Daniel Chapter 1 Series

Daniel – Chapter 1

A. Chapter 1 Outline

I. Daniel The Prophet (1:1-7)

a. Babylonian Conquest (1:1-2)

b. The Kings Command (1:3-5)

c. The Hebrew Captives (1:6-7)

II. Daniel’s Problem (1:8-10)

a. Daniel’s Request (1:8-9)

b. Ashpenaz’s Reluctance (1:10)

III. Daniel’s Proposition (1:11-16)

a. Their Desire (1:11-13)

b. Their Diet (1:14)

c. Their Development (1:15-16)

IV. Daniel’s Profit (1:17-21)

a. Spiritual Revelation (1:17)

b. Royal Elevation (1:18-20)

c. Personal Continuation (1:21)

B. Message

God had made a covenant with the people of Israel, promising that He would care for them and bless them if they obeyed His statutes, but if they disobeyed, He would chasten them and scatter them among the Gentiles Lev 26:33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.

Instead of Israel being a light to the Gentiles and revealing the glories of the True and Living God, they became more like the Gentiles and worshipped their false gods. This is probably the reason for God giving the Israelite into the hands of the Chaldeans. Babylon was the home of idolatry so the Jews were sent there so they might learn to loath the idols they had loved.

Daniel was barely more than a boy when the Babylonian axe fell. Daniel was transformed from near royalty to iron captivity. His ministry spanned the entire period of the prophesied seventy-year captivity of the Jews in Babylon, so he could not have been much more than a teenager when Nebuchadnezzar came on the scene.

The approach of the Babylonians had been watched closely in Jerusalem and Judah. Nobody could have been ignorant of what their arrival meant. Jeremiah had been proclaiming it for years – and a high price he paid for it as well. The “Time of the Gentiles” was about to begin.

I. Daniel The Prophet (1:1-7)

a. Babylonian Conquest (1:1-2)

Here we find the fulfilment of what God had previously declared would soon take place through Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other prophets. For years God had been sending prophets to the backsliding kings of Judah, warning them that this day would come. Even though the children of Israel had been His chosen people, because of their sin He was going to give them over to the power of their enemies, and their land was to lie desolate.

According to Leviticus 25 – sabbatical year ????

God had told Israel when they came into the land that every 7th year was to be His. For 490 years they had not kept one sabbatical year. God had told them that if they gave every seventh year to Him they would have an abundance in the sixth year to last them until the harvest in the eighth year. They evidently did not believe God and thought that they would be better off themselves.

How many Sabbath years did they miss in a span of 490 years? 70

How long were they carried away captive for? 70

There were several deportations of Jews to Babylon both before and after the fall of Jerusalem, and it appears that Daniel and his three friends were taken in 605 BC. The prophet Ezekiel was sent to Babylon in 597 BC and the Temple was destroyed in 586BC.

b. The Kings Command (1:3-5)

Verse 3

The king’s policy was to train the best people of the conquered nations to serve in his government. He could benefit from their knowledge of their own people and could use their skills to strengthen his own administration.

However, in order to prevent these “bright sparks” from revolting or urging their seed to rebel in the future, it is possible that they were rendered eunuchs and therefore fulfilling the prophecy in Isaiah 39:5-7 Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: [6] Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD. [7] And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

When you read the Old Testament you find that the majority of God’s people do not always follow the Lord and keep His Commandments. It is always a “Faithful Remnant” within the Jewish nation that has come through the trials and judgements to maintain the divine covenant and make a new beginning.

Verse 4

The old Jewish wisdom had to go; from now on they would learn the wisdom of the world, the wisdom of Babylon. Not only do they have to learn the wisdom of Babylon but also the language of their captors (the world has a different language). The king hoped that this brainwashing would make them better servants.