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To the post exilic Jew, this message is extremely challenging once again, whether that is under the Persians, Greeks, Romans, or at any point in history. He genuinely cares that his people continue to follow his will and his Law even in a new context where it is inconvenient and even dangerous. He handed them over to the Babylonians and they are “getting what they deserve.” But this is not the attitude of the Lord. In each case, God protects them even though they are willing to die than break important boundaries of their faith in God.Īfter the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jewish people may have thought God no longer cares for his people. Daniel 3 and 6 put the characters to the test in life threatening situations (a fiery furnace and a lion’s den). There is a potential for suffering in the first chapter. There are several stories presenting Daniel and his friends in difficult situations where their faith is tested. God cares about the suffering of his people. Yet Daniel presents God as raising up the empires and humbling him according to his will. How could God allow the Babylonians to destroy the Temple of God in his most holy city Jerusalem! This is the complaint of Habakkuk, who questioned God’s use of the Babylonians to punish Israel. It would be very easy for a Jew to doubt God was truly in charge of world events. They never realized the ideal of the Davidic kingdom of the Old Testament.
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The Jewish people went from submission to the Babylonians to the Greeks and later to the Romans. That was what the prophets promised! But this restoration did not happen as many expected. After the captivity the Jews thought they were going to return to Jerusalem and God would restore the kingdom to them. This message would be extremely comforting for the Jew living in the post-exilic world, under the Persians, Greeks, Romans, or at any point in their history. The Lord gives Daniel his special ability to interpret dreams. It is the Lord who protects them and gives them advantage over all of the other exiles being trained for service to Babylon. It is the Lord who gives favor to Daniel and gives prosperity to the four you exiles. When Nebuchadnezzar captures Jerusalem and takes Daniel and his three friends captive to Babylon, the writer is clear it is the Lord who handed Jehoiakim into the hands of Babylon. This theme begins in the first few verses of chapter 1. That God is sovereign over the world is a theme found throughout Scripture but it is in the forefront of the book of Daniel. Daniel looks forward to a time when God will restore his people and fulfill all of his promises made to Abraham, David, and the Prophets.įirst, the main theme of Daniel is God is Sovereign. He is still fully in charge of the world and he cares deeply for the suffering of his people. Daniel is clear: God has not changed nor has God been defeated by gods of Babylon. The message of Daniel speaks to these issues. After all, where had serving Yahweh gotten them, except exiled from their homeland? Perhaps, the gods of the Babylonians were more powerful than the God of Israel? Maybe Yahweh is a cruel and capricious god who goes back on his promises? Perhaps the Jew in exile should switch loyalties and follow the greater gods of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. God’s judgment was severe, perhaps he has canceled his promises when scattered his people among the nations to love as foreigners and aliens. For the exiles forced to settle in Babylon, it may have appeared God had forsaken his people. It was unthinkable the Temple itself could be dismantled, the Temple treasures stolen and placed at the feet of a pagan god in a temple in Babylon.īeyond the national disaster, the fall of Jerusalem was a spiritual and theological disaster. They might be oppressed by Assyria or Babylon, but God would always rescue them.
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Prior to 586 BC they believed that because they were God’s people and God dwelled on Mount Zion, the city of Jerusalem would never be destroyed. The fall of Jerusalem was a profound crisis of faith for the Jewish people. Daniel has several major theological themes which might be overlooked if we focus only on the difficult interpretive problems. It is easy to get bogged down in the details of apocalyptic literature when reading Daniel and miss the important theology of the book.