Daniel 1

Dan 1:1-6 NIV In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. (2) And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god. (3) Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— (4) young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. (5) The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service. (6) Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

  • What was Daniel’s family background?
  • What did Daniel look like?
  • How old was Daniel when he was taken captive?
  • What kind of a king is Nebuchadnezzar?
  • Why was Daniel taken captive?
  • What does the God say about Daniel? (Eze 14:14, Eze 14:20, Eze 28:3, Mat 24:15).
  • Why do you think that the Hebrews did not classify Daniel as a prophet and categorized this book in “The Writings”?
  • What does the fact that Jesus classified Daniel as a prophet but His people did not tell you?

Interesting Facts about the Book of Daniel:

  • Daniel has 2 major objectives:
    • God’s plan for the Gentile nations (2:4b-7:28).
    • the influence or effect of the Gentiles on Israel (1:1-2:4a and chapters 8-12).
  • Daniel is written in 2 languages; Aramaic (the common language of the Gentiles) and Hebrew. Chapters 1:1-2:4a and chapters 8-12 are in Hebrew, and 2:4b-7:28 is in Aramaic. Given the book’s two major objectives, can you imagine why Daniel might have written them in different languages?
  • Daniel is classified as apocolyptic literature (from the greek apokalypsis which means unveiling, or disclosing, or revelation).

Historical Background for Daniel:

Nebuchadnezzar came to power after his father Nabopolassar had overwhelmed the Assyrian empire beginning in October 626.

The fall of Assyria gave Judah relative independence (since they had been under Assyrian dominion) which ended in 609BC.

In 609, Egypt (Pharaoh Nico II) allied with Assyria against Babylon in order to maintain a balance of power

Josiah (Judah’s last good king) mobilized an army to join the Babylonians to fight Egypt because he didn’t want Judah to fall into Egypts dominion. (2Ch_35:20-24) Josiah and Egypt met on the plane of Meggido; Judah lost and Josiah died.

After Josiah’s death – Judah appointed Jehoahaz, Josiah’s son, as king. After just 3 months, Neco replaced Jehoahaz (2Ki_23:31-32) with Jehoiakim, another son of Josiah, as his vassal king (2Ki_23:34-35).

In 605BC, after 4 years of battle between the Babylonians and the Egyptians at Carchamesh, Nebuchadnezzar won a decisive victory over Egypt and pushed them back into Egypt.

First Seige

  1. In 605BC, after the Babylonian victory, Jehoiakim switched alliances from Egypt to Babylon (2Ki_24:1). Also in 605, Nabopolassar, King of Babylon, died. Nebuchadnezzar returned to Babylon to be crowned king. This is when Nebuchadnezzar took Daniel out of Judah and into Babylon.

Second Seige

  1. Judah remained a vassal state of Babylon until 601BC when Nebuchadnezzar failed in an attempt to overthrow Egypt and Jehoiakim switched alliances again back to Egypt (2Ki_24:1). This enraged Nebuchadnezzar who then attacked Jerusalem in 598. Jehoiakim died during the attack and Jehoiachin came to power. Jehoiachin surrendered Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar in 597.
  2. Nebuchadnezzar deported Jehoiachin and installed Zedechia as king. During the deportation of Jehoiachin and 10,000 leaders and skilled laborers was probably the time when Ezekiel was also deported to Babylon. 5 years later, Ezekiel began his prophetic ministry in Babylon.

Third Seige

  1. With the enthronement of another Pharaoh (Hophra) in Egypt in 588, Judah was once again enticed to revolt from Babylon (2 Kings 24:20-25:1; Jer 52:3-4). A coalition of vassal states (Judah, Tyre, and Ammon) refused to remain under Babylon’s control. Nebuchadnezzar surrounded Jerusalem and began a long siege. In July-August 586 the city fell and was destroyed.  
  • Why did Nebuchadnezzar destroy Jerusalem (10 above)? What did Jeremiah 27:16-22 tell Judah to do? What does this tell you about God’s plan for His people?
  • What pattern do you see in these final years of the southern kingdom of Judah?