Daniel – prophet and statesman

Aug 16
20:48

2006

Ed Haase

Ed Haase

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Daniel was a captive but became a statesman in a strange land.

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The Prophet Daniel lived in the 6th century B.C. The book Daniel from the Old Testament was written about 535 B.C.

Daniel was kind of a stranger in a strange land. He lived during a time when the jewish people seemed to have little hope. They were living as captives in the exile of Babylon,Daniel – prophet and statesman Articles hundreds of miles from home, after Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon conquered Jerusalem around 600 B.C. and took the people away to Babylon.

Daniel was like Ezekiel one of the brought away persons. The book describes how Daniel and his friends are taken to Babylon as young men. Although they were captives, they received an excellent education and rose to high positions in the Babylonian and Persian governments. So Daniel and his best two friends later (under the new King Darius) were chosen as administrators to supervise the princes and to watch out for the King’s interests. Daniel proved himself more capable than all of the other administrators. But because of their faith in the God of Israel they were persecuted and even sentenced to die. God rewarded them for their faithfullness, however, and they were rescued from certain death (for instance Daniel in the Lions’ Den). Daniel had several other encounters with King Nebuchadnezzar or his successors and God revealed his sovereignty in each instance. The second half of the book records Daniel’s visions of future events. One of the best known prophecies was about the four coming kingdoms, that will rule the earth, Babylon, Persia, Greece and then Rome. History proved all his visions true, of course with the exception of the events that still lie in the future. These dreams and the stories of Daniel and his friends provided encouragement for the Jews to remain faithful to God in the midst of persecution.

The purpose of the book is to demonstrate through Daniel’s experiences that God is sovereign over the whole earth and to encourage the Jews to remain faithful to God despite persecution.

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