Daniel-God's Compliant Servant

[Beulah5]

Finally we are off to a start!!!

Dan 1:1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.


Dan 1:2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.


Dan 1:3 And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring [certain] of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes;


Dan 1:4 Children in whom [was] no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as [had] ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.


Dan 1:5 And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king.


Dan 1:6 Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:


Dan 1:7 Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel [the name] of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego.


Dan 1:8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.


Dan 1:9 Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs.


Dan 1:10 And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which [are] of your sort? then shall ye make [me] endanger my head to the king.


Dan 1:11 Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,


Dan 1:12 Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.


Dan 1:13 Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.


Dan 1:14 So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days.


Dan 1:15 And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat.


Dan 1:16 Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse.


Dan 1:17 As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.


Dan 1:18 Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.


Dan 1:19 And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king.


Dan 1:20 And in all matters of wisdom [and] understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians [and] astrologers that [were] in all his realm.


Dan 1:21 And Daniel continued [even] unto the first year of king Cyrus.

[Beulah5]

(Dan 1:1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.


Dan 1:2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.


These first 2 verse speak volumes to me although it is usually bypassed for many.

Let me just share a brief history here-dates have always proved a problem in Daniel.

It is a book that encompasses so many different cultures, the accession of 4 kings (yes Daniel saw 4 kings come and go).

Even though it is what we will describe as a small book the volume of revelation and treasure in it is pivotal and critical to our understanding of God, who He is, the spirit realm, His prophetic timetable, history and God as a divine timekeeper.

Simply put Daniel can be described as the book which reveals that the Lord God Yahweh is the one who rules over the affairs of man.

That He is all powerful and that there is nothing that happens without His knowledge.

Is that not a great comfort?

In no other Old Testament Book is this verse seen more clearly

Isa 40:22 [It is] he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof [are] as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

Many of us are so panicky about everything. We panic when there is war and we panic when there is no war. We panic when there is trouble and we panic when there is no trouble. We get so edgy and finicky about everything that I personally believe is an embarassment to the God that we serve.

Does He not know the times and hands even before they were ordained?

Is He not the divine Architect and the Divine timekeeper and is He not able to cater and care for His own?

I am personally tired of everytime a disaster happens it becomes opportunity for someone to release their 3.5 tape series with matching DVD and get a free mug when you order today.

That seems to make people even more panicky .

I believe that the christian's response to trouble is to get excited and exalt the God of the heavens who declares the end from the beginning. When disaster strikes our attitude should not be one of dismay rather it should be opportunity for us to rejoice and draw closer to God and find out what our next step should be.

If we continue to fear circumstances and death then what is our 'blessed hope'? How different are we from unbelievers?

At church last night the subject came up that we might in the future have to go underground again and while i dont believe that is going to happen anytime soon i thought: good maybe that is exactly what we need

The thing that i love most about Daniel and trust me there are many but one of the foremost is we see a man who did not seem to be overly bothered but what was happening around him. His trust was totally in the fact that God had a plan and a purpose-so we get taken into exile so what?

Oh my my.....Today we call that kind of attitude noncahalant but actually one of the reasons why some of us journeys are taking soooo long is because everytime we are beset by a circumstance just getting over the shock and supprise of it all takes us 2 years.

Then it takes us 5 years to accept it.

Then it takes us another 5 to understand that God is in it.

And that is only for Trial/circumstance 1.

The people who God is able to extract the most of are those whose hearts are not moved. Who nothing shatters them. Who do not have some theology that says that it is never God's will to 'make u go through that and so resist it and try to figure it out cos it's the devil'.

When we see Daniel it is not long after the exile but we see him leaping into action.

He was not a shrink's couch. He was not bemoaning the fact that pastor had not made time to counsel him through 'what he was going through' He was not expecting anyone to 'bear with Him'. He knew that God who ruled over the affairs of men bore with him and that was enough. Neither was he down by the rivers of Babylon with other captives strumming away on harps and eating the bread of sorrows buttered with the margarine of self-pity.

No we see a man who was ready to move on in the new place he had found himself.
Wherever the man went he bloomed. That is why i have titled him the compliant servant-wherever God placed him whether he had supporters or not he simply carried on. God did not have to wrestle with him over why, when, how etc etc

He was malleable to every circumstance.

Indeed indeed this is the mark of one who has truly walked with God:

Psa 112:7 He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.


P.S: I havent even touched on verse 1 yet! Lol ;D ;D

[Bystander]

Lesson 1

Proverbs 3:5-6. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct they paths."

[Beulah5]

Bystander said:

Lesson 1

Proverbs 3:5-6. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct they paths."

Preach sistah!

[Beulah5]

Dan 1:1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.

Now one of the things that i feel a need to mention about Daniel is that for centuries there were arguments over the historicity of the book.

Many believed that Daniel himself was not the one who wrote it and that it was compiled by some other people in later centuries.

This was another attack on disproving the Bible because if he daniel did not write then why the use of the first person singular?

Also that would have made Jesus a liar since He Himself confirmed that Daniel himself was the author when he said:

"Mar 13:14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains: "

The main problem that historians had were with the fact that Daniel is written in 4 languages including Greek.

They could not figure out how greek came into the picture and how the man could have that language.
This was resolved when some papyrus were found in what used to be Elephantine and proved that it was a language used by the well educated sometimes in Daniel's time.

This findings also confirmed the fact that all those instruments that Nebuchadnezzar commanded his servants to blow to announce the worship of the gold statue were also in existence at the time.

Thirdly the issue was that Daniel is full of so many dates which were seen as problematic for instance the first verse.

The Bible says that in the 3rd year however history shows that Jehoiakim had been king for 4 years at the time.

Many archaelogists mocked the Bible for centuries untill Senacherrib's palace was discovered which gave historians a view on Babylonian life.

It turns out that for Babylonian kings that the first year was called the year of accession and was not numbered with the other years.

So someone who has been ruling for 2 years would have been said to have been ruling for one because they did not count the year the person came into power.

God's word is true and can withstand any test of time

[Beulah5]

;)Ok that was just a small detour. I have no intention of getting us bogged down in theology...except for the odd bit

Let's carry on.

Any thoughts or questions so far?

[Nikkol]

I think about Daniel's faith... He was willing to "stand on God" that he didn't have to eat the king's food because he knew the truth..... could you imagine what we could do if we were to stand on God no matter what everyone else was doing/saying around me..... (reminds me of Elijah)

[Beulah5]

Good points Nikkol.

I believe that will be the normal expectation of the christian life instead of seeing it now as being 'for the chosen few'.

When we get into the second verse we see that it was God who orchestrated and empowered Nebuchadnezzar to come over and strip them of everything down to even the vessels in the temple.....

Does God really strengthen our enemies against us sometimes?

The floor is open.....

[Nikkol]

Does God really strengthen our enemies against us sometimes?

Maybe..... or maybe it is that there are times in our life by which although we are strong, we feel weak... almost like the Israelites felt about the Canaanites.

Or, it could be that they're strengthened in order for us to do what we should do... but Woe unto them for although God used them for His purpose, their ending will be worse than their beginning.....

[Beulah5]

Interesting observation Nikkol.

I do believe that God uses our enemies to chastise us but also their time is also coming where they receive judgement from the hand of God.

God raised up horns to discipline Israel for instance but what happened is that these nations used by the Lord went to the extreme and overdid it.

As for christians who feel weak that about sounds right since our strength lies in Christ and Him alone.