God's Judgment and Provision on Full Display
Notes
Transcript
Before we dive into this first Chapter, I want to take a few minutes and just a lay a foundation for where we are going to be.
Before God allowed Israel to enter the promised land, he made a covenant with them. This covenant is outlined in Deuteronomy 28-30. The covenant stated that if Israel followed the commandments of the Lord, they would be blessed and God’s hand of protection would be upon them. If they did not obey the commandments of the Lord, then He would curse them, even to the point of destroying their cities and having foreign rulers come in to take them captive.
As we all know, the people of God were split into two groups: the Northern Kingdom, known as Israel, and the Southern Kingdom, known as Judah. The Northern Kingdom had already been taken into captivity by the Assyrians because of their sins against God. The Southern Kingdom, though they did not do so often, repented of their sins from time to time, allowing them to remain in the land that God had given them for another century.
But now their sin has come before the eyes of God and it is time to suffer the punishment of the covenant that God made with them many years earlier. The sins that caused this 70 year captivity to take place was idolatry and failure to obey to the seven year sabbath.
20 And those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia,
21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
Judah had acquired the land for 490 years and not once had they allowed the land to rest from its labor. So God held Judah captive for 70 years, the exact amount of time that the land should have been able to rest, before allowing them to return home.
King Nebuchadnezzar will be the tool in God’s hand that is used to bring about what has already been prophesied by the Lord through the prophets.
1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god.
Jehoiakim is one of the sons of Josiah. Josiah was a godly king who sought after the Lord, and because of his actions, Judah was spared during his reign. But when he fell in battle, things took a turn for the worse. Josiah had four sons, and all of them were evil before the Lord. Three of them ended up serving as king over Judah, and all three of them did wickedly before the Lord.
Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king (2 Chronicles 36:5-7), and he is now in his third year of rulership (possible fourth year, depending on whether you use the Babylonian or Egyptian reckoning; Babylonians considered first year, or partial year, as a year of accession, to where the Egyptians counted the first year).
1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),
It must also be understood that Nebuchadnezzar did not completely destroy Judah during this first visit. The Babylonian armies actually took Judah in three waves, each time securing more and more of the treasure from the temple, until finally, on the third trip, they completely levelled the city.
We are told in 2 Kings 24:1
1 In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him.
This means that Judah served as a tributary, meaning that King Nebuchadnezzar allowed their city to continue on, but they had to obey his rules and pay taxes unto him. This is very similar to the agreement we see between the Romans and the Jews in the New Testament.
During his first visit to Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar took roughly ten thousand young men, including Daniel and his three friends, back to Babylon. This was a accomplished for a few reasons:
Because God had decreed it.
6 ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord.
7 ‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ”
God had warned Judah what would happen if they did not obey His commandments, and so now we are seeing that God lives up to His Word. Judah had 490 years to do what was right, so this is not like God is unmerciful, or unloving, or anything like that. They had plenty of time to make things right and follow the Lord, but because they did not, judgment fell upon them.
Notice that in verse 2, it says, “The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand...” This is one of the major themes of Daniel, if not the major theme of Daniel, that God is sovereign and His Word Almighty. Over and over, Daniel will remind us that God is the supreme ruler of this world, regardless of what things may seem like to us. He is the One who controls kingdoms and kings, how long and bountifully a nation will stand, and how quickly and devastatingly a nation will fall. All of these things are in the hand of the Lord.
I can’t think of a better way to get a nations attention than to take several thousand of its young men away from their parents. This showed that King Nebuchadnezzar meant business, and things could have been a lot worse, if they chose to fight back. But Jeremiah the prophet had actually told them not to fight back. He told them to accept defeat and go willingly to Babylon. This was the will of God:
8 And it shall be, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish,’ says the Lord, ‘with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
9 Therefore do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon.”
10 For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land; and I will drive you out, and you will perish.
11 But the nations that bring their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let them remain in their own land,’ says the Lord, ‘and they shall till it and dwell in it.’ ” ’ ”
4 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:
5 Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.
6 Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished.
7 And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace.
Once King Nebuchadnezzar took these young men back to Babylon, he sorted them and put them in his own school, teaching them the way of the Chaldeans.
After this first visit, Jehoiakim was allowed to remain as the King of Judah until he rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar. When he did, King Nebuchadnezzar came back, killed Jehoiakim, and placed Jehoiachin in his place. Jehoiachin was the 18 year old son of Jehoiakim and he only reigned for three months (2 Kings 24:8). He too was removed from the throne by King Nebuchadnezzar, but instead of being killed instantly, he was taken captive, along with his family and his advisors.
The temple was once again plundered, and this time most of everyone left was escorted back to Babylon, including Ezekiel. Only the poorest of people remained in Judah after this siege, and this time Mattaniah, the uncle of Jehoiachin and youngest brother of Jehoiakim, was left in charge to rule. His name was later changed to Zedekiah. He filled the temple of the Lord with idols while he reigned and suffered greatly for it.
He too finally betrayed King Nebuchadnezzar, and this time upon his return, King Nebuchadnezzar made Zedekiah watch as he killed his sons before him, then he plucked out his eyes right there on the spot, then took him back to Babylon as a prisoner, where he died. King Nebuchadnezzar also destroyed Judah this time, levelling all of its walls and destroying the temple. This time, things were officially over for Judah, at least until the 70 years of captivity were completed.
3 Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles,
4 young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans.
5 And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king.
6 Now from among those of the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
7 To them the chief of the eunuchs gave names: he gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abed-Nego.
Why do you think King Nebuchadnezzar did this?
To gain their trust.
To strip them of their former life and convert them to the Babylonian mindset.
To serve his own interests. He wanted the wisest men of the world at his beckon call.
Daniel 1:8-21
Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself… (vs. 8)
Daniel trusted in God to provide the nutrients they needed (vs. 8-16)
God blessed these young men in their knowledge and wisdom and excelled far more rapidly than their counterparts. They each became leaders within the Babylonian Kingdom, but all the while, they remained faithful to God. They were so blessed in fact, that they were regarded as being more wise than the long-standing, well-studied men who had already been serving King Nebuchadnezzar before their time.
