DANIEL CHAPTER ONE

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In this chapter, we can see that Daniel and his three companions have developed the same strong personality : they are ready to die for their God and they speak with the same voice ! Unfortunately, we don’t know if Job had friends and if they had the same beliefs ! Something is definitely missing !

 

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Daniel 4

So once again the king of Babylon has a dream and no one can give the interpretation except Daniel ! The king of Babylon is going to lose his power and become like a beast eating grass having lost his mind. And Daniel warns him but he doesn’t care and one year after that it happens. Usual story, same human pattern ! No wisdom at all, the world leaders have only empty speeches ! Finally the king of Babylon recovers and gets back his kingdom.

 

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Daniel appears as God’s messenger in God’s fight against the other gods. And Daniel is the only one being able to give the interpretation ! Of course, it is not like in the first case, this time he only gives the interpretation ! But we know that Daniel and his three companions work closely with God. With Job, God tells us ! It is a bit different !

 

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Daniel 5

Here we are told about the next king of Babylonia. There is a big feast and everybody drinks in the vessels taken from the God’s temple in Jerusalem. Suddenly, a man’s hand appears and writes on the wall. Once again, Daniel is called to interpret the three words. So he tells the king that he has behaved haughtily like his father. As a consequence, his kingdom goes to the Medes and Persians. Daniel becomes the third most important person in the kingdom. But that same night, Babylon is taken by the Medes and Persians.


As usual, human beings never understand, they don’t care. They do as they like and they pay the price. Daniel keeps faithful to God like Job and God gives him the possibility to interpret dreams and visions and so on. And he grows in wisdom and whatever king is in place, he plays an influencial part. He doesn’t change, he always follow God and he is blessed like Job.

 

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Daniel appears as someone who is successful : he follows God’s path and he is blessed ! But his success brings jealousy among the other important people in Babylon. We can say the same about Job and the « good » example is in connection with his three associates who speak badly of him !

 

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DANIEL CHAPTER 6

Once again Daniel becomes a top official and not only that but Darius decides to put him at the head of the other top officials. So the other officials are jealous so they try to find a way to get rid of him. But they don’t find anything in relation with negligence or corruption. So they decide to look for some religious matters. So they push Darius to establish a royal decree so that nobody can pray his god for thirty days knowing that Daniel wouldn’t care ! Not knowing what they have in mind, Darius does it. All at once, Daniel prays God openly and some men catch him and bring him in front of Darius to be thrown into the lions’ pit. Darius tries to find a way but it doesn’t work. Daniel has to be thrown into the lions’ pit. Darius tells Daniel that his God will save him. The king can’t sleep and early in the morning he goes to the lions’ pit to see if Daniel is still alive. So he asks daniel to get out of the pit and instead his accusers are thrown into the pit and they are eaten all at once. Then Darius celebrates Daniel’s God in all his kingdom.

 

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Here we get an interesting difference with Job : we see the difference between God and Darius : Daniel’s accusers are put to death meanwhile Job’s ones depend on Job’s « goodwill », God has mercy, Darius not !

 

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DANIEL CHAPTER 7

In this chapter Daniel tells us about a vision : four huge beasts come out of the sea.

- a lion with eagle’s wings, they are plucked and it starts to stand on two feet like a man and it receives a man’s heart.

- a bear with three ribs in the mouth and it must eat flesh.

- a leopard with four wings and four heads, it receives authority to rule.

- a fourth beast unusually strong with great iron teeth and with ten horns

- then a small horn comes up

- and three of the first ones are plucked up

- and this small horn has eyes and a mouth to speak arrogantly.

- Then thrones appear and the Ancient of Days sit down, he has white clothes and his hair is like wool, his throne is on fire and the throne has also wheels which are on fire.

- A thousand thousands is ministering him

- and ten thousand times stand before him.

- Then the Court takes its seat and books are opened.

- A beast is killed and burnt and the others stay alive for a time and a season.

- a son of man comes and he approaches the Ancient of Days : he receives rulership, honor and a kingdom so that peoples, nation,s and langage groups serve him.

- He will rule for ever and his kingdom won’t be destroyed.

- four beasts mean four kings who will stand up.

- The holy ones of the Supreme One will receive the kingdom and they will possess the kingdom.

- The beast with iron teeth and copper claws devours and crushes and tramples what’s left with its feet. And it has ten horns on its head

- And the horn with the eyes and the mouth is having war with the holy ones and it prevails against them.

- But the Ancient of Days renders a judgment in favor of the holy ones who take possession of the kingdom.

- So the fourth beast is a fourth kingdom which comes on earth and which is different from all the other kingdoms. It will devour the earth, trample it down and crush it.

- From that kingdom rise ten kings,

- and after them another one, different from the others and he will humiliate three kings,

- he will speak against the most High

- and harass the holy ones of the Supreme One

- and he will try to change times and law

- and they will be given into his hands for a time, times and half a time.

- But his rulership will be taken away

- and he will be destroyed completely.

- Then the holy ones of the Supreme One will get the rulership over all the kingdoms

- and their kingdom will last forever.

 

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I have separated all the different events of the vision. Thus it will be easier for people to visualize all the events. If some want to speak about this vision it will be also easier for them to speak separately about them. They can speak about all or just part of them. Then those who will read the explanations will find also easier to understand instead of having all the explanations mixed together.

 

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CHAPTER 8

Daniel has a new vision :

- he sees a ram with two horns, the two horns are tall but they don’t have the same size, the one which is higher comes up later. Wherever the ram goes, no wild beasts can stand before it.

- Then a male goat appears, it doesn’t touch the ground and it has a conspicious horn between the eyes.

- And both are going to fight. And the goat wins.

- But then its great horn is broken. And from it come up four conspicious horns !

