Setting the Stage – Daniel 1:1-2

 There are a number of ways to introduce a study such as we are commencing today. I have only five commentaries dedicated to the Book of Daniel, and they begin in different ways. One way is to simply start examining the very first verses . Another way is to declare the inspiration of the Word of God and to state the authority of this book. This is certainly a worthwhile occupation of our time. But perhaps it’s not necessary where the congregation is already convinced. Another is to outline the book, giving an overview of what the student should expect. And then among others, it might be good to look at the background into which this book is thrust. This what we are going to do this afternoon.

Who are Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar and Jehoiakim at the outset of this book? Perhaps they will be different people by the conclusion of our study, but who are they now? There will obviously be some overlapping, but let’s consider Babylon and then Israel. Some of you will find this fascinating and others perhaps not so much. Please, at the very least, give it a try.

Babylon.Some of your Bibles have notes in the margins – put in there by the publisher. So some of you will have a date printed there – 606 BC or perhaps 607. This is the time which most scholars say that Jerusalem first fell to the Babylonians. If you turned to the Book of Jonah you’d see the year 862 BC or about 250 years earlier than Daniel. Jonah preached repentance to the city of Ninevah, the capital of Assyria. With the smile of God, Assyria gained control of nearly all the territory from the Mediterranean Sea to India. The first time that we read of Assyria in the Bible, she had begun plaguing the Ten Northern Tribes of Israel in II Kings 15 and the marginal date in my Bible is about 80 years after Jonah. Eventually, Assyria took that part of Israel in captivity. They then tried to destroy Judah, but the blessing of God prevented them.

Far to the south, the Assyrians had a rival in the Egyptians, and the area of their dispute moved back and forth over the territory of Israel. Then along came a third power – Babylon. And eventually a Babylonian king defeated the Assyrian Empire and destroyed Ninevah. His name was Nabopolassar. With Assyria out of the way, the Egyptians overran the southern districts of the old empire. But the Babylonians didn’t enjoy the Egyptian’s interloping on their newly conquered territory so Nabopolassar sent his son to deal with that problem. At one of the most important battles of ancient history at a place called “Carchemish” on the upper reaches of the Euphrates River in southern Turkey, the Babylonians defeated Egypt, driving them home and ending even their claim over Palestine. As II Kings tells us about Jehoiakim, this king of Judah in Daniel 1, it also mentions Egypt and Babylon. II Kings 24:7 – “And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.”

At about the same time as the Battle of Carchemish, Nebuchadezzar sent this army to besiege Jerusalem. Jerusalem had never fallen to the Asyrians, and the Babylonians wanted this great prize. “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand.” Israel then became a vassal state to the Babylonians, forced to send heavy tribute to her foreign masters. Judah was also forced to give many of her brightest children to be trained by the Babylonians, and to be a kind of hostage. And yet, after three years Judah rebelled, and the armies of Babylon returned, decimating Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar then took Jehoiakim and set a new Jewish king on the throne – Zedekiah. Again Judah rebelled and Babylon returned once again. This time Judah and Israel was virtually whipped off the face of the earth.

For the history of Judah, we can turn to the pages of the Word of God.II Kings 22:1 – “Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign (over Judah), and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.” Some of your Bibles will tell you that this was in 641 BC about 35 years before Daniel 1. Josiah oversaw the restoration of the neglected of the Temple. Those workmen discovered a copy of God’s Word, and Josiah had it read publically to the entire nation. He the attacked the idolatry and witchcraft of the people, and applied himself to the covenant of the Lord, commanding the observance of the almost forgotten Passover. Josiah was one of the brightest lights in the galaxy of Judean kings.

But now look at II Kings 23:29-37. In the middle of the next verse – 24:1 we could insert Daniel 1 – “In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.” Now let’s read II Kings 24:1 to 25:21. Let’s add a couple more scriptures to these – Jeremiah 1:1-3; Jeremiah 22:13-19; 24-30.

Why have I given you all this material? To show you what sort of world it was in which we find Daniel.

And now for an application – People are prone to think that when things start to go bad in their world that they are suffering more than anyone ever has before. “Oh, what a terrible president we have, and look at the destroyed economy. Just about every fourth person that I know seems to have some form of cancer” I got an email from a young friend of mine, who was told yesterday that his job had been eliminated. “Oh, woe is us.” But put yourselves into the shoes of the people of Europe during the two World Wars, or the world during the flu pandemic at the beginning of the last century. Picture the historical genocide of whole nations; and of the slaughter of our Baptist forefathers. We might think that our world could never get worse, but it can and will in the seven years after the translation of the saints – possibly even before then. And then consider that it has been much worse in earlier days as well. The final destruction of Jerusalem under Nebchadnezzar was horrific. And how do you think that the parents of Daniel felt when their precious son was dragged off to Iraq.

But even in the midst of the very worst of times, there are the very best of men – like that said Daniel. There is always the opportunity to serve the Lord and to bring glory to His name. Despite all the bad things which you think may be befalling you, there is still our omnipotent, loving God. And there is still the opportunity to serve and to glorify Him. I will probably say this several times over the next few months – “Dare to be a Daniel – Dare to stand alone! Dare to have a purpose firm! Dare to make it known.”