Daniel: Faithful Discipleship in a Foreign LandDaniel: Faithful Discipleship in a Foreign Land
by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
JesusWalk Publications, 2015
194 pages
| Preface | 3 | |
| Table of Contents | 5 | |
| References and Abbreviations | 11 | |
| Reprint Guidelines | 14 | |
| Introduction to Daniel | 15 | |
| Themes of the Book of Daniel | 15 | |
| When Was Daniel Written? | 16 | |
| Apocalyptic | 16 | |
| Structure and Language | 17 | |
| Text and Canon | 17 | |
| History of Interpretation | 18 | |
| Double Fulfillment of Prophecy | 19 | |
| Principles for Interpreting Apocalyptic Prophecy | 19 | |
| A Summary of Daniel's Life | 20 | |
| The Exiles | 22 | |
| The Intertestamental Period | 22 | |
| 1. Four Hebrew Youths in Babylon (Daniel 1) | 23 | |
| Nebuchadnezzar Conquers Jerusalem (1:1-2) | 23 | |
| Hebrew Youths Deported to Babylon (1:3-5) | 24 | |
| Names (1:6-7) | 26 | |
| Daniel Resolves Not to Defile Himself (1:8-10) | 27 | |
| A Ten Day Test (1:11-16) | 28 | |
| God-Given Insight (1:17) | 29 | |
| The Hebrew Youths Begin their Service (1:18-21) | 30 | |
| Lessons for Disciples | 30 | |
| 2. Nebuchadnezzar's Dream and Daniel's Interpretation (Daniel 2) | 32 | |
| Nebuchadnezzar Requires Wise Men to Tell His Dream (2:1-13) | 32 | |
| The King Demands Interpretation of His Dream (2:2b-4) | 35 | |
| Nebuchadnezzar Demands to be Told What He Dreamed (2:5-13) | 35 | |
| Daniel and His Friends Seek God (2:14-16) | 36 | |
| Call for Urgent Prayer (2:17-18) | 37 | |
| God Reveals to Daniel in a Dream (2:19-23) | 37 | |
| Daniel Seeks Audience with Nebuchadnezzar (2:24-28) | 38 | |
| Nebuchadnezzar's Dream (2:29-35) | 39 | |
| Daniel's Interpretation (2:36-45) | 39 | |
| Identifying the Empires | 40 | |
| The Stone that Shatters Kingdoms (2:40, 44-45) | 41 | |
| Nebuchadnezzar Honors Daniel (2:46-49) | 44 | |
| Lessons for Disciples | 45 | |
| 3. The Fiery Furnace and the Lions' Den (Daniel 3 and 6) | 47 | |
| A. The Fiery Furnace (Daniel 3) | 47 | |
| The Golden Image (3:1) | 48 | |
| Government Officials Commanded to Assemble (3:2-3) | 48 | |
| Command to Fall Down and Worship the Image (3:4-7) | 49 | |
| The Burning Fiery Furnace | 50 | |
| Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego Denounced (3:8-12) | 51 | |
| Nebuchadnezzar Demands the Jews to Worship His Statue (3:13-15) | 52 | |
| The Jews Refuse to Worship the Image (3:16-18) | 53 | |
| The Jews Are Thrown into the Fiery Furnace (3:19-23) | 54 | |
| Nebuchadnezzar Sees a Fourth Man in the Furnace (3:24-26a) | 55 | |
| The Jews Emerge Unscathed (3:26b-27) | 55 | |
| Nebuchadnezzar Praises their God (3:28-30) | 56 | |
| Lessons for Disciples from the Fiery Furnace Account | 57 | |
| B. Daniel in the Lions' Den (Daniel 6) | 58 | |
| Darius the Mede (5:31) | 58 | |
| Daniel Elevated by Darius (6:1-2) | 59 | |
| Daniel's Enemies (6:3-4) | 60 | |
| Darius Makes a Decree Banning Prayer (6:5-9) | 61 | |
| Daniel Prays Three Times a Day -- as Usual (6:10-11) | 62 | |
| Daniel's Enemies Report Him to the King (6:12-13) | 63 | |
| Darius Seeks to Rescue Daniel (6:14-15) | 64 | |
| The Lions' Den (6:16-17) | 64 | |
| Daniel Is Delivered by an Angel (6:18-23) | 65 | |
| Daniel's Accusers Executed (6:24) | 66 | |
| Darius's Proclamation (6:25-28) | 66 | |
