Intro to the Book Daniel
Israel was supposed to be a theocracy. A theocracy is “a system of government in which priests rule in name of God or a god.” Jehovah was Israel’s King. But Israel wanted a mortal king like the other nations. Thus, the children of Israel rejected Jehovah in their request, but He allowed it. So, Saul was anoint king around 1052BC and ruled for about a quarter of a century. After him came King David— a man after God’s own heart. (1 Samuel 13:14) He became the measuring stick for the other kings of Israel. Then, though granted his prayer for great wisdom to rule God’s people, David’s son Solomon "went not fully after Jehovah.” (1 Kings 11:6) “His polygamy, his multiplication of horses and chariots, his heaping unto himself vast riches of silver and gold, his probable usurpation of priestly functions (1 Kings 9:25), and his making images contrary to the Second Commandment are only a few of his departures from God's Word. These were not sins of ‘old age.’” (Coffman Commentary) They revealed a divided heart.
”And Jehovah was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from Jehovah, the God of Israel, who had appeared unto him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which Jehovah commanded. Wherefore Jehovah said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it, for David thy father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but I will give one tribe to thy son, for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen." (1 Kings 11:9)
As a result, using Solomon’s succession as a means to an end, Jehovah brought about the division of Israel into two kingdoms. Ten of the tribes of Israel followed after Jeroboam, an effective administrator under King Solomon. He chose Shechem—between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim in northern Israel—as his new capital and set about rebuilding and fortifying it (1 Kings 12:25). It is prophetic that the capital was between the mount of cursing and the mount of blessing. They still controlled their destiny by their obedience or lack thereof. But God promised to give one tribe to Solomon’s son Rehoboam for David’s sake. So Yahweh caused the hearts of Judah to be for for him. “With this, the history of Judah as a tribe virtually comes to an end, for although still called by the old tribal name, this little kingdom was really a ‘Greater Judah.’ It now contained not only the old tribe of Judah but also the newly conquered Jebusite territory of Jerusalem, some of the old Philistine country,… and the tribes of Benjamin and Simeon, as well as many Levites (2 Chr 11:14) and other ‘loyalists’ from the north.” (Tyndall Bible Dictionary)
The ten tribes, also known to historians as the Northern Kingdom or biblically as the House of Israel, was attacked by the Assyrians in 722 BC and plundered and captives were taken back and later scattered, never to return their inheritance or birthright— their homeland. Meanwhile, the Southern Kingdom of Judah was spared in battle due to the prayers and repentance of King Hezekiah, as related in 2 Kings chapter 19. But this is the story of the fall of Judah- the remnant of Israel— to the Chaldeans about a century later:
“Josiah is described in second Chronicles chapter 34 and 35 as a good king whose actions stood in stark contrast to those of his grandfather Manasseh and his father Amon. ‘While he was still young,’ says the chronicler, ‘he began to seek the God of his father David’ (2 Chron. 34:3). The spiritual revival that followed his personal devotion to God is often referred to as Josiah 's reform. It consisted of purging Judah and Jerusalem of idols, pagan shrines, and alters. The apex of this religious reform was the discovery of the lost ‘book of the law of Moses’ by the priest in the temple. This exciting event prompted the king to renew ‘the covenant in the presence of the LORD’ (2 Chron. 34:31) and to proclaim the celebration of the feast of Passover. The chronicler notes that ‘the Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah, with the priest, the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem’(2 Chron 35:18).
