Today, I am reading and commenting on Daniel 11-12.

The bulk of chapter 11 seems to be a prophecy of Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Persian Empire and then of the wars between the successor states which arose after his death.  Some claim that it was written after the events of those wars.  Those latter persons say that it does not accurately reflect the events, but looks like what the people living in the area around Judea would have perceived to have happened and thus reflects that it was written by someone living around the time of the Maccabees.  I have not studied what we know to have historically happened between the Ptolemaic successors to Alexander in Egypt and the Seleucid successors based near what is now Syria enough to compare this prophecy to those events.  As I read it, it does not seem to intend to be a detailed account of the events of the war.  Rather, it seems to be intended to relate the chaos of such dynastic battles, and their pointlessness.  Then at the end of chapter 11 it talks about the last, or one of the last, of the Seleucid kings, who tried to completely wipe out the worship of Yahweh (or, perhaps, “just” merge it into the official “cult” of his empire).  It tells us that he will use flattery to turn to his side those who had already violated God’s covenant, but those who know God will resist him.  Indeed those who are wise will instruct others in the knowledge of God, despite being persecuted for their faith.  It seems to me that this part of the prophecy is the centerpiece of the prophecy, with what comes before serving the explain how so many became distracted from God’s truth.  The passage even tells us that some of the wise, who should have known better, will stumble, but that God will refine them and bring them back to Himself.  In many ways, I think this prophecy is meant to be a warning for us today just as much as it was for the people who first heard it.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I have created a Patreon page for those who would like to support me in writing these blog posts every day: https://patreon.com/AttilaSoldus

Today, I am reading and commenting on Daniel 9-10.

Central to my thinking about today’s passage is verse twelve in chapter ten.  There the messenger who came to Daniel in the second of his two visions in today’s passage (I am unsure as to whether this is Gabriel, who had spoken to him in his earlier visions) said to Daniel, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. ” The first part of this is that Daniel, in both his prayer in chapter nine, and again in chapter ten, sought to do two things.  He sought to gain understanding, and he humbled himself.  The first is only possible if we do the second.  When we go before God with prayers and supplications, we must humble ourselves.  That means acknowledging out sins, and turning from them.  It means acknowledging that God will not answer our prayers because we deserve it, but solely because He is merciful.  We do not deserve the good things God gives to us.  There is another thing for us in that quote above.  God will set His answer in motion from the moment we begin to humble ourselves and to seek His face.  That answer may be delayed for many reasons, but God sets His answer in motion immediately.  We need to patiently remain in a state of supplication until we receive His answer.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I have created a Patreon page for those who would like to support me in writing these blog posts every day: https://patreon.com/AttilaSoldus

Today, I am reading and commenting on Daniel 7-8.

Almost always when I read this passage I get caught up in the imagery and meaning of the beasts in the visions.  However, today my attention was caught by the finale of the first vision and the explanation of that finale.  The first part of that finale is the “Ancient of Days” taking His seat on His throne.  Daniel is explaining what he asked of the angel who offered to interpret the vision said that the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgement.  Clearly, the Ancient of Days is God the Creator of the Universe.  Now, back to the vision.  At the end of the vision Daniel said that “one like a son of man” came with the clouds of heaven and was lead into the presence of the Ancient of Days.  Then He was given authority and sovereign power, all peoples and nations worshiped Him.  Further it says that His is everlasting and will not pass away.  So, this one who was brought into the presence of the Ancient of Days is also God.  This is perhaps the strongest Old Testament passage supporting the concept of the Trinity.  The “one like a son of man” in this passage was God.  I believe that He was, and is, Jesus Christ.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I have created a Patreon page for those who would like to support me in writing these blog posts every day: https://patreon.com/AttilaSoldus

Today, I am reading and commenting on Daniel 5-6.

I usually write something about the account of the writing on the wall because there are so many lessons for us there.  However, today I want to focus more on the account of Daniel being thrown into the lion’s den.  What I am going to write is not new or novel.  When Darius decided to make Daniel chief administrator over his kingdom, the existing bureaucrats tried to find something which would give them leverage over him.  When they could not find anything, they came up with a new law making his prayers to God illegal.  This wasn’t just because they knew he would not stop praying to God.  It was also because they knew that praying to God was part of the basis for why he did nothing which they could hold over him.  In fact, the reason they felt threatened by Daniel was because he refused to do anything which they could hold against him.  The important lesson is that Daniel did not behave in a manner that gave them nothing to hold against him because he was following the laws of the land.  He did nothing they could hold against him because he was following God’s laws.  We should follow Daniel’s example and live so that the only thing people can hold against us is our obedience to, and worship of, God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Daniel 3-4.

I want to take note of what Daniel says at the end of interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in today’s passage.  He tells Nebuchadnezzar that he hopes Nebuchadnezzar will renounce his sins and wickedness by being kind to the oppressed so that his prosperity might continue.  So, Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was a prophetic dream, it was a message from God about what God was going to do.  God was going to bring judgement against Nebuchadnezzar.  Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar that if he repents, God will choose not to execute the judgement He predicted with this dream.  This reinforces what other prophets have said when they said that if the wicked turn from their sins when they hear a prophecy that God will bring judgement against them, God will withhold that judgement.  This should also remind us that if the righteous turn to wickedness after God has prophesied good things for them, God will withhold those good things and bring judgement.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Daniel 1-2.

There are two stories in today’s passage.  The first is about how Daniel and his friends sought to honor God by not eating foods which violated the laws He had given them.  The second is about Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.  In the first story, Daniel and his friends chose to eat only vegetables and drink only water because there was no meat available to them which did not violate God’s laws (the meat available to them had probably also been part of an idolatrous sacrifice, but that isn’t spelled out in the passage).  Daniel and his friends were not healthier because they ate only vegetables, nor because they did not overindulge (in food and wine), as the other young men probably did.  They were healthier because they chose to honor God.

In the second story, Nebuchadnezzar chose not to reveal what he dreamed to his “mystics” because he realized that they would use the way he described the dream to make up a “meaning” for the dream which was whatever they thought he wanted to hear.  However, the “mystics” were not wrong to tell Nebuchadnezzar that what he was asking was impossible.  There is no way for someone to interpret a dream if they do not know what the dream was.  I find it interesting that Daniel and his friends were included in the execution order, but had not been included in the initial request to interpret the dream (I may speculate about what that tells us about the way Nebuchadnezzar’s court worked another time).  In any case, when Daniel learned of Nebuchadnezzar’s edict, his response was to pray, and to request his friends pray as well.  When God revealed Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, and its interpretation, to Daniel, he refused to take credit for it.

From the first example, we may not see how following God’s instructions will have good consequences for us, but doing so will lead to our greatest joy.  From the second example, as Jesus said in Matthew, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  God may have placed something in front of us which we are incapable of accomplishing.  Remember that with Him, all things are possible.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.