Daniel

In verses 16 - 19, we have Daniel facing the crisis.

VS 16 - Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation.

Then Daniel went in - This means that he went in to the palace to see the king. Daniel probably expressed to Arioch the possibility that he could interpret the dream, and received Arioch's assistance in going before the king. It would not have been very wise for Daniel to go in to the king unannounced, especially knowing what kind of a mood the king was in. There is also the possibility that the king had enough time to cool down a little. But whatever the case Daniel was allowed to go in and stand before the king.

No matter what the situation may be, believers in Jesus Christ should always express thoughtfulness of others and possess good manners, consideration and tactfulness.

And desired of the king - Literally, "And requested of the king."

Notice the contrast here. All of the other wise men had been sent to the execution chamber and were not granted any more time. But Daniel was not only allowed to go in and stand before the king, but the king even granted Daniel's request.

PRINCIPLE - When the Lord is directly involved, everything moves along smoothly, even though on the surface it looks like everything is going to fall apart. That is why "We walk by faith, and not by sight," (II Cor 2:7).

Literally, "Then Daniel went into the palace and requested of the king."

That he would give him time - In other words, Daniel asked for a "stay of execution." Notice that Daniel did not ask the king to change his mind concerning the execution, or that he would reveal his dreams. He only asked for a little more time.

And that he would show the king the interpretation - In other words, Daniel told the king that he had an answer and he requested a little more time to get it all together.

Remember, Daniel was not among the wise men when they argued with and frustrated the king. It is possible that Daniel's calmness and positive attitude impressed the king. Here was a man of honesty and integrity, and that was a great contrast to the arrogant, lying wise men whom the king had kicked out of the palace.

Remember, Daniel was not in on the initial meeting between the king and the wise men. Maybe Daniel requested extra time on that basis, or maybe the king gave him extra time on that basis. But whatever the reasoning, Nebuchadnezzar granted the time that Daniel requested.

Notice also, that Daniel claimed to have an answer when in reality he didn't have an answer yet, because God hadn't revealed it to him yet. But in essence, Daniel did have an answer when he didn't have. If you are a born again believer consistently learning the Word of God and have developed a frame of reference, then you have answers when you don't have them. But, because of your relationship with the Lord and your positive volition toward His Word, your answers to all your questions are only as far away as your knowledge of the Word of God.

Every crisis has areas of unknown facts and activities in it. Sometimes we get hit with a crisis and we don't know what is going on, because we can't relate it to anything. But as spiritually mature believers we know that God knows what is going on, and He knew about it billions of years ago. Daniel knew and understood the essence of God. (8)

Because Daniel knew and understood the essense of God, he didn't have to know all of the details about the solution to his crisis, because he knew that God knew. And if God desires Daniel to live, then God will provide specific details to deliver Daniel and his friends. But if God desires Daniel to die, He will not provide those details to deliver Daniel and his friends. Both of these possibilities were solutions and Daniel knew that.

PRINCIPLE - when you do not know or understand the facts, go back to the character of God and relax in who and what He is in His perfect essence. Because everything depends on who and what God is. That is grace.

I also want you to notice that the first thing Daniel did after Arioch told him what is going on. He went straight to the palace and told them to hold up the executions because he had an answer. Then he goes back to his home and tells his three friends the situation, then they pray. The first thing most believers would do today would be to pray. But Daniel knew that prayer without the facts would be useless. And in his list of priorities in this crisis, prayer was number three. The first thing he does is to get some facts, then secondly, he shares those facts with other spiritually mature believers, and thirdly, they take those facts to God in prayer, together.

VS 17: Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:

Then - This means after the king had extended the time and given Daniel what he had requested.

Daniel went to his house - He left the palace and the presence of the king and went home.

And made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah - Daniel's three friends finally found out what was going on. While Daniel was out getting as many facts as he could, then going to the king and requesting more time, his friends were still home, uninformed.

There is no record as to what Hananiah, Misahael and Azariah were doing while Daniel was involved with Arioch and then with the king. But because we know that they were spiritually mature believers also, we must conclude that they were not sitting around twiddling their thumbs. They could have been praying for Daniel, asking God to assist him in obtaining the necessary facts concerning this situation. It is possible that these three young men heard Arioch explain this thing to Daniel and then maybe they prayed that the king would be receptive to Daniel's request. But as to what they actually did, we do not know.

His companions - This actually refers to category three love. This refers to great friendships.

