Daniel 2:4,5 – “Real World”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁴And the Chaldeans said to the king [in] Aramaic, “O king, live to ages. Tell the dream to your servants and we will declare the interpretation.” ⁵The king answering said to the Chaldeans, “The word/thing from me is gone/assured. If you do not make known the dream and its interpretation, you will be taken [by] limbs and your houses will be made a dunghill.”

This is the point where Daniel begins to write in Aramaic rather than Hebrew. He will stay in Aramaic until the end of chapter 7. As I began to examine the text in Aramaic, I had the same uneasy feeling I had years ago before I had the privilege of actually studying Greek and Hebrew. I learned early how to use a Concordance and how to look up the definitions of the Greek and Hebrew words in the Bible. However, I quickly realized that understanding another language goes far beyond simply being able to translate the words themselves. To truly understand the text in its original language one must understand the grammar, the constructions, verb conjugations, etc. To not know those things is to realize the actual original text is to me obscure. And for me that is untenable. I want to know for myself as much as can be known, so I am confident I understand, as far as possible, exactly what the Lord said … and what He did not. As I peruse these Aramaic words, I don’t recognize the way in which they indicate articles or the construct/absolute relationships, or even the pluralities, much less the conjugations. Again, that is untenable to me. So I’ve ordered a book on Aramaic and will have to develop at least a rudimentary understanding of the language and its differences from Hebrew. However, I must say, as frustrating as it is not to be able to work with this text, it is exciting to me to think of delving into another language!

As far as the passage before us, I want to record a couple of expository thoughts and then ponder a couple of the practical applications I see. From an expository perspective, probably the biggest issue is the translation of the king’s response to the Chaldeans. In my translation above, I included alternative words to reflect the uncertainties. The question is whether Nebuchadnezzar is saying, “The thing (the dream) is gone from me,” (i.e. he’s forgotten it) or “The command from me is certain,” (i.e. he’s made up his mind and you’re in trouble!). There are scholarly people on both sides of the argument, so I will just conclude I don’t know which it is. If he is saying “It’s gone from me,” then we are certain that he has forgotten the dream. If he’s saying, “I’ve made up my mind,” then we don’t know if he’s forgotten or if he is perhaps deliberately testing the Chaldeans. There is the thought that Nebuchadnezzar has his doubts about these guys and he’s decided to test them – if they really do have the power to interpret dreams, then they should also be able to tell what the dream was. Basically, to believe this, we have to go with the second option of the translation.

But, again, I don’t see any conclusive arguments on either side. So I’ll just say I don’t know which it is – which also means I don’t know exactly what’s going on in Nebuchadnezzar’s head.

The other exegetical issue I see is the meaning of the word for what the king is threatening to do to their houses. I’ve translated it “…your houses will be made a dunghill.” The word translated “dunghill” could mean a lot of things. In addition to “dunghill” it could mean “a pile of rubble,” or even the idea of “an outhouse.” Apparently oriental kings were in the habit of all three. The bottom-line is that not only will these guys get drawn and quartered, but in some way their houses will be destroyed too. I think that is as much as we can say with certainty.

From a practical perspective, this situation is exactly what believers face every day as they work and live in the real world. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to work under bosses who are just as volatile and cruel as Nebuchadnezzar. “The king” wants something and you’d better give it to him or you’re fired! Few of us are likely to be drawn and quartered or have our houses torn down, but too often people have to work in a very similar environment of fear.

Consider the case before us: The Chaldeans have built an entire industry on their ability to foretell the future by interpreting things. If a king or someone else possessing the financial means was to retain their services, they might interpret the movements and positions of the stars, they might examine the entrails of sacrificed animals or the falling of arrows, or, perhaps they might interpret someone’s dream. Their art was fortunetelling by interpretation. This was no doubt a significant part of Daniel’s training at Babylon U. And this is precisely why their services were retained by the palace – to provide guidance to the king based on interpretations of prognosticating events.

We may suspect they were largely charlatans but, nevertheless, all their trade promised to do was to interpret things. Now the king wants something and it matters not to him they never claimed they could do what he’s asking. In that world, what he is asking of them is totally unreasonable.

But he wants it, and they’re close at hand, so they’d better give it to him or they’re fired.

People who work largely in “Christian” organizations rarely have to work under such arbitrary cruelty. In fact, I would observe that is probably one of the main reasons people seek to work in “Christian” businesses – to escape the world of cruel capricious bosses. I have the good fortune to be an engineer who works mainly with municipal clients. Engineers as a group are very pleasant to work with as they are rarely screamers. In all my career, I’ve never heard a raised voice in our office unless it was a visiting client or contractor or someone else who was upset about something. And municipal clients tend to be very patient people. On the other hand, I have worked in industrial settings and with industrial clients where such is not the case. Like Nebuchadnezzar, they want everything yesterday and you’d better give it to them or you’re fired. And it matters not one whit if what they’re asking is impossible. It may not matter that it is clearly outside your area of expertise. They want it and you’d better get it … or else.

