An Overview of Daniel

Daniel
Written By David Gooding

by David Gooding

The biblical authors used the literary conventions of their day to convey their message. These included structures and patterns less obvious to us in our modern age. David Gooding brought his expertise in ancient literature to the biblical text, and these study notes represent his thinking about the structure, patterns and thought-flow of Daniel.

When speaking to groups of Bible students, he often said, ‘When it comes to Bible study, there is structure, pattern and thought-flow, and the greatest of these is thought-flow. Here are the thoughts of God expressed. Our job is to follow the thought-flow’. He taught that the most important thing to grasp in biblical interpretation is the way the author develops his message, and that discerning structure and patterns within the text should always be directed towards that end.

David Gooding developed these study notes over many years and distributed them at public and private talks. The study notes are not meant to be the last word on the book, and may not cover it entirely. The Myrtlefield Trust offers them to Bible students, preachers and teachers in order to stimulate further thinking about the book, so that its message may be better understood.

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Study Notes

Contents of Daniel

Part 1 Part 2
Daniel 1 The refusal to eat the king’s impure food. Daniel and his colleagues are vindicated Daniel 6 The refusal to obey the king’s command and refrain from praying to God. Daniel is vindicated
Two Images Two Visions of Beasts
Daniel 2 Nebuchadnezzar’s dream image Daniel 7 The four beasts
Daniel 3 Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image Daniel 8 The two beasts
Two Kings Disciplined Two Writings Explicated
Daniel 4 The discipline and restoration of Nebuchadnezzar Daniel 9 The prophecy in the book of Jeremiah
Daniel 5 The ‘writing on the wall’ and the destruction of Belshazzar Daniel 10–12 The ‘writing of truth’ and the eventual destruction of ‘the king’ (Dan 11:36–45)

An Enlarged Table of Contents
Daniel 1 Daniel 6
Nebuchadnezzar reverently places God’s vessels in his idol’s temple. Daniel and others refuse to indulge in pagan impurities. Court officials sympathetic. Daniel and his colleagues’ physical and mental powers vindicated. They are promoted to high office. Darius bans prayer to God for thirty days. Daniel refuses to cease practising the Jewish religion. Court officials intrigue against him. Daniel’s political loyalty to the king vindicated. He is restored to high office.
Daniel 2 Daniel 7
A survey of the whole course of Gentile imperial power. Four empires in the form of a man. The fatal weakness: an incoherent mixture of iron and clay in the feet. The whole man destroyed by the stone cut out by divine power. The universal messianic kingdom set up. A survey of the whole course of Gentile imperial power. Four empires in the form of wild beasts. The hideous strength: a frightening mixture of animal destructiveness with human intelligence. The final beast destroyed and universal domination given to the Son of Man.
Daniel 3 Daniel 8
Nebuchadnezzar thinks that ‘no god can deliver [the Jews] out of his hand’. He commands them to worship his god. The Jews defy him. They are preserved in the furnace. God’s ability to deliver is thereby demonstrated. The little horn: ‘none can deliver out of his hand’. He stops the Jews’ worship of their God, and defies God himself. God’s sanctuary and truth are finally vindicated.
Daniel 4 Daniel 9
The glory of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar is warned that he deserves discipline. He persists in pride, is chastised and his chastisement lasts for seven times. He is then restored. The desolations of Jerusalem: Israel’s sins have brought on them the curse warned of in the Old Testament. Jerusalem will be restored, but Israel’s persistence in sin will bring on further desolations lasting to the end of seventy times seven years. Then Jerusalem will be finally restored.
Daniel 5 Daniel 10–12
Belshazzar makes a god of his pleasures, but still recognizes the gods of stone, etc. The writing on the wall. The end of Belshazzar and the end of the Babylonian Empire. The king exalts himself above every god, and regards no god. The writing of truth. The series of apparent ‘ends’ leading up to ‘the time of the end’ and eventually to the end itself.

