Daniel 1

Daniel 1 Youth Term 2

Introduction:

· This term in youth we are going to be covering the book of Daniel. This is one of the books in the Bible in the section called the prophets. Daniel is the first of what is called the Minor Prophets. They’re not called Minor because what they have to say is less important, but they’re called Minor because they are shorter than the three massive books of the Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

· As we move into studying the book, we need to notice what the most important themes are. We need to know why somebody who was intelligent and busy took time out of their life to write a book. What were they trying to communicate to us? In Daniel, there are really two important themes. The first is God’s sovereignty. Sovereignty refers to an area over which you have rule. To speak about God’s sovereignty is to highlight the fact that God has rule over every aspect of creation. Daniel shows this in a lot of ways. Sometimes, he does so by comparing God to other great kings, other times by showing that it is only through God’s power that he has the ability to interpret dreams, and other times through God’s ability to save his people. In whatever way he is doing it, Daniel is always at pains to show us that God is in complete control of everything.

· The second main theme flows from the first one. If God is sovereign, in control of everything, then his people have a duty to be faithful to him, no matter what situation they find themselves in. We see this throughout the book as Daniel and his friend repeatedly show themselves to be faithful believers, those who are willing to stand up to the relevant authorities if that is what it takes to honour God and glorify him. And we see how God blesses them because of this attitude. They advance far above those of their own age and rank, but similarly they are protected when they need it. God is faithful, Daniel is saying, and so you should be too.

· There are two ways to understand how this two-part message is packaged. The first is to look at it as a book of two halves. The first half is a series of stories that illustrate these two themes. They show Daniel and his friends faithfully serving their God and God using them to show his own power. The second half of the book, however, is slightly different. This contains a series of interesting, but really quite complicated visions. Each one uses highly complex symbolism to try and bring across these same two themes, but to the Israelites who lived later. Another way to understand the structure of the book has to do with its language. Have a look at 2:4. There, if you have a church Bible, you’ll notice that it says the wise men answered the king in Aramaic. Up to this point, the text of the story has been in Hebrew. From this point until the end of chapter 7, the original is written in Aramaic, a sister language of Hebrew, but one that was much more widely spoken. Then from chapter 8 onwards it moves back into Hebrew. And the point then would be to show the same two themes, but with chapters 1; 8-12 for the purposes of encouraging Israel only, and then chapters 2-7 being for the instruction of the Gentile too. Either way, we are going to take it chapter by chapter. Starting with chapter 1.

· So let’s read that and go on with our study.

1:1-7 – Colonisation and Reeducation

· Look at vv1-2. What is being described here?

o The defeat and capture of Jerusalem.

· Right. And who does it? Who is responsible for the fall of Jerusalem, ultimately?

o Well, if you look at v2, it seems like it’s Nebuchadnezzar, but ultimately, it is in fact God.

· Why do you think Daniel wants to bring this up? What is he trying to show?

o He’s trying to show the fact that God is faithful. Now, while we often think of God’s faithfulness as a kind, happy idea, it isn’t necessarily. One of the things that God is always faithful in is judgement.

· Read Leviticus 26:32-33. These verses come in a section that is to do with the covenant. God lays out the blessing he will shower upon Israel if they are faithful, and the curses he will rain upon them if they are not. What does God say he will do here if they are unfaithful?

o He will devastate the land and scatter the people among the nations?

· So, what do we think is happening here?

o Daniel is bringing to mind the fact that while Nebuchadnezzar is indeed the one who conquered Israel, he was only acting as the instrument of God’s judgement.

· Now, as surprising as this might sound, I think it’s actually an encouraging truth. Why do you think it might be encouraging? Imagine being an Israelite watching Jerusalem fall. What would you think about God?

o I think the temptation would be to think that God has lost control. It would seem like what has happened is a greater power than him has come along and kicked him out. But, by showing God’s hand behind everything that happens, Daniel is reminding the Israelites of the fact that God is still in control. And this is a good thing, because although God is faithful to judge, he is also faithful to forgive. Look further down at Leviticus 26:40-42. It says this “40 “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, 41 so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, 42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.[1]” God will forgive. So it’s important for the Israelites to remember what kind of God they are serving.

· Okay, given that, what orders do we have in vv3-5?

o They are basically told to round up all the young men who are of a certain intelligence level, who are good looking, from good families, and to bring them to Babylon where they would be re-educated and fed.