Peter didn’t say without cause, “Servants, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh” (I Peter 2:18). He goes on in that chapter to call us to follow Jesus’ example, reminding us “When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats” (v23a). His answer of course was “He entrusted Himself to Him to judges justly” (v23b).

Such is the world believers often find themselves in. It is the real world even if it’s ugly. It’s one of the places where faith is the only answer. Like Jesus, and like Daniel and his friends, we have to learn how to live, to do our jobs, to do our best, trusting the Lord Himself, even as we live under the specter of totally unreasonable demands. As with Daniel and his friends, our Lord goes with us into the workplace. Even there He is still “a very present help in trouble.” Even there He is “working all things together for our good.” Daniel will overcome this situation by faith, by taking the problem to the Lord in prayer, and by trusting the Lord to enable him to do even that which is impossible. He lived in the real world, and you and I can be like him today, living in our own real world.

The other thing we ought to take from this passage is a determination not to be like this ourselves. It is very easy to get in a position of authority or power and then be cruel in our expectations of those around us. It begins at home with how husbands and wives treat each other and how they treat their children. Then it extends to how we treat the clerk at the grocery store, the kid who mows our grass, our doctors and nurses, our mechanics and plumbers, our children’s teachers and coaches, and everyone else from whom we feel we have a right to expect “performance.” And that includes at work, how we treat those who work for us. Even when we ourselves are under a lot of stress and perhaps very unreasonable demands, we mustn’t use that as an excuse to make unreasonable demands on those who work under us.

Ruthie came home from school once and told me about a harrowing event which occurred during her gym class that day. She particularly noticed how it frightened and upset the other girls, then made the astute observation, “They have no one to trust.” As the Chaldeans are faced with this fearful demand of the king, they too have “no one to trust.” But Daniel does … and so do we.

Let’s all be the more determined to “take the Lord with us” to work. We may not be able to escape that world of cruel unreasonable demands. Unfortunately it is the real world. But we have a Lord who urges us to “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” We have someone to trust.

Daniel 2:2,3 – “Answers”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²And the king said to call to the magicians and to the astrologers and to the sorcerers and to the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams and they came in and they stood to the face of the king. ³And the king said to them, “I have dreamed a dream and it disturbs my spirit to know the dream.”

There are a number of very practical observations we can make from these verses, but I will restrain myself and only mention a couple. First of all notice that we all need others. Here we have the king of the most powerful nation on earth. If anyone could ever say, “I need no one. I only command,” it would have been Nebuchadnezzar. But here he is calling for help. He can’t do it all. He needs other people to provide their gifts, their expertise.

And so do we.

The older I get the more I am amazed how much we depend on each other. The old saying is true: “No man is an island.” It is interesting to me to read the entire poem from which that old saying is taken:

“No man is an island entire of itself; every man

is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;

if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe

is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as

well as any manner of thy friends or of thine

own were; any man’s death diminishes me,

because I am involved in mankind.

And therefore never send to know for whom

the bell tolls; it tolls for thee” (John Donne, 1624).

Probably most of all, though, this passage makes me thankful for the Word. Here is Nebuchadnezzar suddenly needing answers. Suddenly something is beyond him. He wants to know something. He wants something explained to him. And where does he go? He calls for “the magicians and the astrologers and the sorcerers and the Chaldeans.” Can they help him? We all know the answer is no. He turns to them, needing them to help him, and yet we all know he is going to be disappointed.

How often is it we all go to others hoping they’ll help us? It could be going to the doctor or perhaps to a financial advisor. It could be to a mechanic or a plumber. As we briefly saw above, we need each other. And sometimes the people we go to can help us. And sometimes they can’t. Sometimes they can’t because they simply don’t have the knowledge. Sometimes they don’t help because all they’re really interested in is taking our money. Sometimes they themselves think they have the answers but they really don’t. But for whatever reason, we end up living in a world where sometimes others can help us and sometimes they can’t. Sometimes we can get answers and sometimes we don’t.

This is where the Word steps in. It won’t tell me how to fix my furnace, but one thing I know – if it has answers for the questions I ask, I know those answers are true. The furnace guy might mislead me, but the Bible never will.

Other than the Bible, the two best books I ever read were, “Knowing God,” by JI Packer, and “How Should We Then Live?” by Francis Schaeffer. In Schaeffer’s book, I first was led to ponder the truthfulness of truth. Schaeffer makes the case for why we need a source of absolute truth in our lives, why we need a place where we can go and get truth we know is true, and of course that place is the Bible. I love Jesus’ words, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free!” I have lived my life hearing the Lord saying, “Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things thou knowest not” (Jer 33:3). I spend this time digging in the original languages, tearing apart the words and phrases and verses … because I want to know the truth. I want answers. So much of life I still don’t understand, but as I have studied the Bible these last nearly 35 years, the Lord has taught me again and again. So much I do understand that I did not before.

