Ezekiel 14:12-20, Background to Daniel (2)

 Here are approximate dates for the events and prophecies of Daniel. I would suggest you take some time to read it in its entirety when you can.

• 1:1:   606 Daniel’s deportation and three years training.
• 2:1:   603 Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and elevation in office.
• 5:31: 539 Daniel interprets the handwriting on the wall for Belshazzar.
• 6:1:   538 Daniel in the lion’s den, as Darius 1 (Gobryas) began to rule.
• 7:1    553 Daniel’s earlier vision of “four great beasts.”
• 8:1    551 Daniel’s earlier vision of the ram and male goat.
• 9:1    539 Daniel’s vision of “seventy weeks” for Israel.
• 10-12 536: Daniel’s vision of Persia, Greece and the end times.

Daniel was a prophet, but not in the sense of, say, Elijah or Jeremiah where that was their “occupation.”  Daniel was obviously a governmental servant.  Yet he spoke for God.  In fact, he delivered some of the most powerful and important prophecies in all of Scripture.  Because of his different role, the Jewish Scriptures place his book in the “writings” (Hagiographa) between Esther and Ezra, rather than among the prophetic books as in our Bible.  He was a contemporary of Jeremiah (he prophesied in Judah, 627-586), Habakkuk (he prophesied that God would use Babylon to judge Judah; 609-598), Ezekiel (he prophesied in Babylon, having been deported in the second deportation, 592-572) and Obadiah (he prophesied of Edom’s demise for her treatment of Israel during the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, 586-583).  Ezra and Nehemiah rose to prominence in the time of the return, in Daniel’s later years.  There is no statement that Daniel returned to Judah at that time. 

Daniel’s prophecy is very strategic in that he served the Lord at the beginning of what the Bible calls “the times of the Gentiles.”  This refers to the time Israel is ruled over by the nations (Luke 21:24).  God uses Daniel to highlight the overruling sovereignty of the one true God, who condemns and destroys the rebellious world power and faithfully delivers His covenant people.

What can we learn from Daniel?  In terms of character, we do not see in Daniel the “flaw” that is normally evident in the lives of God’s men.  Today’s passage from Ezekiel shows us God’s estimation of Daniel, placing him alongside Noah and Job as great men of intercession before God.  In what I see as a key verse (Dan. 1:8) we see the key to Daniel’s life: he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself.  He is a powerful example, telling us that by God’s grace and power, it is possible to live a godly life, even in the halls of wicked rulers. 

This book gives us great insight into “the Mystery of God,” God’s plan to exalt His Son by giving Him the nations as an inheritance (Psa. 2:6-9; Heb. 1:1-3).  In other words, the book that bears Daniel’s name highly exalts our Lord Jesus Christ.