This week we delve into the book of Daniel. This is an interesting book on several different levels: on one hand, there are some stories that many of us recall from childhood Sunday School lessons; then there are parts of Daniel (don’t worry, we are not reading these parts in the Quest plan) that are real head-scratchers. Frankly, the latter half of Daniel—again, which we are not reading this week—reads much like the book of the Revelation in the New Testament.
The book of Daniel opens with the acknowledgement that the people of Judah have been defeated by the nation of Babylon, and the people subsequently have been exiled to Babylon. You’ve heard about this in previous weeks, but it bears repeating. Remember that the Judeans were not refugees; they were functionally prisoners of war.
Some of the Judeans were separated out and forced to participate in a “re-education” program, thus becoming Babylonians in knowledge and culture. Daniel and three of his friends were among them. They resisted some of the dietary acculturation, and because they stayed true to Yahweh, they excelled in every way. King Nebuchadnezzar elevated them—until they refused to bow down and worship the image of the King. At this point we read the first story we remember from childhood. Three of the men from Judah (not Daniel) were thrown into a fiery furnace, but God protected them, and they survived.
Nebuchadnezzar had a fantastic dream that his advisors could not interpret, but Daniel could; he explained the dream to the king (“You’re going to go bonkers for a while, King, but you’ll come through it OK”), and life went on.
A new king arose. (This was the genesis of the “writing on the wall” phrase.) The king carried out acts at a banquet that offended God, and Daniel interpreted the writing on the wall (see devotional below).
Then we experience the other story we recall from childhood, in which Daniel engaged in an act of civil disobedience. His action resulted in his receiving a sentence of capital punishment—he was thrown into a den of lions, but as with the men in the furnace, God saved him.
Daniel 9 shares the prayer that Daniel offered in response to the realization from God that the exile would last seventy years.
Our Psalm this week, 84, is a reflection on the goodness of God, and the manifold blessings found in the presence of the Lord and in the context of offering ourselves to Him.