NOVEMBER 29
Daniel 6
In my thinking,
there are few chapters in the Bible that are as under-taught, underestimated
and misunderstood as this chapter. This is one of those chapters that makes
Bible study a lot of fun. Buckle up!
Vs. 1-3 Now,
how is this possible? It should be impossible for anyone to read this and just
accept it without wondering why Darius, the conquering general and ruler over
this part of the Persian Empire, should elevate Daniel. Daniel was not only the
final ruler of the Babylonian Empire, but he had served Babylon as a high
ranking official for 67 years. These are the guys you kill when you take over.
Assuming Darius was a rational man, why would he do this? It doesn’t make
sense. Darius must have had very good reasons for bringing Daniel into his
government.
Just for fun
look at the following verses: Daniel 9:1 and 11:1. All of this is happening in
the first year of Darius.
The fact that
Darius was 62 years old meant he would have been in his twenties when Neb lost
his mind. There were great relationships between the Babylonians and the
Persians and Medes. As royalty, Darius would have visited Babylon many times on
official business or to attend events. He may have even fed Nebuchadnezzar a
carrot. He would have known Daniel all his life as the ruler of the province of
Babylon and the chief of the wise men. Daniel’s eminence would have been even
greater during the seven years while Neb was grazing. We don’t know when Daniel
was sent as an ambassador to Susa, but we find him there in chapter 8. This
would have given Darius and Cyrus more contact with Daniel. Now, these could
have been some reasons for Darius to have respected Daniel, but as we read on,
we will find some reasons that were far more powerful.
Vs. 4-9 There
are two things that are important to see here. First, these people were very
religious, and to break the will of a people, you made them compromise
themselves in the worship of their gods. We saw that in Daniel 1 and 3. So, as
silly as this might sound to us, it made good sense to them. Second, in v. 8,
it is very clear that Darius was an equal with Cyrus, in that he could sign a
decree into existence that was binding and could not be broken in the entire
empire. Official records of this would have been made, sent out by courier and
put into official books. This information about official recorded decrees will
come in handy at the end of the chapter.
Vs. 10-11
Daniel went and prayed anyway. Why? I’ve heard people attribute this to the
faithful habits of a person having their quiet time and their sweet hour of
prayer before the Lord. That is all great stuff. But, if you really want to
know why Daniel prayed, as well as what he prayed, read Daniel 9:1-19. This was
an absolutely crucial time in the history of Israel. Daniel’s passion for the
Lord and for his people, as representatives of the God of salvation, was
burning in him. The seventy years were up and a new government had taken over.
Daniel knew his entire life had been directed by God to save his people. He was
begging God to fulfill His promise, given in Jeremiah 29:10, to end the exile after
70 years and return the people to Jerusalem. It is really deeper than that and
we’ll see it in chapter 9. There was no way in the world, regardless of the
enemy or the cost, that Daniel would not beg God for His people. (By the way,
we’ll see later that facing Jerusalem in prayer was a part of another promise
in Scripture.)
Vs. 11-13 The
trap was sprung, but as we saw in Esther with Haman, sometimes the traps you
set for others have a way of biting you back. In this case, the biting is meant
literally.
Vs. 14-20 Here
we go again. Darius is acting very strangely.
V. 14 I’ve
heard this explained that Darius really loved Daniel and didn’t want to lose
such a cool leader. Maybe, but how do you explain that Darius is very
distressed. This section shows that Darius was fearful. How do you explain
that? Read on.
V. 15 This
would not have endeared these men to Darius. How many men were a part of this
conspiracy? Certainly there were the two other presidents, but some suggest
that many of the local leaders were a part of this. I've read of numbers into
the hundreds, but only so many men and their families would have fit in the
lion's den. I think the main actors here were those other presidents and a few
other high ranking men.
One of the
things that leads people to misunderstand the depth of this book is that the
first six chapters are seen individually, as disconnected children’s stories. Just
for the fun of it, Google “Daniel in the lion’s den,” and then click on
“images.” Notice how many of the pictures do not show that Daniel was in his
eighties. I found one picture that looked like “Samson in the lion’s den.”
Anyway, it should be impossible to read chapters 1-6 and not know that 70 years
have passed, but most people still visualize Daniel as a young man.
V. 16 How did
Darius have this information? I think Darius had known this about Daniel most
of his life.
V. 18 No TV, no
dancing girls, no nothing! Why in the world is a pagan king fasting, and whom
is he seeking by his praying and fasting? Why couldn’t he sleep? What was he
worried about?
