DANIEL

Daniel is from the upper class of Judah and – while still a teenager – experiences Babylon’s conquest, capture and exile. With all normality and hopes dashed and his family likely killed, be finds himself in idolatrous Babylon, enrolled in a royal university. He and his three friends are taught the literature, language and ways of Babylon, including astrology, soothsaying and enchanting, all to make them fit for being high government officials in the court of Babylon (Dan 1:4).
What Daniel is offered would have been seductive in many ways: he is groomed for power, entitled to daily luxuries, given access to superior knowledge and trained in the secret arts that give influence even over the mighty. But Daniel navigates this treacherous terrain artfully, holding on to God and his view of the cosmos, avoiding compromise, negotiating carefully all the while excelling at subjects he doesn’t agree with (Dan 1:8-20).
He is catapulted into the limelight when he courageously announces and interprets King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a statue with four parts. The dream, a prediction of a series of four mighty empires, is from God, and powerfully shows that God foreknows history and controls human empires, however mighty. Daniel responds: ‘Blessed be the name of God from age to age, for wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons, deposes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding’ (Dan 2:20-21).
Yet after the initial scare of the dream, Nebuchadnezzar responds in pride, first by demanding the worship of a golden statue (presumably of himself, Dan 3), then by self-praise concerning his formidable architectural achievements (Dan 4). Both times he is humbled and acknowledges the sovereign God who is powerful to save from the fiery furnace (the three friends) and powerful to remove him from royal position by inflicting a mental disease. In all this Daniel and his friends model to all Jews how to live successfully under a hostile, idolatrous empire: Be loyal to God, courageous when threatened and serve this idolatrous empire with the wisdom of God.
A later Babylonian king, Belshazzar, who does not have Nebuchadnezzar’s wisdom to humble himself, is killed and his empire overthrown by the Medo-Persians (Dan 5). In spite of all its unrivaled fortifications, Babylon in conquered in one night. God knows how to humble the arrogant.
Daniel, now nearly eighty years old, starts serving the Medo-Persian government with diligence and excellence. When plotted against by jealous officers, Daniel would rather die than become unfaithful to God. God intervenes decisively, saving him from the lions’ den (Dan 6).
In his last years Daniel becomes aware of Jeremiah’s prophecy that the exile will only last seventy years (Jer 29:10). Realizing that the time is almost up, he intercedes for the Jews’ return to the promised land and their protection there, as it is on them that the calling and promise of a Messiah now rests.
Daniel starts having dreams and visions himself. They are a continuation and development of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream about the four empires: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. Daniel is shown many details about these empires, not least about the troubled times the Jews will fall into during Greece’s reign. Out of Greece will come two kingly houses, the ‘kings of the North’ (the Seleucids of Syria) and the ‘kings of the South’ (the Ptolemies of Egypt), that will battle each other, often on Jewish ground. A particularly wicked king will wreak havoc, most likely referring to the Seleucid Antiochus Epiphanes IV, who was so oppressive that he sparked the Jewish Maccabean revolt (Dan 11:21-39).
It is impossible to overstate the importance of Daniel’s predictions for his contemporaries and for the Jews through the centuries till the New Testament. It gives them a frame of reference, an anchor of hope by which they can understand the time they find themselves in. And it gives them hope: during the fourth empire (Rome) God promises to set up his very own kingdom, a different and eternal kingdom (Dan 2:44) and to ‘one like a son of man’ God will give everlasting dominion (Dan 7:13-14).

Authorship

Both Jewish and Christian tradition (for example the Talmud) holds that Daniel, working at the royal court in Babylon, composed his book by latest 537 BC (the last date mentioned, Dan 10:1). Because Daniel’s prophecies are so specific, far-reaching and because they did fulfill in history, those who do not believe that God foreknows and controls history have claimed that the book of Daniel was written centuries later, when many of the events described already happened.
What evidence can be given for Daniel’s authorship? Though in the first half of the book Daniel’s story is told in the third person (“he”), not only his actions and words but also his thoughts and prayers are recorded in detail. Daniel is the recipient of several visions (Dan 7:2, 8:1) and describes them in ‘I form’: “I, Daniel perceived … At that time I, Daniel had been mourning” (Dan 9:2, 10:2). In Dan 12:4 he is made the book keeper “But you, Daniel, keep the words secret and the book sealed”. Jesus quotes Dan 9:27 and 12:11 and identifies Daniel as the author, saying this was “spoken of by Daniel the prophet” (Mth 24:15). Many more New Testament quotes or allusions indirectly affirm Daniel’s writing as authoritative: Mth 10:23 and Mth 16:27 quote “the Son of man comes”, Mth 19:28 quotes “son of man seated in glory”, Mth 24:30 quotes “the sign of the son of man will appear in heaven’’, Mth 25:31 quotes “when the son of man comes in glory”, Mth 26:64 quotes “you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power”, all from Dan 7.
The book of Daniel describes details of the Babylonian and Medo-Persian empire that are confirmed from other historical records. Some examples: the death penalty during Babylon was executed by fire, whereas in to Medo-Persia, where fire was thought sacred, by other means (lions). The titles of officers and the court procedures match other records. Belshazzar (being second in command himself after Nabonidus) can only confer the third rank in the kingdom (Dan 5:16, 5:29). Nebuchadnezzar’s prowess and pride in building is well documented in other records (Dan 4).
There is also linguistic evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls, showing that the Hebrew and Aramaic used in Daniel is written centuries prior to the Maccabean period (2nd century BC), where some people date Daniel to have been written. Some technical terms Daniel uses in Dan 3 were already obsolete by the Maccabean period.
Besides that the book of Daniel was accepted into the canon by 2nd century BC Jews whereas 1 Maccabees was excluded. Also if Daniel was indeed written during the Maccabean time, it still doesn’t solve the problem of prophecy, since many prophecies remain in the future.
But more than all this evidence: the main message of the entire book of Daniel is precisely the total foreknowledge and absolute authority of God over history, powerful empires and great kings. Writing this after the prophecies already fulfilled robs the book of its message and power. The deep influence the book of Daniel had over the minds of the Jews of Jesus’ time, evidenced in other Jewish writings and in the Son of man hopes, would otherwise be inexplicable. Daniel’s writing anchored and carried the Jews in the time between the Testaments.

The life of Daniel

Daniel’s name means ‘God is my judge’. His life can be reconstructed in some detail and probable ages can be calculated:

Dan 1:1   King Jehoiakim’s 3rd year    605 BC Daniel is 12 years old (assumed)
Dan 2:1  Nebuchadnezzar’s 2nd year  603 BC He is 14 years old
Dan 3     Nebuchadnezzar’s statue      600 BC  (?) He is 17 years old
Dan 4:28-30 Nebuchadnezzar’s pride 570 BC (?) He is 47 years old
Dan 7     Belshazzar’s 1st year vision   550 BC   He is 67 years old
Dan 8     Belshazzar’s 3rd year vision  548 BC  He is 69 years old
Dan 5     Belshazzar’s warning, death  539 BC  He is 76 years old
Dan 9     Darius’ 1st year                         539 BC  He is 76 years old
Dan 6     Lion’s den                                  539-538 BC He is 76-77 years old
Dan 10-12 Darius’ 3rd year                    537-536 BC He is 78-79 years old

Daniel’s hearers and readers

Daniel is different from other prophets in that he is called in a heathen land and works among and speaks mostly to high officials of the idolatrous governments of Babylon and Medo-Persia. He addresses the Babylonian kings Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar and the Medo-Persian king Darius. Some of what Daniel and his friends do, gets him an empire wide audience (Dan 3:29, Dan 4, Dan 6:26-27).
But who does Daniel write for? Clearly he writes for his contemporary Jews, currently exiled in Babylon but hopefully soon returning to their land as Jeremiah predicted (Jer 25:12). He models to them how to live a godly and influential life under idolatrous governments. He encourages them by showing them God’s sovereignty over history, powerful empires and great kings. He helps them to understand why they are in exile and assures them that God will make a new beginning with them.
The book of Daniel’s importance to the Jews in the time between the Testaments that cannot be overstated. Daniel’s prediction of a series of human empires gives them a frame of reference, an anchor of hope by which they can understand the time they find themselves in. And it gives them hope: during the fourth empire (Rome) God promises to set up his very own kingdom, a different and eternal kingdom (Dan 2:44) and he promises to give to ‘one like a son of man’, a Messianic figure, everlasting dominion (Dan 7:13-14).
But it seems Daniel also wrote for a wider Gentile audience, for the central part of the book (Dan 2:4 till the end of chapter 7) are written in Aramaic, the commonly used language of the day. The middle part addresses the wider story, chapter 1 and 8-12 are more Jewish in focus.

The historical setting

Daniel sees in his lifetime the fall of the brutal empire of Assyria (605 BC), the rise, golden time and fall of Babylon (605-539 BC) and the rise of Medo-Persia (539 BC). He also predicts the fall of Medo-Persia (331 BC), the rise of Greece and after it the rise of a fourth empire, which is unnamed.

BABYLON 605-539 BC
628 BC Nabopolassar becomes ruler of the Assyrian province Babylon
616 BC Nabopolassar begins a systematic reduction of Assyrian strong points
612 BC Nineveh, Assyria’s capital, falls to an alliance lead by Babylon
609 BC Battle of Carchemish (1): Assyria aided by Egypt defends itself against Babylon
605 BC Nebuchadnezzar succeeds Nabopolassar. Battle of Carchemish (2): Assyria is decisively defeated by Babylon. Nebuchanezzar sweeps south and conquers (among other cities) Jerusalem. Daniel is exiled in this first deportation.
601 BC King Jehoiakim of Judah allies himself with Egypt and rebels against Babylon
597 BC Babylon conquers Jerusalem again. Second deportation, among them Ezekiel
586 BC King Zedekiah of Judah rebels. Babylon conquers Jerusalem again and completely destroys it. Third deportation.
Nebuchadnezzar reigns over the mighty Babylon Empire for forty-three years (605-562 BC). The Babylonian records barely mention his many conquests and campaigns, but rather emphasize the constant building activity of Nebuchadnezzar. Hardly any other monarch was such an assiduous builder. Babylon was filled with splendid buildings and adorned with the famed hanging gardens. Nebuchadnezzar’s boast in Dan 4:30 “Is not this magnificent Babylon, which I have built as a royal capital by my might and power and for my glorious majesty?” is no exaggeration. Babylon was not only a commercial but a religious metropolis with some seven hundred eighty temples and shrines.
Babylon’s policy was to break down nationalism by re-settling and mixing conquered peoples. Youths of the conquered nations were taken, partially as hostages to prevent rebellion, partially to be trained in Babylonian ways so that they could inspire their people to adhere to the empire (Eze 17:13). These youths were carefully groomed to sever their former loyalties and a Babylonian worldview was instilled in them. They had access to luxury, position and power. The hope was that they would come to see their homeland as remote and her gods as weak, that they would be people with too much to lose to want to go back.
562-560 BC Evil-Merodach (Amel-Marduk, 2 Kin 25:27-30) reigns. He is killed by Neriglissar.
560-556 BC Neriglissar (Nebuchadnezzar’s son-in-law) reigns.
556 BC Labashi-Marduk reigns. He is killed by Nabonidus.
556-539 BC Nabonidus reigns. High taxes for military and government. Rising pressure from Medes and Lydians. Nabonidus’ reforms are rejected by the priesthood. He makes his son Belshazzar co-regent, leaves for ten years to North Arabia to let the feud simmer down.
556-539 BC Nabonidus, or rather his son Belshazzar, reigns in Babylon.
551 BC The Medes, Babylon’s allies, are unexpectedly overcome by their vassals, the Persians. The victorious Cyrus (of mixed blood) unites the Median and Persian kingdoms.
539 BC Fall of Babylon to the Medo-Persians, as mentioned in Dan 5.

MEDO-PERSIA 539-331BC
539 BC Cyrus the Great conquers the city of Babylon in one night by diverting the river Euphrates and marching into the feasting and drunk city unchallenged. Some think that the Darius of Dan 6 is another name for Cyrus the Great, others think it is another name for the person known in history as Gubaru, the governor of Babylon and the regions beyond the river, ruling the area for fifteen years under Cyrus. This would fit with Dan 9:1 “king over the realm of the Chaldeans”, for Cyrus was king over much more; and also with Dan 6:28, mentioning both reigning parallel.
530 BC Cambyses conquers Egypt. Great expansion of Medo-Persia (from India to the Nile).
522 BC Darius I gives the Jews permission to finish the temple building after finding a document in Ecbatana.
486-465 BC Xerxes I Ahasuerus, husband of Esther
464 BC Artaxerxes The king Nehemiah serves as cup bearer. Permission to rebuild the walls.
423-336 BC several kings
336-331 BC Darius III defeated by Alexander the Great.

GREECE
480 BC Xerxes attacks Greece, is defeated and never again attempts to dominate it.
434 BC War between Athens and Sparta, causing exhaustion. Philip of Macedonia rises in power.
356 BC Alexander is born, both parents are of royal lineage. He studies under Aristotle.
338 BC Alexander of Macedonia conquers Greece and unites it.
336 BC Alexander becomes King over Macedonia and Greece at age twenty.
334-331 BC He starts conquering the East with 40’000 men, defeats Darius III, conquers Phoenicia, Judah and Egypt. Josephus: The priests in Jerusalem showed him Daniel’s prophecies.
331 BC faces Darius III again and defeats him. He conquers Babylon, Susa and Persepolis.
331-323 BC He conquers Babylon, Susa, Persepolis, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan (till Indus Valley) and reaches the Ganges, his men refuse to go on.
323 BC Death of Alexander at age thirty-two. The empire is divided between his four generals. Egypt (Ptolemy’s dynasty, “kings of the South”) and the Syria (Seleucius’ dynasty, “kings of the North”) become dominant. Continual conflicts over centuries, see Dan 11.
175 BC Seleucian king Antiochus IV ‘Epiphanes’ comes to power in the North
167 Dec 25 He issues decrees prohibiting the Jewish religion, erects a Zeus altar in the temple, sacrifices pigs, prohibits owning of the Torah. All this leads to the Jewish revolt under the leadership of the priestly Maccabee family.
165 BC The Jewish revolt is successful against all odds, forcing Antiochus to withdraw the decrees. The Maccabees cleanse and rededicate the temple.
164 BC Antiochus Epiphanes IV dies of unclear causes.

Chapter 1 Four young Jews in Babylon

Daniel is from the upper class of Judah, possibly even of the royal family, who – while still a teenager – experiences Babylon’s conquest, capture and exile in 605 BC (Dan 1:1-3). With all normality and hopes dashed and his family likely killed, be finds himself in idolatrous Babylon, enrolled in a royal university. He and his three friends are taught the literature, language and ways of Babylon, including astrology, soothsaying and enchanting, to make them fit for being high government officials in the court of Babylon (Dan 1:4).
What Daniel is offered would have been seductive in many ways: he is groomed for power, entitled to daily luxuries, given access to superior knowledge and trained in the secret arts that give influence even over the mighty.
But Daniel and his three friends navigate this treacherous terrain artfully. They stay faithful, are courageous, negotiate carefully and manage to win the favor of people (Dan 1:8-14). They hold onto God and his view of the cosmos, grow in knowledge and wisdom, all the while excelling at subjects the don’t agree with (Dan 1:16-20).

