Daniel - Chapter 1
DANIEL 1
September 11, 2011
Sunday Evening Service
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Daniel’s name means the judgment of God. Daniel lived an active life in the courts and council of some of the greatest monarchs, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, and Dairus. If those who have much to do in the world and the world systems use that as an excuse of not fellowshipping with and serving the Lord, Daniel will condemn them.
The first six chapters are historical, and are plain and easy. The last six are prophetic. In them are many things hard to understand, which would be more intelligible if we had a more complete history of the Jewish nation, from Daniel’s time to the coming of the Messiah.
One aspect of comprehending the metaphors as it seems to me we must establish where Daniel is at the time of this writing. He is in Babylon which is now part of Iraq near Bagdad in the continent of Asia. “The land of Shinar” in verse two is the land of two rivers, a region around Babylon.
In chapter 11:34-45 describes the time of the end of wars in the last days between the King of the North and the King; a prophetic description of the last king of the north, Antichrist, and his conquests of the nations and his dealings with Israel. “And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end; because it is yet for a time appointed. And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper until the indignation be accomplished; for that which is determined shall be done.”
Most scholars believe the King of the South is Egypt; the King of the North, Syria; the Kings of the East – Far East; the leader of the West-Grecian/Roman Empire.
Asia is the earth’s largest continent. It covers nearly 1/3 of the world’s land area, and more than half the world’s people live there. The earliest civilizations and all the world’s greatest religions began in Asia: Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Shintoism and Taoism.
Powerful world empires have ruled in Asia since the beginning with the focus around the Middle East.
Northern Asia -- Russia or Siberia
Central Asia – Tibet, Western China and Mongolia
Eastern Asia – The Far East is Japan, Korea, Formosa, and most of China.
Southern Asia – Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, etc.
Southeast Asia—From Burma to Vietnam, Indonesian Islands and the Philippines
Southwest Asia –Middle East—Iran, Turkey, Syria, Arabian Peninsula, Israel and Iraq
I believe that God placed this prophet in this exact geographical location due to divine providence. This was prophesied by the Prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 25: 7-12: ‘You have not listened to and obeyed me, says the Lord that you might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. Therefore says the Lord of hosts; Because you have not heard my words, Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring hem against his land and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them and them an astonishment, and a hissing and perpetual desolation…and it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation says the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it a perpetual desolation”
The date of this prophecy is precise. It was the 23rd year of Jeremiah’s ministry. Nebuchadnezzar, my servant is used by the Lord as His agent of judgment.
Daniel and his friends were part of this dispersion of Israel to Babylon.
1:3: “The king spoke unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes. Children of whom there was no blemish, but well favored and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.”
Notice the lineage of the Kingly anointing. The Hebrew children were of noble birth which would indicate that Daniel is from the royal family of Judah. Their age is not given, but their careers suggest hey were twelve or thirteen years old, the flower of Judah’s next generation. Their physical perfection was a gift from birth, its maintenance their responsibility.
The learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans were people connected with the Arameans. In Daniel, the name is used less of a people (5:30; 9:1) than of a class of wise men amongst the people. The national name was applied to particularly distinguished men. The analogy has been applied to the Magi, a Median tribe by origin, giving its name to a cast of wise men, dream-interpreters and priests.
Aramaic was the common tongue, but learned men and conservative scribes kept the ancient Babylonian language and script alive until the first century. The King wanted the young Judeans to learn both in their undergraduate course. Their educations was to fit them for the royal service. Babylon’s bureaucracy was highly organized.
1:5: “The king appointed them a daily provision of the king’s meat, and of the wine which he drank; so nourishing them three years that at the end thereof they might stand before the king.”
This would be graduation time when the new graduates were to join the king’s permanent retinue, a large body, highly privileged, but totally depending upon the royal whim.
(Vs 6) “Now among these”: The scene has been set for the heroes to be introduced. Daniel:”God has judged’, Hananiah: ‘the Lord has been gracious’, Mishael: “who is what God is?’ Azariah: ‘the Lord has helped’.
Giving names to captives or foreign slaves was a sign of their being put under subjection and to shame them.
Belteshazzar: O lady protect the king. The Lady being the wife of Marduk, god of Babylon.
Shadrach: I am very fearful (of a god);
Meshack: “I am of no account’;
Abednego: Servant of the shining one.
It seems that Daniel was the spokesman for the others.
(Vs.8) “Daniel proposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now god had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your meat and your drink ‘ for why should he see your faces worse likening the children which are of you sort? Then shall you make me endanger my heard to the king. Then said Daniel to Meltzer, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Prove thy servants, I beseech you, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat and water to drink.”
Pulse is vegetable, seeds, grains of barley, etc., boiled or roasted. Pulse has high nutritional value and is still a staple of Near Eastern meals. In ten days the effects of a rich diet would show in the skin of the face and general alertness or sluggishness of demeanor.
(Vs. 15) “At the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which ate the portion of the king’s meat. Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse.”
Fatness indicates sufficiency and prosperity throughout the OT. This confirms the supernatural element in the training of these 4 youth. God blessed them physically when they took a stand for a proper diet. He also blessed them mentally and spiritually for their stand regarding His law. The faithfulness of the four friend’s God rewarded with first class honors, fitting the men for any aspect of government.
(Vs 18-21) “NOW AT THE END OF THE DAYS THAT THE KING HAD SAID HE SHOULD BRING THEM IN, THEN THE PRINCE OF THE EUNUCHS BROUGHT THEM IN BEFORE NEBUCHADNEZZAR. And the king communicated with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they stood before the king, and in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. And Daniel continued even unto the first year of King Cyrus.
Daniel had a special gift of God in understanding all visions and dreams---the gift of interpretation (similar in operation to the gift of interpretation of tongues). It was simply divine skill and understanding imparted by the Holy Spirit. All gifts of the Holy Spirit are divine abilities imparted by the Spirit of God dwelling in one so blessed.
Daniel was to use his gift many times for God’s glory.
Chapter 2 is Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the metallic man. The Chaldeans were brought in, and we see how the Lord demonstrated His gift in His man over the learned Chaldeans. Continued Sunday, October, 2, 2011
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Scripture from K.J.V.; Notes from a teaching by Pastor Sissom from 1993 and F.F. Bruce Bible Commentary- A. R. Millard