V. 19 Why is he
going to the den so early and with so much agitation? Did he want to collect
the bones? Guys like this never traveled alone, so the coach or the guys who
carried him apparently had to do double-time.
V. 20 Why is he
crying out in anguish? Just think of what Darius says here, servant of the living God. That is a
grade “A” shocker. How did Darius know that?
I think Darius
expected that God would act that night to save Daniel. I think Darius knew all
about God’s education of Nebuchadnezzar: the first dream, the dedication and
furnace, and particularly the events that led up to Neb being punished. All of
these actions were official Babylonian events, recorded in Aramaic, copied,
sent out to the capitals of the provinces and filed. Then, the night that
Darius took over, he heard of this strange event in the ballroom. He and Mrs.
Darius walked into their new ballroom the next day to decide on paint and
drapes, and there on the wall they saw the words carved in the plaster. Not
only did he know the stories of what had happened to Neb, but now he had become
a part of that history of this mighty God who mixes Himself in empires, and
disciplines those kings who resist Him. For Darius, living in Babylon might
have been kind of like inheriting a haunted house. I think that when Darius
realized he had been tricked and maneuvered into putting Daniel to death, he
feared for his life before Yahweh.
Vs. 21-23 Not
only was Darius happy (and off the hook), but it was a visual sign and miracle
to all of those officials and soldiers who were with him.
V. 24 Darius
was also very mad. It was time for some "payback." And just like we
saw in the book of Esther, when the decree was given to destroy the Jews, their
enemies revealed who they were and were dealt with.
Vs. 25-27 I
just have a few observations here. First, another pagan king is worshiping God.
Actually, Darius is doing such a good job of it, you wonder if this event moved
him to become a worshiper of Yahweh only.
Second, Darius
writes a binding decree for the entire Persian Empire stating that people were
to fear Yahweh. Remember that Nebuchadnezzar did this after the furnace in
chapter 3. The force of Neb’s decree was that no one dared force the Jews to
worship any god but their own. That decree protected the Jews up until the
Persian Empire. When the Persians came to power, they hit the “reset” button
and the Jews were threatened again with being forced to worship other gods.
With this decree, the Jews were again a favored people in the empire and they
were granted the freedom to worship Yahweh only.
Third, this
information, the entire written account, would have been sent out in Aramaic to
all the ends of the earth, not just the empire. Cyrus would have gotten a copy.
The first year of Darius was also the first year of Cyrus. Guess what Cyrus did
in his first year, and after this event? He sent the Jews back to Jerusalem to
rebuild the temple. Notice that they were sent to rebuild the temple, not the
city. The focus of Cyrus' decree was the worship of Yahweh and wanting to earn
Yahweh's favor. Was this event the catalyst to Cyrus’ decree? That makes a lot
more sense to me than that God just whammied him and Cyrus mindlessly did it.
Read Ezra 1:1-2, and you’ll notice that Cyrus had a lot of information. He most
certainly had been influenced by what happened to Neb and Cyrus might have read
some of the official Babylonian documents that had been written by Daniel, that
is, chapters 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7. (Chapter 7 is interesting and was written in
Aramaic, years earlier.) I think that God used this crisis to put the fire
under Cyrus to seek the favor of God and to send the Jews home.
Fourth, look at
what God does through crisis. In God’s hands, crisis is our friend. This should
teach us something.
Fifth, though
Belshazzar knew what God had done to Nebuchadnezzar, he failed to learn from it
and paid the price. Darius was different. He not only observed; he took it to
heart. Darius got an “A.”
As disciples,
when Jesus tells us to go into the harvest and not to fear, I think He can
really back that up. The question is, after reading all of this, have we
learned anything?
2 Peter 3
Vs. 1-3 Peter
is doing the same thing that Paul did with Timothy, when he told Tim in both
letters that in the last days there would be false teachers. In this case Peter
is saying that, from within the church, there will come false teachers who,
among other things, will cause others not to take certain things seriously.
People will scoff at God. It happens, too, and as a result, bitter,
disillusioned, fruitless believers are easy to find.
Vs. 4-7 In this
case they are creating doubt regarding the return of the Lord and judgment.
Peter uses the example of the flood, to show that what happened once will
certainly happen again. The same Word that created the world has brought
judgment once, by water, and will bring it again. As sure as there is a visible
world, there will be a time of accountability before the Creator. I think the
issue here is not only God’s delay, but whether He will bring judgment.
Vs. 8-10 Notice
the prominence of the harvest and the importance of our mission in what Peter
says here. The reason that God is waiting is for the harvest to be brought in.