- From one of the four horns comes up another small horn and it grows very great ! And it reaches the host of heaven and part of it and of the stars fall down the ground. And it has great success

- We are told about a period of 2,300 days before the restoration of the sanctuary

- Then Gabriel tells Daniel the interpretation :

- the two-horned ram represents the kings of Media and Persia

- the male goat represents the king of Greece

- the great horn that stands between its eyes represents the first king

- it was broken and from it stand up four kingdoms but not with the same power

- And at the end of their kingdom, a fierce king will stand up with great power but not from his own and he will bring ruin among many and among the mighty ones and among the holy ones. And he will stand up against the Prince of princes and will be broken.

 

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CHAPTER 9

70 years for the desolation of Jerusalem !

Then Daniel prays God : he recognize Israel’s sins towards him and they are numerous ! What a list ! Is it possible to do worse, that’s the question ? What an accuser ! He begs for God’s mercy ! Really impressive !

Then he sees Gabriel in a vision : he calls Daniel « someone very precious » !

So we are told of 70 weeks ( 7 + 62 weeks for Jerusalem to be restored).

And the city is going to restored but in times of distress !

And then Messiah will come !

And after the 62 weeks, Messiah will be cut off with nothing for himself !

Then Jerusalem will be destroyed again !

And there will be war !

Then we are » told about a week (for confirmation of the covenant) and half a week (for the sacrifice and oblation to cease)

And the overspreading of abominations

 

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When I listen to Daniel’s prayer to God, it reminds me of God’s complaint to God : it is strond and powerful and with many details and coming from the heart !

 

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CHAPTER 10

Here we are told about a great conflict

Once again Daniel is called precious man !

And once again it reminds me of how God spoke about Job !

We are told about an extraodinary man who speaks to Daniel in his vision :

He speaks about his fight with the prince of Persia for 21 days. Then he receives the help of Michael.

And after the prince of Persia, the prince of Greece will come.

 

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CHAPTER 11

We are told about 3 more kings who will stand up for Persia and the fourth one will be richer than the others and he will fight against Greece !

And a mighty king will stand up and his kingdom will be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven but not from his posterity.

And the king of the south will be strong but another one will be stronger and greater.

And the two kings will make an alliance and the daughter of the king of the south will come to the king of the north. But she will be given up.

And one out of her roots will stand up against the king of the north and will prevail.

And he will go to Egypt.

And he will stand off from the king of the north who will come against the king of the south but will return to his land.
His sons will prepare a great army. He will advance but go back to his fortress.

And the two kings ( north and south ) will keep fighting.

And many will stand against the king of the south.

And the king of the north will prevail.

And the daughter of women will be brought to ruin.

And more wars and apostasy and more wars… a never ending story… very complicated !

 

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CHAPTER 12

Michael the great prince will stand up at a time of distress as it has never occurred before !

And the people who are written down in the book will escape !

At that time many people who are sleeping in the dust of the earth will awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

There are two people of the two sides of the bank of the river and one asks the man clothed in linen who is upon the waters of the river about the end of these wonders who answers that it must last for a time, times and an half and the power of the holy ones will be scattered.

Many will be purified and whitened and will understand whereas the wicked will act wickedly and won’t understand.

There is a period of 1,290 days for the daily sacrifice to be taken away and for the abomination to be set up.

Blessed is the one that can come to the 1,335 days.

 

[JLG]

What to say about Daniel as a conclusion? There are visions and prophecies… quite complicated! About Daniel and His companions, we are not told a lot! We know that Daniel is called “precious man”: I would have liked to know more about them about their relationship with God! They kept faithful in exile in Babylon which is quite a lot when you know how it was contaminated with gods and astrology and so on. They kept faithful by staying on God’s path at the opposite of Israel! Daniel makes also a prayer to God about Israel, recognizing all its sins toward God and there is a big list! Finally it would be restored to fall again! Once again a never-ending story not to be proud of! But we also have the whole Bible as a testimony!

 

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When I think about 1 Samuel 6 and the killing of 50,070 who were killed because they looked upon the Ark knowing they couldn’t do it, it reminds me of all the mistakes of the Jews and at the other side, it enhances Job’s attitude toward God and the fact there was no one like him on earth ! And we can say the same about Daniel’s attitude toward God!

 

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In Daniel everything is clear: clear visions with many details coming from God and clear attitude from Daniel. Good for self-confidence and looking for the right way!

 

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God is my judge

The name Daniel is a biblical name. Its earliest origins can be traced back to the Old Testament of the Bible, where it was defined as “God is my judge” in Hebrew. ... Origin: The name Daniel comes from the Hebrew words din (to judge) and el (God). It is found in the Old Testament, notably in the Book of Daniel.2 juil. 2021


Daniel: Name Meaning, Origin, Popularity - Verywell Family

https://www.verywellfamily.com › ... › Baby Names

 

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Who were the three young children that the King Nebuchadnezzar took from Judah? (Daniel 1:6)

If we don’t take into account Daniel, there are Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

https://www.thesparrowsneststl.org/uncategorized/your-name-is-not-your-identity-by-miranda-m-bell/

Although we know these three Hebrew boys as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, those were their Babylonian names. Their real names—their Hebrew names were actually


Hananiah, which means “Yah is gracious”; Mishael, which means “who is what God is”; and Azariah, which means “Yah has helped.”

The three Hebrew boys’ real names—their true identities–were tied to who they were in God, and as a result, they were confident in rising above the labels that were placed on them and the persecution that came as a result of their faithfulness in God. They may have had new names, but they KNEW their identity. They had new roles, but they KNEW their purpose. They had new challenges, but they KNEW they could rely on God to rescue and deliver them from any situation. They KNEW that even though the flames of their trials were hot, they would not be burned!