Daniel went home and discussed this situation with his three friends. I want you to notice that there is no record of any panic or anyone being upset in this crisis. They have all been condemned to die, and what do they do? They get together to relax and talk about it. They discuss it. Their attitude tells us that they were looking at this situation from the divine viewpoint. They did not have any mental attitude sins of: fear, worry or even animosity toward the king. They were completely relaxed.

I can imagine what was possibly going on in their minds at this time. I can imagine them wondering, what is death like? What does it feel like when the soul leaves the body? What will I think of one second after I die? What is immortality like? I'm sure that some of us have asked ourselves similar questions at some time in our lives.

VS 18 - That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

They finally got around to prayer. There was no panic. They were completely relaxed because they knew that God was in control of everything.

That they would desire mercies - This introduces a purpose clause. Daniel's purpose was to share this crisis, then to share the blessings.

They would desire mercies of the God of heaven - The phrase "would desire," comes from the Chaldean word BEAH (beh-aw) meaning "to seek, to ask, to make petition, to request, to pray." The word "mercies" means "compassion, mercy, tender love." This word is in the plural and refers to the many facets of grace, here it refers to "grace in action." The phrase "of the God of heaven," literally says, "of the God of the heavens." The word "heaven" is in the plural in the original language. This phrase is in contrast to the religious superstitions of the Chaldeans who worshiped the starry heaven. Daniel's God is the "God of the heavens." Abraham first used this term in Genesis 24:7, and it is found frequently throughout the Bible: Ezra 1:2; 6:10; 7:12; Nehemiah 1:5; 2:4; Psalm 136:26.

Literally, "That they would pray to the God of the heavens."

Concerning this secret - The secret is the king's dream and its interpretation.

That Daniel and his fellows - Literally, "That Daniel and his three friends."

Should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon - They were obviously motivated by the desire to save their lives, but they would also be willing to die if necessary. This will be brought out in Chapter three with the incident regarding the fiery furnace.

Verse eighteen does not necessarily imply that the other wise men had already been executed, although that is a possibility. But the probability is that Daniel's ultimate deliverance also extended to the other wise men.

VS 19 - Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision - Verses 17 -18 took place during the day, and that night deliverance came to Daniel and his three friends in the form of a vision, not a dream. Possibly Daniel and his friends prayed on into the night and the vision came to Daniel when he was awake. Remember that Daniel had the gift of prophecy (Dan 1:17), but he did not hold the office of a prophet. The nature of the revelation required both a vision and the interpretation of that vision.

Then was the secret - The secret of Nebuchadnezzar's dream and the interpretation of it.

Revealed - This means "to be made known." This was a miracle. This is God giving a special revelation to one of His servants.

unto Daniel - All four young men were praying, but God gave the answer to only one of them, Daniel. This was because Daniel was the only one there with the gift of prophecy. He was the only one who could really understand it.

In a night vision - Remember that a vision occurs while one is awake and a dream occurs when one is asleep.

Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven - Notice what Daniel did when he saw what Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed. He blessed and praised God. Remember that Nebuchadnezzar was scared. But Daniel had Bible doctrine in his soul and he was prepared for whatever God would reveal, while Nebuchadnezzar was an unbeliever and the revelation of God frightened him terribly.

After Daniel had received this vision which answered the king's question, he did not run over to the palace and say "I have it! I have it." No. The first thing he did was to offer up a prayer of thanks and praise. You see, Daniel has all his priorities straight. He understood God, he understood God's grace, and he knew that everything depended on who and what God is.

Blessed the God of heaven - The word "blessed" means "to bless, as an act of adoration, to praise, to salute, to give thanks." The phrase "the God of heaven," is used in contrast to the Chaldean gods in the pantheon in Babylon.

In verses 20 -23 we have Daniel's immediate response of praise and thanksgiving to the God of heaven who had answered his prayer.

VS 20 - Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:

Once Daniel received this information he didn't try to capitalize on it, he didn't seek promotion on the basis of what he knew from the Word of God. Daniel didn't push himself to seek any glory or reward. There will be others who will attempt to gain some glory or recognition from this, but Daniel will not. Arioch will attempt to get some recognition from this, and Nebuchadnezzar will try to reward Daniel, because of this, but Daniel will not take the glory that rightfully belongs to God.

Daniel answered and said - This is what Daniel said after he had received this vision.

Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever - This reflects on Daniel's acquaintance with songs of praise found in the Psalms and other Old Testament Scriptures. In "praising the name of God," Daniel is referring to God in His revealed character, or to His person, and His person refers to Divine essence.

The word "blessed" is taken from the Hebrew word BARAK (baw-rak). It means "to bless, an act of adoration, to praise, to salute, to give thanks." "Blessed be the Lord," or "Blessed be God," or "Blessed be the name of the Lord" is found over 15 times in the book of Psalms alone. So, Daniel was praising God on the basis of God's own Word, and you must know the Word to do that.

In Numbers 14:11-19, Moses used the Word of the Lord as an intercessory prayer.

Literally, "Daniel spoke and said, 'Praised be the name of God forever."

Similar reference are found in Psalm 103:1-2, "Praise the Lord, O my soul: all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits."

Psalm 113:1-2, "Praise the Lord. Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forever."

For wisdom and might are his - Daniel selects two points of God's essence. "Wisdom," which is what we call omniscience meaning "all knowing or all knowledge." In other words, all that there is to know, He knows, because He knows everything. In Daniel's thinking, God's all knowing wisdom is what revealed the king's dream in a night vision.

The second thing we see is God's "might," which we call omnipotence, meaning "all power." In other words, all of the power that is possible, God possesses it because He is all powerful.

In Daniel's thinking, God's power is what made it possible for Daniel to receive and understand the king's dream and its interpretation.

Daniel selected these two points of God's essence which not only solved his problem, but solved it billions of years before. Notice that Daniel did not mention love. Many believers of today would probably have done so. Neither did Daniel mention the sovereignty of God, while many today might have. But Daniel understood God and he understood God's Word. Daniel possessed divine viewpoint.

Are his - This is the verb of absolute state of being meaning "have always been, are at this moment and will always be his." So Daniel is saying that total and complete wisdom , total and comple power have always been and will always be God's.

VS 21 - And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding.

And he changeth the times and the seasons - There are a couple of words I want to explain from the phrase "the times and the seasons," but I am going to use the greek from the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew text. This translation was completed about 250 BC.

The Greek word used for "the times" is CHRONOS meaning "a series of events, one immediately following the other." This is where we get our English word "chronology." The Greek word used for "the seasons" is CHAIROS meaning "a series of events that are placed in a category," and we would call this "dispensations."

So the phrase "times and seasons" deals with the interpretation of history, both from the standpoint of chronology and from the standpoint of dispensations.

So "the times" refers to the rise and fall of empires, or the chronological sequence of the world empires from the time of Daniel to the second coming of Jesus Christ.

"The seasons" refers to the entire time of each individual empire, whether it be 100 years or 1000 years.

Literally, "And he completely controls the chronological sequence of events and the marked out periods of time for each event."

He removeth kings, and setteth up kings - This tells us that the Lord not only is in complete control of the chronology of events and the marked out periods of time for each event, but the Lord decides who will be national rulers in those periods of time. In other words, there are no rulers or powers who get there by their own drive and determination. They are there simply because the Lord allows them to be there. If the Lord did not want a certain ruler to be in power, he would be dethroned by whatever means the Lord sees fit to use. So Daniel is saying here that "the Lord removes rulers and He sets up rulers." Jesus Christ controls history. During these troubled and confusing times, this fact should be a great comfort for every believer.

Literally, "And He completely controls the chronological sequence of events and the marked out periods of time for each event: He removes rulers and He sets up rulers."

He giveth wisdom unto the wise - This refers to spiritual information. But notice, that "he gives it." That is grace. No one works for, or deserves spiritual information. He gives it freely. The phrase "unto the wise," refers to those who are positive to the truth, positive toward the Word of God. The only prerequisite, the only requirement that we must possess before God will give us spiritual information, is that we be positive to Him and His Word and that we desire to know spiritual truths. Then He will give us this wisdom.

Literally, "He freely gives spiritual information to those who are positive to receive it."

And knowledge to them that know understanding - "Knowledge" refers to human knowledge for the survival of the human race. The principle of "understanding" refers to those who are positive toward the divine institutions. In other words, God does not help the ignorant, the ones who are negative toward truth and His plans and purpose.

VS 22 - He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.

He revealeth the deep and secret things - The word "deep" is from the Hebrew word AMIJQ (am-eek) meaning "profound, unsearchable, deep." This refers to things that no one can know unless God shows it to him. The words "secret things" comes from the Hebrew word CETHAR (seth-re) meaning "concealed, hidden, secret." This refers to simple information that is unattainable by human abilities (like Nebuchadnezzar's dream). But the Lord only reveals these things to the ones who have a soul loaded with Bible doctrine and have a fantastic frame of reference which expresses divine viewpoint.