The Thought-Flow of Daniel

Part 1: Questions of Value Part 2: Questions of Law, Truth and Time
Daniel 1 The golden vessels of divine service placed in the temple of Nebuchadnezzar’s idol. Daniel 6 The law of Daniel’s God and the unchangeable ‘writing … according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which changes not’.
Daniel 2 The Gentile empires: image of a man made of gold, silver, bronze, iron and clay, smashed by a stone ‘cut out without hands’. Daniel 7 The fourth beast thinks ‘to change the times and the law’: the heavenly court, the books of judgment: the ancient of days gives kingdom to the Son of Man.
Daniel 3 Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image and the worship of the state. Daniel 8 The stern-faced king ‘casts down truth to the ground’ and causes the continual burnt-offering to cease: the duration of the persecution revealed.
Daniel 4 Great Babylon’s splendour, built by Nebuchadnezzar for ‘the glory of his majesty’: Nebuchadnezzar goes mad, behaves like an animal, then restored to his ‘majesty and brightness’. Daniel 9 Daniel seeks to understand how Jeremiah’s prophecy about the ending of Jerusalem’s desolations can be fulfilled when Israel is still disobeying God’s law: he is told the timing of the restoration.
Daniel 5 The golden vessels of divine service again: taken from the temple and used by Belshazzar to drink from himself: the writing on the wall = money-values and weights: Belshazzar weighed in the balances and found wanting. Daniel 10–12 A revelation of ‘what is written in the writing of truth’: events leading to ‘the time of trouble’ and to the end: the final deliverance of those ‘written in the book’.

The Histories and Prophecies of Daniel

  1. God and education (Dan 1).
  2. World government and its fatal flaws (Dan 2).
  3. World government and its hideous strength (Dan 7).
  4. God and culture: a tale of two cities (Dan 4; 9).
  5. Law and freedom (Dan 6).
  6. Ultimate truth (Dan 8).
  7. The man above the river of history (Dan 10–12).
  8. Ultimate values (Dan 3; 5).

Daniel and the New Testament

Our Lord's References to Daniel

  1. 'When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet' (Matt 24:15; see Dan 9:26–27; 12:11).
  2. 'Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven' (Mark 14:61–62; see Dan 7:13).

  3. Our Lord as the stone:

    • 'The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner' (Luke 20:17; see Ps 118:22).
    • 'Everyone who falls on this stone shall be broken in pieces' (Luke 20:18; Isa 8:14–15).
    • 'But whoever it falls on, it will scatter him as dust' (Luke 20:18; Dan 2:34–35).

Comparison of 2 Thessalonians and Daniel

Compare

'The son of perdition, the one who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he sits in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God' (2 Thess 2:3–4).

With

'And the king ... shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the god of gods ... neither shall he regard the gods of his fathers ... for he shall magnify himself above all' (Dan 11:36–37).

Clarifying Relevant Terms

The Longed for Age of Peace

'And he shall judge between the nations, and shall reprove many peoples: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more' (Isa 2:4).

The term 'apocalyptic' is used by some scholars to denote the view that:

  1. The present world-system is so evil that it will have to be destroyed before the longed-for age of peace can be introduced.
  2. The age of peace will come Not by gradual improvement of this present world-system, Not by the gradual leavening of society by Christian principles, But by the second coming of Christ.

An Important Difference

In the usage of the terms 'rule', 'kingdom', etc.

  1. 'The Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever he will' (Dan 4:32). 'His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation' (Dan 4:34) = God's present providential governments of the world.
  2. 'And in the days of those kings shall ... God ... set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed ... it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever' (Dan 2:44) = The future messianic kingdom of Christ to be set up at his second coming (cf. Ps 2:9; Rev 2:26–27).

The Date of Daniel

The Book Itself Claims

  1. To be the product of the sixth century bc.
  2. Its prophecies are genuine prophecies of the future.

Liberal Scholars Claim

  1. That the book was written after 25 December 167 bc and before 164 bc.
  2. Its 'prophesies' were written after the events which they pretend to predict.

Some Modern Evidence

  1. The Essenes accepted Daniel as the inspired word of God (canonical).
  2. The Essene party emerged between 171 and 167 bc.
  3. They would not have accepted a book written by another contemporary religious party.
  4. They did not write Daniel themselves, they used a different calendar.
  5. They identified 'the anointed one' (9:26) not as Onias III, but as the Davidic Messiah.
  6. A copy of Daniel among the Dead Sea Scrolls was written ca. 120 bc.

