Though the stories of Daniel in the lion’s den and the three Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace are widely popular, for the better part of two millennia, Daniel’s prophecies remained shrouded in mystery. The lock on this treasure trove seems to be located in the last chapter:
"But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased" (Dan. 12:4).
The symbols and metaphors in Daniel were virtually incomprehensible ... until the Reformation gave rise to a renewed interest in the literal interpretation of Scripture and a proper view of Israel’s place in God’s overall plan of the ages. Only in recent centuries have theologians been challenged to take up the pen and write about Daniel’s dreams and visions.
Dr. M. R. DeHaan once wrote: "Of all the beloved characters found in the Scriptures, there is none more interesting, none more appealing, and none more lovable and pure than the man Daniel. Together with Joseph, he stands among the heroes of the Old Testament as one of whom practically no evil is recorded" (M. R. DeHaan, Daniel the Prophet, p. 17). Jesus called Daniel a "prophet" (Matt. 24:15), and yet, his book is not included among the Nevi’im, "Prophets" of the Jewish Bible — in neither the Major Prophets, nor the Minor Prophets. Instead, Daniel is located in the Kethubim, "Writings," along with the Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, and I&II Chronicles.
Perhaps Daniel stands in a league all his own. Though he and Ezekiel were prophets of the exile, Daniel, being of princely descent from the family of King Zedekiah (Flavius Josephus, Antiquities, X, X, 1) and the tribe of Judah, was not a member of the exclusive order of the Levites. He was not educated in the school of the prophets, nor did he serve in Solomon’s Temple as an ordained priest. The priesthood may have earned Ezekiel the right to be included in the Nevi’im, to the exclusion of Daniel.
However, Daniel seems to stand apart from the other prophets in theme and content. While the others directed scathing messages against the idolatry of the Jewish people, Daniel concentrated on the "times of the Gentiles," the rise of the Antichrist, and the coming of the Messiah. Ezekiel wrote that God had included Daniel in a class of such renowned men as Noah and Job:
"The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, "Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: "Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD" (Ezekiel 14:12-14).
It can be said that few men in history possessed the integrity and courage of Daniel. Perhaps that was the reason God chose to reveal the future to him in ways unlike those of other prophets.
The Times of the Gentiles
The Apostle John referred to Daniel’s metaphoric symbols more often than those of any other Old Testament prophet. Daniel became one of John’s foundational sources for the book of Revelation. Both Daniel and Revelation, unlike the other prophets, give us a view of the "times of the Gentiles." Daniel prophesied in the Babylonian kingdom while John prophesied in the Roman kingdom — the first and fourth Gentile world empires, as if they were historical bookends for God’s plan regarding Jerusalem. Furthermore, John seems to concentrate on explaining Daniel’s final seven-year Sabbatical cycle (i.e., seventieth week). In these two books, Israel’s capital city becomes a type of the heavenly city, New Jerusalem. Gentile domination over Jerusalem alludes to the ages-long war in heaven between God and the devil.
The concept, referred to by Jesus as "the times of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24), was introduced in Daniel 2:4, launching a section of six chapters written in Aramaic ("Syriack" — the language of the ancient Syrians) that continues until Daniel 7:28. Half of Daniel’s book was written in the language of the Gentiles!
The term, "times of the Gentiles," is not to be confused with the Apostle Paul’s use of the term, "fullness of the Gentiles," in Romans 11:25. His "fullness of the Gentiles" refers to the age of Gentile Christianity, whereas the "times of the Gentiles" refers to profane foreign governments conquering and controlling Jerusalem, and extending from the Babylonian exile to the coming of the messianic kingdom — the "stone ... cut out ... without hands" (Dan. 2:45).
From another perspective, the book of Daniel is divided into two sections: the first six chapters (1-6) deal with current events in Daniel’s generation, along with visionary glimpses (into the future) given to a Gentile king; while the final six chapters (7-12) exclusively record Daniel’s visions. Those focus on the future rise of world government, along with the background and exploits of the Antichrist.
The Babylonian exile is a major theme in the Old Testament. Out of 39 OT books, twelve of them refer primarily to the years of Judah’s defeat, exile and return. They are II Chronicles, II Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. The OT books of II Chronicles and II Kings record the historical accounts of Judah’s defeat and exile. Twelve out of 39 OT books represent a significant portion of the Old Testament Scriptures.