Chapter 2 The God who knows and controls history

In 604 BC, in only the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar has a disturbing dream of a statue made of four parts, which is smashed up by a rock.
He senses the importance of the dream and to ensure he is not lied to, puts down the uncommon requirement that his soothsayers have to not only interpret the dream, but guess what is was in the first place. The soothsayers bow out and Nebuchadnezzar in rage wants all of them killed.
Daniel, himself on the death list, asks for time. When God reveals the dream and the interpretation to him, he responds with worship: “Blessed be the name of God from age to age, for wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons, deposes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise … he reveals deep and hidden things” (Dan 2:20-22). This becomes his strength and his message: God knows and controls history. Daniel courageously declares and interprets the dream to King Nebuchadnezzar, who is awed and rewards and promotes him and his friends.
The dream predicts a series of four mighty empires, a theme that will be picked up again in Daniel’s vision of four beasts in chapter 7 and a ram and a goat in chapter 8:

statue’s head of gold                  Babylon          Dan 7 lion
statue’s chest, arms of silver    Medo-Persia Dan 7 bear       Dan 8:20 ram
statue’s belly, thighs of bronze Greece            Dan 7 leopard Dan 8:21 goat
statue’s legs, feet of iron / clay Rome              Dan 7 beast

Importantly the dream also predicts God smashing the human empires and setting up his own eternal and superior kingdom at the time of the fourth empire (Rome), which will fill the whole earth. This is a Messianic prophecy about Jesus’ coming.

Chapter 3 Vision-induced pride humbled by uncompromising loyalty

After the initial scare of the dream, Nebuchadnezzar ignores its message of the limitations of human empires but rather responds in pride: he, after all, is the head of gold. He has a massive golden statue made, presumably depicting himself or his imperial power, and demands its public worship on pain of death.
Daniel seems to be absent, but his three friends refuse to participate in the worship. They seem to not have made their non-compliance a more public affair than necessary, for it takes observant people denouncing them for it to catch Nebuchadnezzar’s eye.
Upon being challenged they give the simple but powerful answer that whether delivered or not, they will not cease to worship the one God (Dan 3:17-18). The three friends, who have been such an example to the Jews in artfully navigating the slippery terrain of an idolatrous, arbitrary government, here are an example again, refusing to compromise, and willing to take the fall out, even death.
Nebuchadnezzar, besides himself with rage at this challenge of his authority, hands them over to be given capital punishment by fire. When the fire can’t hurt the three – and a fourth figure appears looking like a god (Dan 3:25) – Nebuchadnezzar bows to the fact that here is a power at work here far superior to his. He humbles himself and makes a public decree ordering respect for this God (Dan 3:29) and promotes the three friends.

Chapter 4 Nebuchadnezzar’s pride humbled yet again

A very similar thing happens again. Nebuchadnezzar is given another dream that only Daniel can interpret, the dream of a huge tree being chopped down (Dan 4: 10-18). Daniel interprets the dream as a warning to Nebuchadnezzar that if he exalts himself again and forgets that he only has all this authority and splendor because the Most High has given it to him, his reason will depart and he will for a limited time live like an animal (Dan 4:19-26). Daniel advises repentance before God and mercy to the oppressed (an advance shorthand for ‘loving God and one’s neighbor’) to prevent the dream from coming true (Dan 4:27).
A year later, the scare of the dream having worn off, Nebuchadnezzar erupts in self-praise at his architectural achievements (Dan 4:28-30). Immediately the sentence against him is executed and he loses reason, is driven from society and behaves like an animal for a season. As he declares publicly afterwards: “When that period was over, I Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to mel I blessed the Most High… for his sovereignty is an everlasting sovereignty and his kingdom endures from generation to generation… he is able to bring low those who walk in pride” (Dan 4:34-37).
Insanity was treated with fear and dread and was considered a form of demon possession in ancient times. Considering the fact that the kingdom was restored to him, it is not surprising that this would be little mentioned in historical records. But actually there are several ancient writings that refer to a sickness or insanity or animal-like behavior of Nebuchadnezzar.

Chapter 5 Belshazzar is not as wise as Nebuchadnezzar

A later Babylonian king, Belshazzar, exhibits his pride by making a drunken feast to the Babylonian gods, using the vessels of the Jerusalem temple to drink wine from (Dan 5:1-4). A hand appears, writes some words on the wall and disappears again. When nobody can interpret the writing, Daniel is remembered and brought in. Daniel rebukes the king for his pride and presumption before even interpreting the written words. He reminds him of Nebuchadnezzar’s pride, but also how he had humbled himself “And you, Belshazzar his son, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this! You have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven!” (Dan 5:22-23). Then he interprets the writing on the wall as Belshazzar’s kingdom having been counted, weighed and found wanting. It will be divided and given to the Medes and the Persians. Belshazzar is killed in that same night (Dan 5:30). It is also the night in which the Medo-Persians are diverting the river Euphrates and march into the drunken Babylon, conquering it without even a fight – in spite of all its unrivaled fortifications (539 BC). The empire of Babylon is finished, Medo-Persia is the new super power.

Chapter 6 Fruitfulness and faithfulness till high age

Daniel, now well over seventy years old, starts serving the Medo-Persian government with diligence and excellence (Dan 6:1-4). When plotted against by jealous fellow officers, Daniel walks into the trap with open eyes, chosing rather die than to become unfaithful to God (Dan 6:10-13).
King Darius, having been tricked into executing him tries to save Daniel, but is unsuccessful (Dan 6:14-18). The Medo-Persians – unlike the Babylonians – didn’t use fire that they considered holy for executions but found other methods, here the lions’ den. God intervenes decisively, saving Daniel from the lions’ den (Dan 6:19-24). Darius then turns on the conspirators and executes them. He also issues a decree acknowledging the God of Daniel (Dan 6:26-27).

So end the stories in the book of Daniel (Dan 1-6). The rest of the book are visions, explanations of visions and prayers (Dan 7-12). But the two parts belong together. It is precisely because God has proven himself powerful in the everyday challenges of Jews living under idolatrous empires, that he can be trusted to also save them in the future. It is precisely because God has proven sovereign over the empires of Babylon and Medo-Persia and their powerful kings, that he will prove himself sovereign also over Greece and Rome.

Chapter 7 Four beasts – Persecution and Vindication

In the 1st year of Belshazzar, 553 BC, Daniel himself starts having dreams or visions. Maybe he has been sidelined in his government job, or maybe he thinks he is retiring at the good age of sixty-seven years old, but God starts using him in a different way.
He has a vision of four beasts arising out of the sea: a lion with wings, a bear, a leopard, and finally a terrifying, devouring, stamping fourth beast. It has iron teeth, ten horns, and then a last horn coming up instead of three earlier ones, with eyes and a mouth speaking arrogantly (Dan 7:1-8). The parallel to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue in Dan 2 identifies the lion as Babylon, the bear as Medo-Persia, the leopard as Greece and the terrifying beast as Rome, though Rome remains unnamed.
Then he sees an Ancient One taking his throne in a court room. He sentences and executes the terrifying beast. Then “one like a human being coming on the clouds of heaven” is presented before the Ancient One and is “given dominion and glory and kingship that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion” (Dan 7:13-14). These verses are clearly Messianic, Jesus quotes them during his trial as pertaining to himself (Mrk 14:62, etc.).
Daniel then asks more detail about the terrifying beast and the horn. He receives an explanation that there will be a time when the beast persecutes the holy ones, but then the Ancient One will judge it and give the kingdom to his holy ones (Dan 7:15-28). The number 3 ½ is associated with that time of suffering and tension (Dan 7:25). This double message of people receiving the kingdom yet at the same time suffering persecution is a common theme in the New Testament also, for example in Acts.

Chapter 8 Zeroing in on Medo-Persia and Greece

Two years later, in 551 BC, when Daniel happens to be in Susa, he sees a vision of the middle two empires. He sees a ram with two horns, signifying Media (the shorter horn) and Persia (the longer horn). The ram rules for a while (Dan 8:1-4) but then is killed by a fast approaching goat from the West that has one horn (signifying Greece, its first strong leader being the one horn, Dan 8:5-7). At the height of its power the one horn is suddenly broken, and four horns come up instead (Dan 8:8). Out of that another horn comes, which grows strong, acts against the ‘beautiful land’, takes away the offerings, overthrows the sanctuary and casts truth to the ground for two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings (roughly 3 ½ years, Dan 8:9-14). Gabriel helps Daniel understand the vision, adding few details (Dan 8:27).
This is one of the prophecies that was so accurately fulfilled in history, that those who doubt prophecy object to it. The historical facts are:
Alexander of Macedonia, having become the ruler of the united Macedonian-Greek empire, launches a conquest of the East, which he conquers at tremendous speed (334-331 BC). He conquers province after province of the Medo-Persian empire, all the way down to Egypt and the heartland of Medo-Persia. Then he launches a conquest even further East (331-323 BC) where he conquers areas reaching today’s India. At age thirty-two, at the height of his power, Alexander dies of a fever, leaving no son, no successor and no plan. His four generals divide the vast empire among themselves:                                                                                     1 Greece / Macedonia General Cassander West
2 Asia minor General Lysimachus North
3 Syria & East (biggest part) General Seleucius East
4 Egypt General Ptolemy South
For ‘the beautiful land’, meaning Israel, a difficult time starts, for they are roughly the border between Seleucius and his dynasty in the North (Syria, “kings of the North”) and Ptolemy and his dynasty in the South (Egypt, “kings of the South”). These two kingdoms will battle each other time and again over centuries, till Rome gobbles them up. Israel, falling in the middle, will be continually conquered and re-conquered by either the North or the South.
The particularly evil horn signifies a Seleucid ruler called Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who ruled the area from 175-164 BC. He was so anti-Jewish and so oppressive that he sparked the Jewish Maccabean revolt. More details on him are given in Dan 11.

Chapter 9 Repentance and Intercession for Israel

In the 1st year of Darius, 539 BC, Daniel becomes aware of Jeremiah’s prophecy that the exile will only last seventy years (Jer 25:12, 29:10). If counted from 605 BC (the first conquest of Jerusalem), by 536 BC the seventy years would be completed. Soon Cyrus of Medo-Persia will issue his decree allowing the peoples to return in 538 BC and the first group of Jews under Zerubbabel will return in 536 BC, but none of this has quite happened yet, though Daniel will live to see it (the last date mentioned in Daniel’s book is 536 BC in Dan 10:1).
Realizing that the time is almost up, Jeremiah intercedes for the Jews’ return to the promised land and their protection there, as it is on them that the calling and promise of a Messiah now rests (Dan 9:4-14). His prayer is a wonderful recap of Israel’s history from God’s perspective, fully acknowledging Israel’s guilt and God’s justification in sending them to exile. Jeremiah bases his intercession solely on God’s mercy (Dan 9:18).
Then the angel Gabriel comes with a message, giving a timeline of what will happen (Dan 9:24-26): Seventy weeks (four hundred ninety years) will pass till an end will be put to sin, till iniquity will be atoned for and everlasting righteousness will come, which must refer to Christ. He then splits it up into seven weeks and sixty-two weeks and predicts the destruction of the city and the sanctuary, which probably refers to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. There are different interpretations and calculations that have been suggested to explain these verses, but none fits completely.

Chapter 10 Humans empires versus heavenly powers

In around 536 BC, the last date mentioned in his book, Daniel is fasting and is then granted an explanation by “a man clothed in linen”. He describes first his own battle that he had on the way, which has been going since the first year of Darius (539 BC, Dan 11:1) with “the prince of the kingdom of Persia” (Dan 10:13). After delivering this message he will go back to battle the “prince of Persia”, and later the “prince of Greece” (Dan 10:20). This can either be understood as spiritual warfare between territorial angels, or as a dramatized depiction of the ground-reality of empires fighting over time in history (see Dan 11:3-5), – or as a combination of the two.

Chapter 11 Kings of the North versus Kings of the South

The message the “man in linen” brings is a long prediction about the wars between the kings of the North (the Seleucid dynasty, Syria) and the kings of the South (the Ptolemaic dynasty, Egypt), lasting from Dan 11:5 to Dan 11:45. Again special focus is been given to the disastrous Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes who sparks the Jewish revolt.
The predictions are very detailed and can be well matched to what is known from other records about the Ptolemaic and Seleucid wars. Because of the amazing accuracy of these predictions, those who do not believe God to be able to foretell the future have declared that Dan 11:5-35 must have been written after things happened. But Daniel himself concludes differently: “Blessed be the name of God… for wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons, deposes kings and sets up kings” (Dan 2:20-21).
The verses Dan 11:36-45 are less clear, different interpretations have been suggested. For the details on the dynasties, kings’ names, dates of rule and military campaigns and how they match Dan 11, please see ‘Daniel – detailed study’.

Chapter 12 Future redemption and resurrection

The “man in linen” continues his explanation, again predicting the double message of persecution and anguish on the one hand, and eternal deliverance on the other (Dan 12:1). He predicts, clearer than anything yet seen in the Old Testament, that a resurrection of all humans, either to everlasting life or everlasting shame will occur (Dan 12:2, parallel Rev 20). Daniel asks “How long shall it be until the end?” to which he – in so many words – gets the answer ‘3 ½’, the number already used three times before (Dan 7:25, 8:14, 9:25) in connection with times of conflict, persecution and vindication.
Being a bit lost, it seems, he finally asks “What shall be the outcome of these things?” To this question he doesn’t really get an answer any more. He is told to rest, implying that he has been faithful in running his course; but this is no longer his responsibility (Dan 12:8-13). He is given the assurance that he will receive his reward at the resurrection.
Interestingly Daniel is one to constantly admit he is not understanding (Dan 8:27, 12:8), he constantly seeks understanding (Dan 2:14-15, 7:16, 7:19, 9:3) and so is constantly given understanding (Dan 8:16-17,19, 9:22, 10:21). And he is faithful, that is why he is wise. God affirms his ministry of so many years, saying: “those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” (Dan 12:3). What a life well lived!

Color Coding Suggestions

• Who people, kings, officials, nations, empires, angels, beasts, …
• Where, When
• Contrasts, Comparisons, Connectives, Conditional Statements
• Emotions, Emphatic statements

Repeated Themes

• God’s supernatural interventions, miracles, giving knowledge, understanding, …
• Descriptions of God, God of heaven, …
• prayer, seeking God, intercession, confession …
• wisdom, knowledge, understanding, prudence, revelation …
• power, authority, kingdom, ruling, reign, horn, …
• pride, self-exaltation <=> humility, acknowledging God

Meditation Passages

• Dan 1:3-5, 8-9  Daniel’s situation as a youth in Babylon
• Dan 2:20-23     God all-knowing, wise and sovereign over human kingdoms
• Dan 3:15-18      three friends’ answer to Nebuchadnezzar’s command
• Dan 4:34-37     Nebuchadnezzar’s confession of God’s goodness and justice
• Dan 6:1-5          Daniel’s integrity and excellence in work
• Dan 6:25-27     Darius’ decree to tremble and fear before the living God
• Dan 12:3           wise and those leading many to righteousness will shine like stars

How is Daniel special? different from other prophets?

