From 618 to 536 B.C. Daniel lives and works at the court of the kings of Babylon

The Bible-book that was written by Daniel does not so much deal with what will happen with God’s people Israel, but more with what will happen with the nations of the world in general, what their end will be and what will be the end of world history in general. The book creates an image of successive world powers which, for a long time, will impose their will on the world. Until the last world power will be annihilated by JHWH and He will give all power on earth to the one who has a right to this power and will use this power for the welfare of all human beings: David’s descendent: Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

Daniel was about 20 years of age when he was carried away into exile together with many other Jewish leading citizens by Nebuchadnezzar in 617 B.C. He was an extremely gifted person. So gifted that the successive Babylonian kings were more than willing to make use of his extraordinary capacities and asked him to perform highly important tasks in the service of their governments.

The first six chapters of the Bible-book deal with all kinds of things which Daniel and friendly Jewish senior executives in Babylonian service experienced.

The last six chapters are descriptions of visions of the future which JHWH showed Daniel and descriptions of conversations between Daniel and angels.

Chapter one describes how Nebuchadnezzar had Daniel and three other gifted Jewish young men attend a three year course to prepare them for important government positions. JHWH saw to it that during this long period of training they grew to be highly capable executives, who after their graduation received important government positions from the king.

In chapter two we see the first of a whole series of frightening images which are presented to us in this Bible book.

It starts with a dream which Nebuchadnezzar has in 606 B.C. This dream upsets him very much. He urges the Babylonian priests, who are supposed to be able to interpret dreams, to tell him the dream and its interpretation. But nobody can do this. This situation makes Nebuchadnezzar so frightened and so furious that he threatens to kill all priests and all high government officials if nobody can be found who can interpret his dream. As Daniel and his friends are among the high government officials they have to fear for their lives. They pray to their God JHWH and ask Him to save their lives by revealing the dream to them and give them the explanation. JHWH complies with their request.

The four Hebrew government officials then go to Nebuchadnezzar and tell him that their God has revealed to them how human history will go on and how this history will end in the final days. They tell Nebuchadnezzar that in his dream he saw a gigantic image that represents a human being. The head is made of gold. The chest and the arms are made of silver. The belly and the thighs are made of brass. The legs are made of iron. The feet are partly made of iron and partly of clay.

After a while the image is struck by a rock that completely destroys it. The rock grows into a big mountain that spreads over the entire earth.

With the help of JHWH Daniel can also explain to Nebuchadnezzar what the dream and the image mean. The head of gold represents Nebuchadnezzar and the world-power he represents: Babylonia. This world-power will be pushed aside by a successive world-power (this happened in Daniel’s lifetime when in 539 B.C. the Medes and the Persians captured Babylon and took over world dominion from Babylonia). After this three other world-powers will appear who will take away world dominion from each other.

The rock which crushes the whole image represents the kingdom of God which, in the final days,will put an end to all world-rulers opposed to God’s plans and which will continue to exist for ever.

Nebuchadnezzar completely accepted Daniel’s interpretation of his dream. He was extremely grateful towards JHWH who had showed him the dream and had seen to it that he got an interpreter. He was also grateful towards Daniel and his three friends and gave them absolute top positions in his government.

In chapter 3 we see a completely different Nebuchadnezzar. This chapter also deals with an image, but this time not a dream image but a huge statue of himself that he had ordered to be made. At the solemn unveiling of the statue he wants all government officials to fall on their knees before it and worship it. Persons who refuse to do this will be burned in a furnace that has been stirred up to a very high temperature. Daniel’s three friends refuse. They only worship JHWH. They are thrown into the fiery furnace, but JHWH protects them against the flames and they leave the oven unharmed. JHWH has again demonstrated towards Nebuchadnezzar what is he is capable of, but there is more to come.

Chapter 4 describes how Nebuchadnezzar, the king who captured God’s town, destroyed God’s temple, annihilated God’s people and deported them, got to know God’s all surpassing power which far exceeded his.

Again it all started with a frightening dream which Nebuchadnezzar had. In this dream he sees a gigantic tree. Someone cries out that the tree must be cut down and that an iron band must be fastened around the stump. The tree must remain in this condition for seven years so that everybody can see that it is the true God who decides what happens on earth and who gets power on earth.

With the help of JHWH Daniel succeeds in interpreting this dream to Nebuchadnezzar as well. The tree represents Nebuchadnezzar himself and the dream makes it known that JHWH intends to put this world-ruler in his place for once and for all. God will demonstrate to Nebuchadnezzar that it is not he as king of Babylonia who is the most powerful person in the universe, but that JHWH occupies that position.

Shortly afterwards Nebuchadnezzar is struck by a rare psychical disease. He loses all human qualities and abilities and for seven years he has to live like an animal. Like a cow he has to graze in the field.

After these seven years he becomes an ordinary human again. But now he is a human who knows who is really the absolute ruler of the universe.

Chapter 5 describes the night of 5 October 539 B.C., the night when the Medes and the Persians captured Babylon, put an end to the power of the third world dominator in human history, Babylonia, and themselves became the fourth world-power.

Ironically the chapter describes a great feast of the Babylonian rulers and the important people of the empire. At the height of the festivities they decide to go and get the gold and silver vessels that were taken away from the temple at Jerusalem and to start using them for the drinking bout. Then, suddenly, a hand appears from nowhere and writes the following three words on the wall: MENE, MENE, TEKEL and PARSIN. Nobody can understand these words. Then they ask Daniel to come. He can read the words and also explain their meaning. The words express three messages that come from JHWH:

--- God has counted the number of the days of your kingdom and will put an end to them.

--- You have been weighed on the scales and found too light.

--- Your kingdom will be taken away from you and given to the Medes and the Persians. As we have seen before: that same night the Medes and the Persians capture Babylon and kill the king.

Darius the Mede becomes the new king and the Medes and the Persians settle in Babylon as the new world-rulers. In chapter six Daniel gets into serious problems. Enemies of his have urged the king to proclaim a law which forbids everybody for thirty days to address an appeal to anyone else but the king. Anyone who will address an appeal to anyone else will be thrown into a pit with hungry lions. As his enemies knew beforehand Daniel cannot obey this law: he feels obliged to address appeals to his God many times a day.

Then Daniel is really thrown into the lions’ den but God sees to it that the lions do not hurt him. King Darius is so impressed by this miracle that he acknowledges officially as the head of the state that Daniel’s God JHWH is the only true God.

After surviving this ordeal Daniel remained a successful and high ranking government official in the Medo-Persian kingdom for a long time. He lived long enough to be still around during the first years of the kingship of Cyrus and to witness personally how this king issued a decree which allowed the Jews to return to their homeland.