Daniel - the Apocalypse of the Old Testament
Daniel - His life, His prophecies
Historical Context
Daniel means: “God is my judge” or “My judge is God”. Daniel comes from a noble royal family (cf. Dan 1:3-6). He was born between 630 and 625 B.C. in Israel. It was in the time when king Josiah purified Juda and Jerusalem 5 (cf. 2Ch 34:3). Possibly, Daniel should have been influenced by king Josiah’s purification of Jerusalem and Juda and by the prophets like Jeremiah and Zephaniah before their deportation into exile.At the age of about 20,1 Daniel and other young Israelites from the royal family were taken to 10 Babylon by king Nebuchadnezzar. In Dan. 1:4, we learn that Daniel was very well educated and was a naturally bright and handsome-looking young man. When he arrived in Babylon, he quickly learned to speak the Chaldean language.2 God gave him and his three friends a great deal of wisdom (Dan 1:17); especially Daniel, he was talented in interpreting visions and dreams. During the reign of Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 B.C.), Daniel occupied a very strategic post in the Neo-Babylonian 15 Empire: this as a compensation for interpreting the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar (cf. chap. 2).
The kings that followed Nebuchadnezzar are not mentioned in the book of Daniel, except Belshazzar the son of king Nabonidus (chap. 5). It’s possible that Daniel didn't play an important role during the reign of the kings that followed Nebuchadnezzar. Dan 5:10 tells us that Belshazzar 20 was informed by his mother3 that “there’s a man in your kingdom who knows enough to interpret the mysterious words written on the wall.” Consequently we believe that Daniel wasn’t as famous as he was during the reign of king Nebuchadnezzar. This does not surprise us for the son of king Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-Merodach, was killed by his brother-in-law Neriglissor, who in his turn only governed for four years. His son Labashi-Marduk (Laborosoarkad) was also assassinated after nine 25 months reign. His assassins replaced him with Nabonidus, a grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Nabonidus reigned from 556 to 539 B.C. A Persian archive tells us that Nabonidus gave up his throne during the third year of his governance in the city of Babylon to his son Belshazzar. Belshazzar ruled together with his father Nabonidus. The latter went to reside in the Arab town of Tema. Tema was a fort in Arabia. Nabonidus waged war against the nomadic Arabs and the Medo- 30 Persians. This explains why Daniel, at the time of Belshazzar, is believed to be the third highest person in the New-Babylonian Empire (Dan 5:16): of the three, Nabonidus was the first, the second being Belshazzar and the third was Daniel (cf. Dan 2:48; 5:7.16.29).
During the short reign of king Darius the Mede, Daniel occupied a place of honour. He was one of 35 the three top ministers of the kingdom (Dan 6:2). It is very possible that Daniel had influenced king Cyrus’ decision to let the Jews go back to their motherland where they reconstructed the temple in Jerusalem and returned the sacred utensils that were looted by king Nebuchadnezzar. These utensils were made unclean by Belshazzar (Dan 5:3). The decree signed by king Cyrus was a fulfilment of Daniel’s prayer (cf. Dan 9:1) and was no doubt the highlight of his career. During this period, he must have been 90 to 95 years old. Daniel was a minister of the royal court of Babylon from the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign (605-562 B.C.), up to the third year of king Cyrus of Persia (cf. Dan 10:1: in the year 536 B.C.); this is almost 70 years (605-536 B.C.)!
The Old Testament book of Daniel is commonly called "The Apocalypse of the Old Testament". The life of Daniel and his apocalyptic visions: in an apocalyptic language this book foretells what will happen from the Neo-Babylonian Empire until the end of time: the future of Israel and the nations. The Son of men (Jesus Christ) will come "with the clouds of heaven" and reign over the whole earth.
