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DANIEL — LESSON 17
In Lesson 17 we will conclude our study of the prophet Daniel, the man highly esteemed by God, by reviewing all 12 chapters in the book of Daniel.
CHAPTER OVERVIEW:
Chapter 1: Daniel’s fame and prosperity: Daniel 1:1-21
Chapter 2: Nebuchadnezzar’s vision of gentile world empires from Babylon to the Messiah. Daniel 2:1-49.
Chapter 3: The fiery furnace. Daniel 3:1-30.
Chapter 4: Nebuchadnezzar’s vision of the great tree and the vision fulfilled Daniel 4:1-37
Chapter 5: Belshazzar’s great feast, the writing on the wall and the fall of Babylon Daniel 5:1-31
Chapter 6: Daniel delivered from the lion’s den Daniel 6:1-28
Chapter 7: The four beasts. Daniel 7:1-28
Chapter 8: Daniel’s vision of the ram and the goat. Daniel 8:1-27
Chapter 9: Daniel’s vision of the prophecy of the 70 weeks. Daniel 9:1-27
Chapter 10: Daniel’s vision of the Glory of God. Daniel 10:1-21.
Chapter 11: Daniel’s vision the Greek Empire divided among Alexander the Great’s four generals. Daniel 11:1-45
Chapter 12: Daniel’s prophecy of end time events. Daniel 12:2-3, his final message, 12:4-13.
DANIEL — Chapter 1
In chapter 1, Daniel and his three friends, Mischeal, Azariah, and Hananiah, were taken captive to Babylon when Nebuchadnezzar laid siege on Jerusalem in 605 BC.
The young teenage Hebrew boys immediately stood out when they refused to eat food that was forbidden by the Mosiac Law. They were young, separated from their family and in a foreign land, but they remained faithful to God.
[Daniel 1:18-20] “At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. 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 — Chapter 2
In chapter 2, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that frightened him. Daniel, Mishael, Azariah and Hananiah whose Babylonian names were Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, were very well educated in Jerusalem. The king valued education so he had these boys trained to speak the Babylonian language and they became wise men for the kingdom, advisors to the king. Nebuchadnezzar called in his wise men to interpret his dream but he required them to tell him the dream and interpret it too. They could not do this so the king ordered all the wise men in the kingdom to be killed. This included the four young Hebrew teenagers. Daniel immediately took the situation to God. God gave Daniel a special ability to interpret dreams and in Daniel’s sleep, God revealed the king’s dream and its meaning.
The king’s dream was about a giant statue of a man who had a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, waist and thighs of bronze, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay mixed. Then a rock not cut by human hands struck the statue and it broke into many pieces. Daniel told the king that the head of the statue made of gold represented him and the Kingdom of Babylon which would be taken by another kingdom.
Nebuchadnezzar was so impressed by Daniel’s wisdom that he placed him over all the provinces in the Babylonian Empire and over all the wise men. At Daniel’s request, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were also made high officials in the kingdom.
DANIEL — Chapter 3
In chapter 3, Nebuchadnezzar was not pleased with the prophecy that his kingdom would be taken from him. So, he decided to show this great God in heaven and all the earthly kingdoms that Babylon would not be taken. He had a statue built that was ninety feet tall and covered in gold. When the giant statue was completed the king ordered the leaders of all his territories, all of his officials to be present for a dedication of his great statue and to fall down and worship it as a god.
Anyone who refused to worship the statue would be put to death in a blazing furnace. Some of the Babylonian officials were jealous of the high positions given to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and knowing that they worshiped only their Hebrew God, decided to get rid of them by convincing the king that everyone in the kingdom would be required to fall down and worship the golden statue when they heard music played. The jealous officials reported to the king that the Hebrews had refused to worship the statue and King Nebuchadnezzar ordered that they be thrown into the burning furnace. King Nebuchadnezzar watched Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walk around in the flames with an angel walking with them, all unharmed. They honored God and God delivered them.
[Daniel 3:26] “Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Out! Come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire.”
DANIEL — Chapter 4
In chapter 4, King Nebuchadnezzar, filled with pride, walked on the roof of his palace admiring his kingdom that he had built in his might and his power in order to bring glory to himself. One year before, Nebuchadnezzar had a vision of a great tree that touched the sky. It was beautiful and had lots of fruit which provided food for all and also provided shelter for many animals. Then he heard a holy one from heaven call out to cut down the tree but leave the stump in the ground and let it live with the animals and plants until 7 times had passed. Immediately he heard a voice from heaven telling that his dream vision was about to come true. His kingdom would be taken from him and he would live in the fields like an animal, grow hair and nails like an animal, for seven years until he learned and acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over earthly kingdoms and He is in control of who rules over the kingdoms.