• statesmen in a heathen nation / government official in a powerful / idolatrous nation
• His first hearers is mostly the Babylonian government, but who are his readers?
• He is a prophet that does NOT call Israel to repentance, as does everybody else
• It does not contain prophecies, proclamations in the name of the Lord usual for prophets
• It is not historical like ‘Kings’ or ‘Chronicles, though it begins from a point in history and is clearly concerned with history. By the use of dreams and visions, signs, symbols and numbers it appears to be mapping out the course of history
• Daniel is universal in its scope, it takes a comprehensive view of historical time, it looks at world events, several empires
• The book of Daniel is an apocalypse and it is one of the greatest messages of the Old Testament. To us, looking back at history, the message can be very simply stated, but not quickly grasped. God had to take time to reveal it, He had to prepare the hearts of the people for it and the fact that most people still don’t believe this message proves why their hearts needed to be prepared. The simple message is that the kingdoms of this world will be replaced by the Kingdom of God. God is constantly overruling and judging in the affairs of men, putting down the mighty from their seats, overthrowing regimes and effectively bringing in His Kingdom.
• Daniel was not a prophet in the classic sense since he did not function as a spiritual mediator between God and his people … yet he was endowed with conspicuous prophetic gifts. Like Joseph of old, he was a Hebrew statesman in a heathen court, and not a ‘writing prophet’ or spiritual mediator in the commonly understood sense.
• For all these difference … Daniel its main points is in true theological continuity with the law and the prophets, especially with their presupposition that the God who initiated human life controls history and will bring it to its appointed goal.
• Daniel is a bridge between the Old Testament and the New … it also is a necessary preparation for an understanding of the ministry of Jesus

Daniel is an offensive book to many

• because of its blatant super-naturalism
• because of its precise predictions
• because of its daring claims to the supremacy and sovereignty of God
• The picture it portrays of God is offensive to unregenerate man
  • the sovereign one … powerful … invasive
  • the uncreated Lord … self-sufficient … independent of his creation in his acting
  • the one who is and there is none beside Him
  • the all-knowing … all-controlling … Lord of history

• This portrait of God is offensive because man wants to reverse the roles and usurp the throne. “Men prefer the anarchy of chance, which permits them to be gods of their own little corner of chaos, to the sovereignty of God and his total predestination of all things.” (Thy Kingdom Come. by Rousas John Rushdoony, page 6)

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Who wrote?

• Both Jewish and Christian tradition holds that Daniel, living at the royal court in Babylon, composed his book during the sixth century. Daniel’s name means ‘God is my judge’. Supporting evidence for Daniel’s authorship:
  • Dan 1:6          It is the story of Daniel, he is the main figure, though in Dan 1-6 he refers to himself in the 3rd person
  • Dan 7:2, 8:1  Daniel is the recipient of the described visions
  • Dan 9:2         Direct speech: “I, Daniel perceived …”. In Dan 7-12 it is Daniel talking, writing, asking, being spoken to
  • Dan 10:2       Direct speech: “At that time I, Daniel had been mourning…”
  • Dan 12:4       Direct speech: “But you, Daniel, keep the words secret and the book sealed …”. He is made book keeper
  • Mt 24:5        Jesus quotes Daniel (Mth 24:15 = Dan 9:27 and 12:11), saying that the abomination of desolation was spoken of by Daniel the prophet. These verses are thought by modern criticism to have come from the Maccabees.
• NT passages that are at least an indirect approval of the genuineness of the book of Daniel, especially Dan 7 are
  • Mt 10:23, Mt 16:27 “son of man come”
  • Mt 19:28 “son of man seated in glory”
  • Mt 24:30 “the sign of the son of man will appear in heaven”
  • Mt 25:31 “when the son of man comes in glory”
  • Mt 26:64 “you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power”
• Historical Accuracy: The book accurately reflects the background of the Babylonian and Persian empires (as known from other historical records), for example
  • the switch in law and death penalty from Babylon (fire) to Medo-Persia (lions)
  • the titles of officers, the court procedures
  • Belshazzar being 2nd in command, so conferring only 3rd place
  • Nebuchadnezzar’s pride in building etc
• Jewish Talmud and Josephus declare the book to be written in the 5th-6th century BC
• Modernist View:
  • So if it is so clear, why has it been so debated?
  • Because of its blatant supernaturalism, very accurate predictions, daring claims of God’s sovereignty.
  • Daniel is harsh on modern, relativist ears.
  • Example The critic Porphyry denies that Daniel is written by Daniel or in the sixth century BC.
  • Rather is was written by someone who lived in Judea during the times of Antiochus Epiphanes.
  • Why? Because the book of Daniel speaks so accurately about the times of Antiochus.
  • Hence, Prophyry argues, it must be history, not prophecy, because predictive prophecy is impossible
• If Maccabean time authorship (2nd century BC) is assumed, then Rome and Messiah and time calculation verses (Dan 9:24-27) are still in the future.
• Linguistic evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls:
  • the Hebrew and Aramaic in Daniel is written centuries prior to 2nd century BC.
  • Persian and Greek words that occur do not require a late date.
  • Besides some technical terms in Dan 3 were already obsolete in 2nd century BC.
• Canon
  • The book of Daniel was accepted into the canon by 2nd century Jews whereas 1 Maccabees got excluded.
  • If Daniel is Maccabean Dan 1:1 would be a false statement, that they could have easily verified as they had access to Herodotus, Ctersias, Berassus, Menander (correct chronological traditions)
• Main message
  • But also: the whole message and power of the book crumbles if written late.
  • If Daniel was written after the history happened, there is no power to the message of Daniel: God knows and controls history.
  • The books power in carrying the Jews through the centuries the Testaments and its popularity in Jesus’ day would not be explicable.

Life of Daniel

• Dan 1:1            Jehoiachin’s 3rd year                   605 BC           12 years old (assumed)
• Dan 2:1            Nebuchadnezzar’s 2nd year       603 BC           14 years old
• Dan 3               Nebuchadnezzar’s statue            600ish            17 years old
• Dan 4:28-30   Nebuchadnezzar’s pride             570ish            47 years old
• Dan 7               Belshazzar’s 1st year vision         550 BC           67 years old
• Dan 8              Belshazzar’s 3rd year vision        548 BC           69 years old
• Dan 5              Belshazzar’s death                         539 BC           76 years old
• Dan 9              Darius’ 1st year                               539 BC          76 years old
• Dan 6              Lion’s den                                        539-538 BC  76-77 years old
• Dan 10-12      Darius’ 3rd year                              537-536 BC   78-79 years old

Written to whom?

• First hearers are kings Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius, Cyrus … their officials, prefects, satraps, wise men … Jews in the court and through the decrees an empire wide audience.
• First readers are probably returned Jewish exiles in Judah (536 BC), Daniel is aware of the 70y prophecy (Dan 9:2), thinks them to be the future the visions talk about.
• And very clearly: future generations of Jews between the Testaments.
• Also: not returned Jews, and Babylonians or Medo-Persians for the Aramaic parts

When written?

• Probably throughout Daniel’s life, definitely compiled at the end of his life, so 536 BC or shortly after (Dan 10:1, 3rd year of Cyrus).

Where from?

• Probably from Babylon where Daniel spends most his life, some possibly from Susa (Dan 8:2).

Historical Background

BABYLON 605-539 BC

• 628 BC Nabopolassar becomes ruler of Babylon
• 627 BC After the death of Ashurbanipal the Assyrian empire weakens
• 616 BC Nabopolassar begins a systematic reduction of Assyrian strong points throughout the empire
• 612 BC Nineveh falls to an alliance
• 610 BC the remnant of Assyria falls
• 609 BC First battle of Carchemish
• 605 BC Nebuchanezzar succeeds Nabopolassar. Second battle of Carchemish. Assyria is destroyed. Nebuchanezzar sweeps south and conquers (among other cities) Jerusalem. Daniel is exiled in this first deportation.
• 601 BC Jehoiakim rebels against Babylon and changes allegiance to Pharaoh Neco II.
• 597 BC Jerusalem falls, Jehoiakim is captured.
• 586 BC Jerusalem destroyed.
• For more than 20 years after the fall of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar reigned over the mighty Babylon Empire. His architects raised the capital city of Babylon to the height of its splendour, adorning it with the famed hanging gardens. Nebuchadnezzar’s boast in Dan 4:30 “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty.” is no exaggeration. Hardly any other monarch in the phase was such an assiduous builder. There is scarcely and mention of warlike activities, conquests and campaigns. In the forefront there is the constant building activity of Nebuchadnezzar.
• Babylon was not only a commercial but a religious metropolis as can be seen from an inscription: ‘Altogether there are in Babylon 53 temples of the chief gods, 55 chapels of Marduk, 300 chapels for the earthly deities, 180 altars for the goddess Ishtar, 180 for the gods Nergal and Adad, and 12 other alters for different gods.’ The temptations and enticements which were part of everyday life in Babylon remained indelibly fixed in the minds of the exiled Jews ‘Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth’ (Rev 17:5).

Policies of Babylon

• Babylon has shuffled around the people of the countries that they had conquered so that no one was living in their own homeland. This was designed to break down nationalism. The youth of the conquered nations were trained in Babylonian ways so that they could inspire their ethnic group to support the Babylonian empire and thus promote the cosmopolitan air of the empire. Eze 17:13 says that the chief men of the nation of Judah were taken to humble the nation so that they would not lift themselves up. New names associated with new god were given to the youths to inspire their loyalty to Babylonian gods. They lived and dined in luxury and all this was designed to make them sever any loyalty to their former homeland. What could their conquered homeland offer that could compare with Babylon the great? Over the years the Babylonians assumed that these carefully groomed youth would come to see Judah as remote, her God as weak. Their goal was to foster a new worldview.
• 562-560 BC   Evil-Merodach (2 Kin 25:27‑30, also called Amel-Marduk) reigns. He is killed by Nebuchadnezzar’s son-in-law Neriglissar.
• 560-556 BC   Neriglissar reigns.
• 556 BC           Labashi-Marduk reigns. He is killed by Nabonidus.
• 556-539 BC   Nabonidus. High taxes for military and government. Rising pressure from Medes and Lydians. Nabonidus’ reforms are rejected by Babylonian priesthood. He makes his son Belshazzar the co-regent, leaves for 10 years for N Arabia to let the feud simmer down.
• 556-539 BC   Nabonidus, or rather his son Belshazzar, reigns in Babylon
• 551 BC            The Persians start their rise to power. The Medes, who since the fall of Nineveh had shared the stricken Assyrian Empire with the Babylonians, were unexpectedly overcome by their neighbours and vassals, the Persians. Astyages, king of the Medes, was beaten by his own grandson, Cyrus. Cyrus then amalgamated Media with the Persian kingdom.
• 539 BC           Fall of Babylon to the Medo-Persians, also mentioned in Dan 5. This begins the shift from Semite to Indo-European history, for the first time the power has passed from the Semite peoples.

MEDO-PERSIA 539‑331BC

• 539 BC Cyrus II the Great
  • Quote: ‘As I entered Babylon in peace, and established my royal residence in the palace of the princes amid jubilation and rejoicing, Marduk, the great lord, warmed the hearts of the Babylonians towards me, while I for my part devoted myself daily to do him reverence. My troops wandered peacefully widespread throughout Babylon. In all Sumer and Akkad I let no man be afraid. I concerned myself with the internal affairs of Babylon and all its cities. The dwellers in Babylon … I freed from the yoke that ill became them. I repaired their houses, I healed their afflictions… I am Cyrus, king of all, the great king, the mighty king, king of Babylon, Sumer and Akkad, king of the far corners of the earth …’
  • That rulers should make tolerance (including religious tolerance) their motto was uncommon. His tolerance was also to the advantage of the Jews.
  • The identification of Darius the Mede is not entirely clear. There are at least two options:
    • Darius is another name of Cyrus the Great. The title ‘the Mede’ and ‘the Persian’ were often used interchangeably
    • Darius is a person known in history as Gubaru, the governor of Babylon and the regions beyond the river, a ruler under Cyrus. Gubaru was one of the key people responsible for diverting the river
  • Euphrates and in the capturing of the city. He was later given the governorship of Babylon. He held this position for 15 years. This would accord with Dan 9:1 ‘king over the realm of the Chaldeans’, Cyrus was king over much more. It would also fit Dan 6:28 mentioning both reigning parallel.
• 530 BC Cambyses
  • With his conquest of Egypt Medo-Persia became the greatest Empire that the world had ever seen, from India to the Nile. While returning home Cambyses committed suicide for some unknown reason.
• 522 BC Darius I
  • He gives the Jews permission to finish the temple building after finding a document in Ecbatana. Under him the Persian Empire grows even more, from the Indus river in the east all the way to Thrace and Macedonia in the west, and included Egypt and Libya in North Africa.
• 486-465 BC Xerxes I / Ahasuerus, husband of Esther
• 464 BC Artaxerxes I, the king Nehemiah serves as cup bearer. His death opened a new era of secret plotting in the royal courts of Persia, which weakened the empire.
• 423 BC Darius II
• 404 BC Artaxerxes II
• 359 BC Artaxerxes III
• 338 BC Arses
• 336-331 BC Darius III was a capable ruler who faced the impossible task of uniting a splintering empire while trying to withstand the onslaught of Alexander the Great. Alexander reached Persepolis in
• 330 BC after defeating Darius at Gaugamela and proceded to loot and burn Darius’s palace.
• The Persian rule had brought about a relative peace and prosperity to Jews in Palestine. The Temple and Torah flourished, and much of the Oriental culture of Persia had been adopted by the Jews. Jewish life in Palestine under the Greeks would change for the worse.