But it means so much to me that, when I do find answers in the Bible, I know they’re true. I have lots of questions about a lot of things, and it is frustrating to live in a world where I can’t get answers. I’ve been a runner all these years, which drives me to read books all about running. I have learned some really helpful things, but I would say 90% of what I’ve read either wasn’t helpful at all or, as I’ve come to realize, was simply wrong. That is, for me, very, very frustrating. But I don’t have that problem with the Bible. Everything it has taught me is true. Every truth I learned has been a stepping stone to more. Each truth has been just one more brick in the building of my life. And it’s a solid building.

But poor Nebuchadnezzar. Where does he go? I’m reminded of Isaiah 8:19,20: “When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the Law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, they have no light in them.”

Nebuchadnezzar is about to find out “they have no light in them.”

I feel his pain.

But I also know the joy he’ll feel when God’s man steps up to the plate and gives him real answers.

“Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

I love true truth!

Daniel 2:1 – “Dreams”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹And in the year of second to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams and his spirit was disturbed and his sleep was upon him.

My, my. This verse is so full of interesting observations. I’ll try to be brief!

First, two exegetically significant observations – as usual, the antagonists explode over the statement that this occurs in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. They all whine and cry over the fact that Daniel and his friends were in a three year training program and then exclaim it makes no sense this could have occurred in the second year, since the result is Daniel and his friends’ promotion to significant positions. “Surely they would have to have completed their training before they could reasonably be expected to have received positions!” they exclaim.

As I explained in my last post, such objections only betray the ignorance of those who think they’ve found a fault in God’s Word. As I observed before, one has to be very careful when dealing with ancient people’s timelines. They viewed and recorded time very differently than we do. And may I point out that the reference to the three year training program was recorded only a few verses before? If this reference to the second year created such a glaring inconsistency, it would have been addressed back then. But it didn’t. Daniel himself and the people he was writing to saw no contradiction or inconsistency. His words made perfect sense to them. Our problem is we don’t think like them, nor do we have the immediate facts they had. It is possible Nebuchadnezzar served a co-regency with his father Nabopolassar for a year or two and this reckoning is starting with the period of his independent reign.

It is also possible there is no contradiction at all. As I said before, sometimes ancient peoples didn’t count the first year of a king’s reign. In other words, they didn’t start their reckoning until the New Year actually began. If Daniel’s training started during this “uncounted” period before the New Year, and if the dream occurred very soon after Daniel’s graduation, his “three-year” training program could have then quite logically been completed in the “second” (reckoned) year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign.

The bottom-line is we don’t know, but they obviously did. It is all very interesting to ponder how it fits together but I would maintain it is the heights of ignorance and arrogance to think the chronology somehow casts doubt on the veracity of this book or the Bible itself.

The second exegetically significant observation is in the final words of the verse. These words are usually translated something like, “… his mind was troubled and he could not sleep.” As my translation indicates, it literally says, “…and his sleep was upon him.” Those words don’t immediately make sense to us. What does it mean “his sleep was upon him?” It seems to me if Daniel wanted to tell us that the king couldn’t sleep, he could have said something like, “his sleep left him.” I would rather suggest the idea is the exact opposite, that his sleep was “upon” him in the sense that he did in fact keep on sleeping. In other words, perhaps he awoke with some vivid apprehension of what he had dreamed but promptly fell back asleep. This would possibly explain why he will then ask the magicians to tell him what the dream was – as his own memory is very vague. At any rate, that is the understanding I will assume to be true – that he awoke enough to be troubled but then went back to sleep so that, in the morning when he awoke, he still felt disturbed but couldn’t remember exactly what it was he had dreamed.

On to more practical observations. I think it is interesting to observe the man himself. He is a king. And not just any king – he is the king of the most powerful nation on earth. He is surrounded by wealth and power and no doubt every possible delight any young king could ask for. But he still has to sleep. And he can have “bad” dreams that disturb him. Interesting – all the armed guards around him and the softest bed under him cannot protect him from his own humanity. He is, in the end, just a man. Just like us. Great and small, rich and poor, male and female, we are all just people.

Somewhat along these lines, though, it is worth observing that “greatness” not only does not protect us from our humanity, it actually often makes things worse! Eccl 5:12 observes, “The sleep of a working man is sweet … but the abundance of the rich permits him no sleep.” In Esther 6:1, we find another great king whose sleep is disturbed. The fact is that “greatness” carries with it cares and troubles that are spared to the rest of us. Joan and I used to laugh when we left the house on vacation, knowing we didn’t really have to “worry” about someone breaking into our house. We had nothing worth stealing! How different it would be for someone living in a palatial mansion! Poverty has its advantages! People occasionally ask me if I’m looking to become a principal in our company. I tell them no, that I will certainly do what duty requires, but that I maintain no delusions about the “glories” of leadership. I am quite content to just do my job and let someone else lose sleep over all the worries of actually running a business. Nebuchadnezzar’s troubled sleep reminds us that “greatness” often comes at a cost.