[Daniel 4:31-32] The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, “this is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.
At the end of seven years, Nebuchadnezzar raised his head to heaven and praised the Most High God. He was restored as king of Babylon and he sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom praising and giving glory to the King of Heaven.
DANIEL — Chapter 5
Chapter 5 brings us to the end of the Kingdom of Babylon. The Medes and the Persians had already taken much of the Babylonian territory and were close to the city of Babylon.
King Belshazzar decided to give a great banquet for a thousand people. He brought in the gold and silver dishes and goblets they had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and used them to eat and drink praises to his gods. Suddenly a hand began to write on the banquet chamber wall. No one could read the writing and the king was terrified. Daniel was called in to read the writing.
[Daniel 5:22-28] “But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drink wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, Iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription. This is the inscription that was written: Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin. This is what these words mean: Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. Tekel: you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
That very night, Belshazzar was killed and the King of the Medes took over. But Daniel was safe and was made a high official in the Kingdom of the Medes and Persians. Daniel was 62 years old.
DANIEL — Chapter 6
After a short time, Daniel impressed Darius, the King of the Medes and Persians so much that he was put in a position of power over the whole kingdom. Other administrators in the kingdom were jealous of Daniel but could not find anything to use against him except the worship of his Hebrew God. So, they presented an idea to the king that he should make a law of the Medes and the Persians that cannot be changed even by the king. This law that they proposed would require everyone all over the kingdom to worship only the king as a god for thirty days. This appealed to the king’s pride and he agreed.
Daniel continued to pray to Jehovah God three times a day just as he always did. The jealous conniving advisories reported to the king about Daniel’s prayers to his God. King Darius gave the order for Daniel to be thrown into the den of lions. The king told Daniel that he hoped that his God would rescue him. At dawn the next morning the king rushed to the lion’s den and called to Daniel to see if he was still alive.
[Daniel 6:21-24] (21) Daniel answered, “May the king live forever! (22) My God sent his angel and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.” (23) The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. (24) At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.
King Darius wrote a decree to be read all over his kingdom, praising the God of Daniel.
DANIEL — Chapter 7
About fourteen years before the fall of Babylon, God gave Daniel a vision of four beasts: a lion with wings like an eagle; a bear, raised up on one side with three ribs in its mouth; a leopard with four wings on its back and four heads; the fourth beast had large iron teeth that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled what was left and it had ten horns.
As Daniel watched the last beast it grew another horn that uprooted three of the other horns. This horn had the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully. Then he saw the Ancient of Days in Heaven, sitting on His throne with multitudes around Him in a court setting and the books were opened. As he continued to watch, Daniel saw the beast with the boastful mouth destroyed and thrown into a blazing fire and his kingdom will be defeated when Christ comes to reign forever and ever. An angel gave Daniel the meaning of the vision.
The meaning to this vision is almost identical to Nebuchadnezzar’s vision in chapter 2, except that Daniel’s vision gave more information and more details. The great beasts represented Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. Like the other vision, it skips the church age. The beast with horns, the one horn who spoke boastfully represents the Antichrist, the leader of the last world empire.
[Daniel 7:15-18] (15) “I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. (16) I approached one of those standing there and asked him the meaning of all this. “So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things: (17) ‘The four great beasts are four kings that will rise from the earth. (18) But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever, — yes, forever and ever.
DANIEL — Chapter 8
Daniel had another vision about two years after his first one in chapter 7. This vision took place some 12 years before the fall of Babylon. Daniel is about 69 years old and the date was approximately 551 BC. Daniel was most likely in Babylon and was taken in his vision to the Persian province of Elam, the city of Susa, also called Shusan, and he stood beside a canal called, Ulai. In his vision, Daniel saw a goat with a large horn coming from the west attack a ram coming from the east. The prominent horn of the goat broke off and in its place four large horns grew. As Daniel was tried to understand what he had seen, God sent the Angel, Gabriel, to explain to Daniel what it all meant.
[Daniel 8:9-12] (9) Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land. (10) It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. (11) It set itself up to be as great as the commander of the army of the Lord; it took away the daily sacrifice from the Lord, and his sanctuary was thrown down. (12) Because of rebellion, the Lord’s people and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.
