Sorry for the late post.
Notes and Questions for February 1, 2009
Last week the plea from Neb came out loud and clear. If you want a REAL answer when things are really serious you aren’t willing to play games. Neb finished his orders to kill all these ‘wise’ men and didn’t have an answer.
This week we will review verse 14 through 23 of Chapter 2. We started into 14 and 15 last week as we began the review of Daniel’s response.
Please read the entire section – Daniel 2:1-23
What happened last week through verse 13?
Did the ‘wise men’ consult their gods or ask for more time? What was their response?
What is about ready to happen to Daniel?
What is our response when we are confronted with requests? Why?
Read verse 14 to 23
What is significant to you in these verses? What stands out?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Concentrate on verse 14 to 16 –
Speculate on the relationship Daniel has with Arioch…
How did Daniel respond to the news that he would be killed? How do we respond to significant bad news? Why?
Who was Daniel concerned with in verse 15? Contrast this with who the wise men were concerned with in verses 4, 7, 10 and 11… Is this what we are concerned with in a situation?
Do we ever think that God has abandoned us or left us even though His promise in scripture says He will not?
What is a recent example where you forgot, doubted, or were concerned enough that it would show you didn’t see God in control of a situation? What did you do with that situation?
The captain of the royal bodyguard was Arioch (v 14). This name had been born in Abraham’s time by a king of Ellasar, an ally of Kedorlaomer (Gen 14:1); it also appears as Arriwuk in the Mari correspondence and as Ariuki in the Nuzi documents. When Arioch came to Daniel’s quarters to take him to death row; he told Daniel why all the wise men had been condemned (v 15). Then, at Daniel’s request, the captain took him before Nebuchadnezzar himself, so as to secure a stay of execution till Daniel had an opportunity to consult his God about the mysterious dream (v 16). The stage was now set to show the reality, wisdom, and power of the one true God – Yahweh – as over against the inarticulate and impotent imaginary gods the magicians worshipped. It is the same general theme that dominates the remainder of the book and serves to remind the Hebrew nation that despite their own failure, collapse, and banishment into exile, the God of Israel remains as omnipotent as He ever was in the days of Moses and that His covenantal love remains as steadfast toward the seed of Abraham as it ever had been.
As for Daniel, he knew beyond doubt that in this deadly emergency he was to trust himself to the faithfulness of his God, the one who could do the impossible. Never before had an interpreter of dreams – not even Joseph of Egypt – been required to reconstruct the dream itself. But Daniel had confidence that Yahweh could even do this unprecedented miracle and do it for His own glory. The pagan wise men had confessed that only deity could comply with the king’s request. Neb and all of Babylon were therefore to be confronted with unanswerable proof that only Israel’s God was real, sovereign, and limitless in His power.
What seems impossible for you right now?
What is the one thing that holds you back from completely surrendering to God?
Read verse 17 to 19 aloud
What did Daniel do first?
Do you have fellowship with those that you would confront with the greatest problem in your life?
What did Daniel ask for his friend to do? Was he concerned with his life and theirs? What were they to plead for?
How long did they have to interpret Neb’s dream?
What was the response to God from Daniel? Specifically recount the last two times you praised God for what He gave you?
Read verses 20 to 23 ALOUD –
What part of this praise do you identify most with RIGHT NOW?
What part of this praise section do you struggle with?
Note that because for Daniel the demonstration of God’s glory took precedence over his own safety, Daniel confident that God would answer His prayer. But he also realized that the effectiveness of prayer may be heightened when believers unite in common supplication. So he gathered his three companions in a concert of prayer (v 17), that they might “plead for mercy [rahmin] from the God of heave concerning this mystery [raz] (v 18). There is no account given of Daniel’s actual prayer nor of how the Lord answered him, though the latter is implied in Daniel’s word (v 27-35) to the king. But verse 20-23, voicing Daniel’s gratitude, serve as a ringing manifesto of bibilical faith against the pretensions of pagan pride. Though the Babylonians may have vanquished God’s people and dragged them into bondage after burning their temple, yet it was the God of Israel who was absolute sovereign in heaven AND ON EARTH.
