generals, represented in Daniel's vision as a four headed leopard.
Alexander's swiftness is reiterated in the next vision, when in verse 5 it describes a goat moving so that it was not even touching the ground. In verse 8, the large horn is broken, representing Alexander's death and four horns grew up in its place, representing the four generals who succeeded him: Cassander in Macedonia; Lysimachus in Thrace and much of Asia Minor; Seleucus in Syria; and Ptolemy in Egypt.
After a time, one of the horns grew a new small horn which grew in the south towards the "Beautiful Land." This horn represents a king who will destroy the mighty and holy people. This new horn is Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and will be discussed in fuller detail below.
Alexander is mentioned again in verse 11, described as the mighty king. His death and divided kingdom is also described. After this a lengthy discourse about a battle between the southern division and the northern kingdom begins. These are the wars between the Seleucid kingdom of the north and the Ptolemic kingdom of the south known as the Syrian Wars. This was a series of five wars between 274 BC and 200 BC were the two kingdoms struggled for supremacy. Palestine was caught between these two kingdoms, causing the territory to go from being under the control of the south to eventually that of the north. This seesaw struggle is described in verses 9-13 [4].
Verse 6 describes the coming marriage between Ptolemy II's daughter and Antiochus, a Seleucid. And as predicted, Antiochus murdered her. But, one of her descendants, Ptolmey III invaded Syria in the third war of 246 BC.
Verses 14-20 describe Antiochus III (the Great) who initiated the fourth war, winning Palestine for good from the Egyptian ruler. Antiochus III tried to conquer Greece, but was defeated by Rome in 190 BC.
Verses 21-35 describe the next Selucid ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes. Antiochus launched a program of encouraging Greek culture and institutions throughout his kingdom [5]. In Judea, there were already two parties influencing Jewish life: the Hasideans, who favored orthodox Judiasm, and the Hellenists, who favored reform and Greek culture. In 172, Antiochus appointed a new high priest from the Hellenists and defended his choice against rebels by occupying Jerusalem with his army. (vs. 30b, "he will come back and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant.")
He then prohibited adherence to the Sabbath and circumcision, and prohibited sacrifices at the temple. (vs.31, "And forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice.) Then he put an altar to Zeus and a statue of himself inside the temple, demanding that sacrifices be placed at the feet of the statue. (vs. 31b, "And they will set up the abomination of desolation).
This abomination incited a family known as the Maccabees, began guerrilla warfare against Antiochus' army (vs. 32, "but the people who know their God will display strength and take action), which eventually led to Jewish independance.
The description from verse 39 does not correspond with the rest of Antiochus' life, and instead points to a yet future event where another abomination of desolation takes place under a resurgent Roman empire (see below).
The fourth kingdom in Nebuchadnezzar's dream represents Rome. This nation is a divided nation that never successfully integrates all its elements, as represented by the clay and iron mixed together. From this kingdom comes 10 toes representing 10 kingdoms which follow after the reign of Rome.
Of all the images in Daniel's first vision, the image of the Beast with 10 horns disturbs Daniel the most (7:19). The final unknown beast has one little horn which consumes 3 other horns and utters great with great pride. Out of this Roman empire will come 10 nations. One of the kingdoms will subdue three of the others. This one will speak out against God and persecute the saints for three and half years. Revelation 13 records the Apostle John's vision of what appears to be the same beast. John's beast also had 10 horns (Rev. 13:1), and had elements of all three of Nebuchadnezzar's parade of animals: bear, leopard, and lion (Rev. 13:2). This beast also was prideful (Rev. 13:5), reigned for three and half years (Rev. 13:5), and persecutes the saints (Rev. 13:7).
Because there has been no kingdom which fits these events, it seems this must be describing a yet future event [6]. Furthermore, it is not clear exactly what 10 nations succeeded the Roman empire. The question then must be asked why there is at least a 2,000 year gap in the timeline of this prophecy? This is explained in the fifth kingdom, Israel.