GREECE – ALEXANDER THE GREAT 331-323 BC

• 480 BC Xerxes attacked Greece, was defeated and never again attempted to dominate it. Medo-Persia is weakening
• 480-330 BC Athens slowly rises to power, limits piracy in the Agaean Sea.
• 434 BC War between Athens and Sparta, causing exhaustion and only a very slow recovery.
  Philip of Macedonia rises in power
• 338 BC Macedonia conquers Greece and unites it. To further cement unity, he plans to attack Persia but dies.
• 356 BC Alexander is born, both his parents being of royal lineage. He studied under Aristotle from age 14.
• 336 BC Alexander becomes King over Macedonia and Greece at age 20.
• 334-331 BC He starts conquering the East with 40’000 men.
• In 333 BC he wins a decisive battle against Persia at Issos. Darius III flees.
• Alexander doesn’t chase him, but rather conquers Phoenicia and Egypt in order to destroy Persian sea power.
• Tyre was taken in 332 BC by a remarkable siege. In Egypt he established the city of Alexandria.
• Jewish historian Josephus Flavius mentions that Daniel’s prophecies about him were shown to Alexander by the priests in Jerusalem.
• 331 BC faces Darius III again, defeats him. He conquers Babylon, Susa and Persepolis.
• 331-323 BC He conquers Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, 327 BC Pakistan (Indus Valley), reaches the Ganges, his men refuse to go on. In retaliation Alexander marches them home though the Gedrosian desert of Iran. Wanting to extend his hold on the sea he next prepared for expeditions, but died of a fever (poison?).
• 323 BC Death of Alexander at age 32 y, empire divided into 4 areas, he Egyptian and the Syrian became predominant.
• “And it came to pass, after that Alexander the Macedonian, the son of Philip, who came out of the land of the Chittim (Greece), and smote Darius king of the Persians and Medes, it came to pass, after he had smitten him, that he reigned in his stead, in former time, over Greece. And he fought many battles, and won many strongholds …” (1 Maccabees 1:1).
  Because Alexander died without leaving a designated successor, the period after his death was one of controversy and war. And the empire was divided into four kingdoms; Macedonia, Thrace, Syria and Egypt.

GREECE – EGYPT (PTOLEMIES) AND SYRIA (SELEUCIDS)

• 323‑285 BC Ptolemy I (1)
• 312‑281 BC Seleucus I
• 285‑245 BC Ptolemy II
• 281‑260 BC Antiochus I
• 260‑246 BC Antiochus II
• 247‑222 BC Ptolemy III (2)
• 245‑223 BC Seleucus II & III
• 221‑203 BC Ptolemy IV
• 245‑223 BC Antiochus III ‘The Great
• 203‑181 BC Ptolemy V
• 187‑175 BC Seleucus IV
• 198 BC looses Palestine to Seleucids
• 175‑164 BC Antiochus IV ‘Epiphanes’
• 168 BC Antiochus expelled from Egypt by Roman consul (Dan 11:30) (4)
• 167 BC Dec 25 Erection of Greek alter in the Jerusalem Temple (5)
• 165 BC Decrees withdrawn. (6)
• 164 BC Death of Antiochus Epiphanes (7)
• Each Hellenistic kingdom included as much territory as an individual warlord was able to get and keep. One cautious general, Ptolemy, seized the relatively isolated corner of Egypt and established the longest lived line of kings. The Ptolemies of later years also ruled southern Syria and parts of Asia Minor at times, and even Greece occasionally. The last of the Ptolemies, Cleopatra, used her charms first on Caesar, then on Mark Antony. She committed suicide in 30 BC, when the Romans finally conquered Egypt. Seleucus, grabbed the center of the empire, from Asia Minor to India; but the kernel of the Seleucid realm over the next two centuries was Asia Minor, Syria and Mesopotamia.
• Politically the Hellenistic world thus consisted of a number of not very well defined states which fought each other repeatedly to gain territory or to maintain a balance of power. The Seleucids and Ptolemies engaged in at least six ‘Syrian’ wars over the control of south Syria and Palestine. This international rivalry led to embassies, dynastic marriages, and treaties of alliance or neutrality which resemble those of modern diplomacy. In the end each power weakened the other to such an extent that outsiders came in and swallowed them up piecemeal.
• Ptolemy I was an enlightened ruler and permitted many Jews to reside in his chief city, Alexandria. This community of Jews became later a most center, both economically and spiritually, acting as a bridge between the Hebrew and Greek peoples. This period was a fairly peaceful one. At this time Simon the Just, the High Priest and a wise administrator, fortified Jerusalem strongly and secured the walls of the city.
• In the year 240 BC at a time of peace between the North and South, there occurred one of those intrigues within the Temple walls, which were fated in due course to disrupt the Jewish state. The High Priest of the time, Onias II, allowed himself to be persuaded to support the claims of the Greek Antiochus Callinicos for possession of the country against Egypt. The Jews were totally against this, and, under threats of vengeance from Ptolemy II, forced Onias to send an envoy to the king’s court in Alexandria. Then envoy was a grandson of Simon the Just, Joseph one who sought power for himself. He appeared before Ptolemy with splendid gifts and so flattered the king that not only did he avert the king’s anger against the Jews, but got himself appointed as a head tax‑gatherer. During this time there was a relative prosperity and the rich Jews began to adopt the manners and customs of the Greeks ‑ lax in morals. Joseph introduced feasts which were the occasion of unbridled license and depravity. These excesses were confined to the wealthy class and were regarded with dislike by the ordinary people.
• In 198 BC King Antiochus wrestled Palestine from the Egyptian grasp. In Jerusalem a struggle between the High Priest Onias III, representing the mass of the people who resented the immoral Greek customs that had been brought into the country, and Joseph’s elder sons. The latter were supported by all those who regarded the laws and customs as burdensome and wished to replace them by Greek customs. These people were called Hellenists.
• In their struggle for power the Hellenists were even prepared to seek the aid of non‑Jews, including Israel’s ancient enemies, the Philistines. They even helped in the attempted seizure of the Temple treasures by Heliodorus, treasurer to Seleucus. Somehow this sacrilege was thwarted.
• Seleucus, who was murdered by Heliodorus, was succeeded by his brother Antiochus IV. This Antiochus has gone down in Jewish history as one of the worst tyrants and enemies of the Jews. Although his name was also Antiochus he was distinguished from the others by the surname Epiphanes, a name he gave himself which means ‘god manifest’. He was nicknamed Epimanes which means madman. He was a hard and crafty man, prepared to commit any crime for his own advancement. As he saw that by dividing his subjects his rule over them would be strengthened, he did not hesitate to encourage the friction among the ruling Jews in Jerusalem. At the suggestion of the Hellenists he deposed Onias II and put in his place his brother Jason. Jason encouraged all things Greek so as to have the Jews accepted as Greek citizens, thinking that the Jews would gain more respect from their enemies in this way. But Antiochus was always ready to be bought by the highest bidder. When one, Menelaus, offered him a higher annually tribute than Jason was paying, he deposed Jason and appointed Menelaus. The later had Onias III murdered because he denounced him for the theft of money and treasures belonging to the Temple, which Menelaus used for the purpose of paying his tribute to Antiochus.
• While Antiochus was occupied with a war against Egypt, the people, who hated Menelaus, rose up against him on hearing that the Syrian king had been killed. This, however, was only a rumour, and Antiochus, returning victorious, was appealed to by Menelaus to punish the Jews. This he was only too eager to do, and Menelaus, not content with the slaughter and ruin which Antiochus inflicted on the city of Jerusalem, helped him in his violation of the Temple and the robbing of its treasures. Antiochus, contemptuous of all religion, went further. He entered the Holy of Hollies, took away the holy vessels he found, and spread the horrible lie that he had found there a Greek, bound and ready for sacrifice, and that this sacrifice was made every year. He also said that in the Holy of Holies he had seen the statue of a man with a long beard, representing Moses, who was seated on an ass, holding a book in his hands. Out of this falsehood arose the belief that the Jews worshiped the head of an ass made of gold.
• Later, after another war against Egypt which left him humiliated he determined to wreak his spite on the Jews, who were naturally not sorry to see his discomfiture and probably showed it in public. He heaped one cruelty on top of another, degrading and persecuting the Jews. He sent one of his generals Appolonius, to Jerusalem, to destroy its walls and its principal buildings. Once more the city became a ruin. Many of its inhabitants were slaughtered, and many more sold as slaves, while those who escaped, fled into the neighboring districts or hid themselves in the mountains. For some reason the Temple, though stripped and mutilated, was not destroyed.
• Menelaus now found himself with and empty victory; the city deserted, the priests dispersed, and the nation broken up. In his rage at his own undoing he now urged on the king the prohibition of the Jewish religion, he persuaded the king that the Jews were his bitter enemies so long as they practised their faith.
•  Accordingly Antiochus issued a decree that any one found practising the Jewish religion was to be killed. He ordered that the Jews should worship the Greek gods, and offer up sacrifices of swine. This he knew was the worst degradation he could impose on them because the pig was a prohibited animal. He caused the first sacrifice to take place in the Temple, and there after his soldiers erected an alter in every town and village, and compelled whatever Jews they could find, to take part in the ceremony.
• But far from being intimidated by the force and cruelty of the king, the mass of people, who had refused to be Hellenised, determined to oppose the tyrant, at the cost even of their lives.
• This was the Maccabean revolt.
• Antiochus’ regent Lysias had no option but to conclude peace with Judas Maccabeus and withdraw the abominable decrees. Amid great rejoicing, Judas marched to Jerusalem, the Temple was solemnly cleansed, and the worship of God restored.
• He died in 164 BC. There is no record of Antiochus Epiphanes being defeated in some tremendous battle or even being assassinated, interestingly enough he goes off and dies and we don’t know why.

Contemporary Prophets

• Jeremiah   627-586+ BC    in Jerusalem   to Judah
• Ezekiel      592-560 BC        in Babylon      to exiles

Literary Category?

• Mostly prose (> literal interpretation), small parts of prophecies in Dan 2, 4, 7, 8 are poetry (> figurative interpretation)
• The book of Daniel is written in 2 languages! …
  • Dan 1:1-2:4 and chapters 8-12 Hebrew pertaining to Israel in Babylon, ongoing historic visions
  • Dan 2:4-7:28 Aramaic pertaining to Babylon or Medo-Persia. International language

Structure?

• 6 chapters historical narrative, 6 chapters prophecy. Apocalyptic writing mostly in the second 6 chapters

Composition?

• chiasm Dan 2-7, the aramaic part

Main Ideas?

• God is sovereign over superpowers, over nature, over death, over history, over the future … raises up kings, deposes kings … He is perfect in knowledge & wisdom
• God is a Deliverer, protecting his believers in circumstances beyond their control, rewarding & honoring the faithful even in hostile, heathen surroundings
• humility and repentance are the only reasonable responses to such a God, pride and self-sufficiency are the enemy
• foretelling the 4 kingdoms to come, the coming of the Messiah and God’s kingdom, the final redemption of the saints and the judgment on evil

Main Reasons?

• challenge the Jews to respond to God in faith, hope, humility, repentance, confidence, knowing their God and knowing his sovereignty over their lives and futures
• evangelistic towards Gentile readers, revealing who God is, the only God, far above all idols, encouraging humility, repentance & faith, as Nebuchadnezzar did
• encourage future generations (who are seeing prophecies fulfilled continually) to trust in God even in difficult political circumstances for protection, a future redemption … preparing the way for the Messiah
• Total message: Human kingdoms will be replaced, destroyed or ruled by God’s final, eternal kingdom

DANIEL TEXT – FIRST DIVISON

Daniel Chapter 1 – A young Jew in Babylon

• Dan 1:2 The Lord lets King Jehoiakim fall into the power of Nebuchadnezzar. A repeated theme: Human kings and kingdoms act, but God’s sovereign will and control is behind it all.
• Daniel was taken captive in 605 BC in the third year of Jehoiakim (2 Kin 24:12), the 8 year old Jehoiachin, his mother, his servants, his officers and his palace officials.
• Dan 1:2 The vessels of the house of the Lord were also taken and put in the house and treasury of Nebuchadnezzar’s god. This would be interpreted by the nations to imply the superiority of Babylonian gods … which this book will vividly disprove.
• Dan 1:3 Daniel and his 3 friends are from as nobility or of the royal family, good looking, wise, knowledgeable, insightful young men …
• Dan 1:4 They are taught 3 years the literature and language of the Chaldeans. This would include their sacred writings (religion / philosophy / culture), quite possibly anything from myths, sagas, history, steeped in Babylonian worldview … to astrology, dream prediction, soothsaying, possibly spiritual rites, magic, sorcery, whatever. Daniel is part of a group called ‘magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, Chaldeans’
• This meant a new chance, in a great empire, privilege, access to political power, economic advancement … who could resist? Why would Babylon do this?
  • as a true talent search, to enlarge their pool of promising young leaders
  • to truly transfer their loyalties to Babylon, to conquer them spiritually or mentally, true converts
  • to create people out of every people group that would be bridges, link persons, representatives of Babylon to its peoples, helping with loyalties
  • to give chances to people so they sign up with the system, mix, integrate, aspire, try
• Dan 1:7 their name changes … they do not resist this, or feel they have no choice, or refuse to use the names but are in the system according to these names
  • Daniel (God is my Judge) to Beltashazzar (Bel protect his life)
  • Hananiah (God shows grace) to Shadrach (command of Aku, a Sumerian moon god)
  • Mishael (who is what God is) to Meshach (Who is what Aku is?)
  • Azariah ( the Lord helps) to Abednego (servant of Nego) (NIV Studybible, p.1300)
• Dan 1:8 Daniel resolves not to defile himself with the King’s royal rations and requests only vegetables and water. Why? for Jews eat meat, so a chicken would not be a problem. Also Dan 10:3 implies, that though Daniel does a fast here, he normally ate rich food, including meat and wine.
  • the food is unclean … but then again so is everything else in Babylon
  • the food and wine had been offered first to idols … eating symbolized communion with their gods
  • refusal of privilege, to show a different motivation, to deny being opportunist, to identify with others
  • eating the kings’ food meant loyalty, being liable to exchange favors, being compromised
• Daniel decides: I will not defile myself, I will not be taken in by Babylonian luxury. I have a higher loyalty to God than my self-advancement.
• Daniel uses open communication, reasonable request, protecting the palace master also: test them and see whether their service to God will not be to the benefit of Babylon also.
• Dan 1:17 “To these four young men God gave knowledge, skill, insight” … God as source of knowledge
• These 4, having seen a corrupt mother nation go to pieces, being captured, their families killed or who knows where, entered into an ambitious, tempting education program … where do their loyalties lie?
  • Example: young Bangladeshi falls in with British army, is brought to London, to Oxford university, excels
  • Example: young Bangladeshi, captured by the Pakistani army, brought to Karachi, put into the leading university and given a full stipend
• The four must have had godly parents laying very early strong worldview foundations. They must have had clear commitment to God. They must have cried out to God, put themselves to study seriously, learned everything, evaluated everything, re-interpreted everything, understood everything from a greater perspective. They come out not only proficient but far superior to all around them and are promoted, yet they are influenced by none of it.
• Dan 1:21 Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus. Dan 10:1 mentions the third year of Cyrus. So 605-536 BC, 70 years of faithfulness!
• Daniel assures … God is sovereign, all-powerful, above all human powers, caring, committed and able to save
• Daniel challenges … hold on in faith to this God in the midst of idolatry, in faith to the promised restoration, in faith to the calling of God on the small group of Jewish returnees (even though no longer lords in their own land), in faith to the greater future God has spoken about
• Daniel teaches … how to live under a heathen, idolatrous government … how to live under foreign powers … not just surviving but thriving, influencing, discipling
• Daniel models … not to feel a victim or powerless, not to fall into self-pity, not to cut corners, not to compromise
• Application?
  • good for us to know because we are also a small minority under a hostile government with power over us
  • we fear for our children entering secular school, yet the worldview of a child is laid down in the first 5 years of life, before the children ever go to school
  • This is illustrative of Jesus’ teaching on ‘how to be in the world but not of the world’
• Psa 137:4 … “How could we sing the LORD’s son in a foreign land?” … Daniel and his friends learned exactly that!
• to trust God in circumstances I cannot control … human control over circumstances is always an illusion. If we could just trust, act with faith and be willing to take the consequences, be obedient, walking the fine line of taking a stance but adapting to a heathen system
• Contextualized missions is asking very similar questions
• Also: this most likely meant that these young men were also castrated. Babylon castrated their palace officials. 2 Kin 20:18 Isaiah prophecies to Hezekiah that some of his own sons will serve as eunuchs in Babylon’s court … “eunuch” is H5631 “saris”, H7249 is “Rabsari”, title of a sort of official of Babylon.
• Maybe this was another way to transfer their loyalty to Babylon: they had no hope for a family and posterity in the Israelite community, so their work now becomes their future.
• We think it was easy for Daniel to thrive, but think what he had to overcome, forgive, release, content himself with.
• How does Daniel manage to stay pure and committed in such a corrupt setting? > revering God first, seeing his life from God’s perspective, re-interpreting everything from God’s perspective, taking security in God, not being overly impressed with things, evaluating, being principled.
• God is able to keep us from falling Jude 25 … no temptation greater than we are able to overcome 1 Cor 10:13.