Reference: Roger Beckwith, The Old Testament Canon of the New Testament Church

The Significance of the Destruction of Jerusalem and of the Temple

According to Nebuchadnezzar

  1. Yahweh only one god among many defeated.
  2. Yahweh defeated by Marduk.
  3. Israel not a unique nation with a special role in history.
  4. Israel's kings no different from any other kings.

According to Gorbachev

  1. There is no god.
  2. Israel not God's chosen people.
  3. All religion is superstition.
  4. The biggest army wins.
  5. Final victory for communism guaranteed by 'laws of history'.

According to Daniel's Belief

Because Israel's God is the true God, he is concerned with morality:

  1. Israel shown to be God's people because of her extraordinary chastisement (Amos 3:2).
  2. The temple destroyed because Israel made it a 'den of robbers' (Jer 7:4–15).
  3. God will restore Israel in order to prove all this is true and to vindicate his name (Ezek 39:25–28).

Food Laws in Old Testament and New Testament

Clean/Unclean Animals (Lev 11:41–44)

  1. Not simply hygiene: else why did Christ cancel them (Mark 7:18–20; 1 Tim 4:3–5).
  2. Symbolic: To teach that Israel must match God in holiness (no unclean appetite), and to teach the difference between Israel as God's chosen people and the Gentiles (see Acts 10:1–16).

Must Not Eat blood (Lev 17:10–12)

Ceremonial: symbol of the value of life and the cost of atonement: must not be cheapened.

Must Not Eat Food Offered to Idols (see 1 Cor 8–10)

Spiritual: a question of loyalty to God (see Rev 2:14, 20).

Daniel would have had to refuse the king's meat on all three grounds.

Notes on Daniel 2

The Two Major Lessons in Daniel 2

  1. A demonstration of divine revelation (Dan 2:1–30).
  2. A divine critique of Gentile government (Dan 2:31–45).

The Lessons on Divine Revelation

  1. There is such a thing (Dan 2:28).

  2. It is not a question of shrewd forecasting by clever men (Dan 2:30):

    • Science: interprets given evidence.
    • Revelation: supplies the evidence.

  3. Revelation reveals the past (what Nebuchadnezzar dreamed last night), and not merely the future.

Contrasts Between Daniel 2 and 7

  1. Gentile Governments represented as:

    • Daniel 2: majestic image of man.
    • Daniel 7: wild beasts.

  2. Flaw in Gentile Government:

    • Daniel 2: incurable weakness.
    • Daniel 7: hideous strength.

  3. Messianic Kingdom:

    • Daniel 2: a stone cut out without hands.
    • Daniel 7: the Son of Man.

Lessons from the Image

  1. Gentile government = a majestic achievement of man (Dan 2:31).
  2. Human government: its power and majesty given by God.
  3. But no empire is permanent.
  4. Different political systems have different values.
  5. But no one system possesses absolute value.
  6. Change itself does not bring in the age of peace.
  7. The messianic kingdom is not the final stage of the image.
  8. The final incurable fault in Gentile government is its weakness and incoherence/instability.
  9. The messianic kingdom, by contrast, possesses superhuman power.

The Succession of Empires

NB there are five stages mentioned
1. Head Gold Babylon
2. Breast Arms Silver Medo-Persia
3. Belly Thighs Copper Greece
4. Legs Iron Ancient Rome
5. Feet Toes Iron and clay Final form of government

Phases in the Setting up of the Kingdom

  1. Parable of Wheat and Tares—'let both grow together until harvest' (Matt 13:24–30).
  2. Present kingdom (1 Cor 4:20). Future kingdom (1 Cor 15:50).

  3. public comings (Luke 19:29–21:30):

    • King comes on donkey = Zechariah 9:9 is rejected.
    • Prophesies: Jerusalem trodden down until times of Gentiles fulfilled. Then Son of Man comes in cloud = Daniel 7.

  4. private coming (Luke 22:7–30): To Upper Room: institutes new covenant.

  5. Programme for restoring kingdom to Israel:

    • At this time? no! (Acts 1:6).
    • Sit at right hand until enemies made footstool (Acts 2:34–35).
    • 'Heavens must receive him until the times of restoration of all things' (Acts 3:21).

