The Problem and the Promise!
In the last 12 months 4,849 christians have been killed
more than 388 million christians experience high levels of persecution and
discrimination (most ever)
Do we westerners/Americans think we’re a immune from the attack of the enemy?
Daniel contains one of the clearest and most revelatory prophesies about Jesus and his
return humans will ever read!
The Problem and the Promise!
CONTEXT OF DANIEL
What happened immediately before Daniel?
Josiah’s reforms and death
Before Daniel, Judah had experienced a major revival under King Josiah.
The Book of the Law had been found, idolatry had been removed, the temple had been
cleansed, and Passover had been restored.
But in approximately 609 BC, Josiah was killed. And Judah’s independence collapsed.
Josiah’s son Jehoahaz became king but reigned only three months.
Next his brother Eliakim, renamed Jehoiakim reigned and Judah became an Egyptian-
controlled state.
This means Daniel grew up during a period of tremendous political instability:
Judah had experienced spiritual reform.
Its righteous king had been killed.
Egypt was controlling Judah’s throne.
Babylon was rapidly becoming the new world power.
Jeremiah was warning that Babylonian judgment was coming.
Why did Babylon suddenly attack Judah?
In 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pharaoh Neco’s Egyptian army at the Battle of
Carchemish.
What is exile and what was it like?
First attack: approx. 605 BC — Daniel is taken
Nebuchadnezzar intimidated Jerusalem into submission. Jehoiakim became his
subordinate.
Some vessels were taken from the temple.
Young men from Judah’s royal family and nobility were carried to Babylon.
The city was not burned. The temple remained standing. Most of Judah’s population
remained home. Jehoiakim continued ruling, but now under Babylonian authority.
This was essentially a hostage deportation.
Nebuchadnezzar took the brightest sons of Judah’s ruling class so that:
Judah would be less likely to rebel.
Potential future leaders would be removed.
The conquered nation’s best minds could serve Babylon.
Young nobles could be retrained to think, speak, and operate as Babylonians.
Second attack: 597 BC — The leadership of Judah is removed
After Jehoiakim rebelled against Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar’s army returned. Jehoiakim
died, and his young son Jehoiachin inherited the crisis.
Jerusalem came under siege, and Jehoiachin surrendered.
Nebuchadnezzar then:
Captured Jehoiachin.
Took the king’s mother, wives, officials, and leading citizens.
Removed soldiers, craftsmen, smiths, and skilled workers.
Stripped the temple and royal palace of treasures.
Installed Jehoiachin’s uncle Mattaniah as king.
Renamed him Zedekiah.
Approximately 10,000 captives were taken, including 7,000 fighting men and 1,000
craftsmen and smiths. Only the poorest people were left behind.
The prophet Ezekiel was taken during this deportation. Daniel had already been in
Babylon for roughly eight years.
Third attack: approximately 588–586 BC — Jerusalem is destroyed
Zedekiah eventually rebelled against Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar returned with his entire
army, surrounded Jerusalem, and built siege works around it.
This was the catastrophic attack.
The city was blockaded for approximately eighteen months. Food disappeared. Famine
became so severe that the biblical accounts describe people wasting away and mothers
consuming their own children. The conditions described in Lamentations were not
poetic exaggerations detached from history; they reflected the horror of a starving,
collapsing city.
When the Babylonians breached the wall:
Judah’s soldiers fled at night.
Zedekiah was captured.
His sons were killed in front of him.
His eyes were put out after he watched
their deaths.
He was bound in bronze shackles and
carried to Babylon.
The temple was burned.
The king’s palace was burned.
Jerusalem’s significant houses were
burned.
The city walls were torn down.
Temple equipment was carried away.
Priests and government officials were
executed.
More survivors were deported.
Only some of the poorest agricultural
workers remained.
Daniel would have been living in Babylon when news arrived that Jerusalem, the
temple, and possibly many people he knew had been destroyed.
What began as assimilation ended in annihilation!
DANIEL chapter 1
Daniel’s story begins around 605 BC, during the first Babylonian attack.
Among these prisoners were four men from the royal family line of David 14-18 years
old
Daniel, later named Belteshazzar
Hananiah later named Shadrach,
Mishael later named Meshach
Azariah later named Abed-nego
Chapters 1-3: Provides hope to God’s suffering people among the nations
Daniel 1:1
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand….
Divine providence over world events
2 with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of
Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.
3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of
Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, 4 youths without blemish, of good
appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning,
and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and
language of the Chaldeans.
5 The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine
that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time
they were to stand before the king.
7 And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar,
Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called
Abednego.
Abram → Abraham: “father of many nations” — Genesis 17:5
Sarai → Sarah: mother of nations and kings — Genesis 17:15–16
Jacob → Israel: “one who strives with God,” — Genesis 32:28
Simon → Peter: Rock (“You are Peter, and on this rock I will.…”) — Matthew 16:17–18
Jesus - The Lord Saves
Hebrew
name Hebrew meaning Babylonian name Probable Babylonian meaning
Daniel “God is my Judge” Belteshazzar “Bel, protect the king.” (His life)
Bel was a title for Babylon’s chief god.
Hananiah “The LORD is gracious”
Shadrach “Under the authority of Aku.” (Command of)
Aku was associated with the moon god.
Mishael “Who is like God?”
Meshach “Who is like Aku?”
replacing Israel’s God with a Babylonian deity.
Azariah “The LORD has helped”
Abednego “Servant of Nebo/Nebo,”
The Babylonian god of wisdom and writing.
8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the
wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not
to defile himself.
The Tower of Babel was approximately 1,600 + before Daniel Chapter 1
• Babel and Babylon are the same Hebrew name: Bavel.
• Both were located in the same place Shinar
• The tower represented human pride: “Let us make a name for ourselves.”
Genesis 11:4-9
4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in
the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves,
• Babylon continued Babel’s pattern: pride, idolatry, empire, and rebellion
against God.
• Nebuchadnezzar echoed Babel’s pride: “Babylon the Great, which I myself
have built”—Daniel 4:30.
• Like babel, Babylon becomes a biblical symbol of human pride.
Daniel would have been living in Babylon when news arrived that Jerusalem, the
temple, and possibly many people he knew had been destroyed.
What began as assimilation ended in annihilation!
DANIEL chapter 1
Daniel’s story begins around 605 BC, during the first Babylonian attack.
Among these prisoners were four men from the royal family line of David 14-18 years
old
Daniel, later named Belteshazzar
Hananiah later named Shadrach,
Mishael later named Meshach
Azariah later named Abed-nego
Chapters 1-3: Provides hope to God’s suffering people among the nations
Daniel 1:1
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand….
Divine providence over world events
2 with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of
Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.
3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of
Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, 4 youths without blemish, of good
appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning,
and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and
language of the Chaldeans.
5 The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine
that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time
they were to stand before the king.
7 And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar,
Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called
Abednego.
Abram → Abraham: “father of many nations” — Genesis 17:5
Sarai → Sarah: mother of nations and kings — Genesis 17:15–16
Jacob → Israel: “one who strives with God,” — Genesis 32:28
Simon → Peter: Rock (“You are Peter, and on this rock I will.…”) — Matthew 16:17–18