Finally – and this where I really have to force myself to be brief – I note that the Lord is here communicating great truth through a dream. As I pondered this verse, I was amazed to recall how many times in the Bible the Lord communicated to people through dreams. Joseph immediately comes to mind, with his own dreams, the butler and cupbearer’s, and the Pharaoh’s. There was Abimelech warned in a dream about Isaac. God came to Solomon in a dream. He spoke to Joseph, Mary’s husband in a dream about her pregnancy, then warning them to flee to Egypt, directing them to return to Israel, then warning them away from returning to Judea, so they settled in Nazareth. Pilate’s wife was warned about Jesus in a dream and Peter was instructed by the dream of the sheet full of creatures. And this is only a portion of it all.

It’s also interesting that the Lord spoke not only to good people but also to evil kings. That would seem peculiar to us, but there it is.

I would observe that our God is a great Communicator. The opening verses of the Bible record, “And the Lord said, ‘Let there be …’” “The Lord said.” From the very beginning, He was speaking. The Bible ends with Him still speaking, saying, “Yes, I am coming soon.” The entire Bible is God’s Word – God speaking. “The heavens declare the glory of God.” And Jesus is “the Word of God.” The gods people imagine are often silent. The Deists thought the Creator set the universe in motion, then disappeared. Sometimes we feel as if “the heavens are brass.” But the truth is our God is the Great Communicator. If we don’t hear Him, the fault is of necessity on our part, not His.

This reference to dreams in particular, makes one wonder why, if He used dreams so extensively in the ancient world, why He doesn’t seem to today. I think the answer is almost entirely addressed in Hebrews 1:1,2: “In the past God spoke to our fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by his Son …” Although the Lord can communicate any way He wants any time He wants, yet Jesus Himself is the very Word of God. All those communications in the Old Testament were just parts and pieces of God revealing Himself to man. They were but “shadows of things to come.” The fullness of God’s revelation of Himself to man is not given in dreams or visions, but in the Living Word Himself. The ancient peoples and the Jews in particular had only the words of the prophets, their dreams and visions, to reveal God to them. But we have God Himself in the person of our Lord Jesus. For Nebuchadnezzar to have this prophetic dream, for Daniel to interpret it, and all the rest, might seem “great,” the fact is that what we have is far greater. We see Jesus.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that “dreams” might be a very captivating topic but we have something far better. We have the Living Word. God can choose to speak any way He wants any time He wants, but we need to keep our gaze fixed on Jesus. For myself, I believe in the sufficiency of the Scriptures, the doctrine that the Bible as we have it is the completed revelation of God and we need not look elsewhere for truth. But even having said that, we ought not be somehow content to know the written Word. It is there to point us to the Living Word. Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered, “Philip, have I been with you so long and you still don’t know Me?”

Jesus is “the brightness of God’s glory, and the express image of His Person…”

Daniel was a privileged fellow to live in the age of dreams. But what you and I have is far better!

Daniel 1 – “This’n’That”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹In the year of third to the reign of Jehoiakim the king of Israel came Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babel [to] Jerusalem and besieged it …²¹And Daniel was until the year of the first to Cyrus the king.

Before I leave chapter 1, there are a few miscellaneous thoughts I’d like to record, mainly just so I remember them in the future.

I was surprised in 1:4 to find that the Hebrew name for the Babylonians was the “Kasdim.” In the OT, that name is always translated into English as “Chaldeans.” Apparently the Hebrew name “Kasdim” is taken from the Assyrian “Kasdu,” while the name Chaldeans is a transliteration from the Babylonian cuneiform “Kaldai.” My question is, how do we know that the “Chaldeans” of Babylon are actually the “Kasdim” which Daniel mentions here? The “Kasdim” here in Daniel are called “Chaldeans” in the Greek Septuagint, implying that at least as early as about 250 BC, Jewish scholars considered the ancient Kasdim and the Chaldeans to be one and the same group. It would make perfect sense if the Hebrews used the Assyrian name Kasdu. Babylon is at the far east end of the Fertile Crescent, while Israel is at the far west end. In order for any news to pass from Babylon to Israel, it had to travel through Assyria. The Jews would likely hear any such information mainly from their Assyrian neighbors, hence their use of the Assyrian “Kasdim” rather than the Babylonian “Kaldai.”