However a tragedy struck the nation of Judah. Just as Daniel entered his teenage years, King Josiah died in a battle… The people of Judah mourned Josiah's death and the prophet Jeremiah composed laments for the occasion… and another tragedy struck David’s nation only a few years later. In 605 BC, the Babylonians came, besieged Jerusalem, and carried off to Babylon their booty and captives. Biblical records indicate that through their religious apostasy, the kings of Judah had reversed Josiah’s work of religious reform and fill their land again with idol worship. This was true of Josiah’s sons Jehoahaz (2Kings 23:31,32) and Jehoiakim (v.34), as well as Jehoachin (2Chronicles 36:9) and Zedekiah (v. 11), of whom it is said that they ‘did evil in the sight of the LORD..’ Second Chronicles 36:15, 16 reads, ‘The LORD the God of their fathers, sent word to them through His messengers again and again, because He had pity on his people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked God's messengers, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against His people and there was no more remedy.’”(Daniel- Wisdom to the Wise by Zdravko Stefanovic)
Here are the prophetic words that preceded the captivity of Judah by the Chaldeans and subsequent captivity in Babylon.“Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Because you have not heard My words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north… and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment…. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” (Jer 25:1-11)
There were other prophetic voices as well, like Habakkuk. Paul quotes this voice in his letter to the church in Rome— “the just shall live by faith.” (Hab 2:4; Rom1:17) The Coming Messiah is “the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.” (Rom 1:16) Habakkuk, like the apostle Paul, witnessed violence and lawlessness in the land by the Church. Habakkah cries: “O LORD, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Even cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ And You will not save. Why do You show me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention arises. Therefore the Torah is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore perverse judgment proceeds.” (Hab 1:1-4) "God Almighty" had seemed to remain neutral in the affairs of His people. But this is a cry for salvation. So, the LORD tells Habakkuk of the imminent repercussions of the sin of God’s people of his day: "Look among the nations and watch-- be utterly astounded for I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you! For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation which marches through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs…."( Hab 1:5-11)
The answer is the Babylonian captivity. So, God was going to use a proud and wicked nation to chastise the children of God. This does not make the prophet happy, but rather troubles him all the more. (Habakkuk 1:12-17) So, he decided to wait on God for an answer saying: “I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what the LORD will say to me and what I will answer when the LORD corrects me.”(Habakkuk 2:1) He believed in the God of Israel and expected Him to answer and correct his theology. This is the sign of a circumcised heart.
And finally, He gives the answer that satisfies the soul: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.”( Habakkuk 2:2-4) The message is for “an appointed time” still in the future “at the end”— for us!! I am certain of this, because the same verse is quoted in Paul’s letter to the Hebrews: “‘For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith;’ but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul."(Hebrews 10:35-39) So we are still tarrying and the Message that satisfies us, as well as the prophet of God, is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and His Judgment on the Chaldeans (world) of all ages.
“Daniel was one of the captives who were lead from Jerusalem to Babylon. He and his friends were probably between fifteen and eighteen years old when they were taken there.… it was Daniel's custom in Babylon to pray ‘three times a day’ (6:10). However, in crisis and times of greater spiritual needs, he studied the prophetic writings and turned his ‘face to the LORD God and search for Him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackclothcloth and ashes’ (9:3). At times, he would prolong this type of austere life for weeks, during which he would be on a very simple diet (10:2,3). Various passages from Daniel’s book indicate that his diligent and prayerful study of the Pentateuch in the scroll the prophet Isaiah exercised a positive influence on him. Yet it was the life and teachings of the Prophet Jeremiah, Daniels contemporary, that affected his life more than any other part of Scripture.
Jeremiah… carried out his long ministry in Jerusalem. He played a key role in Josiah's reform and composed a lament for his funeral... Jeremiah’s great influence on some of the Hebrew captives in Babylon as well as on Daniel and his friends came from the famous letter to the exiles recorded in chapter 29 of this book. That letter urged people to ‘build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters… Increase in number [there in Babylon]; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you in exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper’ (Jeremiah 29:5–7). In other words, during the 70 years of exile the captives should live a normal life in Babylon and have a positive attitude toward that city.
This message was just the opposite of what Jeremiah’s opponents, self-appointed prophets, one of whom was a certain Hananiah, were telling the people. Their predictions were that the exile would end soon, perhaps in just a year or two… So there was a risk that the reading of Jeremiah's message would make him sound like a traitor, an accusations made against him on a number of occasions (Jeremiah 26:11; 32:3; 37:13; 38:34). Yet there was no doubt in the minds of those who believed in his prophetic calling that God would bring Babylon to an end at the appointed time (Jeremiah 50; 51). Then a remnant, liberated because of Babylon's fall would return to Palestine (Jeremiah 30; 31). Babylon was still under God's control. Moreover on more than one occasion, Jeremiah called King Nebuchadnezzar the Lord servant (Jeremiah 25:9; 27:6 ) This fact explains why Daniel when describing Babylon's capture of Jerusalem says that ‘the Lord delivered’ the king and the people of Judah into Nebuchadnezzar's hands. (Daniel 1:2)
… Jeremiah’s influence greatly helped shape Daniel’s positive attitude in Babylon. He chose not to spend all his time sitting down ‘by the waters of Babylon’ and weeping over the tragedy that Zion had suffered (Psalm 137). Nor did he choose to follow the false prophets and their supporters in there prophetic speculation or political activism. Instead Daniel allowed Providence to open a brilliant career for him in order to be able to witness for his God and about his faith everywhere, including the Royal Palace. This endeavor he had the support of his three Hebrew friends who prayed with him especially in times of crisis.” (Daniel- Wisdom to the Wise by Zdravko Stefanovic)
Daniel: Possible Reason for 70-year Captivity
Before beginning a verse by verse look, here is more food for thought on a possible reason why the true prophets of Jehovah were convinced of a 70-year captivity. This being an appointed time was a motive for Daniel to be content with certainty of God’s control in the circumstances.