The book of Daniel introduces the "times of the Gentiles," beginning with Nebuchadnezzar conquering Jerusalem and deporting prisoners. Babylon is depicted as the head of gold on the statue in the king’s dream. According to the statue, three other kingdoms were to follow — the arms of silver (Persia), the belly of brass (Greece) and the legs of iron (Rome). These are the empires destined to control Jerusalem during the "times of the Gentiles." When the fourth kingdom first conquered Jerusalem, it was time for the First Advent of the Messiah. Someday, when ten toes (a united consortium of nations) take over the world, a rock from heaven (the Messiah) will crush the entire proverbial statue and replace it with heaven’s kingdom.
The New Testament opens during the fourth kingdom and concludes with the prophecies of Revelation, which expands upon Daniel’s prophecies of the ten toes (Dan. 2); his ten-horned beast that rises out of the sea of humanity (Dan. 7); and his most important prophecy — the Tribulation Period, as depicted in the seventieth week (Dan. 9).
Now let us review the historical background:
The First Babylonian Invasion
(607-606 B.C.)
"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" (Dan. 1:1,2).
There were three Babylonian invasions of Judah and Jerusalem. The first invasion secured Judah as a vassal state, thus launching the historical "times of the Gentiles." The dating for these events vary with different historians. Concerning the three sieges of Jerusalem, I have seen the date for the first invasion vary from 607 to 606 B.C.; the date for the second siege from 600 to 597 B.C., and the date for the third siege from 590 to 586 B.C. Though I am skeptical of a few of Bishop Ussher’s dating attempts, I agree with most of his findings. In 1658, the year he published The Annals of the World, it must have been a monumental task to chronicle every detail with historical accuracy. Under the circumstances, he produced a commendable work. For the sake of continuity, I will use his dating, differing only where I feel the need.
Jehoiakim was the throne name of Eliakim, second son of Josiah, appointed by Pharaoh Necco in the autumn of 610 B.C. His father, Josiah, had been killed in a battle with Necco’s forces, in the valley of Megiddo, in the spring of 610 B.C. At first, Pharaoh allowed Jehoahaz to succeed his father, but after three months, the Egyptian king replaced him with his brother, Jehoiakim. Three years later, the king of Egypt had to give up Judah to the Babylonians.
Nebuchadnezzar became viceroy of Babylon in the winter of 607 B.C., and launched a series of invasions against Coelosyria, Phoenicia, Egypt and, eventually, Judah. Daniel reported that Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem "in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim" (Daniel 1:1). The Babylonian army came against Judah late in the third year of Jehoiakim’s reign (autumn 607 B.C.), and succeeded in securing the city of Jerusalem in the ninth month (Kislev - December 607 B.C.), which was in the beginning months of Jehoiakim’s fourth year. This date was only days away from January 1, 606 B.C. Furthermore, securing Jerusalem and taking the first group of captives may have required several days, if not weeks. Therefore, it is not out of reason to understand why some say that Jerusalem was conquered in 606 B.C.
This was the first of three Babylonian invasions. Daniel was taken in the first deportation (607-606 B.C.), and Ezekiel was enslaved during the second siege (600-599 B.C.). The third siege (590-588 B.C.), led to the burning of Solomon’s Temple on the 9th of Av (which was also the 9th of August 588 B.C.).
The Law of the Sabbatical Years
Why did God allow the Babylonian invasion and Judah’s subsequent exile? Could not God have protected the tiny nation as He had done in the past? Did He not destroy Egypt with plagues? Did He not destroy the armies of Sennacherib in one night? For the answer, we should consult the Mosaic Law. Almost 900 years before Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion, God gave Moses instructions for Israel to keep a series of laws, one of which, was the law of Sabbatical cycles:
"When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD. "Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; "But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. "That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land" (Lev. 25:2-5).
To compensate for the land lying fallow during the Sabbatical Year, God promised a bumper crop every sixth year:
"I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. "And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store" (Lev. 25:21,22).
However, God threatened to exile the Chosen People and make their land desolate if they failed to observe the sacred Sabbatical cycles:
"But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; "I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours. "And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. "And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. "Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. "As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it" (Lev. 26:14,31-35).