Daniel Chapter 2 – The God who knows and controls history

• It’s the 2nd year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, which is about 604 BC. He has just gotten the throne, established himself, won many battles, established preeminence of Babylon in a wide area
• His dreams keep him from sleeping. The Babylonians valued, revered and interpreted dreams … he senses the importance of the dream, can’t understand it, is troubled by it.
• Therefore he tests for an ensures higher knowledge: ‘You tell me the dream and I’ll know you can really interpret it’ … smart, not the usual way, shows he is serious about this one.
• Nobody can answer, in spite of rewards offered.
• Dan 2:10-11 his wise men think the demand not only unusual but unfair … “There is no man on earth who can meet the king’s demand… no king however powerful has not asked such a thing of a magician”.
• They are right, man is limited and Nebuchadnezzar and his magicians have just reached their limits, nobody but “the gods whose dwelling is not with mortals” can do the job.
• Dan 2:12-13 Nebuchadnezzar is mistrustful and angry. Suddenly he is not in control and he can’t get answers. Though he is ‘all-powerful’, he is up against a wall … He orders all wise men executed; in his weakness he still has the power to end life.
• Dan 2:15 Daniel again goes for open communication, prudence, trust, presuming reasonableness: “Why is the decree so urgent?” … not: “How can he?” or “what should we do?” He is trying to understand what lead to the execution command.
• He asks Arioch, the chief executioner. He is not panicked, he doesn’t flee his presence.
• Dan 2:16 He doesn’t have the answer but requests time … showing courage, steadiness, trust in God
• Dan 2:17‑18 Daniel asked his friends to seek the mercy of God that he would reveal the mystery > God reveals it.
• Dan 2:20‑23 Daniel gives for God’s mercy … not trust in himself but thankfulness to God. A God-centered prayer, God is the true source of knowledge and power … also a hint as to the interpretation of the dream (“he deposes kings and sets up kings”).
• Dan 2:27-28 Daniel’s intro: No man revealed the mystery but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries … no claim to glory or special knowledge, humility
• God is able to do what man can’t do. Nebuchadnezzar’s man-centered system had left him with no answers. This is Nebuchadnezzar’s first opportunity to acknowledge God.
• Dan 2:31-35 Daniel tells the dream. It is a prediction of what will be in the latter days. > mighty and frightening image , four separate parts, singled out and described.
• Then a stone, not cut by human hand smites the image and breaks it into pieces which are like chaff which the wind then carries away till not a trace of the image can be found. The stone then grows into a mighty mountain that fills the whole earth. It is clear why Nebuchadnezzar was worried: a stone destroying the statue.
• Dan 2:36-45 The interpretation of the dream. Daniel clearly states (Dan 2:37) that God has given Nebuchadnezzar his kingdom. > God is sovereign, power is delegated, Nebuchadnezzar is accountable
  Nebuchadnezzar is the head of gold. After that three more kingdoms will arise. During the fourth kingdom the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which is eternal and destroys all other kingdoms.
• In the dream God’s kingdom is pictured as the stone cut out by no human hand which grows into a mighty mountain that fills the earth … a strong, secure, eternal, never destroyed
• The 4 empires which will dominate the world, but they do not hold the answer for the world. They are man-centered and destined for destruction. The fifth kingdom is the true kingdom; not man-made but God’s. Mountain image is parallel to Isa 2:2, Mic 4:2, Jhn 12:32.
  • head of gold                        Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar      ch 7 lion
  • chest & arms of silver       Medo‑Persia                               ch 7 bear                        Dan 8:20 ram
  • belly & thighs of bronze   Greece                                          ch 7 leopard                   Dan 8:21 goat
  • legs & feet of iron / clay  Rome                                             ch 7 terrifying beast
• Progression of metals, less and less valuable but more and more strong.
• Nebuchadnezzar is faced with God’s decree for history. God is all-knowing, completely sovereign, ultimately controlling … and he delegates power for a time to him. Nebuchadnezzar has a glimpse of the Creator
• God, a clearly divinely authorized perspective on himself, his kingdom, his power … and the coming history!
• This is Nebuchadnezzar’s first chance to humble himself: He acknowledges Daniel to be right in both dream and interpretation. Actually he tries to worship him. Daniel points to God.
• Daniel and his companions are promoted: Daniel to rule over the whole province of Babylon and then Daniel promoted his friends over the affairs of the province. This is even before their training is over!
• What does this mean to readers, in the ages between Babylon and Rome? How would they feel when this prophecy is coming true before their eyes, an old writing predicting the current political situation?
  • encouraging faith, awe, obedience … revealing that God is sovereign, powerful, all-knowing and Lord of history
  • The same God as watched over Daniel now watches over me … the Jews weren’t ‘at the mercy of heathen powers’ then, neither are they now.
• Illustration: predicting symptoms after a medical intervention … creating a perspective, a framework, a security, giving comfort, endurance and faith
• The power of having God’s perspective on my current situation

Daniel Chapter 3 – Vision-induced Pride versus uncompromising Loyalty

• Dan 3:1-5 Nebuchadnezzar makes a golden statue. It is not specified whether it is a statue of him, or a god he promotes, but worship and prostration is demanded in Dan 3:5. It is 90 ft tall (27.5 m) and 9 ft. wide (2.75 m) > not exactly a humble statue. Put up widely visible in the plain of Dura.
• Why? > obvious link to the last chapter, this is an off-spin of his dream of himself as the golden head. After the initial fear he interprets the dream in pride and self-centeredness … he is the head of an empire, greater than the great empires to come, he is the forerunner, preeminent
• God had given him his kingdom. The Babylonian mindset: God is sharing his divinity with him. Thus Nebuchadnezzar is blessed to also have the God of the Hebrews sharing his divinity with him as the gods of the Babylonians had likewise done.
• God has handed the world to him > he is representative of God’s presence and power in his age. To resist Nebuchadnezzar is resisting God.
• Dan 3:8 It takes others denouncing by others, so it seems the three friends did not grandstand their refusal.
• Dan 3:13 When the three top Hebrew officials refuse, Nebuchanezzar’s pride is bitten: furious rage … for the God of Israel had revealed that Nebuchadnezzar was the head … so why wouldn’t they bow down?
• To stay with the metaphor: the three friends did not worship the image or kingdoms, they belong to the eternal kingdom
• Dan 3:17-18 Reveals their quiet trust, clear communication, no presumption (God may or may not), calm (in contrast to the raging king). They are more loyal to God than to anything else. Theirs is not a pragmatic religion, but a principled one. Regardless of the outcome of serving God they will not submit to idolatry
• Application? regardless of what God gives or doesn’t give me, I will serve him because he is the true God. Are we worshiping the good life of the good God?
• Dan 3:19 Thrown into the fiery furnace that is so hot that the helpers die. But the three friends are untouched, the only thing that burns are the bonds.
• Dan 3:24 King sees with his own eyes (he points it out): a 4th person with the appearance of a god … an angel? A theophany? Jesus?
• What is the message to Nebuchadnezzar? > He has no power whatsoever against this God. Here is power that Nebuchadnezzar hasn’t even dreamed of, the God of Israel is unlike anything he has ever experienced.
• His interpretation of the dream is wrong: God does not confer him divinity, does not want him worshiped, does not agree with his pride for He alone is worthy of worship
• Nebuchadnezzar needs to acknowledge this God, humble himself, line up with God
• Dan 3:26-28 Nebuchadnezzar has truly gotten the message … there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way … seeing this God’s power he must demote the idols in his mind. God challenges his idolatry.
• He gets it, but doesn’t fully go through with it to a declared monotheism.
• Dan 3:29 Decree of death penalty on blaspheming the God of Israel, though not of worshiping him.
• Where was Daniel during this ordeal? Not there is seems, probably on business in another corner of the empire, He doesn’t fall under the madness for once.
• Message to the first readers? > God is able to protect, save and redeem in the most tight and scary circumstances. Or he may not, but that changes nothing about our response or loyalty to him.
• Remember Heb 11, the two sets of heroes: some are victorious by faith and life to tell the tale … and some die by faith, honoring God by their sacrifice.
• Through the three Nebuchadnezzar is humbled, idolatry is prevented, a madness is cut short, Babylon is discipled, a powerful personal witness has gone out.
• What is not an option is compromise, idolatry or cutting corners
• Application? The value of courage, determination, commitment, loyalty, sacrifice … Obeying God as highest priority on our lives, all else is second. God does know best, we cannot arrange better for myself than God does. Our lives will flourish most if we stick faithfully to God’s purposes. Don’t worship ‘well-being’, worship God.

Daniel Chapter 4 – Three hacked to a Stump / self-worship and pride humbled

Warning in a dream

• Dan 4:1-3 The whole of chapter 4 is Daniel copying a kingly decree gone out throughout Babylon. It is an explanation by the King of what happened to him. The symptoms of which they have already seen: an absentee king with a case of mental disease.
• Dan 4:4 Nebuchadnezzar has another frightening dream that the magicians and enchanters can’t interpret – or don’t want to – interpret: The interpretation of this dream is rather obvious after all.
• Dan 4:10-16 Dream of a huge tree, beautiful, center-stage, supporting life. Then a holy watcher from heaven: ‘Cut down the tree but leave its stump … let him be like and animal / his mind be changed’.
• Symbol of the tree in Babylonian culture: ritual center of the earth, (a perverted version of the tree of life?), a link between heaven and earth. Similar tree symbols in the Bible: Eze 31 about pharaoh, Eze 17:22-24 about God’s people , Mth 13:31-32 mustard seed tree about the kingdom of God.
• Dan 4:17 Goal: “in order that all who live may know that the most high is sovereign over the kingdom of mortals: he gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of human beings”. This could be Nebuchadnezzar’s key verse.
• Dan 4:18 He acknowledges Daniel to be endowed with a spirit of the holy gods or a holy, divine spirit. He trusts he will get the right interpretation
• Dan 4:19 Polite talk, or worry, or trying to express care for the king. Daniel knows the dream is for Nebuchadnezzar. Truth needs to be spoken whether popular or not, whether creating a good chance for another violent rage.
• Dan 4:20-26 Interpretation: lose human society, like an animal, for 7 seasons “until you have learned that the Most High has sovereignty over the kingdom of mortals, and gives it to whom he will … re-established from the time you learn that Heaven is sovereign.”
• Dan 4:27 Daniel’s counsel for prevention: “Atone for your sins with righteousness, and your iniquities with mercy to the oppressed, so that your prosperity may be prolonged”. He manages to express care for the king, to give him a path of hope. This is good, biblical counsel: repentance evidenced in obedience. It also implies that there is yet hope, a good perspective since a warning was given, no punishment without a warning (as in Deuteronomy).

Fulfillment of the dream

• Dan 4:28 Only after 12 months the judgment falls. Maybe Nebuchadnezzar initially obeyed Daniel’s counsel, but later the scare of the dream may have passed or he assumed that the judgment would not come to pass after all since nothing happened so far.
• Dan 4:29-30 His pride rises again … “is this not magnificent Babylon, which I have built as a royal capital by my mighty power and for my glorious majesty?”… Daniel later comments about this to Belshazzar in
• Dan 5:20 “his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he acted proudly” and in Dan 4:37 “he is able to bring low those who walk in pride”. Nebuchadnezzar was a builder like none before him, there is much archeological evidence for this.
• Dan 4:31 Immediately disaster strikes according to the warning: “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: The kingdom has departed from you! You shall be …”
• Nebuchadnezzar’s pride in his power, majesty, ability, position, importance is all humbled. He becomes ‘less than human’, like an animal, not even able to take care of himself, weak and pitiful.
  God’s message to him is: ‘I made you king, I can depose you, I can demote you even to be less than human … you have no control over your life … I am sovereign, you are not’. The only way back to sanity was to recognize God’s preeminence, to acknowledge God’s sovereignty
• Dan 4:34 God gives mercy so that his reason returns and he “acknowledges, blesses, praises and honors the eternal, sovereign God, the eternal king … before whom any human (including himself) is accounted as nothing … no one can stay his hand.”
• Dan 4:36 “Upon this (causal link!) his reason, majesty, splendor, glory, favor is restored to hi …still more greatness added.”
• Dan 4:37 “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are truth, and his ways are justice; and he is able to bring low those who walk in pride.”
• This is remarkable humility compared with what he had previously said about himself … it culminates in him giving a very honest, public confession and explanation that clearly confesses God as the Most High and only sovereign (chapter 4). It may well be we’ll see Nebuchadnezzar in heaven.