I suppose it also instructive that Daniel continued to use “Kasdim” even when he begins at 2:4 writing in Aramaic, the lingua franca of the ancient world. At the point in time when Daniel writes, Babylon has been ruling the Fertile Crescent for a relatively short time after several centuries of Assyrian rule. At that point, even the area’s lingua franca knew the group as the “Kasdim.” From Daniel’s point on, the Fertile Crescent was ruled by either the Babylonians or their conquerors from the next nation even further east, the Medo-Persians. In either case, the name of the group would be derived from the peoples at the east, not west end of the Fertile Crescent, calling them “Kaldai,” so that when the Greeks conquered the area under Alexander the Great (4^th century BC), they would hear the name as “Kaldai,” which then transliterated into Greek and ultimately to us as “Chaldeans.”

That all makes perfect sense, but I would love to find that somewhere in the ancient world someone clearly equated the Kasdim with the Kaldai. I would personally consider even the Septuagint as a fairly “late” document, not to mention its perennially dubious quality, so its attestation is unconvincing to me. I guess my bottom line is that, in my mind, what we have is a universally accepted assumption -- that Daniel's "Kasdim" are, in fact, "Chaldeans" … and I don’t like assumptions. For now, I will go with it, but I hope to keep that small element of doubt in the back of my mind.

Of course, even if I could answer this question, one is still uncertain exactly who the “Chaldeans” were. Based on my internet research, there are apparently people alive today who still consider themselves Chaldeans. It looks like it was an early name for people who settled near the coast of what we call the Persian Gulf, in the marshy area which is now southern Iraq and Kuwait. Somehow it apparently became the name for the astrologers and magicians of Daniel’s Babylon and even became synonymous with “Babylonians.” Perhaps there are scholars (or the Chaldeans themselves) who feel a level of certainty about all of this, but what I found was a lot of speculation and debate. Perhaps, if I keep my eyes open, I will run across something a little more definitively satisfying.

Another thing I thought was interesting is the Hebrew behind verse 20, where the NIV says “he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his realm.” The Hebrew actually says, “… he found them ten hands upon the all of the magicians and the astrologers which in the all of his kingdom.” “Ten hands.” Up until quite recently, people depended on horses and the way one measured a horse’s height was by “hands.” Seriously. At least in my young lifetime, I heard farm people making such references. They would start at the ground, lay their hand flat against the horses ankle, and measure “hands” up to the top of his shoulder. That is how they communicated to each other how big a horse was. Maybe they did that with oxen, mules, and donkeys too. I don’t know. And maybe horse people still use the term. Just in and of itself, of course, it is a little inaccurate – depending on whose “hand” we’re using. But anyway, if that is the imagery behind this verse, it makes perfect sense. Daniel and his friends were “ten hands” above everyone else. I just think that’s cool.

Another thing I want to say is that I think one has to be very careful not to be too exacting about ancient timelines. For instance, beginning in verse 1, scholars go bonkers because Daniel says it was “in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim,” while Jeremiah says in 25:1 it was “in the fourth year of Jehoiakim.” “We’ve found an error in the Bible!” they cry. What such antagonists utterly fail to acknowledge is that ancient peoples had a variety of ways in which they kept time. Things were often dated as here from the reign of a particular king. The problem was that, in some cultures, they didn’t count the first year or first portion of a year, while others did. What sort of timeline you get depends on who’s writing and who they’re writing too. Another source of confusion for us is what is called “co-regencies.” Sometimes a son would begin to reign with his father as co-regent and sometimes his rule is dated from that point, not from the time the father is gone and the son himself becomes the sole king. Then again, they might not. Then add too all of this that ancient kings (like today’s media) were not at all above simply re-writing history if they thought it was to their advantage. People of all times have been incorrigibly inclined to fudge data. “Figures lie and liars figure.” Any ancient text, besides the Bible, is at least somewhat suspect regarding its technical accuracy. So … for whatever it’s worth … just be very careful about getting too dogmatic about anyone’s ancient timelines. The Bible itself is true. Timelines are at best approximations and assumptions. Even when ancient events can be dated with certainty, those events get communicated to us in the Bible through the Jewish culture, subject to their way of expressing such things. Just be careful.

All that said, an interesting “timeline” sort of discussion is the Seventy Year captivity. I have seen a considerable amount of debate, exactly when the “70 years” began and when it ended. The most attractive to me is the view that it began in 605 BC with Nebuchadnezzar’s conquering of Jerusalem (and hence Daniel’s deportation) and ended in 536 BC, when the work on the new temple was begun. In 539 BC, Cyrus had issued his decree (Ezra 1:2-4) allowing the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple, but it took some time for the actual work to begin. That makes reasonable sense but is certainly wide open to debate. Two Biblical observations about this – in 9:1, Daniel says it was during the first year of Darius (who was apparently appointed by Cyrus to rule the Babylonians) he noted the captivity was to last 70 years and began praying about it. If in fact that was 539 BC, then the “end” of the 70 years was yet future and had to be at least that year or later.