  6. Nations broken to shivers (Rev 2:26–27).

Notes on Daniel 4

A Comparison of Daniel 4 with Genesis 2

The garden God designed: out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is:

  1. Pleasant to the sight.
  2. Good for food (Gen 2:9).

Nebuchadnezzar's tree (Dan 4:12):

  1. The leaves of it were beautiful.
  2. The fruit of it was plentiful, food for all.
  3. Beasts found shade.
  4. Birds found a dwelling.
  5. All flesh fed from it: i.e. humans as well as animals.

Christ's Appreciation of the Beauty of Nature

The lilies: God clothes them: more glorious than Solomon (Luke 12:27–28)

Relevant Comparisons in Ezekiel and 1 John

The king of tyre: 'Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God ... yet you are a man and not God ... You seal up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty ... Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty, you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness' (Ezek 28:1–19).

The 'world': 'For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world' (1 John 2:16).

Romans

Romans 1:18:

The wrath of God is revealed ...

In that when men deliberately refuse to glorify him as God ...

God gives them up:

  1. Uncleanness: bodies dishonoured (Rom 1:24).
  2. Perversion: vile passions (Rom 1:26).
  3. A reprobate mind (Rom 1:28).

The Meaning of the Writing on the Wall

DBR

DaBaR = A word.

DiBeR (with another set of vowels) = He spoke.

PRS

Basic meaning: divide.

UPHARSIN

U = And.

PHARSIN = Divisions, fractions.

MNA

Count = Number then a certain weight of money: A mina.

SHKL (or) TKL

Weigh in balances = Then a certain weight of money: A shekel.

Notes on Daniel 6

Nature and Law Compared

Nature versus law: according to the Greeks.

    • Nature: savage: uncivilised: nasty: jungle.
    • Law: truly human: civilised: city-life: justice.
    • Law: twisted: tyrannical: oppression of poor and weak by strong, unscrupulous, selfish.
    • Nature: the ideal: the way man was meant to live: freedom: love: violence. Cf. The modern hippy—movements and communes.

The Time of the End

Daniel 7

'And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time' (Dan 7:25).

Daniel 8

Prophecy now fulfilled (Dan 8:1–4).

'How long ... the desolating transgression ... ? Unto two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings' (Dan 8:13–14).

Prophecy re: end time (Dan 8:15–26).

'... it belongs to the time of the end' (Dan 8:17, 19).

'In the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full' (Dan 8:23).

Daniel 9

'And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and for the half of the week [or in the middle of the week] he shall cause the sacrifice ... to cease ... and on the wing of abominations' (Dan 9:27).

Daniel 10–12

'How long the end of these wonders? ... it shall be for a time, times and a half' (Dan 12:6–7).

One thousand two hundred and ninety days (Dan 12:11).

One thousand three hundred and thirty-five days (Dan 12:12).

The Issues at Stake

Daniel 7:25

  1. Blasphemy against the Most High.
  2. Attempt to change the times and the law.
  3. Shall wear out the saints of the Most High.

Daniel 8

  1. A question of the truth (Dan 8:12) and of the vindication of the temple (Dan 8:14).
  2. He shall cause deceit to prosper (Dan 8:25; cf. 2 Thess 2:9–10). He shall stand up against the prince of princes, but he shall be broken without hand (Dan 8:24–25).

Daniel 9

A question of the desolations and the eventual restoration of Jerusalem city under the discipline of God (Dan 9:2, 7, 12, 16, 18, 24–26).

Daniel 10–12

A question of the breaking in pieces of the power of the holy people (Dan 12:7) and the repentance and self-purification of Israel under the persecution of the final Gentile 'king' and the powers of darkness (Dan 11:36–39; 12:10).

Power versus Truth

Pilate: Do you not know that I have power to release you and power to crucify you?

Christ: You would have no power against me except it were given you from above.

Pilate: Are you a king then?

Christ: You say so ... To this end ... I have come into the world that I should bear witness to the truth.

Pilate: What is truth? (John 19:10–11; 18:37–38).

Christ Jesus who before Pontius Pilate witnessed the good confession ... the blessed and only potentate will show his appearing (1 Tim 6:13–16).