Observe the emphasis on two of God’s attributes (v 20): “power” (gburta, which originally meant manly strength, from geber, “man”) and “wisdom” (hokmta). His power is then illustrated by His complete control over the events of history, particularly in bringing about the reversals of fortune that give history its unpredictability (v 21a). “He changes [mehasne, from sena, ‘be different’; hence, ‘make different,’ ‘alter’] the time [iddanayya, from the same iddan in v. 9] and seasons [zimnayya, from zeman, a length or interval of time].” In other words, God determine when in history events are to take place and how long each process or phase in history is to endure (sound familiar these days?). Thus Yahweh not only decreed the fall and destruction of Jerusalem in 587 b.c. – an even future for Daniel in 602 b.c. – but also the exact number of years the captivity would last. The rulers of earth may imagine they have attained power by their own might, but it is only by God’s choice that they permitted their transient authority. At any time He may remove them from their thrones and set up others in their place (v 21a).
Next (v 21b) Daniel turned to another divine attribute – God’s wisdom. Whatever wisdom the wise of this world have attained has come from God, whether or not they recognize this. Humans are prone to swell with pride over their growing understanding of nature and its laws, when only by God’s gifts do they achieve anything. Moreover (v 22), even the cleverest minds will never understand certain areas of mystery and foreknowledge – namely, “the deep hidden things” and what which “lies in darkness”. The bafflement of the pagan wise men in Neb’s court illustrates this. All their knowledge could not deliver them from imminent death. So the great existential questions of life and death continue to be insoluble to the worldly rise. Without divine revelation, where is only conjecture and subjective opinion. Only in Yahweh, the God of Scripture, is ultimate truth to be found: “Light dwells with Him.”
In v 23 Daniel closes his thanksgiving on a joyous note. In a remarkable display of faith, he assumed in advance that the knowledge he had received was absolutely accurate, even before he told it to Neb. Most believers seldom have the faith to thank God in advance for his answers to prayer. Daniel gladly gave God all the glory for the superhuman ‘wisdom’ and ‘power’ he was about to display as the interpreter of the king’s dream. He also acknowledged that this revelation had been granted in response to the collective prayers in which is four companions had joined him: “You have made known to me what we asked of you”.
Give a specific example when you thanked those praying for wisdom when you received it.
How do you specifically acknowledge to others that all you have is from God?
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Notes and Questions for January 25, 2009
Notes and Questions for January 25, 2009
We learned last week that Daniel ensured his relationships we excellent and that God had a plan for those relationships. Daniel stood firm in conviction toward the Lord in what would seem to be a small thing – diet. Daniel did not know the outcome of the testing but was prepared to enter a conversation both knowing what he would do and, obviously, had support from fellow believers on what they would do and commit to. The consequences could have been grave if they did not come through on the other side of the test. As well, it was a clear showing if who Daniel aligned with as his ultimate Lord. Eating food defiled was not an option.
This week we will review verses 1 through 13 of Chapter 2. This incredible journey that Daniel is on and how God’s plan is clearly outside our own current friends, church, or relationship network is obvious. As well, we will talk about some extremely supernatural intervention. Lastly, we will review how we are impacted by the world, regardless of our beliefs and actions.
Please read the entire section – Daniel 2:1-13
1) What are the key points you see in these verses?
Read Daniel 2:1-3 aloud
2) What year of reign is this?
3) Referring to what was said in Chapter 1 verses 19 and 20 - Why would Nebuchadnezzar (Neb as we will call him) not call Daniel and his friends?
4) Simply put – why were these people called to him? Why was Neb troubled?
