Daniel 8:1,2 “Canals”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹In the third year to the reign of Belshazzar the king, a vision appeared to me – me, Daniel – after the [one which] appeared to me in the beginning. ²And I saw in [the] vision and it was in my seeing and I [was] in Shushan the Citadel which [is] in Elam the province and I saw in [the] vision and I was upon the Canal of Ulai.

And so we’re back to Hebrew. Hallelujah! I’m so glad I got to work with Aramaic from back in chapter 2 on through chapter 7. Aramaic is very similar to Hebrew, so if you know one, it is a fairly easy transition to work with the other. However, this is one of the cases where they are “the same – only different!” I have never gotten comfortable with the “different.” So, I am very glad to be done with it and back to my familiar Hebrew.

This is the second recorded vision of Daniel himself and occurred specifically in the “third year of Belshazzar.” This is the same Belshazzar from chapter 5 and the “Handwriting on the Wall” episode. This is believed to be about the year 550 BC. Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 BC, so it has been twelve years and Daniel would now be probably right around 70 years old. In the twelve years since Nebuchadnezzar died, Daniel has had to survive through four complete changes of administration with one king taking over by killing his predecessor. Finally, Belshazzar’s father Nabonidus killed the third one and took over, then left his son in charge of Babylon while he tended to other matters in the kingdom.

Somehow Daniel has stayed in some position of the government as we note (looking ahead) that, after this vision he says he “got up and went about the king’s business” (v.27). Apparently, sometime after Nebuchadnezzar’s death, the higher-ups ceased to value Daniel’s wisdom, based on the dialogue with Belshazzar back in chapter 5, but he has managed to stay in some position in the king’s service. It’s interesting to note that, in just eleven years (539 BC), the Persians will conquer Babylon, kill Belshazzar, and the new king Darius will immediately raise Daniel (by then around 80!) to be his prime minister! Daniel sure gets run through the ringer, but then that is exactly what we all go through in our careers, is it not? No matter how hard you work, you’ll go through times under good leaders, bad ones, be raised up, put on a shelf, and maybe raised up again. This is why us believers need to get it settled in our hearts we are actually servants of the Most High God and do our jobs well for Him, regardless of whether we are recognized or not. In the book of Esther, Mordecai is another good example of a man who did his job well whether he was forgotten or raised up.

It is interesting that this vision occurs in Elam, along the Ulai Canal. Elam is the very next province east of Babylon proper and the capital of that province is the city we now call Susa, which is also the setting of the books of Esther and Nehemiah (which will all happen about 100 years later). I say it is interesting because Elam is actually a part of what will be considered Medo-Persia. At this very time (and probably one of the reasons Nabonidus is out traveling) is because, as Babylon’s government is falling into total corruption and indolence, Medo-Persia is rising in power. Babylon was, of course, Nebuchadnezzar’s head of gold and the winged lion from chapter 7, while Medo-Persia was to be the chest and arms of silver and the bear raised up on one side. Even as Daniel has this vision, he is keenly aware that Babylon’s days are numbered.

Elam, Susa, and the Ulai Canal are only about 350 miles from Babylon. That would be quite a journey on camel back, but it was a hop-skip-and a jump when we realize the Babylonian empire stretched clear from India to Egypt. Susa being the capital city of the Elam province, Daniel has probably been there many times as part of his administrative responsibilities, at least under Nebuchadnezzar when his services were highly valued. Some writers question whether Daniel is actually having the vision in Babylon and transported to Susa or if he is in Susa having the vision. For whatever it’s worth, I can’t see any reason whatsoever in the text to understand that he is in Susa. As far as I’m concerned, there is no question he is still in Babylon and only transported to Susa in the vision.

Also, for whatever it’s worth, I’d like to suggest why it’s important that the vision occurs alongside the Ulai Canal. First of all, I’d suggest it’s in Elam specifically as a foreboding of Medo-Persia’s rising power. The whole point of these visions is to reveal the Lord’s plans for the rise and fall of the great Gentile kingdoms which would dominate Israel history, right down to the Coming of Christ. It only makes sense to me that, in a way, it’s like the Lord is done with Babylon, and in just a short time, the entire focus will move east, even including the fact that the Medo-Persians kings will make Susa their winter palace.

Then why a canal? Here’s where we need to do a little of transporting ourselves back into their world. Here in the Midwest, we get abundant rain (usually) and you can drill a hole in the ground anywhere and generally get all the water you want. As is still true in some parts of the world, farming depends completely on a series of irrigation canals. There is not sufficient rain to grow crops or maintain orchards, so water has to be brought in by those canals. Here’s where the monumental factor comes in – those canals are all controlled by gates and, generally speaking, the king controls those gates. What that means, obviously, is that he holds the power to either allow you to prosper or totally ruin you. All he has to do is order your gate shut and within days you’ll be the proud owner of a desert covered with dead plants

This dilemma is the backdrop for Prov. 21:1, “The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord; He directs it like a watercourse (a canal!) wherever He pleases.” The point of that proverb, which we all miss, is, while the king seems to be the one who literally holds your life in his hand, it is actually the Lord who holds his life in His hand! As Jesus told Pilate, “You would have no power over Me, except it be given you from above.” Ancient peoples, reading Prov. 21:1, would know that immediately, as they lived all day every day under the specter of the king’s power, and that especially when it came to the canal water upon which they were totally dependent.

The Ulai Canal is said to be a canal which stretched between two rivers in Elam and would have been politically of profound importance to the entire province. That is probably why Daniel knows the canal and why his vision occurs there. He has probably been to Susa many times specifically dealing with issues regarding this canal, its maintenance, the commerce surrounding it, and even issues of who gets their gates opened and shut. In a way, the canal is a fractal picture of the whole point of Daniel’s vision – the rise and fall of political powers. It’s not even surprising to me that, in v.16, the voice calling to Gabriel will call “from the Ulai.” The canal itself speaks of power, but we know who is the real power controlling all of this. Everything going on is all about power and Daniel teaches us again and again, “The Most High rules in the nations of men!”

We all desperately need to know our God is, in fact, in complete control. Yes, the heart of the king is and always will be “in the hand of the Lord.” And it isn’t just the king, it’s every single power of any kind which we find threatening our peace and happiness – even the rain on our planned picnic day. Our God is in charge and He wrote one whole chapter of the Bible – Romans 8 – to assure us that “nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Lord, help us to learn all we can from our good friend Daniel and may we share even just a little corner of his great faith! May we remember it is You who controls the “canals” of our lives.