Differences Between Daniel 7 and 8

Daniel 7—Four Beasts

  1. Babylon.
  2. Medo-Persia.
  3. Greece.
  4. Rome.

Daniel 8—Two Beasts

  1. Medo-Persia.
  2. Greece. | Alexander the Great | His Successors | | Ptolemies Seleucids | Antiochus IV Epiphanes

A Comparison of Daniel and 2 Thessalonians

Daniel 8 2 Thessalonians 2
1. When the transgressors are come to the full … (Dan 8:23). 1. The mystery of lawlessness already works … then shall the lawless one be revealed … (2 Thess 2:7–8).
2. His power shall be mighty but not by his own power … (Dan 8:24). 2. Whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs … (2 Thess 2:9).
3. He shall cause deceit to prosper … (Dan 8:25). 3. And with all deceit … for them that are perishing; because they received not the love of the truth … (2 Thess 2:10).
4. He shall stand up against the prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand (Dan 8:25). 4. Whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and destroy by the manifestation of his coming (2 Thess 2:8).

The Seventy 'Sevens' = Four Hundred and Ninety Years

  1. Seven plus sixty-two (= sixty-nine) = four hundred and eighty-three > Christ.

  2. After the sixty-two:

    • Christ cut off = Cross.
    • Romans destroy city and sanctuary (cf. Luke 21:20–24): Jerusalem trodden down by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

  3. Final Seventieth 'Seven' = seven years still future (cf. Matt 24:15–30 and the prophecy of the abomination of desolation).

  4. Final half of seventieth 'seven' = three-and-and-a-half years; = time, times and half a time, etc. (cf. Rev 12:14, etc.)

  5. Restoration of Israel:

    • Acts 1:6; 3:20–21: until.
    • Romans 11:13–32: until.

The Final Vision

Contents of Daniel 10–12

  1. The man above the river (Dan 10:1–11:1).
  2. The long prophecy of the wars of the Ptolemies and the Seleucids; and of the final king (Dan 11:2–12:4).
  3. The man above the river and the oath (Dan 12:5–13).

The Overflowing of the River

  1. 'Now ... the Lord brings up upon them the waters of the River ... even the king of Assyria ... and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks: and he shall sweep ... into Judah; he shall overflow ... he shall reach even to the neck; and ... shall fill the breadth of your land ...' (Isaiah 8:7–8).
  2. 'And his sons shall war, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall come on, and overflow, and pass through ...' (Daniel 11:10).

The Four Great Periods

  1. Daniel 11:5–19.
  2. Daniel 11:20–28.
  3. Daniel 11.29–35.
  4. Daniel 11:36–12:3.

The Four Great Periods of Daniel 11–12

Period 1 (Dan 11:5–19)

The first great movement starts 'at the end of years' (Dan 11:6); after much toing and froing over the subsequent years and generations this movement comes to its peak when 'at the end of the times' (Dan 11:13) the king of the north sets out to invade Egypt with a vast army. None can withstand him. He stands in the glorious land and in his hand is destruction (Dan 11:15–16). It will look as if it may turn out to be the time of the end; and some in Israel will think the time has come for the vision of the messianic kingdom to be established and they will take steps to try to establish the vision. But events will prove them mistaken (Dan 11:14). In spite of great success, the king of the north is eventually turned back and goes home. There he falls (Dan 11:18–19).

Period 2 (Dan 11:20–28)

The second great movement (Dan 11:20–28) climaxes in Antiochus IV's first attack upon Egypt. On his return through Palestine after great success, 'his heart will be set against the holy covenant. He will take action against it'; but then 'he will return to his own country' (Dan 11:28 niv). The strategies and deceitful diplomacy of the Gentile kings shall make it look as if they are about to create the conditions of the end-time. But the appearances will be misleading. It will not prove to be the time of the end, 'for yet the end shall be at the time appointed' (Dan 11:27).

Period 3 (Dan 11:29–35)

The third great movement commences 'at the appointed time' (Dan 11:29) with another invasion of Egypt by Antiochus IV. This time he is unsuccessful; for the ships of Kittim come against him. Returning in frustration he enters Palestine and wreaks terrible outrage on the sanctuary, setting up the abomination that makes desolate (Dan 11:29–31). Even so, he does not meet his end in Palestine. Only in the time of the end does the invading king meet his end there. In spite of Antiochus' enormous outrages upon the sanctuary and his persecution of the faithful, they are not living in the time of the end. Rather Israel shall experience persecutions, captivities and death, and from time to time even the wise shall fall, and all this will go on happening 'until the time of the end' (Dan 11:33–35).