Notice that this judgment will come with fire on the earth. That sounds like
the book of Revelation.
Vs. 11-13 Since
we know the judgment is coming, we should live a particular kind of life,
following Jesus. Since everything on earth will be done away with, except
people, saving people is the goal, not acquiring stuff or fulfilling our
desires. By working in the harvest, bringing in those whom God will save, we
are hastening the coming of the Lord. Notice that Peter adds some reality here
regarding the coming judgment and the promise of our future not being on this
earth, but on the new one. Too many believers still think that heaven is on
this earth. This earth and this time on earth is like the foyer or entrance to
a building. We haven't really entered the true building yet.
Vs. 14-18
Notice here that Paul’s writings are equated as Scripture. The people are to
resist the false teachers, wait on the Lord, honor God and work in the harvest
during this time of God’s patience. Notice that there were "other
Scriptures" besides what Paul had written. This could be referring to the
Gospels of Mark, Luke and the letter from James.
V. 18 says it
all. Amen!
The time to be
working in the harvest is now, before God's judgment begins. And, this is the
perfect season in many western nations to use Christmas as a conversation
starter, or to show kindness to someone in the name of our Lord.
Psalm
119:129-152
Vs. 129-130
Here, the Word becomes the light to the soul, giving understanding. Unfolding gives the sense of the Word
gradually making sense to us as we spend time in it daily.
Vs. 131-136 On
the basis of the light you have, you know how to move and respond in the
darkness. David had plenty of darkness around him.
V. 133 David
needed God to steady his steps and this came through the Word. In reading this,
I think of how strong David was when he was afflicted and distressed. He was
forced to go to the Lord in His Word. It seems like David lived in the Word.
When he got comfortable and busy and important in his palace, I think he let
the Word gather dust, and we’ve read the tragic results.
Vs. 137-144
Righteousness seems to be important in this section. Righteousness is like a
standard, or measurement or guide to help us. Driving "righteously"
would be obeying the rules, stopping at signs and staying inside the lines. We
learn of God's guides for us in His Word. David's adversaries were out of
bounds in pursuing David. It was a matter of knowing God's Word and living
righteously before Him. David was distressed by the danger and the unjustness,
but the Word gave David comfort. The righteousness of God and those standards
expressed in the Word pleaded David's case.
Vs. 145-146
David's interest in God and in His Word was with his whole heart.
Vs. 147-148 I
wonder if this was David’s quiet time. Notice the mention of the promise.
Vs. 149-151 And
here’s the reason David got up so early. David knew of the steadfast love of God as revealed in His Word. God was near.
V. 152 David
knew that the Word was eternal.
This makes me
think that we need to pursue the Lord in times of “peace,” the way we do in
times of need and distress. The reality of this life is that we live behind
enemy lines, with people around us being deceived and destroyed, around the
clock. When God gives us peace, we shouldn’t abuse it by forgetting why He has
left us here. We are to pursue Him in this dark harvest, following Christ,
reaching the lost, making disciples, who make disciples. Very soon, both in the
OT and in the NT, we will begin reading about the judgment that is coming.
Proverbs
28:21-22
V. 21 I’m sure
this was another reason why Jesus taught His disciples that we should expect
our bread from God and lay up treasure in heaven. If that’s where our bread
comes from, we can’t be bought.
V. 22 I’m sure
that “poverty of soul” is included in this.
If you’re reading along
and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this link http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't work, go to http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/ and click on “Every Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these
comments to and for those who are following a One Year Bible and interested in
growing deeper as a disciple, following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see
the growth of a discipleship culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples,
meeting weekly, encouraging each other to follow Christ and work to reach out
and make disciples who make disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal
manual we have and key to our growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us
more focused on why we are here or what we are to be doing. My comments are
only meant to provide some explanation of the events or to show the flow of
God's plan of redemption. My comments are in no way exhaustive, but are
designed to keep us focused on Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is
that the people in these groups will grow in Christ and be willing, after a
year, to find 3 others to meet with and encourage in their growth as disciples,
disciples making disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a
complete description of this model of being and making disciples you can find
it in my book: Simply Disciples*Making Disciples.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011WJIDQA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
If you would like a more
descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the
Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is the
commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never
hurts.
I am not endorsing any
particular One Year Bible; in fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte
Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with
us is welcome to do so and is encouraged to take their own notes and make their
own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular
tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to
criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has
written to us, as I understand it. Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like
documents containing an entire month of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download these to use on your computer or to
print.
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