DANIEL, primer

DANIEL
How does the message of DANIEL bring hope to God’s faithful people in times of hardship and persecution?


What Makes DANIEL Special
In the Hebrew Scriptures, DANIEL is listed in the section called the Writings. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament made during the third and second centuries B.C. (called the Septuagint), it is listed among the prophetical books. DANIEL has been described both as prophecy and as an apocalypse, a kind of literature that uses symbols, signs, and interpretations of the underlying meaning of events in current history in order to describe how God will triumph over his enemies and the enemies of God’s people.

The first six chapters of DANIEL are a collection of stories about Daniel and his friends, young Jewish men who were taken into exile in Babylon, where they became important government officials and where their faith in God was severely tested. Some of the famous stories in DANIEL are:
• Daniel’s training in Babylon: he and his friends refused the king’s food and wine to show their faithfulness to the Jewish food law (Ch 1)
• Daniel’s Friends in the Fiery Furnace: Daniel’s friends remained unscathed even after they were thrown in the burning furnace (Ch 3)
• The Writing on the Wall, fingers of a human appeared and wrote on the wall the famous line “Mene, mene, tekel, parsin.” (Ch 5)
• Daniel in the Lion’s Den: Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den for praying to God (Ch 6)
The second half of the book reports Daniel’s visions which show God’s control of historical events and provide hope for those who remain faithful in times of persecution.

Why Was DANIEL Written?
The book of DANIEL was written to provide hope and encouragement to God’s people. Daniel and his friends were heroes and role models for the Jewish people because they remained faithful to God while serving foreign kings who often persecuted them.

The book of DANIEL was written by Daniel, a young Jewish man. He was exiled in Babylon and trained in the king’s court for three years. Later, he entered the king’s service and became an important government official. The book of DANIEL was written in the context of exile. The stories of Daniel and his friends challenge God’s people who are suffering persecution to remain faithful to God’s law and his ways. Daniel’s visions and their interpretations show God’s involvement and amazing intervention into world affairs. The book clearly points at God’s sovereignty over the kingdoms of men and assures us that there is deliverance after suffering and persecution.


Famous Verse: “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin”
25-28The words written there are mene, which means " numbered," tekel, which means " weighed," and parsin, which means " divided." God has numbered the days of your kingdom and has brought it to an end. He has weighed you on his balance scales, and you fall short of what it takes to be king. So God has divided your kingdom between the Medes and the Persians.