This remarkable dream, with its disclosure of God’s plan for the ages till the final triumph of Christ, was granted Nebuchadnezzar in the second year of his reign between April 603 and March 602 b.c. He was convinced that it contained a message of utmost importance and was not, like most dreams, a passing fancy. So being greatly in need of help of his experts in oneirmoancy, he turned in vain to them to reconstruct the dream itself and then to tell him its significance. It is not quite clear why Neb refused to describe the dream, for he apparently retained a sufficient recollection of it so that he could later certify the correctness of Daniel’s reconstruction of it. The King James Version suggests that the king had actually forgotten its contents, rendering millta minniazada as “the thing is gone from me” (verse 5) which identifies ‘azda’ as equivalent to ‘azla’. But this involves amending a d to an l (see me if you want to talk about Marcus Jastrow’s dictionary distinction) and also re-pointing the initial short a to be a long a. It is far more likely that ‘azda’ is a loan word form the Persian ‘azda’ (“a notice, promulgation”) and that this clause means “The word has been promulgated by me”.
At verse 4 there is a transition from Hebrew (which has been used from 1:1 to 2:3) to Aramaic, prefaced by the statement that the wise men spoke Aramaic with the king. This does not necessarily mean that they had previously been speaking in some other language, though they might have been conversing in Neo-Babylonian Akkadian, in which most of Neb’s inscriptions were written; here it may only emphasize that the exact words of the magicians are given in the Aramaic language they habitually employed. If some of them did not know Neo-Babylonian, Aramaic – the lingua franca used over all the Middle and Near East for international business and diplomacy – was the most convenient language. The Book of Daniel continues to use Aramaic rather than Hebrew from 2:4 to the very end of Chapter 7.
Read Daniel 2:4-6
5) Why do you think it is important for the astrologers to answer him in Aramaic?
6) The king also ‘firmly’ decides something. What is it?
7) Why do you think the king is so insistent that these people not just interpret it but even tell him what the dream was (see verse 5)?
8) The king clearly says what he wants to have happen and what they will get in return. Is this important?
In their respectful reply to the king, the soothsayers used the customary salutation addressed to sovereigns: “Live forever!” (lealminhyi, lit. “To the ages live!”). This expression did not necessarily imply an expectation that the potentate would never die; it was rather an emphatic way of expressing the same idea as “Long live the king!” This represented a wish or hope that the king would live on from one age to another, with no foreseeable termination by death. This formula was very rarely used in early history (apparently it was only Bathsheba who so addressed her son King Solomon [1 Kings 1:31]). But by the sixth century it had become a customary greeting addressed to rulers by their subjects.
The soothsayers responded naturally to their sovereign, urging him to divulge his dream to them so that they might study and interpret it. But their reasonable request was met with surprising rejection. Apparently Neb had already decided on an unheard of test of their magical abilities to interpret his dream. Before they explained its meaning, they would have to give its contents. He apparently reasoned that, if they had the powers of divination they claimed, they ought to be able to relate what he had dreamed – for surely their gods would know this and be able to pass it on to their devotees. If, however, he simply related the dream to them at first, then they might com e up with some purely human and essentially worthless conjecture. He was interested, not in speculation, but in supernatural disclosure.
To his stringent demand, Neb added a gruesome threat. If they failed to reconstruct his dream (and he held all of them responsible), he would conclude that they were charlatans and deserved death for all the years they had deceived him into thinking that they really had occult powers. No verb of cutting is used here, nor is there mention of a cutting instrument but certainly the death would not be pleasant. On the other hand, if they should succeed in divining his dream, Neb promised them wealth and honor far beyond what they had.
Read Daniel 2:7-9
9) Why do you think these supposed wise men asked again?
10) What was Neb’s reply to them when they asked for the dream?
11) Do we look to places for answers that are merely speculation about the future our about things that humans cannot know? What are a couple of examples?
