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Daniel Bible Study #1

Thank you, Father God for giving us grace to study the book of Daniel. Through the same grace and understanding you gave unto Daniel, may we all clearly see and understand the things ahead, so that we will not be shaken in hope in this current world what we live in which is just like the Babylon of the past. Please provide the same grace to all the saints and unto all listeners of this podcast and through our digital archives of our main church website. We thank you, beseech and pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

            First of all, before we start the book of Daniel, let’s go over some introductory parts together. The book of Daniel has 12 chapters, 357 verses. Hebrew word for “Dan” means judge and “El” is the abbreviation of Elohim meaning God. Therefore, the name Daniel means “my judge is God.” If the book of Revelation describes what will happen from the end of the New Testament to the second coming of Christ, then the book of Daniel describes historical period from the end of the Old Testament to the beginning of the New Testament. In this respect, the book of Daniel occupies a very unique position in the Bible. What Revelation and Daniel have in common is that both of these books fill a certain gap. Therefore, to get all the historical information from Malachi to Matthew, we have no choice but to rely on the book of Daniel, which fills the gap in this period.

            Of course, the book of Daniel contains not only historical facts that fill the gap between Malachi, where the Old Testament ends, and Matthew, where the New Testament begins, but also prophetic words that go far beyond the Church Age and foresee the Great Tribulation and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. So, as we read the book of Daniel, we must have a broader view of not only the past history but also the future when the Lord comes. This will be very important to accurately understand the prophecies contained in the book of Daniel. With this thought in mind, we must study the book of Daniel. There has been attempts to find the historical information of this period from Malachi to Matthew through historical interpretations. Although there are powerful historical data such as the contents recorded in inscriptions or the traces of ruins, it could be used as a reference, but it can never be God’s explanation through the Bible. Daniel is the only God’s explanation of the historical facts from Malachi to Matthew. There is something called church history that describes history in this period: from the end of the New Testament to the Second Coming of Christ.

            However, in order to hear God’s explanation of history during this period, we must fully rely on Revelation, especially chapters 1, 2, and 3, rather than church history. The only thing we can fully rely on is the Word of God. In other words, just as the book of Revelation deals with the gap of the church age, we must know that the book of Daniel deals with the gap between Malachi to the beginning of the New Testament. The church history can be a reference, but it cannot be the only reference material and the source of all explanations. We must know that the source of all information for us is the Word of God. The book of Daniel records events over a period of around 73 years, between 607 BC to 534 BC. We can accurately estimate the time span of events recorded in this book, since we know for sure that these events were during Daniel’s captivity of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. The book of Daniel was originally not included in the Prophets of the Hebrew Bible, but belonged separately to the Ketuvim. There are many reasons for this, but undoubtedly perhaps not only did Daniel spend most of his life among the Gentiles as he spoke much about them, the Jews thought it to be bad to consider Daniel to be listed among the prophets. Part of this book was written in Aramaic (the ancient language of Syria), and the Old Testament as we all know was generally written in Hebrew, and we can see that parts of Genesis and Daniel were written in Aramaic instead of Hebrew especially Daniel 2 From verses 4 to 7:8. However, from that part of the prophecy concerning the future of Israel is written in Hebrew language. Ezekiel and Daniel are prophetic books that prophesied after being taken captive to Babylon. Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied the judgment before their captivity. The let us begin part of Chapter 1 today.

