The first chapter ended well for Daniel. It illustrates the spiritual principle of how our Heavenly Father turns cursing into a blessing, Romans 8:28.
DEMONSTRATION OF GRACE - Daniel 1: 17-21
17] And as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams.
In cosmos diabolicus, the principle of the innocent suffering with the guilty is prevalent. While we are our own worst enemies most of the time and suffer the consequences of our own sinful desires, weaknesses, and bad decisions, others suffer because of us. Sinful Israel causes the loss of national freedom, which hurls the four teenagers into the whirlwind of national discipline. These innocent teenagers are torn away from their family, friends, home, and earthly inheritance. They lose everything from a human perspective.
Even today, we see this principle at work in America. We have just a handful of people with elected authority, 537 people. Their prideful, selfish ambitions, bad decisions, and sinful desires can weave a tapestry of evil, which can cause us to lose all our freedoms. Just nine people in a nation of billions invested with power, in 1973, changed the land laws that had been in effect for two hundred years and gave the legal right for a mother to abort their innocent unborn babies. There is no justice in this!
Daniel could have complained, "What did I do to deserve this?" However, he did not. Instead, he turned to his Heavenly Father for help, and "God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams."
Whatever is necessary for the crisis God gave! Underline that phrase. God could have kept them from this captivity, but He didn't. He kept them in captivity and then provided everything that they would need.
Graduation Day (18-19)
18) Then at the end of the days which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar.
Three years have elapsed between verses 17 and 18. The training in the language, culture, and protocols necessary to become officials in the king's state department was completed. Yet one last challenge remained. The time for the final examination has arrived, and Ashpenaz takes them before the king!
19) And the king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's personal service.
The king talked with them. This was not a polite conversation. The Piel imperfect of the verb DABAR is intensive. He thoroughly examined them, and they graduated with honors.
Grace Abounds
20) And as for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in his entire realm.
The test was not on their Bible knowledge. It was on subjects related to the culture and government of the Chaldean empire. This had to be learned, and Daniel spent three years of his life studying them. God would not do for him what he could do for himself. God didn't study for him. God always deserves our best efforts no matter what the circumstances. Daniel gave his best. The result was that when compared to the students from the magicians and conjurers families, who would have the edge, Daniel's wisdom and understanding was superior. God honors our faithfulness. He will fill our cup to overflowing if we trust Him.
Continuing In Grace
21) And Daniel continued until the first year [539 B.C.] of Cyrus the king.
The reference to the first year of Cyrus in this passage is approximately 539 BC. Daniel would have been in Babylon for 67 years, and he would be approximately 81 years old. I believe he was around 15 years of age when he entered captivity. The first year of Cyrus' reign over the Chaldean empire was also critical to the Jews, for he decreed that the Jews could return (2 Chronicles 36:22, 23; Ezra 1). Sixty-seven stormy and challenging years and the grace of God sustained Daniel. Daniel was alive to see the answer to his prayers and the fulfillment of God's prophetic Word.
Lessons to be learned: What kind of a God do you worship and serve?
We all face difficulties. So when our circumstances are difficult, if we lose a dear loved one or when there are delays in answer to our prayers when there are dirty deals done to us, and when our safety, security, and even survival is threatened, what should our minds cling to and what should our hearts be convinced of? Know your God! It is Daniel's personal knowledge of who and what God is that sustains him through the crisis.
Review His attributes:
God is Sovereign: God is in control.
God's sovereignty sustains and guides human affairs to the predetermined ends that He has foreordained. There is a good reason for every event, for every circumstance. Life is not absurd. Things just don't happen. They have meaning, God's meaning. They have a design, God's design. How they fit together may not be understood, but they do.
God is Omniscient: God knows things, all things. No problem is beyond a solution.
God is Omnipotent: God is all-powerful. God is at work. Romans 8:28 says God is up to something. God is up to something good. God's hand is shaping all that is happening to me.
God is Omnipresent: God is in the problem. When I face my difficulty and bring the Lord into the picture, what kind of God am I trusting in? If He is weak, powerless, and confused, I will be fearful, but if He is Daniel's God, I will have confidence, and an emotional calm will be evident.