The second Biblical observation I’d like to record concerns the exact wording of Jeremiah’s prophecy. He said in 29:10, “When the seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill My gracious promise to bring you back to this place.” Just a “for whatever it’s worth” – notice he says the seventy years are completed “for Babylon.” Perhaps we are all erring trying to tie the 70 years to specifically Jewish events, when in fact the years apply to Babylon? Measuring back from 539 would end us up in 609/608 BC, which doesn’t strike me as anything particularly noteworthy in Babylonian history. Of course, in some sense, it isn’t really important for us anyway. Obviously, it was crystal clear to Daniel, which meant it would have been clear to anyone else who cared to know at the time. It applied to them. They needed to understand it. The plain simple fact is we don’t. Maybe that’s why we don’t. The Lord isn’t usually in the habit of dispensing information to curious people (like me) just to make them smart. So, at any rate, I just think it is notable that the years are completed “for Babylon.” I think we need to at least be open to the possibility that the mileposts for beginning and end might be related to Babylonian events more so than Jewish. Sacrilege, I know, but the text says what it says.

Last of all, looking at the Jer 29:10 passage, I can’t help but notice what is the very next verse. It is our familiar verse of hope, Jer 29:11:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope.”

Just think, there is our friend Daniel, living in 539 BC, now an old man, having lived his whole life in exile in Babylon, and as he reads an old scroll from the prophet Jeremiah and comes to 29:10, he realizes that somehow the whole exile thing had to do with a 70 year period which basically has spanned his life and is about to end. That in itself would be hopeful, but perhaps it would seem impossible. As is so often true with us, perhaps as a man he would sit there after all those years and wonder, “How on earth could this actually take place?” Then his eyes pass on to the very next verse, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope.” The verse gives us tremendous hope. Imagine what it must have meant to elderly old Daniel! Wow.

Well, the 1^st chapter has been really fun. Now on to the next!

Daniel 1:21 – “The Plan”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²¹And Daniel was until the year of the first to Cyrus the king.

The NIV offers the smoother translation: “And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.”

This little sentence of seven Hebrew words speaks volumes. The first verse of this chapter began in around 605 BC with Daniel around 15 to 20 years old. This last verse carries us about 66 years later to 539 BC when the Medo-Persians under Cyrus conquered Babylon. Doing the math, at that time, Daniel would have been around 81 to 86 years old. As Daniel was to discover reading the book of Jeremiah (25:11), the Jewish captivity in Babylon was to last 70 years. So we note that Daniel’s lifetime spanned this momentous period in Jewish history known as the Babylonian Captivity.

Daniel was born under godly king Josiah in Judah, who died in battle when Daniel would have been like 11 to 16. He then had to live under Josiah’s incredibly wicked son Jehoiakim, who finally brought down disaster on Judah when Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came and conquered the City of Jerusalem. Daniel and his friends were then torn from their families and their homes and their homeland and taken to serve in the Babylonian court under Nebuchadnezzar. Ancient history tells us that Nebuchadnezzar reigned about 43 years until around 562 BC. He was succeeded by his son Evil-Merodach (who released Jehoiachin from prison – II Kings 25:27-30). Evil-Merodach apparently only ruled for two years and was killed by his brother-in-law Neriglissar, who only reigned about four years and was succeeded by his son Labashi-Marduk who was murdered after only 9 months and succeeded by Nabonidus who soon thereafter made his son Belshazzar his co-regent. Belshazzar ruled over Babylon while his father apparently traveled extensively. It was this same Belshazzar who was ruling when Cyrus conquered Babylon. He is the same Belshazzar we will read about in chapter 5 with the hand-writing on the wall.

Daniel lived through it all. His life spanned the Babylonian Captivity with all the concurrent tumultuous political upheavals of the international scene.

It is remarkable to me to step back and see God’s hand in all of this. The Lord could have said to Daniel what He said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jer 1:5). Daniel could have said with David, “All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be” (Ps. 139:16).

God knew. He knew it all. He knew it all from the beginning. He created Daniel for this very purpose. Daniel was born and died at exactly the right times to make him a candidate for the Babylonian and Persian courts and then to carry his ministry though to the very end of the Jewish people’s Babylonian captivity.

Daniel didn’t know it all from the beginning. As a boy in Judea, Daniel didn’t know what his life would be like. He didn’t know he’d be torn from his family. He didn’t know if his “vegetables” experiment would work. He wouldn’t know his friends would survive the fiery furnace. He wouldn’t know he’d survive the lions’ den. He didn’t know when the Persians conquered Babylon whether he’d be executed or if he would be respected and elevated to a high position. He was not born knowing God’s plan for his life.

Neither are we.

But you and I can read the story of his life. You and I can see God’s amazing plan for Daniel, wonder at the Lord’s providence, and admire Daniel’s faith and courage.

But we don’t get to read the story of our lives.

