Contents
Foreword vii Preface viii Reading Daniel Today I 1 2 3 4 5
Why read Daniel? The trouble with Daniel The shape of Daniel How to read this book The world of Daniel
1 2 4 9 11 13
Reading Daniel Today II 21 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
Knocked down but not knocked out (Daniel 1:1–21) The war of kings (Daniel 2:1–49) Understanding the kingdom of God (I) When the heat’s turned on (Daniel 3:1–18) The cost of discipleship (Daniel 3:19–30) No longer human (Daniel 4:1–37) The writing is on the wall (Daniel 5:1–31) Understanding the kingdom of God (II) Choosing your allegiances (Daniel 6:1–10) Shutting the mouths of lions (Daniel 6:11–28) One like a Son of Man (Daniel 7:1–14) Pondering dreams and visions (Daniel 7:15–28) Understanding the kingdom of God (III) Reaching for heaven (Daniel 8:1–14) An end time ‘in sight’ (Daniel 8:15–27) How long, O Lord? (Daniel 9:1–14)
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22 33 47 55 63 72 82 89 96 105 116 126 133 141 152 159
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22 23 24 25 26
Living with God’s answer (Daniel 9:15–27) A heavenly messenger (Daniel 10:1—11:1) Bright shining as the stars (Daniel 11:1—12:13) Understanding the kingdom of God (IV) Some final reflections
167 176 184 194 199
Maps 1 2
The events of 605 BC Waiting for the end
15 17
vi
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Chapter 6
Knocked down but not knocked out (Daniel 1:1–21)
THE AGENDA IS SET a. Difficult questions The first few verses not only set the background for Daniel, they also let us into the mind of the author as he gives us some subtle hints as to where he is heading and how he is going to answer the sorts of questions raised by the exile. The first hint is in the first half of verse 2 where we read the Lord delivered Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand. Already we are being told that God was not absent. Rather than being defeated or lazy or forgetful, he had been active and was the one responsible for the situation in which Israel found itself. The second hint is given when we are told that God also delivered some of the articles from the temple of God into Nebuchadnezzar’s hand and that these he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure-house of his god. These words state the dilemma of the chapter and of the first six chapters. Because his people were in Babylon and the symbols of his previous glory were in pagan temples, it appeared that God was defeated. How would God deal with 22
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Knocked down but not knocked out (Daniel 1:1–21) the situation? What would he do? Would he take on the gods of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians and did he stand a chance against the supergods of these superpowers? The third hint is in the latter half of verse 2. The NIV translation only records it in the reading in the margin. Taking this reading from the margin and including it in the text would give us the following translation: And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim, king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in the land of Shinar and put them in the treasure-house of his god. ‘The land of Shinar’ is a strange and ancient way of speaking, used only a few times in the Old Testament (Genesis 10:10; 11:2; 14:1,9; Isaiah 11:11; Zechariah 5:11, of which the key one is Genesis 11:2). It is the place where people built the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11). This tower represented humanity at its strongest setting itself against God, humans asserting themselves against God and his kingship. By using this phrase the writer has reminded us of the protagonists in this chapter—a human king and the king of heaven—and again he has us asking: What will God do? Will he repeat Babel? Can he win again? These verses therefore set an agenda: the greatest of human kingdoms pitted against the seemingly defeated kingdom of God, the gods of the nations pitted against the God of the puny, defeated nation of Israel. Into this conflict marched Daniel and his friends.