No matter how terrible the threats of punishment or how strong the inducements of reward, the ‘wise men’ were powerless. The could only beg the king to change his mind and divulge his dream (verse 7). This only enraged him still further. He accused them of stalling for time – as indeed they were – and trying to find a way out of their dilemma (verse 8). But no prevarication (‘misleading and wicked thing’ in the NIV) would help them, nor could they look for any unexpected turn of events to extricate them (verse 9). (The word NIV renders “situation” [iddana] usually signifies “appointment time,” “occasion”, something like the Greek kairos, which appears often in the NT.)
Read Daniel 2:10-13
12) Does something like this seem impossible to you? Why? If someone were to ask you the same question or a similar one what would be your response?
13) What 2 complaints or points of argument did the astrologers answer the king with?
14) What was the response of the king?
15) Why was the king so angry? What had he learned?
16) Do the predictions of the future, predictions of astrologists, and predictions of so-called prophets today fall on dead ears with you? Why or why not?
In a last effort to avoid death, the wise men insisted that the king’s demand was completely unreasonable, not only because it was beyond all human capacity, but because it had never been made by any other ruler in human history. He was asking them to do what only the immortal gods could do. The wise men seemed to imply that it was impossible – or at least out of the question – that the all-knowing gods in heaven would reveal such knowledge even to their most gifted soothsayers.
This defense failed to convince the king. He concluded that his wise men were liars and deserved the penalty he had announced. So he issued a warrant for the arrest and execution of all the wise men, even those who had not been present when he spoke with their leaders. This, of course, included the four young Hebrews.
We learned last week that Daniel ensured his relationships we excellent and that God had a plan for those relationships. Daniel stood firm in conviction toward the Lord in what would seem to be a small thing – diet. Daniel did not know the outcome of the testing but was prepared to enter a conversation both knowing what he would do and, obviously, had support from fellow believers on what they would do and commit to. The consequences could have been grave if they did not come through on the other side of the test. As well, it was a clear showing if who Daniel aligned with as his ultimate Lord. Eating food defiled was not an option.
This week we will review verses 1 through 13 of Chapter 2. This incredible journey that Daniel is on and how God’s plan is clearly outside our own current friends, church, or relationship network is obvious. As well, we will talk about some extremely supernatural intervention. Lastly, we will review how we are impacted by the world, regardless of our beliefs and actions.
Please read the entire section – Daniel 2:1-13
1) What are the key points you see in these verses?
Read Daniel 2:1-3 aloud
2) What year of reign is this?
3) Referring to what was said in Chapter 1 verses 19 and 20 - Why would Nebuchadnezzar (Neb as we will call him) not call Daniel and his friends?
4) Simply put – why were these people called to him? Why was Neb troubled?
This remarkable dream, with its disclosure of God’s plan for the ages till the final triumph of Christ, was granted Nebuchadnezzar in the second year of his reign between April 603 and March 602 b.c. He was convinced that it contained a message of utmost importance and was not, like most dreams, a passing fancy. So being greatly in need of help of his experts in oneirmoancy, he turned in vain to them to reconstruct the dream itself and then to tell him its significance. It is not quite clear why Neb refused to describe the dream, for he apparently retained a sufficient recollection of it so that he could later certify the correctness of Daniel’s reconstruction of it. The King James Version suggests that the king had actually forgotten its contents, rendering millta minniazada as “the thing is gone from me” (verse 5) which identifies ‘azda’ as equivalent to ‘azla’. But this involves amending a d to an l (see me if you want to talk about Marcus Jastrow’s dictionary distinction) and also re-pointing the initial short a to be a long a. It is far more likely that ‘azda’ is a loan word form the Persian ‘azda’ (“a notice, promulgation”) and that this clause means “The word has been promulgated by me”.