We, like Daniel, have to live our lives from beginning to end, never knowing what tomorrow will bring, usually never able to see the “big picture.”

I would guess most of us live our lives really not sure even why we’re here. I wake up this morning and realize it is December 24, 2016. I don’t even know what today will be about, much less the rest of my life. We have some plans, especially being Christmas Eve day. But what will really happen? I don’t know. What part will the Lord want me to play in it? I don’t know.

But I believe it does us good to realize my life is no different than Daniel’s. He didn’t know either.

But he lived it well.

And why? Because he lived it in faith.

He lived it believing that “the Most High rules in the nations of men.”

We too need to live our lives believing that this same great God is not only masterfully orchestrating the sweeping international events in which we live, but also the very personal, minute to minute details of our seemingly mundane days.

Daniel was born for a purpose.

You and I were born for a purpose.

Daniel didn’t get to know that purpose ahead of time.

And neither do we.

But he lived his days in faith.

And so can we.

And, like Daniel, if we will simply live by the same faith, somehow the days will add up to years, will add up to a lifetime, and at least in Heaven, we’ll find out it was all for a great and grand purpose.

Blessed is the man who fears the Lord … Surely he will never be shaken … he will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, confident in the Lord. His heart is secure, … in the end he will look in triumph on his foes …” (Ps. 112).

Lord, this is Your world, not mine. Help me today to love well, no matter what that means or how I need to accomplish it. May faith in You conquer my fears. May I be confident in You and be content to let You “rule in the lives of men and nations.” You’ve got the plan. Help me be a willing part of it.

Daniel 1:18-21 – “Doing It Right”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁸And to the end of the days which the king had said to bring them in, and the chief of the palace officials brought them in to the face of Nebuchadnezzar. ¹⁹And the king spoke with them and not was found from the all of them like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, and they stood to the face of the king. ²⁰And all of a matter of wisdom [or] understanding which the king sought from them, and he found them ten hands upon the all of the magicians and the astrologers which in the all of his kingdom. ²¹And Daniel was until the year of the first to Cyrus the king.

And so the day finally comes for final exams in the school of Babylon U.

Only in this school, you don’t sit at a desk somewhere and solve problems or write essays. At Babylon U., the man administering the exam is none other than the king himself and it consists of a personal interview!

Can I pause and just note how utterly terrifying this would have been? Just to be in this man’s presence would have been terrifying in and of itself. This is the king over the most powerful kingdom in their ancient world. He has personally conquered the known world, including mighty Egypt and the once barbaric kingdom of Assyria. If you displease him, he might just have you executed. And here you are, brought in to stand in front of him. He has personally funded your education and your room & board for the last three years. He did so, fully expecting you to make good on his investment. And now you have to stand before him and answer his questions.

For me personally, it would have taken faith just to be able to stand there, to actually keep my fear (terror) under control, to sincerely try to answer his questions, and not to collapse in a heap of blubbering fright.

But once again, to these boys’ credit, they did not quail, but instead they stood their ground, they did answer his questions, and they answered them well. Good for them! “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a well-ordered mind.” It makes me proud to share their faith, even if they did live 2600 years ago! I can’t even begin to recount all the times faith has given me the courage to do what I needed to do, when my natural bent would have been to “dodge the bullet.” Even at my age (just short of 60!), it gives me a lot of hope to know that faith will again and again give me the courage I need to face life. Although the me inside here is the blubbering coward, faith means I can do this. I can live my life well, do my job, love people, and be a man of integrity because of my wonderful God – “I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength!” Daniel and his friends could and so can you and I.

In another vein, I wish the church today could notice what these boys are excelling at. This is not a Bible college or seminary. This is Babylon U. And they are not training for full-time ministry or missions or anything like that. They are training in a secular (even godless) university for the express purpose of serving in a pagan government. And why? Because the Lord wants to place His people in positions of importance, to actually be a positive influence in pagan governments. Let us ask the question, “Can a Christian young person actually set him- or herself on a course of study expressly for the purpose of entering politics, to be a congressman or senator, or even President? Can they? Can God possibly honor such a determination? Can they attend a secular university in preparation for that pursuit? Daniel and his friends would answer a resounding yes! And can they do so not to the destruction of their faith but actually as an expression of it? Yes.

I fear the modern American church has grown such a set of “in-grown eyeballs” we cannot see beyond the doors of our own sanctuaries. We think and teach that faith happens inside that building and that the best plan is to isolate ourselves and our children from “the world.” We forget that He said He wants us “in the world” just not “of it.” Thank God for every believer who carries their faith into government and into the workplace and serves God there.

But also notice from the verses before us how the boys carried themselves in their workplace – “and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.” “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.” They not only attended Babylon U. They not only studied to serve in the government. They excelled at their studies. Oh that the church today would teach our people God wants them to excel in their work. Not just in ministry positions. In their work. God cares. God wants His people to excel at what they do. I think it was Abraham Lincoln who said, “Whatever you do, be the best at it!”

