Daniel 2:1-23 - Dealing with unreasonable bosses

People considered it normal to receive instruction through dreams, and there are several instances of this happening in the Bible, and of God's people interpreting the dreams of pagan rulers. Pharaoh is another example. God also spoke to his people in dreams and visions. At the same time this was not a daily occurrence. So God may speak to us in a dream, but the vast majority of dreams are just dreams.
The fact that this dream was different from the run of the mill dreams was that Nebuchadnezzar called together all his astrologers and magicians and others to try and work out the meaning.
There are times when people or organisation we work for will act in a totally irrational manner. Nebuchadnezzar was about to do that. He insisted that his magicians interpret the dream without him telling them what the dream was. Having made this totally unreasonable request, he then threatens them with terrible consequences if they don't manage to fulfil the request.
Not surprisingly his magicians are not impressed with this request and plead with him to act more sensibly. The king then flew into a rage and ordered the execution of all the wise men in the kingdom.
Note that he has a deep mistrust of the wise men. Paranoia is a common trait among powerful men. Hitler and Stalin are prime examples. More normal leaders (presidents and prime ministers) suffer from it if they have been in power for a time. In fact the longer someone has been in power the more they seem to be prone to this.
The decree would have included Daniel and his friends. Daniel acted with wisdom and tact. "Keep Calm and Carry On"! Daniel went to see the king and said he would interpret the dream under the king's conditions. If we act with calmness and trust in the Lord we can overcome all sorts of situations.
Daniel asked his friends to plead with God for mercy. Daniel knew who was the course of all things, and sure enough the mystery was revealed to Daniel. Daniel then praises the Lord.
So we see that even when the world around us is acting in the more irrational and unreasonable manner, we should still look to the Lord.

Daniel 1:17-21 - Promoted in the world

God gave them the ability to know and understand all kinds of literature and learning. Now remember that this was in Babylon, so some of this would be decidedly ungodly, probably including astrology. Yet God enabled them to understand it. God can give us understanding in the world. He also gave Daniel the ability to understand dreams and visions. Note that not all of them received this gift, just Daniel. Our gifts and abilities come from the Lord.

After the training time was over they were all presented to Nebuchadnezzar and he was mightily impressed with them, they were the best. God can exalt us in the world if it fits His purpose.

So the four of them entered the king's service and outshone all the overs. God demonstrates His glory to the world through us.

Daniel 1:8-16 - Handling Conflict

The reason that Daniel was concerned about defiling himself with the food is that it is very possible that it had been offered to idols. It is for similar reasons that whether or not one should eat food that was offered to idols was an issue in the New Testament. 

Now the way Daniel handles this, and the way future disputes were handled, is a lesson for us today. First of all what did Daniel not do? He did not act in a rebellious way. We may sometimes feel very self-righteous about something and convince ourselves that we are rebelling for the Lord. This will usually not be the case. When we rebel we are acting out of the flesh, and out of the flesh will inevitably come the product of our sinful nature. Yet he did not compromise either. So what are the key points:

1. Daniel did not act out of a spirit of rebellion
2. He sought to maintain godly standards and did not compromise.
3. The Lord had caused the official to show Daniel favour
4. Daniel acted in a reasonable manner.

The third point is very important. God does all sorts of things "behind the scenes" without telling us. He takes care of more things than we imagine. So we act rebelliously when we don't need to, we worry when we don't need to.

So Daniel said they would eat vegetables for ten days and the official could see what they looked like. At the end of the period they looked better and healthier than all the others. So Daniel and his friends maintained a clear conscience, and were able to serve the Lord in Babylon.

Daniel 1:1-7 - Off to Babylon

Daniel starts in 605 BC. We read in Jeremiah how God had used Babylon as an instrument of judgement. Jehoiakim was carried off to Babylon, along with many others of the people and articles from temple. See how the book states clearly that it was God who sent Judah into exile. The Bible is God's book, not Israel's book. There were three deportations, 605 BC, which included Daniel; 597 BC and the final one in 586 BC after the destruction of the city and temple.

