And 4 mysterious visions—7-12
First 6 chapters we are familiar with—grew up with them. Even I did, and
I didn’t grow up in the church!
1—Food and faithfulness—veggies and water only
2—Daniel, the dream interpreter
3—The fiery furnace—the mysterious 4th figure (angel)
4—Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and madness
4:22-33
24This is the interpretation, O king, and it is a decree of the Most High
that has come upon my lord the king: 25You shall be driven away from
human society, and your dwelling shall be with the wild animals. You shall
be made to eat grass like oxen, you shall be bathed with the dew of
heaven, and seven times shall pass over you, until you have learned
that the Most High has sovereignty over the kingdom of mortals, and
gives it to whom he will. 26As it was commanded to leave the stump and
roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be re-established for you from the
time that you learn that Heaven is sovereign. 27Therefore, O king, may
my counsel be acceptable to you: atone for£ your sins with
righteousness, and your iniquities with mercy to the oppressed, so that
your prosperity may be prolonged.”
28All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. 29At the end of twelve
months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30and
the king said, “Is this not magnificent Babylon, which I have built as a
royal capital by my mighty power and for my glorious majesty?” 31While
the words were still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven: “O
King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: The kingdom has departed
from you! 32You shall be driven away from human society, and your
dwelling shall be with the animals of the field. You shall be made to eat
grass like oxen, and seven times shall pass over you, until you have
learned that the Most High has sovereignty over the kingdom of mortals
and gives it to whom he will.” 33Immediately the sentence was fulfilled
against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven away from human society, ate
grass like oxen, and his body was bathed with the dew of heaven, until
his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers and his nails became like birds’
claws.
5—The Handwriting On The Wall
6—The Lion’s Den—his persecutors, plus their families thrown into the
lions den as punishment William Bennet—The Book of Virtues
7-12—The Mysterious Visions
The stories serve two purposes:
1) Role models for living faithfully during difficult times
2) Yahweh is superior to everyone, human, king, or divine.
A model and call for faithfulness during a time of captivity—be faithful
wherever you are.
The pattern—a challenge arises and danger arises, they remain faithful,
they are rewarded by the king, but next chapter they are in danger again
Some of the details:
Most date the writing of the book in 165-164 BCE, though it describes
events in the 6th century.
Probably the last book written in the Hebrew Bible that was eventually
received into the Hebrew Bible/canon
Written in both Hebrew and Aramaic—the latter being a language based
on Hebrew, and an indication of when it was written. It was also the
language Jesus spoke—The Passion, the Mel Gibson movie, everyone is
speaking Aramaic.
Written to strengthen and comfort the Jews who were suffering under yet
another foreign king—the Seleucid King Antiochus IV (175-164)
The Historical Background of Daniel:
The Seleucid Dynasty was formed after Alexander the Great’s death in
323—the empire got divided up into 5 separate empires, 5 generals
Seleucus I (321-281) held most of the old Babylonian Empire, including
Israel
By the time book was written, Jewish life had fallen into disarray—lots of
political infighting around who would be the high priest of the Temple.
Israel ruled by wealthy aristocrats who were not faithful and who were
quickly adopting the ways of their Greek captors.
Trading Jewish names for Greek names, so much so that one of the High
Priests was actually called Jason—very Greek name!
A group of nationalistic, orthodox Jews arose to counter the influence of
Greek culture on Jewish—some think that the writer of Daniel comes
from this group.
After much intrigue and turmoil, Antiochus IV finally had enough in 169-
168, during which he sacked and desecrated the temple—by some
accounts slaughtered 80,000 people.
Then either Antiochus or his puppet high priest set up new rules meant
to crush all Jewish customs like circumcision, Sabbath observance, and
the keeping of the festivals.
Antiochus claimed that Yahweh, Baal and Zeus were the same god, thus
he went an re-dedicated the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem to Zeus, and
then took on the mantle of divinity himself, declaring that he was a god
who was worthy of being worshipped.
Jews were forced to attend these pagan ceremonies, and to eat pork
meals, which of course, is unclean food.
You can see why Daniel is so powerful—the writer tells the story of
another set of Jews who were being challenged to be faithful to God, in
another era—you can be faithful, you must be faithful, just as Daniel and
his friends hundreds of years ago were.
The last 5 chapters of the book are commonly understood to being
Daniel’s take on the Gentile kingdoms who have trampled over Israel and
the world. So many of these images are found in Revelations—this an
apocalyptic section of the book, much like we saw in Ezekiel: judgment
will fall upon on those who mess with God’s people.
Also, chapter 12 is the only place in the Hebrew Bible where the
resurrection of the dead is clearly stated. Even in Jesus’ day, it was a
matter of dispute amongst the Jews, though Jesus did believe, and thus
we Christians have embraced this belief as well.
But listen to the words of hope:
INSERT 12:1-3
1“At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people,
shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred
since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall
be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. 2Many of those
who sleep in the dust of the earth£ shall awake, some to everlasting life,
and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3Those who are wise
shall shine like the brightness of the sky,£ and those who lead many to
righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
Shine like the brightness of the stars—like the angels…words of hope...