· Why do you think the king wants to do this?

o So that he has native officials he can use to govern his colonies. Imagine how unruly a group of people would be under foreign power. But now, Nebuchadnezzar has found a way to give people native officials, people who have grown up in the land, but who have all Babylonian sympathies and wisdom. It’s a win-win for him.

· And who are four of these young Israelites that we meet?

o Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

· And what’s the first thing that happens to them?

o They have their names changed.

· Why do you think this is?

o Well, all of their names had religious meanings. They all related back to the God of the Bible. By changing their names, the Babylonians were trying to distance them even further from their own culture, their God, and ultimately their own identities, so they could make for them new identities.

· So, by the end of this first section we have Jerusalem fallen, and our three heroes as exiles. Not a great place to be.

1:8-21 – Holiness in a Foreign Land

· Just for a second, I want you to imagine you’re Daniel and his friends. Your home has just been destroyed, you’ve been taken away. They probably wouldn’t have been older than you guys. You’re now living in the control of a powerful and ruthless nation. How do you think you’d feel, and what would you be wanting to do?

o I’d be feeling pretty scared, and I’d be wanting to keep my head down as much as possible, and just keep the Babylonians happy.

· But what does Daniel do? (v8)

o He resolves not to defile himself.

· What do you think this means?

o It means that he resolves to keep God’s holy laws. You see, Daniel understands that God’s hand was behind everything that happened, and so he wants to honour God even in circumstances where that is difficult.

· And how does he decide to do this? (v8)

o To avoid the royal food and wine.

· And so who does he speak to and what does he ask for? (v9)

o He speaks to the chief of the officials and asks for permission to avoid the royal food and wine.

· How does he respond? (v10)

o He’s not keen, because he’s worried for his position. But he is convinced to give a trial run.

· And what happens at the end of the trial run? (v15)

o Daniel and his friends look better and healthier than all the other trainees in Babylon, so they’re allowed to keep the diet.

· So, why do you think Daniel and his friends avoided the king’s food?

· Where do vegetables and water come from?

o The earth.

· And why is that significant?

o It is significant because by feeding his trainees, and feeding them well, Nebuchadnezzar was exercising a kind of dominance over them. They live, and live well, because of his hand and his mercy. By turning to food that came from the earth, Daniel and his friends were basically saying “no, we don’t depend on you for our food, and as a result you don’t own us. We are fed by God, because we belong to him”. So by refusing the food, they were really showing their faithfulness to the God of their fathers.

· How does studying go for these four youths? (v17)

o It goes so well that they place top of all the classes, and Daniel has the skill to interpret dreams given to him by God. Remember this, it will be important later.

· Now look at v21, what are we told here?

o We’re told that Daniel stayed in Babylon until the first year of King Cyrus. Now, this is significant because Cyrus was the king who conquered Babylon and allowed the Jews to go back home. By including this incidental detail, Daniel is showing again the faithfulness of God. He prospered Daniel throughout the exile, and was so faithful to him that he even outlasted Babylon itself.

Application

· Our applications for today go hand in hand. The first one comes from that first part of the study, 1:2, where we are reminded of God’s control. The truth is, nothing has changed. God is still in control of the world, and he still rules it. A commentator on Daniel puts it like this, “This is an important point. During its hardest moments, life often seems out of control. Our fate may sometimes seem to lie in the hands of hostile people, or in the outworking of impersonal forces of one kind or another. Yet the reality is that our every experience in this world, from the apparently coincidental at one end of the spectrum, to the determined acts of wicked men and women on the other, lies under the control of our sovereign God.”[2]

· And this should inform our responses. We need to trust God. Now, part of that involves peace. We can rest knowing that even in life’s difficult circumstances, God is in control and will walk with us through them. But another way we can show trust in God is by obeying him, and believing his way is the best. Listen again to our commentator: “As citizens of heaven, Christians live as aliens and strangers in a land that is not their own, and there are times when the world’s enmity to the people of God becomes evident. The hostility of the world is often shown in the efforts it makes to squeeze us into its mold. It wants to make us conform to its values and standards and not to stick out from the crowd. The pressure is on us, in school and at work, to be like everyone else in the way that we dress and the language that we use.[3]” We can’t conform. We need to remember our citizenship in heaven. This is why meetings like this, as well as Sunday church, are so important, because they help us remember that we aren’t citizens of this earth. We are instead children of God, and citizens of his holy city.

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Le 26:40–42. [2] Iain M. Duguid, Daniel, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Iain M. Duguid, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2008), 8. [3] Iain M. Duguid, Daniel, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Iain M. Duguid, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2008), 4.