Daniel 4:19-27, A Prophet in the Courts of Mighty Kings

There are several things about the OT book of Daniel that cause it to stand out, and make it a must-read/must-study for Christians.

1.    It is the closest thing in the OT to a chronology of the future.

2.    It is a key book to understanding Revelation and the Olivet Discourse (Mt. 24-25).

3.    It is the bulwark of Biblical supernaturalism.  Daniel sees the rise and fall of the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek and Roman empires.

There are some peculiarities about the book of Daniel.  First is the language.  Ch. 1-2, 8-12 are in Hebrew.  The rest is in Aramaic (2:4-7 is also Aramaic).  The Hebrew portions pertain more to the Jews while the rest is prophecy concerning the Gentiles.  Second, most of the prophecy in Daniel is addressed to Gentiles while more prophets were talking to the Jews.  There have been many attacks on the integrity of Daniel, questioning its historical accuracy, literary style and theology.  The reason is that if Daniel stands, it destroys a lot of “scholars” who have sought to deny the supernatural character of the Bible.  In our own verse-by-verse posts on Daniel we dealt with several of these.  Again, it can be found on our blogs between 8/24 and 9/30 of 2020.

The purpose of Daniel’s writings can be considered in two ways.  The prophetic portions (Ch. 2,4,7-9,11-12) present the commencement, character, course and consummation of the times of the Gentiles.  Since that time, Jerusalem has been under the control and influence of the Nations.  The historical portions (Ch. 1,3,5-6,10) show God’s people how to live, act and react under tyranny.  It describes how to live for the LORD in an evil world, illustrating Biblical separation.

The historical background of Daniel.  After Gen. 11 God dealt with the Jews (Patriarchs-Egypt-Exodus-Wilderness-Canaan-Judges-Kings).  He tries to get Israel to live right but they repeatedly foul it up.  Finally, God judges them.  Sargon of Assyria in 721 BC takes the northern Ten Tribes.  God continues to warn Judah, sending many prophets.  Then in 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar takes captives from Judah.  They were to be trained to help Babylon, perhaps in Judah.  At this time the temple and city of Jerusalem had not been destroyed.  Nebuchadnezzar set up a puppet king in Judah.  But this king conspired against Babylon, so Nebuchadnezzar came again, not destroying the temple, but taking about 10,000 captives (Daniel and his three friends were part of this deportation.)  He established another king, but he also conspired.  Jeremiah was saying they should submit to Babylon.  Finally, Nebuchadnezzar came and wiped out Jerusalem, taking almost all the Jews to Babylon.

Here is a simple outline of Daniel.

1.    History, Ch. 1-6.  The reigns of Nebuchadnezzar (Ch. 1-4), Belshazzar (Ch. 5), and Darius (Ch. 6).

2.    Prophecy, Ch. 7-12. Visions of four beasts (Ch. 7), two beasts (Ch. 8), and 70 weeks (Ch. 9) and final communications (Ch. 10-12).