Sunday, July 1, 2012

July 1 – An Introduction to Daniel

An Introduction to Daniel
Key verse - "It is He (God) who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.” Daniel 2:22 (NASB)

Historically in the land of Israel when Jehoiakim was twenty - five years old he became King and reigned for eleven years, but he did evil in the sight of the Lord. As punishment, for three years Jehoiakim became a servant to King Nebuchandnezzar of Babylon, and then he rebelled against him (2 Kings 23:36  -  24:1). In 605 BC when King Nebuchandnezzar invaded Jerusalem, Daniel was captured along with other Hebrew noble youth and taken to Babylon where he lived the rest of his life.

Daniel was considered to be a prophet, as identified by Jesus Christ in Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14, "Therefore when you see the Abomination of Desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), …then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.  (NASB)

This book of Daniel was written by Daniel in about 537 BC in the Persian, Greek and Aramaic languages. Since Daniel was living in Babylon when he wrote this book, it is logical that parts of it would be written in the Persian language that was used in that area and era. The text tells us that Daniel was taught the language and literature of the Babylonians. Daniel was a pretty smart guy! His wisdom could be considered even greater than Solomon because Daniel stayed true and righteous to God throughout his life.

So let’s feast for the next forty days on the words of the Lord as recorded in the Book of Daniel. May God give us grace to understand the prophesies in this book and the wisdom to apply this scripture to our lives.

© 2012 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.
Scripture from The Message, except where note.

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