Nebuchadnezzar’s insanity

• Is should be noted that insanity was treated with fear and dread in the days of Daniel, and considered to be the result of demon possession. Madmen were deprived of normal social contacts lest the others should be infected. That this should happen to the great king Nebuchadnezzar is unthinkable, therefore considering the fact that the kingdom was restored to him, we should not be surprised as to the silence.
• Actually the silence is not so silent:
  • Eusebius of Caesarea (265-339 BC) quotes Abydenus (2nd century BC) who quotes Megastenes (about 300 BC) mentioning the Babylonian tradition that Nebuchadnezzar from the roof of his palace, being possessed by some god or other, cries out ‘O Babylonians, I, Nebuchadnezzar, announce to you beforehand the coming misfortune … A Persian mule will come, having your own deities as his allies, and will bring slavery’. The king goes on the describe the animal-like existence to which he would condemn the conqueror of his land, and ‘having uttered this prophecy, he forthwith disappeared’. The link to a Persian bringing about judgment is likely a theme parallel to Daniel’s Cyrus bringing down Babylon.
  • Also: A Babylonian priest named Berossus (4th century BC) preserved a tradition that Nebuchadnezzar became suddenly ill towards the end of his reign. This is mentioned by Josephus (37-100 AD, Antiquities X-XI-6). He refers to the same passage of Megastenes and adds ‘Nabuchodonosor, after he had begun to build the aforementioned wall, fell sick and departed this life when he had reigned forty-three years’.
  • This kind of insanity is known today. It is a rare but genuine psychotic condition called boanthropy (modern name, in pre-scientific times called lycanthropy), in which the sufferer imagines himself to be an ox and acts like one, eating grass and drinking water. The writer of the Daniel Article in Zondorvans Pictionary Encylopedia encountered such a case in a British mental institution. Dr. M.G. Barker, a consultant psychiatrist interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s illness to be a accute onset insanity with apparent delusional idea of being and animal, followed by a spontaneous remission. He thinks it a form of depression.
  • A damaged tablet was found by Sir Henry Rawlinson from the period of Nebuchadnezzar II. It read, ‘For four years … in all my dominions I did not build a high place of honour; the precious treasures of my kingdom I did not lay out. In the worship of Merodacy … I did not sing his praise … Nor did I clean out the canals’. Maybe this is an allusion to this period.
• We should note also that the “seven times” in Dan 4:16 may not be seven years as many say. Even if it is, there is no evidence that could rule out there being 7 years of insanity at the end of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. The world ‘times’ in Dan 4:32 means ‘seasons’. In Babylonian counting, there were only two seasons, summer and winter. Therefore 7 season’s could be 3½ y.
• First readers? > being a voice of righteousness, of truth, whether comfortable and popular or not, whether possibly threatening or not. Wanting the good of a heathen king, giving godly advice is possible even from a position of inferiority.
• God has many ways to see to see his will done and to humble humans (creative, communicative ways).
• Assurance that all human power is given or delegated by God, there is no power that isn’t dependent on him

Daniel Chapter 5 – Handwriting on the Wall – Pride loses an Empire

• Background God’s dealings with Nebuchadnezzar should have been a warning to Belshazzar. Nabonidus, Nebuchadnezzar’s son in law and father of Belshazzar is not mentioned in Daniel. He comes to power, then disappears into a monastery (Sin worship), his son ruling in his stead
• Dan 5:1 Belshazzar’s great feast for a thousand of his lords … a religious festival
• Dan 5:3 drinking from the vessels from the temple in Jerusalem was an act of defiance, and intentional sacrilege against God, possibly other god, demonstrating his superiority over the conquered nations and their gods
• Dan 5:4 they drink from vessels and praise their idols … This is clearly linked, superiority is claimed over the conquered gods / God.
• Why is he feasting and drinking when the Medes and Persians are preparing to besiege the city? Partially for Babylonian pride: They thought they could survive a 70 year siege by the Persians and that the besiegers would eventually wear themselves out and withdraw. This pride and self-sufficiency that God will not leave unchallenged.
• Dan 5:5-9 Belshazzar toasts and – immediately – the fingers of a human hand appear and write on the wall near a lamp, meaning very visible.
• Dan 5:6, 5:9 The party turns from merrymaking to alarm
• Dan 5:7 He cries aloud (panic!) for the wise men, again man’s wisdom is useless and unable to interpret. He promises lavish rewards (purple, gold, third rank in the kingdom, which is accurate, since Belshazzar is only number two)
• Dan 5:10-12 The Queen (mother) remembers, recommends and praises Daniel, having retained a knowledge from before. There is irony in this: Belshazzar needs an Jew, whose God he has just mocked.
• Dan 5:13-16 He repeats his mother’s information but adds a degrading comment: “Aren’t you one of the exiles my father brought from Judah?” … this is threatening, too: ‘Remember you’re a prisoner here under my authority.’ … It seems that Daniel no longer has a high office as he did under Nebuchadnezzar; perhaps Belshazzar demoted him earlier
• Dan 5:17-23 Daniel is crystal clear, not afraid, opportunist or flattering. He distances himself: keep your gifts and favors. But he will render the interpretation, but not before first giving him a bit of background cum history cum rebuke: “your father humbled himself … you have not humbled your heart thought you knew all this! You have exalted yourself against the lord of heaven! … but the God in whose power is your very breath, and to whom belong all your ways, you have not honored … from his presence this writing”… Daniel is not mincing words, he is fearless and searing in his rebuke.
• Dan 5:24-25 Mene … numbered. Tekel … weighed and found wanting. Peres / Parsin … your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians
  God’s message: you are not autonomous, but accountable to me. You are proud, you have refused to humble yourself are found wanting. Your kingdom will be taken from you.
• Dan 5:29 Belshazzar fulfills his promise of purple, gold, third in kingdom … no meaning, though, maybe he tries to win the favor of God
• Dan 5:30 Belshazzar is killed that night, in contrast to Nebuchadnezzar’s 12 month delay. That night the Medes and Persians invaded, Belshazzar killed. Darius the Mede receives the kingdom (of Babylon), Cyrus is over more.

Daniel Chapter 6 – Faithfulness till high Age – Surviving a trap

• Dan 6:1-2 Darius makes Daniel one of his three presidents (over 120 satraps) with the intention of setting him over the whole kingdom. Accountability of the satraps to the presidents … “so that the king may not suffer loss.”
• Dan 6:3 Daniel distinguishes himself because of the excellent spirit in him … what a great description of the Holy Spirit, a Spirit of excellence!
• Dan 6:4 Jealousy of the other presidents (leaders) … The perennial tall puppy syndrome, jealousy, comparison.
• Dan 6:4 No ground for complaint or any corruption, “because he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption could be found in him” … What an amazing work evaluation. Daniel is in charge of so much, he cannot possibly attend to all matters, but must delegate. But even when delegating he manages to ensure a corruption free environment. He must have been doing major discipleship and accountability with his subordinates. Imagine a totally corruption free Christian NGO operating excellently. What witness that is, what blessing!
• It’s 539 BC, so Daniel is say 78-82 years old, yet he is excellent, active, able, responsible, giving leadership, till high age. He models a fruitful life, an ever-increasing positive influence. We say: ‘you must be young’. Or we retire at 50 years old because our son now has a job and can finance us. None of this is really biblical. Daniel doesn’t demand comforts nor special allowances for age, he doesn’t let himself become lazy. What a life full lived! a genuinely godly work attitude.
• Dan 6:5 They trap him in the area of religion. In order to make Darius both unaware and agreeable, they pack it in flattery, playing on Darius’ ego. This is again the temptation of a king to pride and willful use of power, as with Nebuchadnezzar. Be careful with people who flatter you. Do not enjoy flattery, far less demand it, rather mistrust it.
• They suggest: Decree that for 30 days no man should make a petition to any god or man except the king, on death penalty.
• Daniel accurately records historic information: Death penalty of Babylonians was the fiery furnace (Dan 3), the Death penalty of Medo-Persia was not fire, for fire was considered holy in Zoroastrianism, rather they fed the convicted to lions, which they kept for hunting and as a status symbol (Dan 6).
• Why does Darius go for this? Does he not realize the implications? Why does he not realize that one of his three presidents is not in on this?
• Is he simply flattered, tempted to pride? Pride blinds. Is he playing a power game, to see who is how loyal to him? Or to see who is whose enemy? Or is be being gracious to subordinates on what looks like a ‘non-essential but not harmful’ issue? Is he trying to use it to unify and bind Babylon into the Medo-Persian empire?
• The Persian concept of kingship: The king was considered a priest, a mediator between god and man, a link between heaven and earth, the point of continuity between two worlds. Their suggestion is in this line of thought: no petition but through him the mediator.
• Dan 6:9 The decree is issued, and according to Persian law it could not be reversed. As priest the King was the law incarnate, so the law was unalterable. This is parallel to Esther 8:8.
• Dan 6:14-19 Darius is shown to be genuinely distressed when he realizes his mistake, anxious, trying, blessing, almost calling on God. He calls Daniel ‘servant of the living God’. He definitely is getting the message
• This is 539 BC, Daniel is 78-82 years old, so not exactly a youth, in spite of most Sunday school pictures! This is a small example of many things we have in our heads that are not actually accurate at all.
• Dan 6:23 Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no harm was found on him, because he had trusted in God … God over-rules men’s decrees and rescues Daniel from the lions … Darius expresses joy and relief.
• The message to Daniel’s Jewish readers is clear: How do you behave finding yourself within a greater idolatrous empire which has power over your life? Answer: You stay faithful no matter what, and trust in God for deliverance.
• Dan 6:24 The accusers get the punishment and are not delivered but eaten up by lions. It wasn’t just over-fed lions. It was the hand of God that saved Daniel.
• Dan 6:25-27 Darius makes another decree: All have to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, who lives, endures forever. His kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion has no end. He delivers and rescues, he works signs and wonders. Is Darius just adding the God of Daniel to the list of acceptable gods to worship or did he truly understand more? We can’t say. Darius can’t legislate the worship of Yahweh, but he can command a ‘non-ridicule’, a ‘non-attack’.

DANIEL SECOND DIVISION – VISIONS OF THE FUTURE

• These prophecies that concern the future have what is called prophetic perspective, or are ‘telescoping’. This means that the near and far are merged, for example the prophecies speak about Babylon and the other historical kingdoms of the time and yet in chapter 12 it speaks of resurrection, the near and far are merged.
• What happened later in history is so accurately predicted in these visions that many doubt the authenticity of Daniel and think it was written ‘after it happened’, as ‘pseudo-prophecy’, in the time of the Maccabees. Yet this won’t help, for Daniel predicts beyond the time of the Maccabees and that also fulfilled. Since the Qumran scrolls were found it is indisputable that Daniel as a book was written and known before the time of Jesus.

Daniel Chapter 7 – God the Creator interprets all of history

• Dan 7:1-8 It is the 1st year of Belshazzar, 553 BC. Daniel now is the one who dreams and has visions, he doesn’t just interpret others’ visions.
• Vision Four beasts arise “up out of the sea” … (imagery picked up in Rev 13:1, 17:15, the first beast and the beast on which the whore sits come out of the sea), in Dan 7:17 says these kingdoms shall arise “out of the earth”. Clearly these are human empires:
  • lion with wings wings plucked off, made to stand, given a human mind
  • bear raise up on one side, three tusks (Arise! devour many bodies!)
  • leopard four wings, four heads, given dominion
  • terrifying beast iron teeth, stamping, devouring, ten horns, new horn (removing 3 other horns) with eyes on
    it, speaking blasphemy
• Why is the 4th beast called different? Not sure. Maybe because Rome didn’t only rule by power, but also by law?
• Dan 7:9-12 Judgement scene: Ancient one taking his throne, the 4th beast destroyed including the horn, the other beasts being stripped of their dominion.
• Dan 7:13 son of man = mortal, son of adam, human being. God uses this title for contemporary prophet Ezekiel (Eze 2:1ff). And it is this title Jesus uses on himself (in Luke especially)
• Dan 7:13-14 One like a son of man / human being … coming before Ancient One … given dominion, glory, kingship, all peoples … everlasting, indestructible kingdom … the true kingdom is manifest … in the time of the 4th beast (which is Rome) one like the son of man comes, and is given dominion.
• Dan 7:15-16 Daniel asks for an interpretation
• Dan 7:17-18 short answer … “As for the four great beasts, four kings shall arise out of the earth. But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess it forever” … human empires will come and go, but one eternal Kingdom will come established by God. This is the main message of Daniel: God sovereign over all human power.
• Dan 7:19-22 Daniel asks again for an explanation of the 4th beast, the arrogant horn
• Dan 7:23-27 4th kingdom, devouring, trampling the whole earth, breaking, out of it 10 kings shall arise, 1 shall arise removing 3 before him, speaking arrogantly, persecuting the holy ones of the Most high, shall attempt to change the sacred seasons and the law, given into his power for 3 ½ times … then judgment, his dominion taken away and destroyed …the everlasting kingdom shall be given to holy ones, all dominions shall serve them
• This is exactly parallel to Revelation (Rev 13, 17): evil human empires persecuting God’s holy ones for a time. Then God judges them eternally. With whom is dominion, sovereignty, lasting power? God.
  Small horn? Maybe parallel to 2 Thess, Rev 13? Maybe a picture of an especially persecuting ruler, like Antiochus Epiphanes IV in Dan 11 or Nero or Domitian in NT times?