At verse 4 there is a transition from Hebrew (which has been used from 1:1 to 2:3) to Aramaic, prefaced by the statement that the wise men spoke Aramaic with the king. This does not necessarily mean that they had previously been speaking in some other language, though they might have been conversing in Neo-Babylonian Akkadian, in which most of Neb’s inscriptions were written; here it may only emphasize that the exact words of the magicians are given in the Aramaic language they habitually employed. If some of them did not know Neo-Babylonian, Aramaic – the lingua franca used over all the Middle and Near East for international business and diplomacy – was the most convenient language. The Book of Daniel continues to use Aramaic rather than Hebrew from 2:4 to the very end of Chapter 7.
Read Daniel 2:4-6
5) Why do you think it is important for the astrologers to answer him in Aramaic?
6) The king also ‘firmly’ decides something. What is it?
7) Why do you think the king is so insistent that these people not just interpret it but even tell him what the dream was (see verse 5)?
8) The king clearly says what he wants to have happen and what they will get in return. Is this important?
In their respectful reply to the king, the soothsayers used the customary salutation addressed to sovereigns: “Live forever!” (lealminhyi, lit. “To the ages live!”). This expression did not necessarily imply an expectation that the potentate would never die; it was rather an emphatic way of expressing the same idea as “Long live the king!” This represented a wish or hope that the king would live on from one age to another, with no foreseeable termination by death. This formula was very rarely used in early history (apparently it was only Bathsheba who so addressed her son King Solomon [1 Kings 1:31]). But by the sixth century it had become a customary greeting addressed to rulers by their subjects.
The soothsayers responded naturally to their sovereign, urging him to divulge his dream to them so that they might study and interpret it. But their reasonable request was met with surprising rejection. Apparently Neb had already decided on an unheard of test of their magical abilities to interpret his dream. Before they explained its meaning, they would have to give its contents. He apparently reasoned that, if they had the powers of divination they claimed, they ought to be able to relate what he had dreamed – for surely their gods would know this and be able to pass it on to their devotees. If, however, he simply related the dream to them at first, then they might com e up with some purely human and essentially worthless conjecture. He was interested, not in speculation, but in supernatural disclosure.
To his stringent demand, Neb added a gruesome threat. If they failed to reconstruct his dream (and he held all of them responsible), he would conclude that they were charlatans and deserved death for all the years they had deceived him into thinking that they really had occult powers. No verb of cutting is used here, nor is there mention of a cutting instrument but certainly the death would not be pleasant. On the other hand, if they should succeed in divining his dream, Neb promised them wealth and honor far beyond what they had.
Read Daniel 2:7-9
9) Why do you think these supposed wise men asked again?
10) What was Neb’s reply to them when they asked for the dream?
11) Do we look to places for answers that are merely speculation about the future our about things that humans cannot know? What are a couple of examples?
No matter how terrible the threats of punishment or how strong the inducements of reward, the ‘wise men’ were powerless. The could only beg the king to change his mind and divulge his dream (verse 7). This only enraged him still further. He accused them of stalling for time – as indeed they were – and trying to find a way out of their dilemma (verse 8). But no prevarication (‘misleading and wicked thing’ in the NIV) would help them, nor could they look for any unexpected turn of events to extricate them (verse 9). (The word NIV renders “situation” [iddana] usually signifies “appointment time,” “occasion”, something like the Greek kairos, which appears often in the NT.)
Read Daniel 2:10-13
12) Does something like this seem impossible to you? Why? If someone were to ask you the same question or a similar one what would be your response?
13) What 2 complaints or points of argument did the astrologers answer the king with?
14) What was the response of the king?
15) Why was the king so angry? What had he learned?
16) Do the predictions of the future, predictions of astrologists, and predictions of so-called prophets today fall on dead ears with you? Why or why not?
In a last effort to avoid death, the wise men insisted that the king’s demand was completely unreasonable, not only because it was beyond all human capacity, but because it had never been made by any other ruler in human history. He was asking them to do what only the immortal gods could do. The wise men seemed to imply that it was impossible – or at least out of the question – that the all-knowing gods in heaven would reveal such knowledge even to their most gifted soothsayers.