According to Ussher, Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan River on the tenth day of Nisan (Friday, April 16, 1451 B.C.). On the evening of the 14th (Tuesday, April 20), they celebrated the first Passover in the Promised Land. The manna ceased with the disappearance of Moses. Jewish sources say that the Israelites fought for seven years to secure the land, then took another seven years to divide the land among the various tribes and families. During this time, they ate from the crops that others had left behind. From all accounts, it seems that the people planted their first official crop in the autumn of 1437 B.C. That marked the beginning of the first Sabbatical cycle, and observing their first Sabbatical Year beginning in the autumn of 1431 B.C., and extending through the winter, spring and summer of 1430 B.C. The Israelites observed their first Jubilee in 1388/87 B.C.
Concerning these dates, there is some disagreement among scholars. First of all, as noted above, the Seder Olam claims that the first Sabbatical cycle began, not seven years later (as Ussher suggested), but following the fourteenth year after crossing the Jordan River (though they claim that the year was 1258 B.C.). Secondly, the Seder Olam charts the years of Jubilee in the fiftieth year (Ussher has them in the forty-ninth). Jewish records report observing the Jubilee in the year following the seventh Sabbatical Year of each cycle. It was considered to be both the fiftieth year and the first year of the next seven-year cycle. Therefore, the first crop should have been planted in 1437 B.C., and the first Sabbatical Year should have been 1431/30 B.C. Jubilee should have been observed in 1388/87 B.C., rather than in 1396/95 B.C., as reckoned by Ussher.
In an article entitled "Chronomessianism" published in 1976 in the Hebrew Union College annual yearbook, the late Rabbi Ben Zion Wacholder quoted an ancient source, saying that the last Jubilee was recorded during the Bar Kochba revolt in A.D. 132/33, not in A.D. 124/25 as Ussher would have it.
Following the Sabbatical and Jubilee cycles from the days of antiquity to our present generation, 1993/94 was Israel’s 490th Sabbatical Year, and 1994/95 should have been Israel’s 70th biblical year of Jubilee. I once asked a Rabbi about the observance of Jubilee, to which he replied that Jews do not observe Jubilee since there is no Temple. He asked me to pray that Israel be allowed to restore Temple worship so that they might once again celebrate the Jubilee.
The Reason for the Babylonian Captivity
Over the course of 826 years, from the planting of their first crop in the autumn of 1437 B.C., to the observance of their 118th Sabbatical year in 612/11 B.C., Israel violated the law of Sabbatical cycles some 70 times — making 70 years of exile necessary. Their seventeenth Jubilee should have been observed in 604/603 B.C., but by this time, God’s patience had finally run out. In 607-606 B.C., God allowed the Babylonians to conquer Judah and deport their first group of prisoners, among whom were Daniel and three relatives. The story of the Babylonian invasion is given in the final chapters of both II Kings and II Chronicles. Below is the account in II Chronicles:
"Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. "Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also carried off the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon" (II Chron. 36:5-7).
Nebuchadnezzar had invaded Judah in Jehoiakim’s third year (607B.C.), but allowed the Jewish monarch to remain on the throne as a vassal king. However, in his eleventh year (600-599 B.C.), the Babylonian army besieged Jerusalem once again; this time because Jehoiakim had renounced his allegiance to Babylon. The Babylonian army seized and killed Jehoiakim, dragged his body out of the gate of Jerusalem and discarded it without a proper burial. Jeremiah had predicted his death:
"He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem" (Jer. 22:19).
Jehoiakim’s eighteen-year-old son, Jehoiachin (also called Jeconiah and Coniah), was installed as a vassal king and ruled for three months and ten days. When Nebuchadnezzar arrived, the naive Jeconiah brought his family out to meet the Babylonian king and was promptly taken prisoner. His family was deported and imprisoned in Babylon. Jeremiah recorded God’s curse upon Jeconiah’s posterity:
"Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah" (Jer. 22:30).
Henceforth, none of Jeconiah’s lineage would be qualified to rule upon the throne of David. We should note that Jeconiah is listed in Matthew’s genealogy (Matt. 1:11). Therefore, this curse would have affected Jesus had He been the begotten son of Joseph. Because of this ancient curse, we can be assured that Jesus was, indeed, virgin born.
Jeconiah’s uncle, the 21-year-old Zedekiah, was given the opportunity to govern Judah, a reign that lasted 11 years. Like others before him, Zedekiah also failed to govern wisely. In fact, he treated Jeremiah terribly. In 590 B.C., he had the prophet imprisoned for a time in a dungeon. In 589 B.C., the princes imprisoned Jeremiah in a miry pit in a prison atop the hill, today called Calvary. In later years, when the hill was cut away, the dungeon was exposed. Today, that shallow cave near the top of skull hill is called Jeremiah’s grotto. It is said to be the remains of the miry pit into which the prophet was lowered and sank in the mud. Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch in the king’s house, took some old "cast clouts and rotten rags" (Jer. 38:11) and pulled Jeremiah out of the dungeon. These failures in leadership brought the Babylonian army to Jerusalem for a third siege in 589 B.C.:
"Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. "And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. "And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. "And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: "To fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years" (II Chron. 36:17-21).
