Suppose The Relevance Of Daniel: A Fact or Fiction

By Bobby James

In my Bible studies over the years, I began to see many similarities between life around me and across the globe with what is written in the Bible, especially as it pertains to a prophecy. In my opinion, the Bible from Genesis through Revelation is a prophecy. The very soon return, I hope and pray, of our Lord and savior. Daniel was blessed with receiving amazing visions and dreams from God about the history of man""past, present, and future. I also tried to work in other pertinent scriptures from other books as well. I have been accused by some that I'm writing about doom and gloom, but those remarks come from those who are not believers. I pray for them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 6, 2019
• ISBN: 9781098017651

Book preview

During the Old Testament times, Israel was unified and ruled by one king for 120 years of its history. The number 120 has a significant meaning in human history, but it will not be defined further in this writing. From 1050

B.C.

to 930

B.C.

, three kings, Saul, David, and Solomon, each ruled for forty years. For the most part, these three kings were basically good in the eyes of God while stepping out of line occasionally but then back into good graces after their repentance. Solomon was the third in this trio and had made the Lord angry when he disobeyed the Lord about going after other gods. After Solomon’s death, the unified kingdom was divided into two distinct entities with different royal lineages, Israel and Judah. God himself told Solomon that the nation would split into two separate pieces because he caused the people to worship many pagan gods. One of the pieces was called Israel and the other Judah. For the next few hundred years, many kings at different and sometimes overlapping intervals served as kings of Israel or kings of Judah. Most of the kings during these few hundred years did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord; that is to say they disobeyed commandments and did things their own way. I would say that closely parallels the world in which we now live.

Daniel Chapter 1

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and did viciously attack and besiege Jerusalem. Jehoiakim was one in the long line of the kings of Israel/Judah who did wickedly in the eyes of God. I doubt they had elections in those days so the people would not have had any meaningful choice or say in who was to rule over them. One bad, wicked king led to another and another. And so as to follow God’s plan, Nebuchadnezzar was allowed to capture Jerusalem and take spoil and prisoners.

Nebuchadnezzar was not a God-fearing man. He did evil and wicked things in the eyes of God (I think it would be safe to say he was a Gentile) but was used by God to bring judgment on Jehoiakim king of Judah. You say that doesn’t seem fair to the people since they didn’t have a choice picking their king. It wouldn’t seem to be fair, but apparently the majority of people went along with his unruly and disobedient-to-God behavior. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his, Nebuchadnezzar’s hand. As a result of the loss and surrender by Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar also helped himself to the vessels, gold, silver, and treasures of all kinds in the house of God and all manner of spoils which included a number of the children of Israel/Judah and princes of the king’s seed.

Nebuchadnezzar told his master in charge of gathering the treasures and spoils that he wanted him to bring certain of the children in whom was no blemish (as in no scars, no stained skin, no tattoos, etc.) but well favored (as in appearance, stature, and looks), and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding of science, and had ability to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.

The Chaldeans are people from Chaldea, which was an ancient province of Babylonia. Their culture was deeply rooted in astrology, magic, and occult lore. All of these are an abomination to God. But he allows them to exist, I believe, to use as a sort of learning or disciplining tool, a corrective action so to speak. Our world is steeped in all of these. Are we also headed for a division of our country such as to be a Democrat or Republican, a liberal or conservative, a left wing or right wing, or some combination of all of these so as to cause confusion and chaos and in so doing bring down God’s wrath on civilization? Such wrathful things are world wars; plagues; famines; attacks on unwalled villages, such as the September 11, 2001, attack; weather phenomenon of catastrophic proportions, like what we are having in these modern times; and earthquakes in number and magnitude never before in the recorded history of mankind.

Now when all of these captive children that were well-favored, skillful, and cunning were brought to Babylon and were all housed in Nebuchadnezzar’s house, his flourishing palace, Nebuchadnezzar ordered that these children be put up in comfortable surroundings and that they all should receive a daily provision of the king’s menu. The portion of the king’s menu would have been quite elaborate, that is to say fit for a king. It was also to include portions of the king’s wine which he himself drank. It doesn’t get any better than that—the king’s own wine cellar.

Apparently a majority of the captive children went along with this opulence. Why wouldn’t they? Wine and dine to win them over almost without a fight. Being put up in luxurious rooms, being waited on hand and foot, and being fed food fit for a king and all you could drink. Nebuchadnezzar had ordered that this nourishment program would last about three years, and at the end of that time they might stand before the king.

Most of the children maybe all signed on to this program except four. Four of the children of Judah did not want to sign on to this program containing the king’s menu of meat and drink. They were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Now the high officer in charge gave these four different names. To Daniel he gave the name of Belteshazzar, and to Hananiah he gave the name Shadrach, and to Mishael the name Meshach, and to Azariah the name Abednego. These name changes were probably given because