The final kingdom which will last forever is represented in Nebuchadnezzar's Dream as a stone which destroys the statue of nations. Scripture often describes the Messiah as a stone (Ps. 118:22, Is. 8:14, 28:16, 1 Peter 2:6-8), and in the gospels, Jesus quotes Ps. 118:22 and declares himself to be its fulfillment (Matthew 21:42, Mark 22:44, Luke 20:18).
There are those who claim that this final kingdom is the church, and that the stone that crushes the nations came during Christ's coming. The argument goes that Christ came during the Roman Empire, and that the church replaced the authority of Rome. This, however, does not seem to fit with the rest of prophecies of Daniel, as the destruction of Rome follows the reign of the beast, which (as is discussed above) does not seem to have taken place yet.
The coming kingdom, then must be a yet future event which will take place at the second coming of Christ. The scene is described vividly as Daniel observes one called the Ancient of Days who is holy and pure. This Ancient of Days sends One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. To Him is given the earth as his kingdom, to which all the nations belong.
In chapter 9, Daniel realizes that the 70 years of captivity prophesied by Jeremiah is about to be accomplished. So Daniel prays to God, confessing his peoples sin, and basically asking God, "OK, what happens next?" God responds by sending Gabriel in a vision who tells him the future of Israel.
The remaining history of Israel lasts 70 weeks (literally seventy sevens), or 490 years. It is at the end of this 490 years that Israel will be finished with its sin and enter everlasting righteousness. We have seen this era in Israel's history predicted in nearly all the other prophets as a time when Israel's enemies would no longer prevail, and Israel will never stray away from God.
The clock starts when the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem is issued (vs. 25). According to Nehemiah 2:1-8, this took place on March 14, 445 BC. The streets and walls will be rebuild during a period of 7 weeks and then 62 weeks.
At the end of this time, the Messiah shall be cut off (vs. 26). These 434 years extend right up to the very first Palm Sunday, when Jesus presented himself as the Messiah (Zechariah 9:9, Luke 19:28-40) [7]. Jesus himself was aware of this prophecy, for in Luke 19:41-44 he weeps for the coming destruction of Jerusalem at the hand of the Romans ("the people of the prince who is to come") [8] as predicted in verse 26 and fulfilled in 70 AD.
The cutting off of the Messiah was also predicted in Isaiah 53:8 where it says "He was cut off from the land of the living..." This chapter also describes how the Messiah would be rejected and despised, even by the Jews themselves. In Luke 18:42-43, Jesus knew that the Jews would reject him, and declared that because of their rejection, "the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it." It seems that Jesus was stating that the Jews would be set aside for a time because of their rejection of Christ, and in its place the church would received be grafted into the kingdom (Romans 11:22-25).
The removal of the kingdom of God from Israel would indicate that there is an unspecified gap of time between the 69th and 70th week. There are three evidences for this "prophetic parenthesis) [9]: 1) The gap is implied by the most natural reading of the passage, 2) the destruction of Jerusalem comes several years after the Messiah's death, thus throwing off a continuous time line, 3)The events in verse 24 cannot be found in known history.
At the end of this gap, comes the 70th week. Here the prince previously described as the growing horn of the beast, will make a covenant with Israel. But three and a half years into this covenant, the temple sacrifices will end and the abomination of desolation will return. This refers back to the unfulfilled prophecies of Antiochus, who is a foreshadowing of this final prince.
At the end of this 70th week, then, Israel's kingdom will be established for good, never again forsaking God, never again to be destroyed or cursed by other nations. The final kingdom ruled by the Son of Man himself. This is the culmination of the sovereignty of God over kings and nations. Now, his sovereignty is not hidden, but obvious. It is at the establishment of this kingdom that "every knew should bow." (Philippians 2:10)
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The Grace Institute is a three year course of study offered at Grace Community Fellowship taking a deeper look at the scriptures, doctrine, and ministry. These notes are from the Winter 1998 semester class, Survey of Old Testament Prophets. This class was taught by Ken Carson, an elder at Grace Community Fellowship. Back to The Grace Institute Home
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