Nebuchadnezzar’s army breached the walls and entered the city on the ninth of Tammuz (July 27) and burned Solomon’s Temple on the ninth of Av (August 27, 588 B.C.). Ezekiel received news of its destruction on the fifth day of the tenth month, January 25, 587 B.C.
Jeremiah was a noted prophet and scholar on the law of the Sabbatical cycles. He had prophesied:
"And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. "And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations" (Jer. 25:11,12).
Four chapters later, Jeremiah repeated his prophecy:
"For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place" (Jer. 29:10).
The seventy-year captivity began in December 607 B.C., and would last until the decree of Cyrus in late 537 B.C., and the return of 42,360 people under the leadership of Zerubbabel in the spring of 536 B.C.
Dating the Babylonian Captivity
"And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus" (Dan. 1:21).
Cyrus is the KJV name given to King Koresh, head of the Persian Empire. The English spelling of "Cyrus" is simply a preferred pronunciation of the Hebrew text.
One would think that Daniel 1:21 should have referred to the death of the prophet, but that is not the case. Daniel was still alive two years later, as we shall see in chapter 10. The reason Daniel included the statement that he "continued … unto the first year of king Cyrus," is that the date refers to that all-important prophecy fulfilled by the royal commandment to restore Jerusalem. It seems strange to me that most scholars want to place the date for the beginning of the "seventy weeks" (Dan. 9) with Artaxerxes in 445 B.C., instead of with the decree of Cyrus in 537/536 B.C.
If the decree that launched the "seventy weeks" is not the one in the first year of Cyrus, then why did Daniel open his first chapter (v. 1) with Nebuchadnezzar besieging Jerusalem in the third year of Jehoiakim, and conclude the chapter (v. 21) in the first year of Cyrus. The answer is obvious. Those are the seventy years of the captivity. The seventy years were up in the first year of Cyrus. His decree was recorded in the first chapter of Ezra:
"Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. "Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. "And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem" (Ezra 1:2-4).
Cyrus issued this decree in 537 B.C. It was carried out during the following year — 536 B.C. This was the Cyrus of which Isaiah (712 B.C.) had prophesied:
"That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid" (Isa. 44:28).
"Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus …" (Isa. 45:1).
Isaiah wrote that Cyrus would say to Jerusalem, "Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundations shall be laid." God called him both "shepherd" and "anointed." Is it not obvious that this is the date God had in mind when Gabriel told Daniel about the "commandment" to restore and build Jerusalem?
Why wait another 91 years for the "commandment?" The last verse of chapter one tells us that Daniel "… continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus" (Dan. 1:21). This was the year of the predicted "commandment." It does not mean that Daniel retired or that he died that year. Quite the contrary. It can only refer to the "commandment" that Cyrus delivered to Zerubbabel. When we get to chapter 9, we shall review the historical evidence in favor of dating the seventy weeks from the decree of Cyrus.
Captives from the Royal Family
In 713 B.C., King Hezekiah entertained a delegation from Babylon. They had come to congratulate him on his recovery from illness, and bring him a present from Merodach-Baladan, king of Babylon. The naive Hezekiah gave them the royal tour of Jerusalem. Afterward, Isaiah asked Hezekiah if he had shown them the national treasury, to which he replied that he had:
"And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD.
"Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD. "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" (II Kings 20:16-18).
This same prophecy is recorded in Isaiah 39. Therefore, though we are not told specifically in the Bible, Flavius Josephus reported that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were members of the royal family of Zedekiah, thus fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy to King Hezekiah.
During the early years of Babylon’s rule over Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar allowed Jehoiakim to remain upon the throne of Judea. Upon removing him in 597 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar allowed Jehoiakim’s 18-year-old son, Jehoiachin, to rule. After a hundred days, the Babylonian monarch removed Jehoiachin and invested Judea’s government into the hands of 21-year-old Zedekiah. It is plain to see that Nebuchadnezzar wanted to groom the youth to serve him. It was far easier to raise a new generation of loyal aids than to try to persuade the adults to assist in the Babylonian government. That also may have been the reasoning behind Nebuchadnezzar’s kind treatment of Daniel and his friends:
"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 skilful 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" (Dan. 1:3,4).