| Lessons for Disciples from the Lions' Den Account | 67 | |
| 4. Humbling the Proud (Daniel 4-5) | 69 | |
| A. Nebuchadnezzar's Mental Illness (Daniel 4) | 69 | |
| Nebuchadnezzar's Dream (4:1-10a) | 69 | |
| The Vigorous Tree Is Stripped (4:10b-17) | 70 | |
| Daniel Hesitates to Interpret the Dream (4:18-20) | 71 | |
| You Are the Tree (4:20-26) | 72 | |
| Daniel's Counsel (4:27) | 73 | |
| The Dream's Fulfillment (4:28-33; 5:18-21) | 74 | |
| Nebuchadnezzar Acknowledges God (4:34-35) | 76 | |
| Nebuchadnezzar's Sanity Restored (4:36-37) | 78 | |
| B. The Handwriting on the Wall (Daniel 5) | 79 | |
| The Growing Persian Threat | 79 | |
| Drinking from the Temple Goblets (5:1-4) | 80 | |
| The Handwriting on the Wall (5:5-6) | 80 | |
| No One Can Interpret the Writing (5:7-9) | 80 | |
| Daniel Is Summoned (5:10-16) | 80 | |
| Daniel Answers Belshazzar (5:17) | 81 | |
| Daniel Recalls Nebuchadnezzar's Humiliation (5:18-21) | 81 | |
| You, Belshazzar, Have Not Humbled Yourself (5:22-24) | 82 | |
| Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin (5:25-28) | 83 | |
| Babylon Falls to the Medes and Persians (5:29-31) | 83 | |
| Lessons for Disciples | 84 | |
| 5. Four Beasts and the Son of Man (Daniel 7) | 86 | |
| Apocalyptic | 86 | |
| The Four Great Beasts (7:1-8) | 87 | |
| The Beast Is Slain and Thrown into the Fire (7:11-12) | 90 | |
| The Heavenly Son of Man (7:13-14) | 90 | |
| How Jesus Spoke of the Son of Man | 95 | |
| A Summary of the Vision (7:15-18) | 96 | |
| 1. The Lion with Wings of an Eagle (7:4) -- Babylon | 97 | |
| 2. Bear with Three Ribs in Its Mouth (7:5) -- Medo-Persia | 98 | |
| 3. Leopard with Wings of a Bird (7:6) -- Greece | 98 | |
| 4. The Beast with Iron Teeth, Bronze Claws, and Ten Horns (7:4-8) -- Rome | 99 | |
| The Little Horn (7:8, 20) | 100 | |
| Is the Fourth Kingdom Greece or Rome? | 101 | |
| The Horn Wages War against the Saints (7:21-22) | 102 | |
| The Antichrist (7:23-25) | 103 | |
| The Everlasting Kingdom (7:26-28) | 104 | |
| Lessons for Disciples | 104 | |
| 6. A Vision and a Mighty Prayer (Daniel 8:1-9:19) | 107 | |
| A. Daniel's Dream of a Ram and Goat (Daniel 8) | 107 | |
| The Ram and the Goat (8:3-8) | 108 | |
| Medo-Persian (Achaemenid) Empire (550-330 BC) | 108 | |
| The Two-Horned Ram -- the Medo-Persian Empire (8:3-4) | 109 | |
| The Goat with a Single Horn -- Alexander the Great (8:5-7) | 110 | |
| Alexander's Death and Successors (8:8, 22) | 111 | |
| Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-163 BC) | 111 | |
| Another Horn -- Antiochus Epiphanes (8:9-13) | 113 | |
| The Desolating Sacrifice (8:13) | 114 | |
| Daniel's Reaction to the Vision (8:15-18) | 115 | |
| Identification of the Ram and Goat (8:19-22) | 116 | |
| More About Antiochus (8:23-25) | 116 | |
| The Vision for the Future (8:26-27) | 117 | |
| Summary | 117 | |
| B. Daniel's Prayer of Intercession (9:1-19) | 119 | |
| 70 Years Are Completed (9:1-2) | 119 | |
| Confession of Israel's Sins (9:3-4a) | 120 | |
| Acknowledgement of Sin (9:4b-6) | 122 | |
| Daniel Confesses the Sin as His Own (9:5) | 124 | |
| Israel's Shame (9:7-11a) | 125 | |
| God's Punishment for Israel's Sins (9:11b-14) | 126 | |
| A Plea for Mercy (9:15-18) | 128 | |
| A Plea for Forgiveness (9:19) | 129 | |
