A Study through Overview of Daniel Week 1

Daniel Introduction & Chapter 1

God's special people, the Jews, did not obey God, and God punished them, allowing the king of Babylon and his army to defeat them. Most Jews had to live in Babylon. Daniel was among the people who went to live in Babylon.

The first part of the book of Daniel in the Bible tells some stories from the life of Daniel and his friends. We often make the mistake of thinking these stories and their respective morals are the point of Daniel. That is wrong.

As much (or more) than any other Old Testament book, Daniel reveals the Character of God, His love for His creation and His plan for its redemption. Daniel’s loyalty to the real God is important, but every story leads to Jesus. If you fail to realize this truth, whatever else you garner from Daniel will be wrong and no application apart from this truth is appropriate.

Daniel was the prophet of “the times of the Gentiles” (see Luke 21:24). He was a man of purpose, prayer and prophecy. The major portion of his prophecies were directly concerned with the gentile nations.

Daniel Chapter 1 – Here we read about the Decline of Judah and fall of Jerusalem.  We are introduced to the personal history of Daniel. Daniel is taken captive to Babylon, He makes a deliberate decision to be true to God.

Verses 1-5 – Jehoiakim had been king of Judah for over two years, having been appointed by Pharaoh Necho, son of Josiah. Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon when God allowed Israel to be captured by him. He selected young, healthy Jews to train to serve his palace. The young men got the best education that the king could give them. They did not even have to worry about preparing meals. They got the same food and wine that the king had.

Verses 6-16 – Daniel, Hananiah (Shadrach), Mishael (Meshach) and Azariah (Abednego), who were from Judah, were among these young men. Nebuchadnezzar had plans for them. So did God. Which one do you think would win?

Daniel refused to eat the food provided him by Nebuchadnezzar. He knew it violated God’s Law. When encouraged to eat it by his friend, the chief official, Daniel proposed a test to see whose diet was best. After 10 days it was clear that God’s diet was best (surprise?). The point here is not the diet, it is the nature of God and the advantage to following Him.

Verses 17-20 – God gave these four young men knowledge, reading skills and wisdom. Daniel was given the gift of the interpretation of dreams.

Nebuchadnezzar was very clever. He was able to ask the young men questions to see how wise they were. God had made them so wise that they were better than the other young men. They were even much better than all the other wise men. God made them to be very important people in a foreign country, where people gave honor to false gods. But Daniel and his friends remained loyal to the real God. God knew that they would stay loyal to him. They would stay loyal to him, even if he asked them to do harder things. Nebuchadnezzar had studied the four young men. He became convinced that Daniel was the best of them.

Verses 21 – Almost 70 years later, other nations called the Medes and Persians joined up to defeat the Babylonians (Daniel 5:30). King Cyrus was the king of a country called Persia. (See Daniel 6:28). He ruled from the time 539 years before Christ was born. So Daniel stayed in Babylon for many years. He served the Babylonian kings and also the kings of Persia.

Daniel and his fellows were faithful to God. God rewarded their faithfulness. We must do what we do, not for the praise of man, but for the honor of the gospel that God has placed in our hearts in Christ. Daniel followed the Law. We must follow Christ. We can eat what Daniel couldn't, but that does not give us license to sin. It shows our need to be led by the Holy Spirit, moment by moment.