Daniel 1 - 6

Highly Favored

Daniel was a person highly favored by man and by God.  He was of royal lineage (1:3) and erudite in law, science, and all academic subjects.  Daniel was also spiritually gifted and able to discern visions, dreams, and prophecy.  His impressive knowledge and unassuming and gracious manners made him and his friends the favorites of king Nebuchadnezzar's court.

Daniel is put to the test early in his exile when the king has a dream that no one can interpret.  The king himself cannot remember the dream and eventually Daniel is called to interpret it.  Not only does Daniel interpret the dream, he also can recall and retell it in great detail.  The dream is essentially a foretelling of the worldly gentile kingdoms from the time of Daniel to the present day.  The king, in the dream, sees a massive statue made of four metals: gold, silver, bronze, and iron with toes of iron and clay.  These metals become less valuable but increasingly harder and more useful as weapons as they progress.  Additionally, they represent the kingdom rule of Babylon, Media-Persian, Greece, and Rome. In the dream a rock that is cut out of a mountain, cut without hands, smashes the great image to nothing.  The rock is representative of Jesus Christ and the ultimate installation of His kingdom during the millennium.

What happens in chapter 2 is strange.  The king is highly impressed to the point of worshiping Daniel at the end of chapter 1.  Chapter 2 starts with king Nebuchadnezzar build a great 90 foot high image/statue out of gold.  Some scholars surmise that Nebuchadnezzar built an image based on his dream.  However, because the king could not recall the dream, I have trouble believing this interpretation.  I think the image was in the likeness of Daniel based on the verses in 1:46.  I also think this is why the friends of Daniel, renamed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, adamantly refused to worship the image.

In chapter 4, Daniel interprets another dream of king Nebuchadnezzar having to do with the king being humbled to behave like a wild animal for seven years because of self-aggrandizement. In chapter 5, there is a new king, Belshazzar, who forgets the humility of his predecessor and sees a hand write a message on the wall during a depraved party.  Again, only Daniel can interpret the message - which is the downfall of the kingdom and the ushering in of the "silver" age - the Medes and Persians.

This age brings in king Darius who like Nebuchadnezzar, recognizes the brilliance and leadership of Daniel and makes him the second highest in the kingdom. The other leaders are jealous and trick the king into signing a law that ensures Daniel will be killed in a lion's den.  But, again, Daniel is saved by the Lord and solidifies in place in the kingdom of Darius.