            ¶ In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god. (Daniel 1:1-2 KJV)

We learned in 2 Chronicles. King Necho of Egypt invaded the southern kingdom of Judah and dethroned their King Jehoahaz. And after establishing his brother Eliakim as the king of Judah, he changed his name to Jehoiakim. This is in 2 Chronicles 36:3, verse 4. Jehoiakim was a puppet king backed by the Egyptian forces. 2 Kings 23:37 and  (2 Chronicles 36:5 KJV) says that ‘Jehoiakim did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God.‘ It is recorded in 2 Kings 23:35 that the king forcibly collected silver and gold by taxing the land to prepare tribute to be sent to Egypt. The reason Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded Judah in 2 Kings 24 was because of all the sins of Manasseh, son of King Hezekiah, according to 2 Kings 24:3. Manasseh was the successor to King Hezekiah and the great-grandfather of Jehoiakim. Unlike his predecessor, Hezekiah, he committed countless evil sins and crimes that were atrocious to God. He killed many prophets during his 50 years of reign. However, because he finally repented, there was no judgment in his days. Instead, God handed Judah over to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon for the punishment of the wicked sins committed by the kings of Judah. Three years after Jehoiakim ascended to the throne by Egyptian Pharaoh King Necho, Judah was invaded by Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion of Judah didn’t end with just this once. Even after Jehoiakim was taken bound in fetters into Babylon, and his son Jehoiachin ascended the throne at the age of eight, three months later Nebuchadnezzar invaded again and took King Jehoiachin captive to Babylon.

            This also appears in Ezekiel and Jeremiah. Zedekiah succeeded Jehoiachin. This last king was also invaded by Nebuchadnezzar after 9 years, and after holding out for 3 years, Jerusalem was eventually sieged by Babylon. Because Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon and turned to Egypt, Jerusalem was completely captured. They all fell for the false prophecy of “No one can take us out of the cauldron” However, in reality, all but some of the meat in the cauldron were taken captive. It was when King Jehoiachin was invaded by Babylon that Daniel also became a captive. Daniel was captured along with three young Jewish men, and we can see that they learned Babylonian teachings and language in the royal palace according to Nebuchadnezzar’s order. Daniel 1 begins with the  very impoverished era of the kingdom of Judah. Verse 1 mentions the fact of the invasion of Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. Verse 2 explains very briefly what Nebuchadnezzar did when he invaded Judah. After entering Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar captured bound Jehoiachin, king of Judah, entered the temple, and plundered the vessels of the house of God. It is not recorded in detail what vessels he plundered, but among the vessels in the temple there were golden candlesticks, a table set with showbread, and an altar of incense. However, it is clear that they did not take the Ark of the Covenant. How do we know? When the book of Revelation was written, Revelation 11:19 says when Apostle John ascended to the third heaven in the Spirit, the temple of God was opened in heaven and he clearly saw the ark of his covenant in the temple. The ark ascended to the third heaven by God’s power. It cannot be done with human strength. Since the Bible says that there is one Ark of the Covenant, and it is certain that Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon could not touch the Ark of the Covenant since the Ark of the Covenant is said to be in heaven. Movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark depict spirits, flames and bolts of energy being released from within the Ark killing nearby people. Some archaeologists claim to have found the Ark of the Covenant, but we must rely all our info on the Bible. You must know that only the words of the Bible are true. The fact that Nebuchadnezzar took all the vessels from the temple is also recorded in 2 Chronicles 36:7. The fact that the holy articles of the temple of God were plundered by a gentile nation and moved to a dirty temple serving a pagan god was the greatest shame for the Israelites. From then on, Israel is still being humiliated.

            (Daniel 1:3-5 KJV) And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes; Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king’s meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Notice the phrase and of the king’s seed in verse 3. We know that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah in verse 6 are among the grandsons and great-grandsons of certain kings after King Hezekiah of Judah. Because the prophet Isaiah said: And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. (Isaiah 39:7 KJV) In the end, you can know that the prophecy of this word has been fulfilled. We do not know for sure whether Daniel and the three young men became eunuchs, but when we read Isaiah, we know that there is a possibility that Daniel and the three Hebrew young men are the king’s seed. It is possible these men were members of the royal family, appearance were good, all well educated and wise, having lot of knowledge, and a deep understanding of science. For this reason, we can see through the main text that the Babylonian king brought this royal family to his kingdom and trained them for three years to use them again. The problem is that they tried to uproot the royal family of Judah from them, wash away all the mental remnants of being a Jew, and re-educate them into workers who could work for Babylon. We can see that King Nebuchadnezzar was a wise ruler who was greedy enough to re-educate these talents into His own methods so that they could exert their abilities for the kingdom of Babylon. That is why God gave this Babylonian king power and used him as a tool to judge Israel. Hence, They took measures to teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans at the royal palace.

