DANIEL דניאל

The book of Daniel, also called “The Prophecy Of Daniel”, is a book of the Old Testament found in the Ketuvim (Writings), the third section of the Jewish canon, but placed among the Prophets in the Christian canon. The first half of the book (chapters 1–6) contains stories in the third person about the experiences of Daniel and his friends under Kings Nebuchadrezzar II, Belshazzar, Darius I, and Cyrus II; the second half is written mostly in the first person, contains reports of Daniel’s three visions (and one dream). The second half of the book names the narrator, a certain Daniel who, according to chapter 1, was exiled to Babylon.

Daniel a nobleman like Ezekiel, had been taken as a young man captive in Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel’s superior way of life earns him great respect in the Babylonian government. This book presents the best-known predictions of the restoration of Israel, the history of the nations, and the end of the age.

The book can be broken down into three parts. Chapter 1 describes the destruction of Jerusalem, captivity, and exile. Chapter 2-7 gives a record of Nebuchadnezzar’s and Belshazzar’s dreams and their interpretation by Daniel. Chapters 8-12 contain a vision of future kingdoms and their rulers, Seventy weeks of prophecy, and a precise timeline of when the Messiah would come. It comforts us that our hope in salvation is sure, but that our faith must endure a while longer.

Daniel is the main character of the book of Daniel. According to the Hebrew Bible, Daniel was a noble Jewish youth of Jerusalem taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, serving the king and his successors with loyalty and ability until the time of the Persian conqueror Cyrus, all the while remaining true to the God of Israel.

The book of Daniel begins with an introduction telling how Daniel and his companions came to be in Babylon, followed by a set of tales set in the Babylonian and Persian courts, followed in turn by a set of visions in which Daniel sees the remote future of the world and of Israel.

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, Daniel and his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. The four are chosen for their intellect and beauty to be trained in the Babylonian court and are given new names. Daniel is given the Babylonian name Belteshazzar, while his companions are given the Babylonian names Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Daniel and his friends refuse the food and wine provided by the king of Babylon to avoid becoming defiled. They receive wisdom from God and surpass “all the magicians and enchanters of the kingdom.”

Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a giant statue made of four metals with feet of mingled iron and clay, smashed by a stone from heaven. Only Daniel is able to interpret it: the dream signifies four kingdoms, of which Babylon is the first, but God will destroy them.

The fiery furnace (chapter 3): Daniel’s companions Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow to King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue and are thrown into a fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar is astonished to see a fourth figure in the furnace with the three, one “with the appearance like a son of the gods.” So the king calls the three to come out of the fire, blesses the God of Israel, and decrees that any who blaspheme against him shall be torn limb from limb.

Nebuchadnezzar’s madness (chapter 4): Nebuchadnezzar recounts a dream of a huge tree that is suddenly cut down at the command of a heavenly messenger. Daniel is summoned and interprets the dream.

The tree is Nebuchadnezzar himself, who for seven years will lose his mind and live like a wild beast. All of this comes to pass until, at the end of the specified time, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges that “heaven rules” and his kingdom and sanity are restored.

Belshazzar’s feast (chapter 5): Belshazzar and his nobles blasphemously drink from sacred Jewish temple vessels, offering praise to inanimate gods, until a hand mysteriously appears and writes upon the wall.

The horrified king summons Daniel, who upbraids him for his lack of humility before God, and interprets the message: Belshazzar’s kingdom will be given to the Medes and Persians. Belshazzar rewards Daniel and raises him to be third in the kingdom, and that very night Belshazzar is slain and Darius the Mede takes the kingdom.

Belshazzar was a coregent of Babylon who was killed at the capture of the city by the Persians. Belshazzar had been known only from the biblical book of Daniel (chapters 5, 7–8) and from Xenophon’s Cyropaedia.

Though he is referred to in the book of Daniel as the son of Nebuchadrezzar, the Babylonian inscriptions indicate that he was in fact the eldest son of Nabonidus, who was king of Babylon and of Nitocris, who was perhaps a daughter of Nebuchadrezzar. When Nabonidus went into exile, he entrusted Belshazzar with the throne and the major part of his army.

During his coregency, Belshazzar administered the government, his own estates, and those of his father, though, according to the book of Daniel, famine and economic setbacks occurred late in his rule. According to the accounts in the Bible and Xenophon, Belshazzar held a last great feast at which he saw a hand writing on a wall.

The prophet Daniel, interpreting the handwriting on the wall as God’s judgment on the king, foretold the imminent destruction of the city. Belshazzar died after Babylon fell to the Persian general Gobyras without resistance and probably before the Persian king Cyrus II entered the city.

Daniel 1:19-20 – “The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.”

Daniel 2:31 – “You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue – an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance.”

Daniel 3:17-18 – “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Daniel 4:34-35 – “His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?’”

Daniel 9:24 – “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.”

Darius elevates Daniel to high office, exciting the jealousy of other officials. Knowing of Daniel’s devotion to his God, his enemies trick the king into issuing an edict forbidding worship of any other god or man for a 30-day period. Daniel continues to pray three times a day to God towards Jerusalem; he is accused and King Darius, forced by his own decree, throws Daniel into the lions’ den.

But God shuts up the mouths of the lions, and the next morning Darius rejoices to find him unharmed. The king casts Daniel’s accusers into the lions’ pit together with their wives and children to be instantly devoured, while he himself acknowledges Daniel’s God as he whose kingdom shall never be destroyed.

“Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt; those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.”