Table of contents
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Historical
B. The author of the book
C. The authenticity of the book
1. The position of the book in the Hebraic canon
2. Alleged “historical inexactnesses”
3. The linguistic problem
D. The message of the book
E. The symbolism in the book
F. The language of the book
G. The blueprint of the book
II. HISTORICAL PART: CH. 1–6
A. The personal history of Daniel: Ch. 1
1. Daniel’s deportation: Vv 1-3
2. Nebuchadnezzar’s plan about Daniel and his friends: Vv 4-7
3. The abstinence of Daniel and his friends: Vv 8-16
4. Daniel is called to the king’s service: Vv 17-21
B. The first dream of Nebuchadnezzar: Ch. 2
1. Nebuchadnezzar conceals the dream: Vv 1-16
a.) The dream: Vv 1-3
b.) The incapability of the magicians: Vv 4-11
c.) Nebuchadnezzar’s severe order: Vv 12-13
d.) Daniel’s faithfulness: Vv 14-16
2. God reveals the dream to Daniel: Vv 17-23
a.) The prayer of Daniel, Hanania, Michael and Azaria: Vv 17-18
b.) Daniel glorifies God for the fulfilment of their prayer: Vv 19-23
3. Daniel tells and interprets the dream before Nebuchadnezzar: Vv 24-45
a.) Daniel appears before the king: Vv 24-26
b.) Daniel witnesses before the king: Vv 27-30
c.) Daniel tells the dream: Vv 31-36
d.) The interpretation of the dream: Vv 37-45
4. Nebuchadnezzar promotes Daniel: Vv 46-49
C. The blazing furnace: Ch.
1. The correlation with chapter 2
2. The shape of the statue: V. 1
3. The fourth man in the blazing furnace: Vv 24-25
4. The good example of the three men
5. A prophetic interpretation of this event
D. Nebuchadnezzar’s 2nd dream: the huge tree: Ch. 4
1. Nebuchadnezzar addresses all the nations: Vv 1-3
2. The dream: Vv 4-18
3. Daniel explains the dream: Vv 19-27
4. The fulfilment of the dream: Vv 28-37
E. The feast of Belshazzar: Ch. 5
1. The feast: Vv 1-4
2. The writing on the wall: Vv 5-8
3. Daniel interprets the writing on the wall: Vv 9-28
F. Daniel in the den of lions: Ch. 6
1. Daniel’s position in the Medo-Persian Empire: Vv 1-4
2. The plan of Daniel’s enemies: Vv 5-9
3. Daniel’s prayer: Vv 10-11
4. Darius’ embarrassment: Vv 12-19
5. The divine protection of Daniel: Vv 20-23
6. The order of the king: Vv 24-28
III. THE PROPHETICAL PART: CH. 7–12
A. The vision of the four animals: Ch. 7
1. Daniel’s vision: Vv 1-14
a.) The first beast: Babylon (v. 4)
b.) The second beast: Medo-Persia (v. 5)
c.) The third beast: Greece (v. 6)
d.) The fourth beast: Rome (vv 7-8.19-26)
2. The interpretation of the vision: Vv 15-28
a.) General explanations of the vision: Vv 15-18
b.) A special interpretation concerning the fourth beast and the reign of the Son of Man: Vv 19-28
B. The vision of the ram and the he-goat: Ch. 8
1. The vision: Vv 1-14
2. The interpretation of the vision: Vv 15-27
C. Daniel’s prayer and his vision of the 70 year-weeks: Ch. 9
1. The reason for the prayer: Vv 1-2
2. Daniel’s prayer: Vv 3-19
3. God’s response to Daniel’s prayer: Vv 20-23
4. The prophecy of the seventy year-weeks: Vv 24-27
a.) Five different interpretations can be counted over the 70 year-weeks
b.) Here are the reasons why we are convinced that the 70th year-week in Dan 9:24-27 corresponds to the period of the Antichrist
c.) From which date should we calculate the 70 weeks?
d.) Who will make a firm covenant and when?
e.) Is there a gap of time between the 69th and the 70th year-week?
f.) Explanatory comments about the prophecy of the 70 year-weeks
g.) Important considerations regarding interpretation and exegesis
D. The last vision from the Medo-Persian Empire up to the Antichrist: Ch. 10–12
1. The preparation of the prophet: Ch. 10:1–11:1
a.) Daniel’s fasting: Vv 1-3
b.) The vision of a heavenly creature: Vv 4-9
c.) The revelation (in the vision): Vv 10-14
d.) Daniel is strengthened and finds out the meaning of the vision: Ch. 10:15–11:1
2. The prophetic history of the 69 year-weeks: Ch. 11:2-35
3. The prophetic history of the 70th week: Ch. 11:36–12:3
a.) Who is the king in chapter 11:36-39?
b.) The war of the end of time (Armageddon): Ch. 11:40-45
c.) The salvation of Israel: Ch. 12:1-3
4. The conclusion of the Book of Daniel: Ch. 12:4-13
IV. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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