Daniel Chapter 8 – Greece finishing off Medo-Persia

• Dan 8:1 the 3rd year of Belshazzar, 551 BC, two years after the 4 beast vision … It seems Daniel doesn’t have visions like this daily either!
• Is there a connection between his being demoted politically into less important roles and his seeing visions? Maybe more time to seek God? maybe seeing Babylon deteriorating quickly and thinking about its future? Is this God bringing on the next step of his calling? Is this good people always find themselves busy with something important? Is God re-focusing Daneil on his own people now, and their role in the future empire sequence?
• Daniel sees himself in Susa, a city in the province of Elam, to the very South-East. Daniel probably went there regularly on government business, so he could well be familiar with it.
• Why is this vision there? Because Susa will be a major capital in Medo-Persian times? Does he first see the ram conquering because he thinks about Medo-Persia bringing down the current Babylon? Or as he is furthest East, he has a vision of the goat coming from the West?
• Dan 8:3-4 Ram, standing by river, two horns, one longer than the other, the 2nd one came up later, charging westward, northward and southward … all beasts powerless to withstand it … did as it pleased, became strong
• 2nd beast bear? Dan 8:20 says the horns represent the kings of Media and Persia. It seems the first horn is Media, and the second, longer one is Persia. The ram charges N, S, W, not east > not really clear as the Medo-Persian empire expanded all directions, possibly except north ?
• Dan 8:3-8 Goat, from W, coming on fast without touching the ground, with savage force, enraged, breaking ram’s two horns, ram powerless against goat trampling him, then goat grew exceedingly great, but at the height of its power, the great horn broken > in its place four prominent horns to N, S, E, W
• 3rd beast? Goat … Dan 8:21 interprets it as Macedonia-Greece’s Alexander. Alexander in 334-331 BC defeats the world power Medo-Persia, conquers Tyre, Phoenicia, Israel, Philistia, Egypt. Then in 331-323 BC he conquers land East till today’s India. He dies aged 32 of a fever, leaving no son, no successor, no plan. Dan 8:22 Empire is divided between his 4 major generals.
  • 1 Greece / Macedonia General Cassander W
  • 2 Asia minor General Lysimachus N
  • 3 Syria & East General Seleucius E
  • 4 Egypt General Ptolemy S
• Dan 8:9-14 Out of one of them … Seleucius … came another horn, a little one, which grew exceedingly great toward the S, the E, and the beautiful land. Antiochus Epiphanes IV 175-163 BC …
• Dan 8:10 “It grew as high as the host of heaven … It threw down to the earth some of the host and some of the stars, ad trampled on them” … pride, forced Hellenization, trying to destroy the Jewish faith, forbidding / burning law torahs …
• Dan 8:12 Even against the prince of the host it acted arrogantly; it took the regular burnt offering away from him and overthrew the place of his sanctuary … invades the temple, forbids Jewish rituals / worship, puts up Zeus altar / statue / worship, forces priests to sacrifice a pig to it, installs this in every city ….
• Dan 8:12 Because of wickedness, the host was given over to it together with the regular burnt offering; … sins of the Jews allowed for a time of persecution? … it cast truth to the ground and kept prospering in what it did. … gets away with it for a short time …
• Dan 8:13-14 “Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one that spoke, “For how long is this vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled” 14 And he answered him, “For two thousand three hundred evening and mornings; then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state.” … 2300 evenings and mornings (sacrifices) = 1150 days = 38 months = 3over years, maybe 171-167 BC (when the revolt breaks out), or maybe 167-164 BC, from the Maccabean revolt to the cleansing of the temple (also Antiochus Epiphanes’ death). The 1150 number is also mentioned in 1 Maccabees 1:54, 4:52-53
• Dan 8:15-26 Daniel tries to understand … Gabriel, with human appearance, commanded to help Daniel understand. Daniel falls prostrate, then into trance, face to the ground, touched by Gabriel, set on his feet.
• Dan 8:17 “the vision is for the time of the end”
• Dan 8:19 Later, a period of wrath, refers to the appointed time of the end.
• Dan 8:23 a king of bold countenance, skilled in intrigue, strong, cunning, makes deceit prosper, in his own mind great, without warning destroys many, fearful destruction, successful, rise up against Prince of princes … a further description of Antiochus Epiphanes IV 175-164 BC … but shall be broken, not by human hands … dies suddenly in 164 BC, no battle, no assassination, no mention, some think mental disease (?)
• Dan 8:26 vision of the evenings and mornings is true … something over 3 years. As for you, seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now… 551 BC given > 167 BC fulfilled, so some 400 years later.
• Dan 8:27 So I, Daniel, was overcome, lay sick for some days, the I arose and went about the king’s business. But I was dismayed by the vision and did not understand it. Intense, frightening, upsetting, health-affecting vision … probably much stronger than our normal visions
• After some days Daniel is back to work. This shows he still has some function in government Visions do not let off daily faithfulness, responsibility towards current work, accountability.
• Belshazzar doesn’t know Daniel by Dan 5, he needs to be told about him by his mother. This means that Daniel was clearly demoted significantly, yet Daniel doesn’t diminish his faithfulness after demotion.
• Dan 8:27 I did not understand it (the vision) … This is in spite of the command to explain things to him (private lesson with angel Gabriel) … 🙂 we are in good company …
• This remains so even though he probably sought further understanding from God (again open approach, open communication, no sham admitting non-knowledge / non-understanding, like with Arioch in Dan 2) … or at least he doesn’t add any explanations in his writings. Maybe it’s not so much unclear as it is scary … or is it so much easier for us with hindsight?
• Application Do seek God! Do seek understanding! Do ask! … but also accept the amount of revelation or explanation given by God. Submit your search of knowledge under God.
  Seeing visions can make people go off-track, even if the vision was truly from God, and even more so if it wasn’t.

Daniel Chapter 9 – Intercession for Israel

• Dan 9:1 the 1st year of Darius, by birth a Mede, who became king over the realm of the Chaldeans …
• Most likely Gubaru, the Mede, crucial in the conquest of Babylon (diverting the waters), afterward made king of Babylon under Cyrus the Great, ruled it for 15y … Cyrus is over much more than Chaldea
• Dan 9:2 “I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD to the prophet Jeremiah, must be fulfilled for the devastation of Jerusalem, namely seventy years.”
• Daniel reads ‘the books’, probably a collection of Jewish writing, a precursor to the OT canon. Books as recent as Jeremiah are already added!
• Daniel was not aware of the 70 years up to now, it seems. He probably was too young or left for exile too early to hear the 70y prophecy from Jeremiah, obviously the ch 29 letter to the exiles did not make it to Daniel as he is removed in his government circles.
• Daniel knows Jeremiah’s writings, has a copy, considers them ‘word of God’. Maybe the vision ch 8 triggered Daniel’s further search in the prophets to understand the future of his people
• Even though Daniel is fully adjusted, highly influential (now again 1 of 3 presidents) in Babylon, has everything to loose and nothing to gain, he identifies himself with the Jews and their fate.
• Dan 9:3-4 Understanding that the exile is limited to 70y triggers further seeking for understanding with prayer, supplication, sackcloth and ashes, confession and intercession
• Why? Because he realizes God’s mercy in announcing the end of the exile as early as that? Because he is not sure the Jews really got this? like him also? Because he is not sure they are purified enough by the exile for this new start? Because he wants to make sure nothing stands in the way of this fulfilling?
• Dan 9:4-14 A classic piece of agreeing with God, his view of history, accepting the prophets’ rebuke, acknowledging his covenant-keeping faithfulness, the rightness of his judgment, Israel’s guilt – fair and square, that there is no reason God should be merciful.
• Dan 9:15-19 A classic piece of intercession, quite parallel to Solomon’s intercession at the temple dedication …
• Dan 9:18 not on the grounds of our righteousness but of your great mercies …
• Dan 9:19 for your name’s sake restore your sanctuary, city,  people
• Dan 9:20 confessing my sin and the sin of my people … identification in intercession, not judgmental prayers
• Dan 9:21 Gabriel comes at the time of the evening sacrifice (what a frame of reference to mention a time after 66y of exile and no sacrifices!)
• Dan 9:23 at the beginning of your supplication word went out … for you are greatly beloved … so consider and understand … command to take serious, to think himself, to seek for understanding.
• Dan 9:24-27 70 years > 70×7 years … a restoration, but then a far greater thing still: taking care of sin in principle
  • Historic Interpretation
  • Jewish-Christian Interpretation
  • Millenial Interpretation first half already passed, then a long gap, then Jesus’ millennium, then the Anti-christ
• “70 weeks decreed for your people / Jerusalem … to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place / one (sounds like Jesus’ atoning death on the cross) … from the time the decree to rebuild Jerusalem went out” … 539 BC, 458 BC (not really a good explanation as to why Ezra’s return) … to the time of an anointed prince there shall be 7 weeks … some say: Cyrus, Jesus … “and for 62 weeks” (62×7+7×7=483 y) “it shall be built again with streets and moat, but in a troubled time” … rebuilding of temple but troubled times … After the sixty-two weeks … beginning of last week would be 458-483 = 26 AD, the beginning of Jesus’ ministry … and anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing … Antiochus Ephiphanes / Menelaus have the anointed high priest Onias III deposed in 171 BC, later murdered (AE replaces him by his brother Jason, then by Menelaus (who bribed him heavily) Jesus crucified, deserted by his disciples after 3½ years of ministry … and the troops of the prince who is to come … Antiochus Epiphanes IV, Jesus? Roman general Titus? … shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war … Roman-Jewish war 66-70 AD … Desolations are decreed. He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week … Antiochus Epiphane’s decrees 167 BC, one week could possibly be 171 to 164 BC … and for half of the week (one option: first half is ministry of Jesus till resurrection of Jesus, but then the 2nd half? Or from Jesus’ death till church starts going out to the Gentiles) … meaning from 167-164 BC … he shall make sacrifice and offering cease; and in their place shall be an abomination that desolates … the Zeus altar in the temple … until the decreed end is poured out upon the desolator … 164 BC Antiochus dies, not in battle, not assassinated, just disappears, some say turned insane.
• Whichever interpretation, the weeks don’t really add up that well, and details only partially match. Also 70 is a number that came from the length of the exile … now in answer to that prayer, this vision comes, where 70 year weeks are used probably symbolically for the coming time … In a sense 539 BC to NT times still feels like a prolonged exile to the Jews … they are ruled by heathen, idolatrous powers, they have a temple but a corrupt, later mixed blood priesthood … they have no son of David on the throne … they are in the promised land, but not to the extent it once was, and they are not their own masters
• 7 weeks, 62 weeks, together 69 weeks, seen as one, no good explanation why he splits it up (maybe means ‘towards the end of waiting for the exile’, but in this time Jerusalem will be rebuilt, an anointed one will come, and he will deal with sin (=Jesus). After the 69 weeks: anointed one shall be cut off (cross) and have nothing (disciples abandoning Jesus?). People of the prince shall come and destroy and sanctuary (again, Romans in 70 AD), end will come like a flood, war … and he shall make a strong covenant with many. He shall put an end
• historic Interpretation fulfilled 171-163 BC during Antiochus Epiphanes
• Jewish / early Christian Interpretation Mth 24:15 Jesus refers to abomination of desolation > fulfilled in 66-70 AD

Daniel Chapter 10 – Story around the last Vision – Heavenly Conflict

• Dan 10:1 “the 3rd year of Cyrus of Persia” 536 BC … 3rd day of 1st month onward (Dan 10:4) > 23rd April 536 BC
• Dan 10:2 Daniel mourning for 3 weeks, no rich food, meat, wine, no anointing … on 21st day evening at Tigris … what for? … to further understand the past visions of ch 7, 8, 9? … about the small return under Zerubbabel in 536 BC that Daniel would most likely be aware of? … somebody died? … Dan 10:12 “to gain understanding and to humble yourself …”
• Dan 10:5-9 sees a man in linen, bright, shining (angelic guide?). Daniel alone sees the vision, others flee in trembling .. Daniel also deathly pale, no strength, upon hearing the sound of his words, fell into a trance, face to the ground.
• Dan 10:10-11 “A hand touched me, roused me to hands and knees … ‘Daniel, greatly beloved, pay attention” … stood up trembling.”
• Dan 10:12 “Do not fear … for from first day you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself you have been heard” … affirming
• Dan 10:13 battle in the heavenlies … King of Persia (king of Persia) opposed me (Gabriel), Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me, left him there, coming to you …
  sounds like a classical spiritual warfare scenario … actually, this is where the spiritual warfare is drawn from
• Dan 10:14 Goal … “come to help you understand what is to happen to your people at the end of days …”
• Definitely from Pentecost onward, here is seems from roughly 539 BC onwards it is called the end of days! … For this is a further vision for those days … further means ch 7 also? > then Jesus’ 1st and 2nd coming mentioned before … further means Dan 8, 9? > then from 2nd temple (Zerubbabel) onward …
• Dan 10:15 Daniel “face to ground, speechless … one touched my lips … pains, no strength … again touched …”
• Dan 10:19 “Do not fear, greatly beloved, you are safe. Be strong and courageous! > was strengthened …”
• Dan 10:20 “Do you know why I have come to you? Now I must return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I am through with him, the prince of Greece will come” … sounds more like one more run-down of the history … currently fighting Persia (we are past 539 BC, Babylon is gone), then he will be fighting Greece, … It seems that the “prince of Persia” means the king of Persia, and the “prince of Greece” means the king of Greece. Dramatic rendering of the sequence of empires. Fight in the spiritual world is not a picture of God not being able to defeat him, but expresses the time the empires mature and turn (or don’t turn) evil. God is in control, of the spiritual world and political world. But it will take years till Medo-Persia (and Greece) is taken down.
• Dan 10:21 “But I am to tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth. There is no one with me who contends against theses princes except Michael, your prince.”
• Dan 11:1 “As for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to support and strengthen him” … who says this? the angel speaking? Daniel?… I think the angel … strengthen / support of fight against? … what is the angel doing fighting against the spirit of Persia but supporting Darius the Mede?
• Dan 11:2 “Now I will announce the truth to you …”

