This past weekend, I attended my church's annual men's retreat. The speaker was Dr. Peter Lee, who gave a series of excellent talks on Daniel. Below is a summary of each.
Talk 1: Daniel in History
The Old Testmant (OT) book of Daniel is set in the time of Israel's exile. What is that? In a nutshell (and skipping a good deal), the Lord had promised to make Abraham a great nation (the Jewish people) and provide a land for them. Abraham's descendants went to Egypt due to famine; there they would stay and be enslaved for generations. The Lord rose up Moses, who led the Jews out of Egypt and (after a good deal of wandering) into the promised land* (Israel). That fulfilled God's promise (see
Joshua 21:43-45). During that time, God gave His people a law (the book of Deuteronomy) to guide their conduct. With it was a blessing for obedience and curse for disobedience (see
Deut. 28). If Israel obeyed, they would stay in the land and prosper. If they disobeyed, they could expect exile from the promised land unless they repented.
Israel disobeyed. A lot (see rest of OT). The prophetic books (Isaiah-Malachi) have essentially the same message: "Repent! God is holy and just!" Israel did not. The way the Jews arrange the Scripture, 2 Chronicles comes at the end, where it says Israel mocked the prophets until their was no remedy (
2 Chron. 36:15-16). As a result, they were sent into exile. First, the northern kingdom [Israel] was lost to Assyria (~722 BC); the southern kingdom [Judah] would initally fall to Babylon ~605 BC (finally falling in 586 BC). Daniel was taken away around 605 BC.
Though the reason for exile is obvious, it is tempting to ask why the Lord would allow Israel to fall to a pagan peoples. (Habakkuk asks this in his book.) Though we aren't always given a reason for how and why God does things, there is hope, for it is very clear in Daniel (and elsewhere) that God is sovereign.
The Lord led His people into exile in a pagan land. We see the same idea repeated many times in Scripture (
Daniel 1:1-2,
Isaiah 10:5-6,
Jeremiah 25:8-9,
Isaiah 44:28 and
45:1,
Judges 14:4,
Genesis 50:20 and more). The Lord is sovereign; He used even pagan kings and peoples to fulfull His will.
And God is sovereign today. Daniel affirms a very old truth: God loves us, He gave His son for us, He is in control, He is nearby, and He is the ultimate authority. The Book of Daniel is ultimately a call to trust in the sovereignty of God.
Talk 2: Daniel as Apocalypse
What genre is the book of Daniel? We often focus on the historical or theological in nature. Or we read Daniel as a prophet, the same way as Isaiah-Malachi. But the book of Daniel is not prophetic literature; it is in the third section of the Hebrew Bible, effectively in the "miscellaneous" section. (And Daniel wasn't a prophet . . . he was a government worker!) It has similarities to wisdom literature, but it is perhaps most suitably described as apocalyptic literature.
Apocalyptic literature has five attributes:
1) Written for a persecuted community
2) to instill hope and confidence in God
3) focuses on unveiling heavenly realities
4) there are dreams and visions that are not understood (and require interpretation)
5) the theme of victory/triumph of God and how he shares that with the saints (we see this elsewhere and in the NT, too—see Romans 16:20 and Isaiah 59:17 vs. Ephesians 6)
What is Daniel about? To give a strong message of hope and security. God is in control (see first talk), and He will share victory with His people.
The structure of the book of Daniel is viewed as one of two ways; both work.
1) Daniel 1-6, 7-12
In this breakdown, the first half is court narratives and the second is apocalyptic visions. The first half is two groups of three chapters, with wisdom contests. (1- food, 2- dream interpreted, 3- physical trial of furnace; 4-vision of Nebuchadnezzar, 5-handwriting interpreted, 6-physical trial of lion's den)
2) Daniel 1-7, 8-12
In this breakdown, the two halves break into the following structure, each with a symmetry:
1 Introduction
2 Four metals, kingdom of God
3 Martyrs
4 Madness
5 Belshazzar
6 Martyrs
7 four beasts, kingdom of God
7 Son of Man
8 Antiochus Epiphanes
9 seventy weeks
10-11 Antiochus Epiphanes
12 Son of Man
Some issues to keep in mind about Daniel:
- predictive prophecy: requires a supernatural God showing future (which is hard for secular people)
- interest in the 2nd century B.C. (Antiochus Epiphanes); See Daniel 8 and 10-12. Antiochus was a brutal persecutor of Jews and forced Greek upon them; Judas Maccabee rose up to counter him about 400 years after Daniel's prophecy. Antiochus was the Hitler of his day.
- Language: there are two in Daniel. Chapter 1 and 8-12 are in Hebrew; chapters 2-7 are in Aramaic (the international language of diplomacy then). Why is this? We're not sure. It could be God interacting with His people in Hebrew but with foreign kings in Aramaic.
Ultimately, we should read the book of Daniel in light of Revelation, the New Testament, and Christ. The last days started with the coming of Christ. We shouldn't look for specifics necessarily, but read it broadly. We may not understand all of it, but can still take comfort and hope from its pages.