This defense failed to convince the king. He concluded that his wise men were liars and deserved the penalty he had announced. So he issued a warrant for the arrest and execution of all the wise men, even those who had not been present when he spoke with their leaders. This, of course, included the four young Hebrews.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Love and Respect Link
We touched briefly on Ephesians 5:33 today. I have copied the link below around sermon notes that were given describing this verse and what it means.
At this point the plan is to go through Dr. Eggeriech's book - Love and Respect after we finish Daniel. If you are interested in getting a jumpstart purchasing the book or looking over the link may be helpful.
Take care! Andy
http://www.cornerstonebaptistch.org/sermons/notes/2006-02-26_Love%20%20Respect%20in%20Marriage.pdf
At this point the plan is to go through Dr. Eggeriech's book - Love and Respect after we finish Daniel. If you are interested in getting a jumpstart purchasing the book or looking over the link may be helpful.
Take care! Andy
http://www.cornerstonebaptistch.org/sermons/notes/2006-02-26_Love%20%20Respect%20in%20Marriage.pdf
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Notes and Questions for January 18, 2009
Notes and Questions for January 18, 2009
We learned last week that Daniel was evidently the leader and chief spokesperson for the four young Hebrew believers (1:8). The record suggests that he was the first to make up his mind (wayyasem al-libbo – lit. “and he placed on his heart”) to refuse food from the king’s table and then to communicate his settled resolve to the other three. What he sought to avoid was being defiled by contact with unclean meats – or even clean meats that had become contaminated with heathen worship.
1) What do you do to steer clear not just of obvious things that would defile yourself but even things that are tainted? Give a specific example to your spouse.
Read Daniel 1:8-16
2) Who is in control in verse 9? What does this mean to you and in your current situation either at work or at home?
It is highly significant that Daniel enjoyed good rapport with his “guard” (melshar, “overseer”) and, according to v 11, even with Ashpenaz himself, the “chief official” (sar hassarisim) who was in charge of the whole academy (v 9). He had found “favor” (hessed implies a love or loyalty based on a relationship of mutal commitment) and “sympathy” (rahmim) with Ashpenaz and felt he could confide in him. Daniel must have shown an attitude of sincere good will and faithfulness to duty toward those over him.
3) Where have you been placed by God (family, employment, friendships)? What do you do with those relationships and how are you a witness for God?
4) What is your priority? Do you see following God and going away from sin as something that you will do anything or risk anything to do? What is an example of where you have done that?
5) Did Daniel ever eat from the King’s table?
Read Daniel 1:17-21
6) When did God give “knowledge and understanding” to them (before or after they believed His laws and followed them)?
7) How long was it between verse 1 and ver 18?
8) Why did the King want to have these guys around? (v 19 and 20)
9) Who gave them what they had (reference v 17)
Verse 17 makes it clear that Daniel and his friends were granted special intellectual ability by the Lord, not because of their diet, but because of his approval of their faith and commitment to His word. Not only did they master ever branch of Akkadian and Sumerian scholarship, but they – or at least Daniel himself – even master oneiromancy (the interpretation of dreams), in which Joseph had excelled in the court of Egypt.
Verses 18 to 20 show us when the time for the final examinations came, Ashpenaz was proud to present his students before Nebuchadnezzar himself, who apparently was in charge of the oral exams. Out of the entire group of brilliant young men, the king found that these were the four highest. He was so impressed with them that he decided to give them responsible posts in his government.
10) Were the four involved in the occult arts?