A PROGRAM OF ASSIMILATION a. Stage 1 (1:3–4a) Nebuchadnezzar’s first step in the game plan was a good one. It involved a program of assimilation of the Israelites. He set in motion Stage 1. The king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility. They were to be good-looking, physically perfect, high in intelligence, and teachable: young 23
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Kingdoms in Conflict men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. It was a shrewd move by Nebuchadnezzar.
b. Stage 2 (1:4b) Stage 2 involved throwing these young men into the world of the Chaldeans for three years training (the period normally required for a complete scribe). Ashpenaz was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. This world of the Babylonians or Chaldeans was renowned, a world of priests, expert magicians, astrology, philosophy, and the best literature of the ancient world. The literature covered would include omens, incantations, prayers, hymns, myths, legends and scientific formulas for skills such as glass-making, mathematics and astrology. Daniel and his friends were to study this literature and become masters of it.
c. Stage 3 (1:5) Yet there was more than an education in store for the young Israelites. They were to enter even greater privileges, reserved for a chosen few. They were given a special honour in being assigned … a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. The most expensive menu in the known world was to be their diet. Stage 3 was implemented. The program was to take place over three years, after which they would enter the king’s service. What was happening to Daniel and his friends was not unique. Hebrew heroes of the Old Testament were often found at the court of foreign kings. Joseph had been there in Genesis 41–48 and Nehemiah would serve in a pagan court later, as would Ezra. Jews often had political and social orders imposed on them. As time went on it would become increasingly common, and although they would have preferred it otherwise they knew they could handle it because of their view of the world. They believed that the world was God’s world, a good creation of the God of Israel 24
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Knocked down but not knocked out (Daniel 1:1–21) (Genesis 1). As God’s world it was a place to be involved in rather than avoided. For a Jew who believed in a Creator God, training in a pagan king’s palace was all right. There was nothing wrong with being there.
d. Stage 4 (1:6–7) Stage 4 was equally cunning. To deal with people for whom names were an important part of their identity, Nebuchadnezzar decided to do some renaming. The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego. In so doing, Nebuchadnezzar struck a crucial blow. He took names composed of the names of the Hebrew God (EL or YAHWEH) and he turned them into names that either included the names of Babylonian gods or were somewhat meaningless. For example, Daniel (= ‘God of my Judge’) became Belteshazzar, which probably meant ‘O lady (Ishtar) protect the king’ or ‘May (Marduk) protect his life’. Given what had gone on already this represented a final tragedy for Daniel and his friends. Israelite distinctiveness was all but lost. In the first two verses of the chapter the vessels of the God of Israel are found in the house of the gods of the nations. In the next four verses the sons of Israel are found under the names of the gods of the nations. So we ask: ‘Where is the God of Israel? Can he survive?’ In the second four verses we find the people of God under a program of assimilation and we ask: ‘Where are the people of God, can they survive?’ ‘Will assimilation succeed?’ In three years’ time these young men were to stand before the king. The test for them would be to remain faithful, to retain their Jewish identity and not to become puppets of this pagan tyrant, assimilated into his ways.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH Daniel and his friends had seen Nebuchadnezzar in action themselves. They were undoubtedly scared of
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Kingdoms in Conflict Nebuchadnezzar and afraid of what would happen if they did not meet his expectations. But as a Jew from the nobility, Daniel had probably received training in the stories of the great ones of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and David. From these stories he would have been aware that there was nothing wrong with being in a pagan court and learning pagan things, but that there were dangers to avoid and traps to sidestep. He could not let himself be trapped as Joseph had been by Potiphar’s wife. He must not get caught as Solomon had in his dealings with foreigners such that they took away his distinctiveness as God’s person. He must not act out of his own best interests, merely to preserve his life. This the kings had done time after time and so brought Israel back into slavery away from the Promised Land.
a. Daniel’s resolution With these things in mind, at some point Daniel resolved that he would hang on to his belief in God. He was going to preserve his faith and maintain his integrity. He decided to say ‘no’. At the appropriate point he therefore faced the chief eunuch and let him know that he would not accept the king’s rich food and drink and asked for permission not to defile himself in this way. He had accepted deportation, a re-education and a name change, but he would not bend on this issue. It was a radical thing to do. In doing so he chose to turn down the graciousness of his benefactor and so to oppose the great Nebuchadnezzar, the king of kings, the conqueror of the known world and the destroyer of Israel. It was also a strange thing to do. If we were choosing a place to say ‘no’ it probably would not be here; after all, what could be wrong with food and drink?
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