Babylon was quite a sophisticated society, and Nebuchadnezzar has Ashpenaz choose some of the brighter and good looking men to be trained so they could serve in the palace. They were to be given good food and good training, lasting three years. Then they would be ready to serve.

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were among those chosen.  Daniel means "God is my judge", Hananiah means "the Lord shows grace", Mishael means "who is what God is?", and Azariah means "the Lord helps". The four were given new names, and these were names associated with the idols of Babylon. 

So we see the four being assimilated into Babylonian society. Next we will see how they responded and the battles they went through. And we will see how God worked in and through their lives.

Thanks to my NIV study Bible for the historical information contained in this post.

Daniel - Introduction

Four books to go. Coincidentally I seem to have saved most of the apocalyptic books till last. I always knew I was going to do Revelation last, but Zechariah, 2 Thessalonians and Daniel have all come near the end of my plan as well. By the way, I already have plans for what comes next after completing this particular project, which started six years ago.

Daniel is a great book, but of course you can say that about all the other sixty five books as well. Daniel is also a mixture of two distinct types. The first part is largely narrative, giving the story of Daniel and his friends in Babylon. Then the latter part is apocalyptic prophecy. As an aside, there are those who when arguing about how to interpret the first few chapters of Genesis say that since most of Genesis is clearly historical narrative, then the first three chapters must also be straightforward historical narrative. This argument is not valid, books in the Bible can have two types of literature in them.

Anyway, this mixing of the narrative and apocalyptic together is quite deliberate on God's part. There is a great danger (particularly among charismatics and,dare I say it, Americans) to treat apocalyptic passages as entertainment, treating it as though it was a film script (and of course films have been made!). We probably won't admit to this, but there is a tendency to do this nevertheless. The early part of Daniel is a clear reminder of what is required of us, of the devotion to God, the wisdom required, how to submit to authorities in godless nations (something we very much need today) which are opposed to the Lord, the willingness to pay a price, and how God's power works in these situations.

Many scholars argue that Daniel must have been written in about the second century BC, they say this because the prophecies have at least a partial fulfilment in events significantly after the Babylonian kingdom. 

However, I take the book as historically reliable and that Daniel received the visions in the time of the Babylonians. God is quite capable of making long term prophecies since He knows the end from beginning, and He is quite capable of making revelation to man.

Linguistic evidence supports an early date for Daniel.

Sermon on Zechariah 1-4

A sermon on Zechariah Chapters 1-4, describing God's plan of restoration in our lives.

Job 40:6-42 - More humbling, then resotration

We now get God's second speech, with the same introduction as before. This time God answers Job's complaints about justice.

First He asks Job if he can cover himself with glory and splendour and if he is able to humble the proud. We are very limited in our ability to execute judgement.

Then God draws attention to Behemoth. Even the greatest creatures are under God's control, but we cannot control them. So what is the point of all this? It is simply that only God can execute judgement, and He knows exactly what He is doing. We are limited in knowledge, limited in understanding, limited in power. God is not. 

In all this God never gives Job an explanation of why all this happened. Instead, Job humbled himself before the Lord. For us, when we go through trials, we will question God, but the solution will come when we humble ourselves before Him.

Job responds by doing this. Now he has a much deeper knowledge of God (42:5).

Then God turns to the friends and rebukes them, and honours Job. This is so important. God honoured Job at the outset, He honoured him at the end. He did humble Job, but God always loved him. We can feel that God is against us, that He has forgotten us, but He has not.

Then at the end we see grace. Job prays for the forgiveness of his friends, and God will answer that prayer. Forgiveness is a powerful thing. 

Then God blessed Job, and see how the emphasis is put on the daughters. Realise how counter-cultural this was. Ignorant people sometimes say the Bible is misogynist. This is simply not true.