The term for “magicians” (v 20) is hartummim, a hartom was probably a diviner, one who used some sort of inscribed chart or magical design in oorder to arrive at an answer to the questions put to him. “Enchanters” (assapim) is derived from the Akkadian asipum (“soothsayer). Observe in this connection that the test does not state that the four Hebrews actually engaged in the practice of divination or conjuation themselves, which would, no doubt, have been forbidden them by Deut 18:10-12. It simply states that ehy attained hokmat binah (lit, “the wisdom of understanding”. This implies that the attainment of results, the securing of a knowledge of the future or what would have been the best decision to make on the part of the government in view of unknown future contingencies, or the like, Daniel and his three colleagues far excelled the professional heathen diviners and conjurers.
More examples of Daniel’s superiority appear in Chapter 2, where he alone could reconstruct Nebuchadnezzar’s dream about the fourfold image, Chapter 4, where he alone could interpret the warning dream of the felled tree, etc. In none of these instances is there any indication that Daniel resorted to occult practices; he simply went to God directly in prayer, and God revealed the answer to him. Nevertheless Daniel was at least “ten times better” than all the pagan magicians and conjurers in the realm, who for all their incantations and sorceries could not come up with the answer the king was looking for.
11) How simple is the message from God to unbelievers?
12) What is the message from God to unbelievers?
13) When do you go to God in prayer? Is it for small things or just big? Is it for positive or just for ‘bad’?
14) When your boss or family needs a decision from you or a view forward who do you look to? Do you look to God or to the latest show on t.v. or even horoscope?
15) Are you a “soothsayer” or a “prayer”? Give a specific example.
In verse 21 we see the fact about the length of Daniel’s career in public service. Since Babylon fell before the Persian onslaught in 539B.C. the first year of Cyrus might be computed as 539-538. But since we are informed by verse 31 in chapter five that the rule of Babylonia was at first entrusted to Darius the Mede by King Cyrus, and since Daniel 9 is dates in the “first year” of Darius (9:1), it is fair to assume that Darius remained as titular king till 538 or 537. If so, the “first year” of Cyrus as king of Babylon would have been 537-536B.C., which is probably the year when the forty-two thousand Jews returned to Palestine under Zerubbabel and Jeshua. If Daniel was put into the Royal Academy for three years, his first governmental appointment might have been around 601B.C. Thus his whole term of service (with, apparently, a temporary retirement during the reign of Belshazzar) would have been about sixty-five years (601 to 536B.C.) Daniel’s retirement must have taken place some years before his death, for he spoke of receiving his revelations in “the third year of Cyrus” (10:1), or two years after his retirement.
16) How long will you be on the earth?
17) What will you be doing and who will you be doing it for?
18) What is your number one assignment during that time?
We learned last week that Daniel was evidently the leader and chief spokesperson for the four young Hebrew believers (1:8). The record suggests that he was the first to make up his mind (wayyasem al-libbo – lit. “and he placed on his heart”) to refuse food from the king’s table and then to communicate his settled resolve to the other three. What he sought to avoid was being defiled by contact with unclean meats – or even clean meats that had become contaminated with heathen worship.
1) What do you do to steer clear not just of obvious things that would defile yourself but even things that are tainted? Give a specific example to your spouse.
Read Daniel 1:8-16
2) Who is in control in verse 9? What does this mean to you and in your current situation either at work or at home?
It is highly significant that Daniel enjoyed good rapport with his “guard” (melshar, “overseer”) and, according to v 11, even with Ashpenaz himself, the “chief official” (sar hassarisim) who was in charge of the whole academy (v 9). He had found “favor” (hessed implies a love or loyalty based on a relationship of mutal commitment) and “sympathy” (rahmim) with Ashpenaz and felt he could confide in him. Daniel must have shown an attitude of sincere good will and faithfulness to duty toward those over him.
3) Where have you been placed by God (family, employment, friendships)? What do you do with those relationships and how are you a witness for God?
4) What is your priority? Do you see following God and going away from sin as something that you will do anything or risk anything to do? What is an example of where you have done that?
5) Did Daniel ever eat from the King’s table?
Read Daniel 1:17-21
6) When did God give “knowledge and understanding” to them (before or after they believed His laws and followed them)?