            Verse 11 tells us that this responsibility was entrusted to Ashpenaz, the master of king’s eunuch, who in turn entrusted them to a man named Melzar to supervise them. A eunuch is a man who cannot bear children. Like the monarchs of the Oriental empire, there was no king who did not select and use them among the eunuchs as his servants who stayed by their side in the palace and did various errands, correspondence, and gave them advice. We can realize that King Nebuchadnezzar attempted to use these Jewish youths as such eunuchs, and what he aimed at from all the wise men of Israel was to completely uproot all Jewish roots that were latent in them, By infusing them with knowledge and language, as  it was all planned to indoctrinate them so that they would completely change their qualities to the Babylonian style. The fact that they became eunuchs is also related to the virgins mentioned in Revelation 14. The Apostle John ascended in the spirit to the third heaven and sees 144,000 Jews who were redeemed from the earth during the great tribulation with the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins… (Revelation 14:4 KJV) Even Jesus Christ said: For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. (Matthew 19:12 KJV)  We have seen through the Word that Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar are types of the Antichrist appearing during the Great Tribulation. We know very well and have already learned that 144,000 Jews endured to the end without receiving the mark of the beast, were saved through faith and works, and were raptured at the end of the great tribulation period, despite all kinds of persecution by the antichrist during those times. These are men who are not defiled with the women, which means that fornication appears as part of the worship service during the Great Tribulation. They endured until the end without committing fornication. And we can know that Daniel, who became a eunuch, is a model for these people. Verse 4 says that they were also skilled in all wisdom, excellent in knowledge, and understood science. The word science already appeared around 600 B.C. In fact, in an earlier era, centered around Mexico, ancient Indians of Central and South America, such as the Inca or the Mayans possessed ancient science and technology. Same with ancient Egypt. Modern science magazines introduce just traces and remnants of ancient civilizations, we can see how advanced science and technology was at that time just the fact how the mummies are well preserved to this day. People lived for hundreds of years back in Noah’s days, but now days, even if people only live for decades, they are able to develop great skills in any specialized field. Computers alone weren’t a big deal a decades ago, but now they’ve come a long way. It has developed with great technological advancements in just a few decades. How great of an advancement could an expert reach if he soley invested his time in such thing for hundreds of years? However, everything disappeared along with the flood during the Days of Noah, as well as Sodom and Gomorrah. The Inca and Maya civilizations also existed for thousands of years, but they were all suddenly buried underground, and we can only imagine that their civilizations could do far more than they could compared to our modern technology.

            (Daniel 1:6-8 KJV) Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abed-nego. ¶ But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were given new names as the first step to rid them of their Jewish roots and transform them into useful workers in Babylon. Daniel and his friends were given these names: Belteshazzar, and his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Actually, changing the name shouldn’t be a problem. But here, the Babylonian king did not just change his name through prince of the eunuchs, but made him eat the food of Babylon, the food of the king. No doubt these three have known that food was offered to Babylonian idols. They wanted to show their testimony as people of God. If a person doesn’t eat properly for 10 days, their complexion will quickly become deteriorated. But Daniel was confident that his body would not become emaciated not from eating the royal food. So he suggest to the prince of the eunuchs to have a trial period of ten days. This wager was set even though the prince of the eunuchs was worried, because it would be the death of the prince himself if the Jewish mens’ bodies became feeble or their complexions became emaciated from not eating. Daniel was confident that he could maintain his health by eating only pulse (type of legume porridge or soup) and water, not because of his constitution or the nutritional value of the pulse and water, but because he was not afraid of trials and absolutely trusted God’s help to reward him even in the midst of the trial. We know that this is because A person who trusts only in God is confident in everything. You may be face to face with death, but when you fully trust in God, you will never die. You have to believe Him completely. This is a lesson for us. A way of showing not polluting myself with the world. That if you seek first the kingdom of God, everything will be added to you. A person who seeks God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness first, even at a loss, You may think this person will starve to death, but he never will.