Daniel Chapter 11 – Israel caught between the Kings of the North and South

• Dan 11:1 “And as for me in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him.” … Darius the Mede has been identified by evangelical scholars as, Cyrus’ Median general with another name Gubaru. This dates the prophecy at 539 or 538 BC. far in advance of the liberal commentators dating of 165 BC.
• Dan 11:2 “And now I will show you the truth. Behold three more kings shall arise in Persia; and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them; and when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece.” … The “three more kings” are Cyrus, Cambyses and Darius. The” fourth” Persian king which will be”far richer” than them is Xerxes. Xerxes did fight against the Greeks, but was defeated at Salamis in 480 BC. by the Greeks.
• Dan 11:3 “Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do according to his will” … This mighty king was Alexander the Great who conquered the known world (at the age of 21-32 years) in the 334-323 BC. His “great dominion” was the known world then.
• Dan 11:4 “And when he has arisen his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to the dominion with which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these” … Alexander’s kingdom was divided into four parts at his death by four of his generals who were not related to him by blood. General Cassander took Macedonia, General Lysimachus took Asia Minor, General Seleucus took Syria and the east, General Ptolemy took Egypt.
• Dan 11:5 “Then the king of the south shall be strong, but one of his princes shall be stronger than he and his dominion shall be a great dominion.” … Ptolemy I. One of “his princes” is Seleucus Nicator. Nicator was originally a general for Ptolemy. He became so strong later, however, that he became king of Syria/Babylon in 311 BC and went on to conquer all the way to India. Nicator was the strongest of Alexander the Great’s successors. “his dominion shall be a great dominion” refers to the vast expanse of Nicator’s conquests.
• Dan 11:6 “After some years they shall make an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make peace but she shall not retain the strength of her arm, and he and his offspring shall not endure; but she shall be given up, and her attendants, her child, and he who got possession of her” … There is a jump in this verse from the one immediately preceding it. “King of the south” refers to Ptolemy II in Egypt who reigned from 285-246 BC. The “daughter of the king of the south” refers to Ptolemy’s daughter‑Berenice. In 252 BC, Ptolemy II gave her in marriage to the “king of the north” who is now Antiochus II. Antiochus II reigned from 261‑247 BC. Antiochus II promised to divorce his first wife Laodice in order to marry Berenice, Ptolemy II’s daughter. Laodice did not appreciate this and with resolution murdered Antiochus II (her former husband) by poisoning him and also murdered Berenice and the offspring produced by Antiochus II and Berenice.
• Dan 11:7 “In those times a branch from her roots shall arise in his place; he shall come against the army and enter the fortress of the king of the north, and he shall deal with them and shall prevail”. … The “branch from her roots” is referring to murdered Berenice’s brother‑ Ptolemy III. In retaliation for his sister’s murder, Ptolemy III marched north out of Egypt and invaded Syria. Ptolemy reigned from 246-221 BC in Egypt. Ptolemy III enjoyed a great victory in this invasion of Syria.
• Dan 11:8 “He shall also carry off to Egypt their gods with their molten images and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and for some years he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north” … Ptolemy III plundered the Syrians mightily but did not try to hold or eliminate the northern kingdom. The wealth gained by Ptolemy III enabled him to start temple building on a huge scale. Today, these temples are the finest examples of Greek temples in Egypt. The “king of the north” in this passage is Seleucus II (247-226 BC)
• Dan 11:9 “Then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south but shall return into his own land” … Seleucus II did make a brief incursion into the south but Ptolemy III defeated him in 240 BC.
• Dan 11:10 “His sons shall wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall come on and overflow and pass through, and again shall carry the war as far as his fortress” … “His sons” (the sons of Seleucus II)‑Seleucus III (226-223 BC reign) and Antiochus III (223‑187 BC reign). “his fortress” is the fortress of the king of the south Ptolemy IV of Egypt (221-203 BC reign.) Antiochus III attacked Gaza on the Egyptian border. Seleucus III only reigned for 2 years in Syria and then was mysteriously killed while at war in Asia Minor in 223 BC. His brother Antiochus III took over in 223 BC and reigned until 187 BC. This verse is probably specifically relating to Antiochus III.
• Dan 11:11 “Then the king of the south moved with anger, shall come out and fight with the king of the north; and he shall raise a great multitude, but it shall be given into his hand” … Ptolemy IV (221-203 BC reign.) Ptolemy IV defeated Antiochus III in 217 BC at Raphia.
• Dan 11:12 “And when the multitude is taken, his heart shall be exalted and he shall cast down tens of thousands but he shall not prevail” … The apparent victory of Ptolemy IV over Antiochus III had relatively short‑lived benefits for the southern kingdom.
• Dan 11:13 “For the king of the north shall again raise a multitude, greater than the former; and after some years he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies” … The “king of the north”‑Antiochus III returned against Ptolemy 14 years later with a great army.
• Dan 11:14 “In those times many shall rise against the king of the south; and the men of violence among your own people shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision; but they shall fail” … Antiochus III recruited Jews to fight against Ptolemy IV. Because of this when Ptolemy IV’s forces gained the upper hand his leading General Scopas had Palestine devastated in 200 BC.
• Dan 11:15 “Then the king of the north shall come and throw up siege works, and take a well fortified city. And the forces of the south shall not stand, or even his picked troops, for there shall be no strength to stand” … Antiochus III finally conquered Ptolemy IV probably at Sidon in 198 BC where Scopas (Ptolemy’s general) surrendered.
• Dan 11:16 “But he who comes against him shall do according to his own will, and one shall stand before him; and he shall stand in the glorious land and all of it shall be in his power” … Antiochus took the “glorious land” around 198 BC > Palestine was given into his control.
• Dan 11:17 “He shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and he shall bring terms of peace and perform them. He shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom; but it shall not stand or be to his advantage” … Antiochus III eventually gave his daughter Cleopatra to Ptolemy V for a marriage alliance hoping that hoping that he would gain advantage over Egypt this way. Unfortunately for Antiochus, Cleopatra sided with Egypt and the Ptolemaic kingdom.
• Dan 11:18 “Afterward he shall turn his face to the coast lands, and shall take many of them; but a commander shall put an end to his insolence; indeed he shall turn his insolence back upon him” … Antiochus III turned his “face to the coast lands” and invaded Thrace and Greece. The Romans defeated him at Thermopylae in 189 BC. He agreed to give up parts of Asia Minor, part of his military and pay a heavy fine. One of the hostages that the Romans took to Rome as a hostage was Antiochus IV who would later call himself Antiochus Epiphanes.
• Dan 11:19 “Then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of his own land; but he shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found”. Died in 187 BC.
• Dan 11:20 “Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an exactor of tribute through the glory of the kingdom; but within a few days he shall be broken, neither in anger nor battle … “One who shall send and exactor” in this passage is Seleucus IV who reigned from 187-175 BC. Seleucus IV was the brother of Antiochus IV (Antiochus Epiphanes.) Seleucus IV was assassinated in 175 BC.
• Dan 11:21 “In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given; he shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries” … The “contemptible person” is Antiochus Epiphanes. Epiphanes declared himself to be king instead of Seleucus IV’s rightful heir to the throne. Because of the lack of vigor in the Seleucid kingdom, Antiochus Epiphanes began a vigorous program of Hellenization especially incorporating the worship of Zeus (of which Antiochus considered himself to be the earthly incarnation.) Epiphanes reigned from 175-164 BC.
• Dan 11:22 Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, and the prince of the covenant also … These were primarily carried out against Ptolemy VI of Egypt (181-145 BC reign.) The “prince of the covenant” here may refer to the high priest Onias III of the Jews whom Epiphanes had murdered and then replaced him with his brother.
• Dan 11:23 And from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully; and he shall become strong with a small people … This alliance was an alliance for greater Hellenization among the Jews by placing Menelaus in as high priest which would also further line Antiochus IV’s pockets from the temple treasury as Menelaus had offered money to Epiphanes if Epiphanes would see to it that Menelaus was put in as high priest.
• Dan 11:24“Without warning he shall come into the richest parts of the province; and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his fathers’ fathers have done, scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time” … In 170 BC Antiochus attacked Ptolemy VI.
• Dan 11:25 “And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army; but he shall not stand, for plots shall be devised against him” … Antiochus went to Memphis after defeating Ptolemy VI and Antiochus declared himself king of Egypt. He left Ptolemy VI in Memphis to be the ruler there and sent Ptolemy’s brother west to be the ruler of Alexandria. Antiochus Epiphanes reason for this was to divide Egypt, thus weakening it from the inside so as to curtail the possibility of rebellion against Epiphanes’ rule there. Ptolemy VI (king of the south in this passage) suffered mutiny among his subjects and thus fell from power.
• Dan 11:26 “Even those who eat his rich food shall be his undoing; his army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain” … There was treachery present although Epiphanes and Ptolemy VI professed friendship after their earlier war years.
• Dan 11:27 “And as for the two kings, their minds shall be bent on mischief; they shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail; for the end is yet to be at the time appointed” … Treachery between them.
• Dan 11:28 “And he shall return to his land with great substance, but his heart shall be set against the holy covenant. And he shall work his will, and return to his own land” … After this expedition in Egypt, Epiphanes heard that there was unease in Jerusalem. His designated high priest had plundered the temple and desecrated it. Because of this the Jews were rioting. Epiphanes went north and desecrated the temple again with Menelaus, leaving his own soldiers in command in Jerusalem he left to go further north.
• Dan 11:29 “At the time appointed he shall return and come into the south, but it shall not be this time as it was before” … Epiphanes heard of treachery against him in Egypt so he returned to Memphis in 168 or 169 BC and retook it.
• Dan 11:30 For ships of Kittim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant. He shall turn back and give heed to those who forsake the holy covenant … With his success in Memphis, Epiphanes turned west to Alexandria to strengthen and restrengthen his grip in Egypt. Before arriving in Alexandria, a Roman, representative Popillius Laenas (a former acquaintance of Epiphanes’ from the days when Epiphanes was a hostage there) told Epiphanes to evacuate Egypt. Epiphanes, knowing Roman might militarily wisely withdrew.
• Dan 11:31 “Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the continual burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate …”
• Dan 11:32 “He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant; but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action” … In these two verses we see Epiphanes’ satanic character. He was determined to keep Palestine loyal to him. Since he considered himself to be the manifestation of god Zeus upon earth he ordered an intensification of hellenisation in Jerusalem. He marched 22,000 men against Jerusalem on a sabbath and had many people killed. Jerusalem was plundered and burned many children and women were taken as hostages. In 167 BC. he attempted to totally obliterate Jewish religion. He forbade the observance of the Sabbath, festivals, sacrifices, and circumcision. The Torah was burned; idolatrous altars were set up and Jews were forced to offer up unclean sacrifices and eat swine flesh. This all culminated in the infamous deed on chislev 25 (Dec 16, 167 BC) when the temple in Jerusalem as well as the temple on Mt. Gerazim became the places designated by Epiphanes for the worship of Zeus. An altar to Zeus was erected on top of the altar of burnt offering. Swine flesh was offered on this altar. The Jews who submitted to these abominations were allowed to live, those who opposed were killed. ‘The people who know their God’ in this passage are those of the Maccabean revolt who withstood these ungodly actions of Epiphanes.
• Dan 11:33 “And those among the people who are wise shall make many understand, though they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder for some days.”
• Dan 11:34 “When they fall they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery.”
• Dan 11:35 “and some of those who are wise shall fall, to refine and to cleanse them and to make them white until the time of the end, for it is yet for the time appointed” … The Maccabeans had great successes in their rebellion against this profanation of the temple etc. Antiochus was enraged at hearing of these great successes. He would have stopped the Maccabeans but instead went to Persia and died in the summer of 163 BC insane.
• Dan 11:36 “And the king shall do according to his will; he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god; and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished; for what is determined shall be done ..”.
• Dan 11:37 “He shall give no heed to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by women, he shall not give heed to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all”
• Dan 11:38 “He shall honour the god of fortresses instead of these; a god whom his fathers did not know he shall honour with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts”
• Dan 11:39 “He shall deal with the strongest fortresses by the help of a foreign god; those who acknowledge him he shall magnify with honour. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price” … It is apparent that these three verses also refer to the craziness of Epiphanes. Apollo the historic deity of the Seleucid / Antiochene dynasty, disappeared almost entirely from the Seleucid coinage after the reign of Epiphanes, being replaced by Zeus. The king must also have attempted to suppress the lascivious cult of the “darling of women” during his attempt to unify religion to the worship of himself as Zeus incarnate.
• Dan 11:40 “At the time of the end the king of the south shall attack him; but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through. 41 He shall come into the glorious land. And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out his hand: Edom, Moab and the main part of the Ammonites. 42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall follow in his trains. 44 But tidings from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go forth with great fury to exterminate and utterly destroy many. 45 And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him.”
  • Some of contemporary commentators have seen this both as Rome or Antiochus Epiphanes.
  • Most interpretations agree to historical interpretation till Dan 11:35 … from then on wide disagreement
  • Historic interpretation still about the Seleucids / Ptolemies, possibly reprise of Antiochus Epiphanes
  • Christian interpretation about Jesus
  • Dispensationalist interpretation about 2nd coming / millenium from Dan 9:27 onwards

Daniel Chapter 12 – Future redemption and Resurrection

• Dan 12:1-3 “Protector Michael shall arise (protector announced before anguish) … time of anguish as never before, those written in the book delivered. Many (= all) … shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt (end time, or 2nd coming) … Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness like stars forever and ever” (righteous OT saints, NT believers are light, revelation, witnesses of truth, lives proclaiming him … and heavenly state)
• Dan 12:4 “keep the words secret and the book sealed” … in a sense he can’t, he can only pass it on, those who are of a willing heart will understand as much as they need, the others won’t … “many running back and forth, and evil shall increase”
• Dan 12:5 “How long shall it be until the end of these wonders? … a time, two times, and half a time” … the 3 ½, of the nature of 7, but not yet fulfilled ... “and when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end … persecution … all these things would be accomplished” … complete restoration
• Dan 12:8 “I heard but could not understand” … how humble Daniel is! … “what shall be the outcome of these things? … Go your way, Daniel, words remain secret / sealed until the time of the end … Many shall be purified, cleansed, and refined” … by the suffering, which is not purposeless … “but the wicked shall continue to act wickedly” (Contrast). “None of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand” … hints to the readers
• Dan 12:11 “From the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that desolates is set up, there shall be 1290 days … 43 months … 3y and 7 months” … untypical, usually 1260 = 42m = 3 ½ y (= 1290, = 1150=1335)… maybe a bit longer since the 7+62+1/2 was slightly short … to help fill up the measure?
• Dan 12:12 “Happy are those who persevere and attain 1335 days” … 44.5 m … 3y and 8.5 m … calling to wait on God, trust God, to endurance
• Dan 12:13 “But you, go your way … excellently till the end … and rest” … death, sleep, unconsicousness, paradise state … “you shall rise for your reward at the end of the days” … personal assurance of reward, resurrection, a participation in the future.

Learning from Daniel

Repeated Theme – Prayer

• Dan 2:18 Daniel seeking God’s mercy to reveal the required dream, with assurance
• Dan 6:10-13 Daniel’s habit … upper room open toward Jerusalem, get down on knees 3x / day to pray to God & praise him
• Dan 7:28 kept the matter in my mind
• Dan 9:3-4, 17-19 turns to God, to seek an answer by prayer & supplication, making confession, identifying, interceding, asking forgiveness
• How often do we pray out of obedience …not because we feel like it, or because of a crisis situation, or know … but because the God tells us that prayer changes things and that we are to pray
  Prayer is not only for changing things and people around us but for changing us. Often we sit down to pray with all these feelings ‑ to pray for situations that are bigger than us and by the end of my prayer God has not changed the circumstances but had changed us ‑He shows us how to live through them, making us stronger and more dependent on Him.
• Daniel communes with God, evaluates with God, seeks God, … he does that regularly, and is so confident that he is sure (even on the spot) that God will hear him as seen in Dan 2:16
  E.M. Bounds … “Great praying is the sign and seal of God’s great leaders,” The apostles decided to give themselves to two things “We .. will give out attention to prayer and the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). For them, prayer was the first priority. They could lead only as they prayed. They realized that their greatest responsibility was to cover the church with prayer as they ministered the word. It was so urgent that they delegated many other duties to Spirit‑filled lay people. Bounds said that each leader “must be pre-eminently a man of prayer. No learning can make up for the failure to pray. No earnestness, no diligence, no study, no gifts will supply its lack. Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for man is greater still. He will never talk well and with real success to men for God who has not learned well how to talk to God for men. More than this, prayer-less words … are deadening words.”… “Men are God’s method. The church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.” “The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods, but through men.”
• Our task as a leaders are really too big for us. Its immensity and awesomeness must drive us to prayer. Our vocation is too large and our calling too sacred. But God is available for our ministry if you are willing to pay the price in prayer. Daniel was willing to pay the price.

Repeated Theme – not understanding / seeking understanding / giving understanding

• Dan 2:14-15 “Daniel responded with prudence and discretion and asked Arioch”              seeking understanding
• Dan 7:16  “I approached one of the attendants to ask him the truth concerning all this” seeking understanding
• Dan 7:19 “Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth beast”                             seeking understanding
• Dan 8:16 “I heard a human voice, calling, “Gabriel, help this man understand the vision” being given understanding
• Dan 8:17 “But he said to me: “Understand, o mortal … “                                        being given understanding
• Dan 8:19 “Listen, and I will tell you what will take place later”                           being given understanding
• Dan 8:27 “But i was dismayed by the vision and did not understand it”               admitting not understanding
• Dan 9:3 “Then I turned to the Lord God to seek an answer …”                                seeking understanding
• Dan 9:22 “I have now come out to give you wisdom and understanding.”                      being given understanding
• Dan 10:21 “But I am to tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth.”                             being given understanding
• Dan 12:8   “I heard but could not understand; so I said …”                                  admitting not understanding
• Daniel, one of the most godly, praying, wise, successful, insightful people in all of the Bible stands out as one who repeatedly says the he didn’t understand! How come? It is Humility and fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom … pride will make us unteachable, unknowledgable fools. It takes knowledge to know what to ask. If a person is completely confused he doesn’t know what to ask any more.
• Those admitting not knowing … ask for more knowledge … get more knowledge
• Those who ‘know everything’ … are not open to learn … do not gain new insight
• Therefore … those who admit not understanding … seek understanding … and are being given understanding