Once again, I think there is an undercurrent in American Christianity that says to people, “Well, if you have to “just” work a job, at least don’t work very hard at it. Instead, as soon as you get off work, show up here at the church building and then we’ll do things that really matter.” What a shame. “Beware lest anyone takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” And what does the Christ say? “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men, for you serve the Lord Christ.”

As I’ve noted before, there have been barrels of ink spilt on this passage. What a shame that the church has learned so little from it. But that is what happens when we let our traditions drive our lives, not the Bible itself. And that is precisely why I study the Bible. I don’t want my faith diverted by human traditions, even if they’re church traditions, and even if everyone around me seems to have swallowed them whole. “To the law, and to the testimony! And if they speak not according to this law, it is because there is no light in them!”

God help us all to encourage each other in whatever station the Lord has given us in this world, and may we encourage each other not just to “do it,” but to actually excel in it! Daniel and his friends did, and so can we.

Daniel 1:17 – “Good At It – 2”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁷And the children the these four – God gave to them knowledge and insight in all writing and wisdom and Daniel understood in all vision and dreams.

In my last post I presented what I think is the amazing truth that everyone of us are gifted by God very specifically to do what He made us to do. It’s true of everyone that they’re “good” at something. It’s true of everyone that there’s something that “comes easy” for them. Daniel makes it clear that the abilities he and his three friends had were gifts from God.

I want to stay on the subject just to think through what are possible practical implications of this truth.

First of all, I think it would be very humbling for all of us to really think hard about what we’re “good” at and to realize it is a gift from God. I like what He says in I Cor 4:7, “For what do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you didn’t receive it?” The things I’m “good” at don’t make me “better” than someone else. I have those gifts only because God gave them to me – and the fact is that other person has gifts I don’t have. Also, it would help us not to diminish what we’re “good” at. It’s easy to see other people who have “amazing” gifts and think ours are “not much good.” The fact is few of us will ever have “amazing” gifts. As Abraham Lincoln said, “The Lord must have loved the common man – He made so many of them!” Seriously, it doesn’t matter how seemingly insignificant our gifts may be – those things we’re “good” at – they are gifts from God and He intends we use them to bless others, even in simple ways.

Frankly as I would survey my own life, I would say there really isn’t much I’m “good” at.  I love my engineering, but there are a lot of guys way smarter than me. I like to run, but I rarely even place in my age group. I like to draw but I’m no “artist.” I’m really pretty average even at the things I’m “good” at. But so what? The gifts I have are gifts from God, just like Daniel, and my job is to give them to those around me even if they’ll never “amaze” anyone.

Another implication of this truth would be that one of the major ways parents can bless their children is to help them realize what they’re “good” at. If a child obviously has musical talent, then parents can get them lined up with lessons and help them learn the disciplines of practice. If a child seems particularly artistic, then parents can encourage them to pursue those things. Obviously this can go a million different directions, but that is precisely why a child needs their parents’ input – they need someone who can “see the forest for the trees.” Of course the flip side of this is that a good parent will help their children realize what they’re not “good” at. We’re living in this “positive self-esteem” age where we’re supposed to tell them they’re good at everything. That is so ludicrous it would be laughable, if it wasn’t so sad and destructive. The fact is I am “good” at some things and not at others. I need to capitalize on the things I’m “good” at and not waste time trying to become something I’m not. A parent can help a child immensely by steering them away from things they simply are not good at and never will be and help them focus their efforts on those things that will pay big dividends in their life.

Another implication is that I think it would help us appreciate each other far more if we saw that everyone around us is a person uniquely gifted by God. Maybe they’re not “good” at what I do, but what are they good at? Everyone is good at something! We should be looking to see what others are “good” at and then appreciating them for it. If we see that in fact someone else really is “good” at something, we ought to do everything we can to encourage them in it. We should tell them they’re good at it. We should point out when they’ve done those things they’re “good” at and let them know we appreciate what they do. I’m afraid we live in a world where all most people ever hear is criticism and put-downs and sarcasm. What a shame – when they’re each one a person gifted by God to do amazing things the rest of us would struggle to accomplish! We would value each other so much more if we just saw this giftedness and we could be so much more encouraging if we deliberately appreciated it.

Maybe last of all, I’d like to take this discussion back to the workplace. What if we all saw our job as a place to give our gifts? What if we really appreciated what the Lord has given us and then saw our mission in life as taking those gifts and putting them to work all day every day in the job we do? Every single legitimate job that anyone has anywhere is a way of being kind to other people, a way to “help” them in some way or another. The whole purpose of life itself is to love God and love others. What if we all saw our job as a place to give our gifts as a way of doing just that – loving God and others?

Daniel 1:17 – “To these four young men God gave ..”

You have given me …