Young people have a tendency to test the rules. For example, the eighteen-year-old Jehoiachin had displeased the Babylonian king and the young Zedekiah refused to listen to his godly advisers. During those same years, Daniel and his relatives were also tested. Daniel managed to harness his natural inclination to rebel. He became a man of personal integrity and conviction in ways that pleased his captors:
"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.
"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 Abednego. "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. "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" (Dan. 1:5-10).
Daniel’s name meant, "God is my Judge." Upon arriving in Babylon, his name was changed to Belteshazzar, meaning "Baal’s protector of, or attendant to, the king." Since Baal was Nebuchadnezzar’s god, the Babylonian monarch looked upon Daniel as "the Babylonian god’s attendant to the king." However, we know that Daniel was Jehovah’s attendant to the king!
Hananiah’s name meant, "Jehovah has been gracious." His name was changed to Shadrach. Mishael’s name meant, "who is like God." His name was changed to Meshach. Azariah’s name meant, "Jehovah has helped." His name was changed to Abednego. No meanings have been determined for these three Babylonian names.
The Ten-Day Trial
Daniel convinced his guard to allow him and his three relatives to eat a vegetarian diet for ten days — food that would not impair their mental capabilities nor their religious convictions:
"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. "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" (Dan. 1:11-16).
Daniel was not a lifelong vegetarian. We learn from Daniel 10:3 that the aged prophet (about 90 years old) was not opposed to eating meat. He explains his eating habits in the account of a three-week fast: "I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth … three whole weeks…." What should be noted in the chapter before us is that the young Daniel purposed in his heart to always eat kosher foods.
Knowledge and Wisdom
It seems that Jewish intellect always rises, like cream, to the top of any society. Not only do Jews have a keen mentality, but education in the Jewish yeshivah (school) involves the "pilpul" method of reasoning, thus encouraging wisdom along with knowledge. "Pilpul" is a method of Talmudic study. The word is derived from the verb "pilpel" (lit. "to spice," "to season," and in a metaphorical sense, "to dispute violently" [Tosef., B. B. vii. 5] or "cleverly" "[Shab. 31a; B. M. 85b]). Since by such disputation the subject is, in a way, spiced and seasoned, the word has come to mean penetrating investigation, disputation, and drawing of conclusions; and is used especially to designate a method of studying the Law (Ab. vi. 5; Baraita; B. B. 145b; Tem. 16a; Ket. 103b; Yer. Ter. iv. 42d).
On the other hand, the Greeks and Romans used deductive reasoning, involving syllogisms (fundamental logic — a major premise with a minor premise, leading to a conclusion). Though knowledge is acquired by instruction, absorbing it requires a keen intellect. Wisdom is the mental ability to apply that knowledge to the problems of life. In the case of Daniel and his three relatives, because of their dedication, God opened their minds in unusual ways:
"As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. "Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. "And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. "And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm" (Dan. 1:17-20).
It seems that their diet had a positive effect on their mental capacities. There were no huge amounts of sugar for these boys! Their balanced vegetable diet was helpful to the brain’s ability to function. God had given wisdom to their forefather Solomon … and now to these young men from Zedekiah’s royal family.
Wisdom is divinely bestowed. According to Jesus, both knowledge and wisdom are directed by the Holy Spirit. Jesus told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would give them understanding: "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). Spiritual understanding is also available to us, if we will seek it. It is a wisdom that sees the Bible from an eternal viewpoint, rather than simply looking for practical applications. It is a wisdom that helps us understand God’s grand plan — as given through the prophetic implications of biblical passages.
If Daniel was … say about 18 years old … when he was taken to Babylon, then he would have been about 90 when he received his last vision recorded in the book. Daniel’s 12 chapters cover a period of 72 years — from 606 to 534 B.C.
It behooves us to aspire to be like Daniel! He refused to be contaminated by the temptations around him. This world needs a group of dedicated Christians who will not compromise in the midst of this off-beat generation. One of the main reasons why Christians have so little influence today is because society can see no difference between the church and the world. Many dress and act just like the ungodly among whom we live. M. R. DeHaan once wrote:
"Dare to be a Daniel,
"Dare to stand alone;
"Dare to have a purpose firm!
"Dare to make it known!"