Daniel - Part 1
Who? Where? When? Why?
Today we begin a new series of studies about a person in the Bible we know
as DANIEL. Many of us know about Daniel from our Sunday School stories.
You may know the story about Daniel in the Lions' Den. Do you remember
any other story about Daniel?
There is much more we can learn about Daniel, and what we will learn during
the next several weeks we can apply in practical ways to our own lives today.
Today we will introduce Daniel with a little background in history and geography,
involving two nations still in conflict: Israel and Iraq.
Here is how the Bible introduces Daniel:
Daniel 1:1-7 (NCV)
During the third year that Jehoiakim was
king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon [Iraq] came to Jerusalem and
surrounded it with his army. The Lord allowed Nebuchadnezzar to capture
Jehoiakim king of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the things from
the Temple of God, which he carried to Babylonia and put in the temple of
his gods.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar
ordered Ashpenaz, his chief officer, to bring some of the Israelite men into
his palace. He wanted them to be from important families, including the family
of the king of Judah. King Nebuchadnezzar wanted only young Israelite
men who had nothing wrong with them. They were to be handsome and well educated,
capable of learning and understanding, and able to serve in his palace...
Among those young men were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah from the
people of Judah.
Ashpenaz, the chief
officer, gave them Babylonian names...
REAL NAME
(HEBREW) |
BABYLONIAN
NAME |
| Daniel |
Belteshazzar
|
| Hananiah |
Shadrach
|
| Mishael |
Mishach
|
| Azariah |
Abednego
|
The story about Daniel actually begins 100 years earlier. The king
in Jerusalem was Hezekiah.
Remember that after the time of Solomon, Israel had two kings, one king reigning
10 tribes in the north, and the other king reigning two tribes in the south
(Judah). The northern kings were all bad. The most famous northern
king was Ahab, with his wife Queen Jezebel. Most of the northern kings
were like him. The kings in the south were all in the family tree of
David. A few of the southern kings were very good. A few were
very bad. And most were just worthless. (See Old Testament
Chronology.)
One of the very best kings of the south was Hezekiah. He became king at the
age of 25. He loved God, and he destroyed all the idols and altars
of Baal and Asherah. He worked on repairing the Lord's temple in Jerusalem.
And he led Israel back to sincere worship of the True God. He
helped Jerusalem get a reliable water supply. And he stood against
the strongest army on earth and won without firing a shot; Hezekiah
knew how to trust God and how to pray. But after only 14 years reigning
as king, Hezekiah became very sick. God sent the prophet Isaiah to
Hezekiah with this message:
"Make arrangements
because you are not going to live, but die." (2 Kings 20:1)
Hezekiah was only 39 years old. He had so much more to do for the Lord!
This didn't seem fair.
Hezekiah turned toward the wall and prayed to
the LORD, "LORD, please remember
that I have always obeyed you. I have given myself completely to you and
have done what you said was right." Then Hezekiah cried loudly.
Before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard,
the LORD spoke his word to Isaiah: "Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my
people: 'This is what the LORD, the God of
your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears,
so I will heal you. Three days from now you will go up to the Temple of the
LORD. I
will add fifteen years to your life.' " (2 Kings
20:2-6 NCV)
Good deal! Right?
Well, not really. During the next 15 years two things happened the
made trouble for Israel in the coming years. First, during that 15
extension of Hezekiah's life, his son Menasseh was born. Menasseh became
the next king, and he became the WORST king in Judah's history (see
2
Kings 21).
The other thing that happened was that Hezekiah had visitors from the east...
At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan was king of Babylon. He sent
letters and a gift to Hezekiah, because he had heard that Hezekiah was sick.
Hezekiah listened to the messengers, so he showed them what was in his storehouses:
the silver, gold, spices, expensive perfumes, his swords and shields, and
all his wealth. He showed them everything in his palace and his kingdom.
Then Isaiah the prophet went
to King Hezekiah and asked him, "What did these men say? Where did they come
from?"
Hezekiah said, "They came from a faraway
country -- from Babylon."
So Isaiah asked him, "What
did they see in your palace?"
Hezekiah said, "They saw everything in
my palace. I showed them all my wealth."
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah,
"Listen to the words of the LORD : 'In the future
everything in your palace and everything your ancestors have stored up until
this day will be taken away to Babylon. Nothing will be left,' says the LORD. 'Some
of your own children, those who will be born to you, will be taken away.
And they will become servants [eunuchs!] in the palace of the king of Babylon.'
"
(2 Kings 20:12-18
NVC)
If you don't know that that word "eunuch," it means that parts of a man's
male organs are surgically removed. Maybe you know the word "castrate."
Yes, that's what happened to Daniel and his three friends! In ancient
times kings did that to their servants so they wouldn't cause trouble.
In fairness to Hezekiah, it was not only his foolish decision that caused
God to punish Israel 100 years later. For 370 years the people of Israel
and their kings forgot how God had saved them from Egypt, and they forgot
His special covenant with them. They thought that the could keep God
happy by giving Him sacrifices while they chased idols, prostitutes, power,
and money.
Finally the time came when God said, "Enough!"
Finally it was time for serious discipline. And God chose to use an
evil man to deal with evil people. That man was Nebuchadnezzar, king
of Babylon. (2500 years later the ruler Iraq, Sadaam Hussein, considered
Nebuchadnezzar his hero.) God, in His love, refused to destroy Israel.
Rather, He chose to discipline His rebellious people. Caught up in
the discipline were four innocent young men: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
Here we see two lessons for us:
First, when we do wrong, there are consequences. And when we do wrong,
other people get hurt. When fathers sin, their children suffer.
Second, when we, like Daniel, experience trouble because of things other
people do, God does not abandon us. He does not leave us to suffer
alone. God has important lessons to teach us through suffering.
And in our suffering, God uses us to teach and touch other people, just as
now God teaches us and touches us through Daniel. People who already
have faith, suffering challenges their faith and makes it even stronger.
When all the false supports that the world offers fall away, we have only
One on Whom we can depend, as Hezekiah learned during his time of trouble,
and as later Daniel and his three friends also learned.
There is also a third lesson. What happened to Daniel is a picture,
an analogy, of what happened to Christ. Christ was (and is) Royalty
- true God in Heaven, Son of the Father. Because of our sin, because
of what we have done wrong, Christ suffered. Daniel, through no fault
of his own, was forcibly removed from his home and made to serve a cruel
foreign king. Christ, however, voluntarily left His home in heaven,
to come into our place where we are slaves to sin and death. Jesus
suffered the ultimate consequences for our sin and rebellion through His
death on the cross. And, just as He came into our place of misery,
He offers us His place in heaven, in the Father's family, in the Father's
home.