Talk 3: Daniel the Pilgrim
Remember that Daniel is in exile—not in the holy land. He is exiled in his youth until his death (mentioned in Daniel 1:21), so almost his entire life. But that doesn't mean that all is lost or hopeless.
Jeremiah (writing around the same time) talks about living for the welfare of the city in which you live (
Jeremiah 29:7), and it is possible for exiles (like Daniel!) to be successful. What does this mean for us?
- Daniel is more applicable in our day than the theocracy days (David/Solomon/etc.) of Israel. Today, the NT church is the equivalent to OT Israel, and like that people, we are pilgrims, traveling through unholy land waiting for the restoration. Our faith, not our country, defines us.
- We need a sojourner mentality. Peter writes to exiles (
1 Peter 1:1-2), and says we need to keep our conduct pure (
2:12-17) and fix your eyes on Jesus. We are a church in the wilderness. As Israel during their wilderness wanderings (see
Numbers 14-on), the push is to not look back, but look forward to rest in the promised land (see
Hebrews 3:7-19 and elsewhere).
As spiritual exiles, how should we live? Daniel gives us important lessons.
- Daniel excelled in his job (see
Daniel 3,
6, and
Proverbs 10:4, etc.) Consider that God's people were in some cases excelling over their native captors!
- Daniel thought creatively on how to obey God in a life lived under a pagan king. (see
Daniel 1:8-16,
Proverbs 16:7) Daniel thought of a test to be loyal to God and 'safe' for his pagan masters. Covenant life can take varied expressions of faithfulness.
- Daniel had the wisdom to know what to change (and not change)—where to draw the line. He conformed to many Babylonian cultural norms (potentially even being made a eunuch!); he tolerated many things, but didn't violate his faith.
In short, Daniel had the MO for life in exile, and we can learn from his principles.
Talk 4: Daniel the Righteous Sufferer
Daniel was faithful and obedient to God, and yet he suffered and was persecuted for so doing. Unlike Israel (who suffered for their sin), Daniel suffered for his obedience. We need a robust theology of righteous suffering, and we see a good example here; Daniel is a glimpse of Christ, who is the perfect model of righteous sufferer (
2 Corinthians 1:3-11).
Consider that many Psalms are laments from those of a righteous sufferer (
Psalm 13,
44, others). And of course, remember Job. You can do everything right and suffer; sometimes, it is
because you are doing things right that you suffer.
In
1 Peter 4:12-13, Peter reminds us not to be surprised when a fiery trial [maybe a reference to the furnace in Daniel?] comes upon us, but to rejoice when suffering. Rejoice! Not "brace yourself," but rejoice. We see that theme elsewhere in Peter (1 Peter
1:6,
2:19-21,
3:14,
5:10). And in Paul (
Philippians 3:10-11,
1:29). The expectation to suffer for being righteous, and yet also the call to have a joy unspeakable when so suffering. Why? because it is fellowshipping with Christ! How well do we want to know the full Christ? For true joy, we need to partake in His sufferings. Suffering is a gift.
Luke 24:25-27 and
44-48 are so important for this concept. These verses speak of suffering and glory of Christ, and that all Scripture testifies to it [aside: thus the OT is a revelation of Christ]. This is true first for Christ, but then for His church. We will share in both as we are by faith united with Him (
Ephesians 2:11-22). And we see this movement from suffering to glory all throughout Scripture. Psalms have much suffering and lament, but then move to praise in Psalms 146-150 (the final ones). Daniel can have joy because he shared in Christ's suffering.
Talk 5: Daniel the Visionary
The end of trials and hardships is glory. After trials, Daniel and his friends are glorified/receive blessings (
Daniel 1:19-20,
3:26-30,
6:19-28). Daniel may have even been King of Babylon for a very short time (see
Daniel 5). But these are temporary and point to the final kingdom of God and glory there.
The book of Daniel has several pictures of the eternal kingdom of God (delivered to Daniel through visions). We know our end is glory to and with God. And even the pagan kings see glimpses, too, and glorify God (
Daniel 2:47,
3:28,
4:34-35,
6:26).
Similarly, we see this idea of the Ancient of days in
Daniel 7. The four beasts there signify four empires, and Daniel sees the throne room of God and Son of Man. In
7:27 we see the kingdom given to the people of God, under King Jesus. The end is glory!
Finally, we see the Sabbath kingdom in
Daniel 9. In that chapter, there is this idea of 70 sevens, which is a Sabbatical number, which points to eternal rest. And
Daniel 12:2-3 is perhaps the clearest reference to the resurrection in the OT. And it, too, shows eternal glory.
The major point is clear, even if details are uncertain or hard to understand (like Revelation, which borrows so much from Daniel (and Isaiah and Ezekiel)). When we suffer, we need reminders of our Heavenly homeland and where it ends—life with Christ. The book of Daniel pushes us to look to the kingdom of God and Christ the king. We, by faith with union in Christ, will be there. Soli Deo Gloria.
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*this promised land is a picture of the new heavens and new earth, which is why holiness for its inhabitants was so important and thus why the Lord ordered Israel to wipe out nations in it.