God allows trouble to touch our lives to bring about positive personal benefit and blessing to us. If Daniel wasn't a captive of Babylon, what is the likelihood that he would ever become a prince of Babylon? In God's will, we profit from problems: Obstacles become opportunities; stumbling blocks become stepping stones, 1 Peter 1:6, 7:
6) In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,
7) that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
The Christian is never without an explanation from the Lord about suffering. Have you ever asked yourself "why" when something terrible happens? If you are a Christian, know this. God permits undeserved suffering for two important reasons: (1) So that He might be glorified and (2) we might be blessed. Next time you face a difficult circumstance, know that God is at work turning the cursing into a blessing for His glory and your benefit. Here is a brief outline of Biblical principles from the Bible that reinforces these two Biblical facts. We could call this the rationale of Christian Suffering.
Our heavenly Father is glorified when:
When Satan is rebuked: 1 Peter 3:17; Ephesians 3:9-13; Job 1, 2; Colossians 1:24; 1 Peter 1:12.
When Christ is magnified: Philippians 1:12,13,20, 21;1 Peter 4:14.
When the power of God is demonstrated in our lives: 2 Corinthians. 11 :24-33; 12:7-10.
When we manifest the fruit of the Spirit: 2 Corinthians. 4:8-11.
When we witness for Christ amid suffering: 1 Peter 3:15; 4:16; 2 Corinthians. 3:4; 2 Timothy 2:8-9.
We are blessed and benefited by suffering when:
1. When we are taught by it. We learn:
Endurance - James 1-2-4.
Wisdom - James 1: 5-8.
Obedience - Hebrews 5:8.
Contentment - Philippians 4:11.
Humility- James 1 :9-11, 2 Corinthians. 12:1-10.
The holiness of God - Job 42:5,6.
2. When we grow in Christ in the midst of it, James 1: 2-4; 1 Peter 5:10.
3. When we help others through it, 2 Corinthians 1: 3-24; 1 Corinthians 4:9-16.
4. When we are rewarded in eternity for it, James 1: 12.
Look up the passages of Scripture and commit them to memory. Next time you face a difficulty, remember them and meditate on them. They will bring confidence and inner joy as you bring God into the picture. Dare to be a Daniel!
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Acknowledgment
At my side, as I prepared this commentary on Daniel, are my notes taken at Practical Bible Training School listening to my professors Dr. Marion Lowe, my teacher in the Old Testament, and Dr. Floyd H. Barackman, friend and teacher of Theology. These men wrote no book on Daniel, but they are ever-present in my understanding of Daniel. For historical background, The Cambridge Ancient History Vol. 3 - 5 was beneficial. Dr. Leon J Wood's books on (1) The Survey of Israel's History, and his Commentary on Daniel, significantly contributed to my understanding of the persons and events in the Book of Daniel. No commentary begins with a blank sheet of paper, and my debt to these works when not footnoted is always present.
Below is a list of sources used in preparing these messages:
Brown, F., Driver, S. R., & Briggs, C. A. (1977). Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Cambridge Ancient History. Vols. 3-5, 2nd ed. edited by John Boardman et al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970–1991.
Chafer, Lewis Sperry. Systematic Theology. Vol. 4. Dallas: Dallas Seminary Press, 1948.
D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer, & D. J. Wiseman (Eds.), New Bible Dictionary (3rd ed.), Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Leon J. Wood, A Commentary on Daniel, The Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1973.
Leon J. Wood, A Survey of Israel's History, The Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1973.
Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Babylon, Babylonia. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 1, p. 247). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.
Josephus, F., & Whiston, W. (1987). The works of Josephus: complete and unabridged (p. 286). Peabody:
Kitchen, K. A., & Mitchell, T. C. (1996). Chronology of the Old Testament. In D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer, & D. J. Wiseman (Eds.), New Bible Dictionary (3rd ed., p. 186). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Pentecost, J. Dwight. Things To Come. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969
Ryrie, Charles C. Basic Theology. Wheaton: Victor Books, 1981.
Whitaker, R., Brown, F., Driver, S. R. (Samuel R., & Briggs, C. A. (Charles A. (1906). The Abridged Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament: from A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Francis Brown, S.R. Driver and Charles Briggs, based on the lexicon of Wilhelm Gesenius. Boston; New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company.