| The Return from Exile | 129 | |
| Lessons for Disciples about Intercession | 129 | |
| 7. Daniel's Vision of the Seventy Weeks (Daniel 9:20-27) | 131 | |
| Gabriel Appears to Daniel (9:20-23) | 131 | |
| Seventy Sevens (9:24) | 132 | |
| Assumption behind the Interpretations | 133 | |
| The Seventy Sevens -- literal or figurative? | 134 | |
| Seven "Sevens" and Sixty-two "Sevens" (9:25) | 135 | |
| The Anointed One | 136 | |
| Jerusalem Will be Rebuilt (9:25) | 136 | |
| Determining the Beginning Point | 137 | |
| Counting the Years | 137 | |
| The Final "Seven" (9:26-27) | 138 | |
| A Synopsis of the Major Interpretations of the Seventy "Sevens" | 143 | |
| My Conclusions about Daniel's Seventy Weeks | 145 | |
| Lessons for Disciples | 147 | |
| 8. The Kings of the North and South (Daniel 10:1-11:35) | 149 | |
| Revelation of a Great War (10:1-3) | 149 | |
| Daniel Sees a Vision of an Angel (10:4-7) | 150 | |
| The Vision Saps Daniel's Energy (10:3, 7-11, 15-17) | 150 | |
| Resisted by the Prince of Persia (10:10-19) | 151 | |
| Daniel Receives Strength (10:15-19) | 153 | |
| Wars against the Princes of Persia and Greece (10:20-11:1) | 153 | |
| Prophecies of the Persian and Greek Kings (11:2-35) | 154 | |
| Four Persian Kings (11:2) | 155 | |
| Alexander the Great and His Four Successors (11:3-4) | 155 | |
| Wars between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids (11:5-9) | 155 | |
| Antiochus III the Great vs. Ptolemy IV and V (11:10-17) | 157 | |
| The Tax Collector (11:20) | 159 | |
| The Prince of the Covenant (11:21-24) | 159 | |
| War between North and South (11:25-27) | 160 | |
| Antiochus Invades Jerusalem (11:28) | 161 | |
| King of the North Shows Fury against the People of the Covenant (11:29-30) | 161 | |
| Antiochus Attacks Jerusalem (11:30b) | 161 | |
| The Abomination of Desolation (11:31-32) | 162 | |
| A Resistance Movement -- the Maccabees (11:33-35) | 162 | |
| Reflecting | 163 | |
| Lessons for Disciples | 163 | |
| 9. Antichrist, Resurrection, and the Last Days (Daniel 11:36-12:13) | 166 | |
| The Antichrist Exalts Himself against God in the Last Days (11:36-39) | 166 | |
| Battle with the King of the South (11:40-45) | 168 | |
| Spiritual Warfare (12:1) | 170 | |
| The Time of Distress (12:1) | 171 | |
| Resurrection of the Righteous and the Unrighteous (12:2-3) | 171 | |
| Development of a Doctrine of Resurrection | 172 | |
| Seal Up the Words of the Scroll (12:4) | 174 | |
| Time, Times, and Half a Time (12:5-7) | 174 | |
| Sealed until the End (12:8-10) | 175 | |
| 1,290 and 1,335 Days (12:11-12) | 176 | |
| Daniel Rises to Receive His Inheritance (12:13) | 177 | |
| Lessons for Disciples | 177 | |
| Appendices | 179 | |
| Appendix 1. Participant Handout Guides | 179 | |
| Appendix 2. The Medo-Persian Empire | 180 | |
| Appendix 3. The Case for a Sixth Century Dating of Daniel | 182 | |
| Questions of History Accuracy | 183 | |
| Questions of Language | 185 | |
| The Rise of Apocalyptic Literature | 185 | |
| Pseudonymous Writings | 186 | |
| Appendix 4. Important Dates for the Book of Daniel | 187 | |
| Synopsis of the Six Syrian Wars | 190 | |
| Appendix 5. The Assyrian and Babylonian Exiles | 191 | |
| The Assyrian Deportations | 191 | |
| The Medes and Persians and a Return from Exile | 193 | |