Before occupying the land of promise, the Israelites had observed the Egyptian calendar. But the calendar became liturgical upon occupation of the land, according to the Word of the LORD, beginning with Passover: “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: 'On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.” (Exodus 12:2-14) Likewise, they were to keep: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles in the land.
Yahweh's feasts were given to Israel “to reveal to us a special story – most significantly, the work of the Messiah in the redemption of mankind and the establishment of His Kingdom on earth.” [Rob Philips] "Even as the [Spring Feasts of] Passover, the wave-sheaf offering, and Pentecost were fulfilled in the first coming of Christ, so also the [Fall Feasts:] the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles [Booths] prophesy of events surrounding the second coming,” (Dr. Steven E. Jones)
MOREOVER: The LORD God requires man to keep the Sabbath. It is the fourth commandment. And it was also appointed that man, in his position with dominion over Creation, would give the land a Sabbath rest every seventh year. Here is the text: “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the Lord. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a Sabbath of rest, a Sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest….’” (Lev 25:2-7)
"The Sabbath rest had nothing to do with agricultural improvement since the largest harvest was during the sixth year, at the end of the growing cycle. (Levitisu 25:20-22) God did not establish a Sabbath rest for the land for the sake of the land. No, God designed a Sabbath rest for the land to test the faith of an agricultural nation every seven years. Would they obey Him or not? (Cf. Exodus 16:4.) In fact, the Sabbatical year test only revealed whether or not the nation was actually in touch with God. If they failed to keep His seventh-day Sabbath holy each week, how could they keep a whole year holy? In God’s economy, a person must be faithful in small things of life before he/she is worthy of receiving larger responsibilities.” (Larry Wilson)
FINALLY: There was a Jubilee which occurred after seven cycles of weeks. “When Israel finally entered the land that had been ‘promised’ to Abraham (Genesis 15:18), the land was divided among the 12 tribes according to their population. Large tribes received much land, smaller tribes received smaller sections of land. The land was considered an asset and a family could ‘sell’ their inheritance (the land) to other Israelites during the 49 year Jubilee cycle. (Leviticus 25:14,15) However, when the seventh Sabbath year ended, during the first seven months of the first year of the next cycle (the Jubilee year), God required that the land be given back to the original family/owner without charge. The transaction of giving the land back to its original owner had to be completed before the 10th day of the 7th month (Day of Atonement) or God’s displeasure would rest upon the nation… The basic concept for the Jubilee Calendar is elegant: God wanted each generation to experience the joy of receiving the land (the inheritance promised to Abraham) for free… This was God’s original plan, but Israel failed to keep in touch with God. They stopped observing the seventh-day Sabbath, the seventh-year Sabbaths and ultimately, the Jubilee year. For this disobedience, God sent them into exile…
God warned Israel that if they failed to give the land its Sabbath rest, He would remove them from the land so that it might get the Sabbath rest it missed. Here is the text: ‘And if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant... I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. Then the land will enjoy its Sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the Sabbaths you lived in it.’(Lev 26:14;32-35)” (Larry W Wilson)
Several years after the Babylonian captivity began, Jehovah spoke to Ezekiel. "This will be a sign to the house of Israel. Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the house of Israel. After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.” (Ezekiel 4:3b-6) "SO, God told Ezekiel to demonstrate His displeasure with both parts of the nation by lying down for a total of 430 days. (Lying down reflects a position of sickness, death or vulnerability — the condition of Israel at the time.) Now, this is the point: In 430 years, there are exactly 70 Sabbath years! 'Nebuchadnezzar … carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power. The land enjoyed its Sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.’ (2 Chron 36:17-21) Do you see the fulfillment of God’s promise for the land? The land enjoyed its Sabbath rests! Now, this text does not prove that Israel violated 70 Sabbath years, but it does give a hint.” (Larry W. Wilson of Wake up America)