The angel, Gabriel explained to Daniel that the vision described how the Kingdom of Greece who defeat Persia. Greece’s leader, which was Alexander the Great, would be cut off. He died in Babylon when he was about 33 years old. He was succeeded by four of his generals. “The king who would take away the daily sacrifice” part of the vision was fulfilled by Antiochus Epiphanies but the prophecy looks forward to the activities prophesied about the antichrist in the book of Revelations.
DANIEL — Chapter 9
A man that Daniel called Darius the Mede, became king over Babylon in 539 BC. He was the son of Xerxes which is Greek for the Hebrew name, Ahasuerus. Daniel had been reading the writings of Jeremiah the prophet and he understood that Jeremiah had prophesied that Israel’s captivity in Babylon would last seventy years and those seventy years were about to come to an end.
Daniel loved God and he loved his people Israel, so he put all worldly things away from himself, out of his mind and prayed to God, asking what would happen to the Jewish people when the 70 years of captivity were over. After his lengthy confession to God of all of Israel’s sins, Daniel pleaded with God to answer his prayer. As soon as Daniel began to pray, God sent the angel, Gabriel to earth to give Daniel the answer to his prayer. These verses along with some in chapter-10 give us an insight into the spiritual world around us that is awesome.
[Daniel 9:24] (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.
The prophecy covered seventy weeks of years or 490 years.
DANIEL — Chapter 10
Chapter 10 sets the stage for this last and 4th vision which gathers together the significant threads of prophecy, especially as they relate to the Holy Land and to the people of Israel. Our time frame now is about 536 BC. The Jews have been home in Israel for approximately two years. Daniel has been in Babylon 72 years. The events that Daniel saw in his vision in chapters 11 and 12 are a long time in the future concerning a great war and Daniel was given an understanding or meaning of the vision.
Daniel was on the bank of the Tigris River north of the city of Babylon when the angel Gabriel appeared to give him the final vision concerning the people of Israel.
[Daniel 10:10-13] (10) A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. (11) He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling. (12) Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. (13) But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. (14) Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.”
The angel touched Daniel and helped him to stand as he spoke to him. We are told again how highly thought of Daniel is in the heavenly realm. Then the veil is lifted and Daniel is given a look into the unseen world of spiritual beings that work on the earth. These spiritual beings are both good and bad. Some doing the work of God and some doing Satan’s bidding. They are working in the movements of nations and as in this case, protecting the people of Israel.
DANIEL — Chapter 11
[Daniel 11:1-4] (1) And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I took my stand to support and protect him. (2) “Now then, I tell you the truth: Three more kings will arise in Persia, and then a fourth, who will be far richer than all the others. When he has gained power by his wealth, he will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece. (3) Then a mighty king will arise, who will rule with great power and do as he pleases. (4) After he has appeared, his empire will be broken up and parceled out toward the four winds of heaven. It will not go to his descendants, nor will it have the power he exercised, because his empire will be uprooted and given to others.
The prophecy began with the angel, Gabriel explaining to Daniel that he had come to tell him what was written in the Book of Truth, the future as it related to Israel. He summed up the prophecy in these few words.
In these verses, Gabriel told Daniel that after three more kings reigned in Persia, a new king would take the kingdom and He would shortly be gone and his kingdom would be divided in four ways. This part of the prophecy came true when Alexander the Great conquered Babylon. He died there shortly and his kingdom was divided among four of his generals. The rest of this part of the prophecy focuses on two of the generals, Seleucus who ruled over Syria and Ptolemy I who ruled over Egypt because these two kings were dealing with Israel. For many years these two territories battled over control of Israel. A descendant of Seleucus, Antiochus Ephiphanies ruled over Israel and brought terrible persecution to the Jews.
The last chapter in the Book of Daniel gave us the prophecy of the last week in the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. Daniel was given details of the tribulation and Christ coming back to do battle with the gentile world nations.
DANIEL — Chapter 12
[Daniel 12:1] “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people — everyone whose name is found written in the book — will be delivered.”
This is talking about the end time as described in Daniel’s prophecy as the 70th week, the time of the great tribulation. He will bring the greatest persecution that the people of Israel have ever endured. At that time Michael, whose name means “who is like God,” the archangel and Israel’s protector, will come to watch over and protect the people of Israel in their time of trouble. Gabriel told Daniel to seal up the words of the scroll because these things will not come about until the end time. God had answered Daniel’s prayer by revealing to him what lay in store for His people Israel.
[Daniel 12:13] (13) As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.
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