Literally, "He makes known the profound and unsearchable things, as well as the secret things."

In our context this refers to the content and meaning of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. But in application this can be applied on a more general basis, in that, "He can make known any deep and secret thing" if He so desires."

He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him - The word "darkness" usually refers to sin and evil, and that is true. But it can also refer to unbelievers and their pattern of thinking. Following our context, "the darkness" would refer to the mind of Nebuchadnezzar, who is an unbeliever at this point. We also see by application that this can be applied on a more general basis. The Lord does know what goes on in all the darkness everywhere. Psalm 139:12, "Even the darkness will not be dark to you, the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you."

The word "light" refers to absolute righteousness and justice. It also refers to spiritual illumination. Light simply refers to the perfect character of God in all His essence. Although He knows what is in the darkness, God's character dwells or resides in the "light." Psalm 36:9 says, ".......in your light we see light." That is, God's light is presented as the light by which men see. In the gospel of John Christ is identified as the light of the world in John 1:9, 3:19, 8:12, 9:5, 12:46.

VS 23 - I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter.

I thank thee and praise thee - After attributing to God the infinite qualities of wisdom, power, sovereignty and knowledge, Daniel directly expressed his thanks to God for His revelation to him of the secret. Although no mention is made of his deliverance from death, it was obviously included in his thanks. So you can see that Daniel's attitude toward spiritual information was greater than his attitude toward physical death.

In the orignal text, the word "thee" stands first for emphasis. Literally, "Thee I thank." This appears to be a desire to place God first. Again this is in contrast to the Chaldean deities whom Daniel knew to be a fraud.

O thou God of my fathers - This is a common phrase found throughout the Old Testament. This actually refers to Daniel having an experience of God's mercy which is analagous to that which his fathers (the Jews like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses) gave testimony throughout the written canon of Scripture.

Literally, "To you, O God of my fathers, I thank and praise."

Who hast given me wisdom and might -

Wisdom - This refers to spiritual information.

Might - This refers to the power and the ability to understand this spiritual information.

And hast made known - In other words, this refers to God's revelation in the night vision.

Unto me - God revealed this to Daniel only, not to his three friends. Now Daniel will share this information with his friends, but Daniel was the only one that God revealed this too, because Daniel, unlike his friends, had the gift of prophecy.

God works through spiritual gifts which He gives to His people. But before God can use any spiritual gift to its maximum potential, that gift must be developed by the individual, through the consistent learning and application of Bible doctrine through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Lord equips His saints with special gifts and gives them the ability to develop those gifts through the following of His plan. But if believers do not utilize what God had provided, they will never develop the spiritual gift they received at the point of salvation.

Literally, "To you O God of my fathers, I thank and praise, for you have given to me wisdom, understanding and you have revealed to me."

Now - This is the time of crisis. The Lord did not reveal this before the crisis, and certainly not after the crisis. The Lord solves the problem at the peak of the crisis. Where there is no place to turn, God steps in and solves the problem through a man who is dedicated in serving Him.

What we desired of thee - The pronoun "we" refers to Daniel's three friends. The word "desired" refers to their prayers. In other words, God gave them what they prayed for.

For thou hast now made know unto us - The Lord actually made this known to Daniel, and Daniel told his three friends.

The king's matter - This refers to the king's dream and its meaning.

Notice that Daniel said, "You have revealed to "me" what "we" have asked of you." In other words, Daniel did not attribute to his own prayers any special power. He understood spiritual gifts and so did his friends

VS 24 - Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon: he went and said thus unto him; Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will show unto the king the interpretation.

Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon - Daniel was now in command of this situation as he reported to Arioch and told him "Not to destroy the wise men of Babylon." The question and answer period was over. Daniel now had the facts, and he had the answers. Now he asserted himself with poise and confidence.

He went and said thus unto him - Arioch was the chief of the royal security guard and this probably took place at his office in the palace, near the throne room.

Daniel simply went into Arioch's office and said, "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon, because I have the answer, so take me in to the king."

The poise and confidence of Daniel in approaching Arioch and telling him to "Not destroy the wise men of Babylon" revealed that Daniel understood that God's hand was upon him and the solution to this problem was at hand.

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