            Read ahead from (Daniel 1:14-16 KJV) So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat. Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse. As a result of making them eat and drink only bean porridge and water for ten days, they looked more handsome and fat than the boys who ate the king’s food. So, they start a vegetarian life mainly focusing on bean porridge/ pulse. It is not a matter of whether a vegetarian diet is better or worse than carnivorous diet, honestly can people now days truly live without eating meat? Only by eating meat can we absorb nutrients. Of course there are many cases that show evidence that you can maintain your health soley on a vegetarian diet. However, we must know these men performed this by faith as God allowed it so, and that leading a vegetarian diet is not a necessity. (Daniel 1:8 KJV) points out ¶ But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, So, the name change wasn’t a big deal, and you might think what’s the big problem with the food as a Jew. But 1 Corinthians 8 warns to abstain from eating food KNOWING it was offered unto idols. It is okay if you do not know it. Don’t ask, just eat. Daniel knew that the food given to him by the royal palace was defiled by idols. That’s why the Holy Spirit is still speaking to us today through the apostle Paul. That was a serious problem at hand for Daniel, who lived under the law at the time. He made up his mind not to defile himself with the king’s food or the king’s wine. It is clear that the king’s food and the king’s wine are dedicated to idols as mentioned in verse 2 above. King Nebuchadnezzar took all the vessels and treasures of the temple of God that he had plundered in Jerusalem to the house of his god and moved them to his treasury. He was undoubtedly an idolater. It was customary for most Gentiles to worship idols. That’s why he first offered the own food and drink as a sacrifice to the idol, and then they eat and drank. Daniel knew that if he and his fellow Jewish youth accepted and ate and drank the provisions offered unto the Babylonian idol, they would have been mocked by the Babylonians for defiling themselves for eating and drinking the sacrificial food of their pagan god. For that reason Daniel said to the prince of the eunuchs: “I will not defile myself by eating this food sacrificed to idols.” Remember: Daniel was a Jew. That is why he realized that eating food offered to idols would be defiling himself.

            (Daniel 1:9-13 KJV) Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort? then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king. Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. The reaction of the prince to Daniel, who refused to accept and eat the king’s food, is more like an appeal. He tells Daniel to eat this somehow because he’ll be executed. However, Daniel makes one suggestion to Melzar. Telling him they will be fine only with pulse and water, and not to worry and test it out for 10 days. Come to find out, no one looked devastate even after 10 days of this trial. In this way, we can see that Daniel and his three friends obeyed God and never compromised from these passages of Book of Daniel. Therefore, we too must live on this earth and not be polluted by the world even more so today. We have to remain pure. We must meet the Lord while remaining pure, and if we obey the Lord’s words, the Lord will make our bodies healthy, even if we do not eat royal delicacies, but if we truly live by faith and live by eating what the Lord has given us, The Lord will keep us strong. This is truly how a man of God lives. We will be protected by God’s power beyond any nutritional things of this world. Let us pray.

            Thank you Father God for giving us many lessons through the first hour of the book of Daniel today. Like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Father God, help us not be stained by this world, to keep our spiritual purity to the end, and not be in harmony with the idols of the world. Not serving the world. Not loving the world. Please help us, Lord, so that we can all meet the Lord while living a holy life separated unto the Lord by avoiding the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Grant us the wisdom you gave to Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. With that wisdom, let us live in this world, overcome the world, put on the full armor of God, never fall into temptation, and help us keep our spiritual chastity until the day of Christ. Please help this church to become a church overflowing only with the brides of Christ who keep chastity, and to become a church where anyone who enters can become the bride of Christ. We thank you and we pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.