7) How long was it between verse 1 and ver 18?
8) Why did the King want to have these guys around? (v 19 and 20)
9) Who gave them what they had (reference v 17)
Verse 17 makes it clear that Daniel and his friends were granted special intellectual ability by the Lord, not because of their diet, but because of his approval of their faith and commitment to His word. Not only did they master ever branch of Akkadian and Sumerian scholarship, but they – or at least Daniel himself – even master oneiromancy (the interpretation of dreams), in which Joseph had excelled in the court of Egypt.
Verses 18 to 20 show us when the time for the final examinations came, Ashpenaz was proud to present his students before Nebuchadnezzar himself, who apparently was in charge of the oral exams. Out of the entire group of brilliant young men, the king found that these were the four highest. He was so impressed with them that he decided to give them responsible posts in his government.
10) Were the four involved in the occult arts?
The term for “magicians” (v 20) is hartummim, a hartom was probably a diviner, one who used some sort of inscribed chart or magical design in oorder to arrive at an answer to the questions put to him. “Enchanters” (assapim) is derived from the Akkadian asipum (“soothsayer). Observe in this connection that the test does not state that the four Hebrews actually engaged in the practice of divination or conjuation themselves, which would, no doubt, have been forbidden them by Deut 18:10-12. It simply states that ehy attained hokmat binah (lit, “the wisdom of understanding”. This implies that the attainment of results, the securing of a knowledge of the future or what would have been the best decision to make on the part of the government in view of unknown future contingencies, or the like, Daniel and his three colleagues far excelled the professional heathen diviners and conjurers.
More examples of Daniel’s superiority appear in Chapter 2, where he alone could reconstruct Nebuchadnezzar’s dream about the fourfold image, Chapter 4, where he alone could interpret the warning dream of the felled tree, etc. In none of these instances is there any indication that Daniel resorted to occult practices; he simply went to God directly in prayer, and God revealed the answer to him. Nevertheless Daniel was at least “ten times better” than all the pagan magicians and conjurers in the realm, who for all their incantations and sorceries could not come up with the answer the king was looking for.
11) How simple is the message from God to unbelievers?
12) What is the message from God to unbelievers?
13) When do you go to God in prayer? Is it for small things or just big? Is it for positive or just for ‘bad’?
14) When your boss or family needs a decision from you or a view forward who do you look to? Do you look to God or to the latest show on t.v. or even horoscope?
15) Are you a “soothsayer” or a “prayer”? Give a specific example.
In verse 21 we see the fact about the length of Daniel’s career in public service. Since Babylon fell before the Persian onslaught in 539B.C. the first year of Cyrus might be computed as 539-538. But since we are informed by verse 31 in chapter five that the rule of Babylonia was at first entrusted to Darius the Mede by King Cyrus, and since Daniel 9 is dates in the “first year” of Darius (9:1), it is fair to assume that Darius remained as titular king till 538 or 537. If so, the “first year” of Cyrus as king of Babylon would have been 537-536B.C., which is probably the year when the forty-two thousand Jews returned to Palestine under Zerubbabel and Jeshua. If Daniel was put into the Royal Academy for three years, his first governmental appointment might have been around 601B.C. Thus his whole term of service (with, apparently, a temporary retirement during the reign of Belshazzar) would have been about sixty-five years (601 to 536B.C.) Daniel’s retirement must have taken place some years before his death, for he spoke of receiving his revelations in “the third year of Cyrus” (10:1), or two years after his retirement.
16) How long will you be on the earth?
17) What will you be doing and who will you be doing it for?
18) What is your number one assignment during that time?
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Daniel - Week 1 - Notes and Questions for January 11, 2009
Notes and questions for January 11, 2009
This week we plan to work through the first verses of chapter 1 in Daniel.
This week we plan to work through the first verses of chapter 1 in Daniel.
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