Period 4 (Dan 11:36–12:13)

the time of the end with its 'wilful king' (Dan 11:36–39; cf. 2 Thess 2) and its time of unparalleled trouble (Dan 12:1), culminating in the resurrection of many who sleep in the dust of the earth.

Study Questions on Daniel

Why Study Daniel?

  1. What was our Lord's estimate of Daniel? (see Matt 24:15)
  2. Read Luke 20:17–18. The first part of these verses cites Psalm 118:22. The second part cites Isaiah 8:14. To what part of Daniel, do you think, does the last part refer ('on whomsoever it falls it will grind him to powder')?
  3. To what part of Daniel is our Lord referring in Matthew 26:64?
  4. How does 1 Thessalonians 1:10 show that the preaching of the second coming formed an integral part of the apostles' preaching of the gospel?
    • What connection do you see between Daniel 11:36 and 2 Thessalonians 2:4?
    • In 2 Thessalonians 2:5 what are the 'these things' which Paul says he taught to his young converts at Thessalonica?
    • Do you teach these things to your young converts?
  6. What important differences do you see between the kingdom of God described in Daniel 4:32–34; 5:21 and the kingdom described in Daniel 2:44?
  7. Read Romans 13:1–2. To which of the two kingdoms mentioned in question 6 does this refer? To which does Luke 19:11–12 refer?
  8. What modern evidence is there for the early dating of the book of Daniel?

Study Questions on Daniel 1

True Values in Education

  1. Did Daniel consider that all Gentile education was bad and to be avoided?
  2. Is it right for Christians to study science, language and literature?

  3. What was the point of the Old Testament food laws?

    • Was it primarily a matter of hygiene? If so, why did our Lord cancel them in Mark 7:18–20? Compare 1 Timothy 4:3–5 and Romans 14:6.
    • Were they, then, a symbolic way of teaching:
      • Holiness? (see Lev 11:44).
      • The difference between Israel and the Gentiles? (see Acts 10:11–16, 22).

  4. Why were the Israelites forbidden to eat blood? (see Lev 17:10–16).

  5. The Israelites considered that food offered to idols was defiled. Have 1 Corinthians 10:11–22 and Revelation 2:14, 20 any relevance to us today?
  6. From Romans 1:21–32 pick out some of the intellectual and moral effects of idolatry.
  7. Do you detect any tendency towards intellectual idolatry and moral idolatry in modern science and literature?
  8. What lessons can we learn about the way Daniel and his friends went about making their protest in college?

Study Questions on Daniel 2

God's Critique of Gentile Government—Part 1

  1. What do you understand by our Lord's phrase 'the times of the Gentiles' (Luke 21:24)?

  2. The symbolism of the image depicts Gentile government as:

    • Something bad, corrupt and of the devil;
    • Something noble, a majestic achievement on the part of man and ordained of God. Which of these two views is right?

  3. What is indicated by the different metals?

    • A succession of empires?
    • Different kinds of government?

  4. Marxism teaches that the inevitable laws of change in history are enough to ensure that one day the ideal government will evolve. Does the image of Daniel 2 have anything to say about that?

  5. What is wrong with Gentile government according to this vision? Why must it be replaced by the messianic kingdom?
  6. Does the vision teach that the messianic kingdom will come as Christianity gradually leavens and improves the governments of the world?
  7. Our Lord is already the stone which God has made 'the head of the corner' (Acts 4:11). Has this stone already fallen on the kingdoms of this world and crushed them to powder? If not, when will it do so?
  8. Read Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43. Does this parable teach that there are different phases in the setting up of the kingdom?

Study Questions on Daniel 3

The Cost of Combatting Idolatry (Daniel 3)

  1. What should the normal attitude of the believer be toward the state? (see Rom 13:1–7; 1 Tim 2:1–4; 1 Pet 2:13–17).
  2. Does being a Christian mean refusing to pay tribute to Caesar? (see Luke 20:19–26).
  3. What is the only ground for refusing to submit to government orders? (see Acts 4:19; 5:29).
  4. What does the term 'worship' mean in Matthew 4:9?
  5. In what sense do totalitarian governments 'deify' the state?
  6. What will the final form of Gentile government demand? (Rev 13:4, 14–15; 2 Thess 2:4).
  7. Name some emperors in the past that have demanded 'worship'.
  8. Why did God not do a miracle to save the young men from being thrown into the fire?

  9. Compare Daniel 3:28 with Romans 12:1:

    • Do you see any connection between these two verses?
    • Is there any lesson for us in the experience of these three young men?

Study Questions on Daniel 4

God's Discipline and Restoration of a Gentile Emperor (Daniel 4)

  1. What aspect of Nebuchadnezzar's rule is the great tree meant to portray? Do you see any connection of thought between Daniel 4:12 and Genesis 2:9?
  2. What part is art, beauty, music, etc. meant to play in our lives? Is it wrong for a Christian to enjoy literature, architecture, painting, etc?
  3. Was Nebuchadnezzar's sin that he built and beautified the city of Babylon? If not, what was his sin? Consider Daniel 4:27.
  4. Do you think that the form of illness which God sent on Nebuchadnezzar is itself significant? What things does man have in common with animals? And in what ways is man meant to be different from the animals? Would you be happy to see a man eat his meals in the same way and in the same conditions as an animal? Why not?
  5. Is all modern art, music and literature healthy? Are all television programmes good to look at?
  6. Does God still discipline modern man as he disciplined Nebuchadnezzar? What do Romans 1:24, 26, 28 mean?
  7. What advice for maintaining healthy minds does Philippians 4:8 give us?

  8. Read again Daniel 4:27. Could we spend too much on making life beautiful for ourselves and not enough on:

    • The materially poor?
    • The spiritually poor?

Study Questions on Daniel 5

What are Life's Ultimate Values?

  1. What was the original purpose and significance of the golden and silver vessels from which Belshazzar drank?
  2. Do you see any difference between Nebuchadnezzar's attitude to them (Dan 1:2) and Belshazzar's? What was Belshazzar saying by drinking out of God's vessels?
  3. What do we mean by talking about life's values? Is value the same as money? Is Luke 12:21, Revelation 4:11, 1 Peter 1:18–19, or 1 Peter 2:6–7 relevant?
  4. Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin were the Aramaic words for weights and money. What would you think the message was if a hand wrote on your wall their modern equivalents, e.g. kilograms (kg), Pounds (£), Dollars (\$), percentages (%), Euros (€).
  5. Mene means 'a mina'; Tekel means 'a shekel'; Upharsin means 'and two halves' i.e. two half-shekels. How did Daniel get the meaning he did out of these words?
  6. When Nebuchadnezzar sinned, he was disciplined and given a chance to repent and be restored. When Belshazzar sinned he was cut down without opportunity to repent. Why so? (Dan 5:22).
  7. Daniel 5 describes the end of the Babylonian empire. Do you see any similarities with the last days (2 Tim 3:1–2).
  8. How would you preach the gospel to your contemporaries from this story?

Study Questions on Daniel 6

Is There an Absolute Law?

  1. Is it true to say that the invention of laws to which all are subject marks a great advance in human civilisation, and distinguishes civilized man from the animals in the jungle?
  2. Is there a realistic hope that by inventing better and better laws mankind will eventually achieve a golden age of peace? If not, why not?
  3. Differences in religion have been the cause of much diversion, bitterness, war and bloodshed. Would you think the answer to this problem would be to have one nationwide or worldwide religion, organised and enforced by the state? If not, why not?
  4. Is there an absolute law that takes precedence over all man-made laws? What is it?
  5. Do you believe that there was a superior power which actually overcame the lions' animal nature and stopped them eating Daniel? If so, is there a power which can lift us above the animal instinct within us of jealousy, envy and self-seeking? (see Gal 5:15–16; Rom 8:2).
  6. What do John 17:20–26, 1 Corinthians 10:17 and Ephesians 4:5–16 teach us about true spiritual unity?
  7. What do Luke 12:49–53, 1 John 2:18–24 and 2 John 9–11 teach us about false spiritual unity?
  8. What lessons on prayer would you draw from Daniel's behaviour in Daniel 6?

Study Questions on Daniel 7

God's Critique of Gentile Government—Part 2

  1. Does the critique of Gentile government given in this Daniel contradict the critique given in Daniel 2?
  2. Is it fair—and if so in what sense—to liken Gentile governments to wild beasts?
  3. According to Daniel 7:4 the first beast improved and became somewhat humanised. Is it true that in the course of history many governments have become more humanitarian?
  4. The fault in the image of Daniel 2 was a fatal weakness (Dan 2:42–43). What according to Daniel 7:7, 19, 25, is the fault with the fourth beast?
  5. Do you see any similarity between Daniel 7:11, 25 and Revelation 13:5–7?
  6. What do you understand by the title 'Son of Man' when applied to Christ? Does it mean simply 'a son of a man'?
  7. The first mention of the Son of Man in Matthew's Gospel is Matthew 8:20; the last is Matthew 26:64. The first mention in John's Gospel is John 1:51, the last is John 13:31. Heed these Scriptures. What do they tell us about the character of the Son of Man and his rule?
  8. Explain John 5:27.
  9. Those who are to reign with Christ are called 'saints' in Daniel 7. What lesson does Mark 10:42–45 teach those who hope to reign with Christ?

Study Questions on Daniel 8

Power Versus Truth: What is Truth?

  1. Who was Antiochus Epiphanes? At what period in history did he live? What did he do to the Jews and to the temple in Jerusalem? Why was that worse than anything that had happened before or since?
  2. Who were the Maccabees? What did they do? Where can we read about them?
  3. What is the Apocrypha? Does it claim to be inspired? Ought we to read it?
  4. Daniel 8:9–14 was fulfilled in the historical Antiochus Epiphanes. But what do the last sentences of Daniel 8:17 and 8:19 mean?
  5. If Daniel 7 paints the time of the end in terms of the fourth beast, why then does Daniel 8 paint the time of the end in features drawn from the third beast i.e. Greece?
  6. Do you see any similarities between what Antiochus did and what is said of the beast in Revelation 11:1–11?
  7. What is truth? Why is truth more important than power? See Daniel 8:12; John 18:37; 19:10–11.
  8. Read 1 Timothy 6:13–16. What is 'the good confession'? What does the word 'Potentate' mean? Does it matter whether we stand with the truth, or deny it in times of persecution?

Study Questions on Daniel 9

God's Discipline and Restoration of Jerusalem

  1. Why did God allow Nebuchadnezzar to destroy Jerusalem?
  2. Consider Ezekiel 36:22 and 39:25–29. Why was it absolutely necessary for Israel to be restored?
  3. Was the return under Ezra and Nehemiah a complete and final fulfilment of the restoration promised by God? What does Haggai 2:6–9 refer to?

  4. If God did not restore Israel fully after the seventy years' exile, was he:

    • Breaking the promise made in Jeremiah 29:10–14? or
    • Keeping the word and covenant given through Moses in Daniel 9:11–12?

  5. When Messiah was about to be 'cut off' at Calvary, what did he say would happen to the temple and to Jerusalem city? See Luke 21:5–6, 20–24. How does this fit with Daniel 9:26?

  6. How does Daniel 9:27 compare with Daniel 7:25, 8:11–14, 11:30–37, and with Matthew 24:15–28?
  7. According to Acts 1:6 and 3:14, 19–21, when will the restoration of all things take place?
  8. Does Daniel 9 contain any lesson for us on how God disciplines us if we disobey his word?

Study Questions on Daniel 10–12

Recurring Patterns in History and the Time of the End

  1. What comfort do you draw from the vision of the man above the river?
  2. What is the war or warfare mentioned in Daniel 10:1, 13, 20?
  3. Can we be involved in this great warfare? (See Eph 6:10–20).
  4. What is the writing of truth (Dan 10:21)? What comfort does it bring us?
  5. Do you agree that Daniel 11:5–12:4 show us that successive periods of history have shown features similar to those of the time of the end? If so, what practical lesson would you draw from it?
  6. What will distinguish the time of the end from all previous periods of history?
  7. What general principles of salvation are expressed in Daniel 12:1–2, 10, 13?
  8. Have you a 'lot' (i.e. an 'allotted inheritance') like Daniel has? (Dan 12:13).
  9. Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 12:1; Matthew 24:21–22 and Revelation 7:9–14 are written for the comfort of those who will be called on to pass through the great tribulation. What assurance do they have in common?
  10. Would you draw any general lesson of comfort for us in our age as we pass through tribulation, from Daniel 11 and 12?
 
David Gooding
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