June 24, 2025 • 17 mins
Journey back to ancient Babylon as we begin our verse-by-verse exploration of one of Scripture's most fascinating prophetic books. The story opens around 607 BC when Nebuchadnezzar first besieges Jerusalem, marking the beginning of Judah's subjugation to Babylonian rule.
This inaugural episode lays crucial historical groundwork, revealing how the young Daniel-likely only 15 years old-was uprooted from Jerusalem along with other noble youths and thrust into Nebuchadnezzar's sophisticated indoctrination program. We examine the political landscape of the ancient Near East, where Egypt and Babylon competed for dominance as the Assyrian Empire declined, with Judah caught in the crossfire. Understanding this context illuminates why God permitted His people to fall under pagan authority and how He worked through unlikely instruments like Nebuchadnezzar.
The Babylonian strategy went beyond mere military conquest—it involved a comprehensive cultural assimilation campaign. Palace officials changed the Jewish youths' names from those honoring Yahweh to names glorifying Babylonian deities, provided them royal food and wine, and immersed them in Chaldean literature and language. This systematic attempt to reshape their identity foreshadows the challenging decisions about compromise and faithfulness that Daniel would soon face.
Nine of Daniel's twelve chapters contain apocalyptic visions that parallel the Book of Revelation, earning Daniel the distinction of being "the Revelation of the Old Testament." As we continue this series, we'll witness how this remarkable prophet maintained his faith under extreme pressure, influenced kings, and received some of Scripture's most significant prophecies about world empires and end times. Subscribe now to follow Daniel's extraordinary journey from captive to confidant of kings to receiver of divine mysteries.
Email: nathan@nathandietsche.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Grace, peace and love be multiplied to you in the
name of our Lord and Savior,jesus Christ.
This podcast begins an in-depthstudy of the book of Daniel.
As in all of our podcasts withthe mysteries of God's Word, I
will be going verse by verse,but because the book of Daniel
(00:21):
contains many prophecies, bothend-time prophecies as well as
prophecies that have alreadyoccurred historically, I want to
do my research thoroughly.
So if there's a week in which Idon't post a podcast, know that
it's because I want to do mybest at bringing you the word of
(00:42):
God and dividing it properly.
Now let's start at verse 1 ofDaniel.
It begins In the third year ofthe reign of Jehoiakim, king of
Judah.
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged
(01:03):
it.
Let's just talk a little bitabout verse 1 and the people and
places that it's naming.
First of all, we see Jehoiakim.
Jehoiakim is the third from thelast king of Judah.
Jehoiakim was actually a vassalking.
He came to power under Egyptianauthority via the appointment
of Pharaoh Necho shortly afterhis father, josiah, had died in
(01:27):
a war with the Pharaoh.
So Jehoiakim was a pawn inEgypt's hand.
If you will paying tribute tothe Egyptians, pharaoh Necho
from Egypt actually changedJehoiakim's name so that
Jehoiakim knew he was underPharaoh's authority and Judah,
(01:47):
at this time, had become thetributary of Egypt.
And we say Judah because allthat was left of the nation of
Israel was Judah.
The divided kingdom of Israelhad fallen a hundred years prior
and now Judah had become thetributary of Egypt.
(02:08):
Additionally, the Assyrianempire had ruled much of the
Middle East for some time, butwas now on the way out.
The empire of the Assyrians wasfalling and much of the Middle
East was up for grabs, and thetwo greatest competitors were
Egypt and Babylon.
(02:29):
Egypt, as we all know, hasalways been primarily located
around the Nile.
However, the empire of Babylonis less known.
Babylon was in the Mesopotamianplain, a land also known as
Shinar, to give a modern-daylocation for this.
(02:52):
It's about 55 miles south ofBaghdad, iraq today.
And at this time,nebuchadnezzar was just coming
to power and it was his firstyear as king when he came and
besieged Jerusalem for the firsttime.
And I say the first timebecause Nebuchadnezzar actually
(03:14):
sieged Jerusalem three separatetimes.
But Nebuchadnezzar's siege onJerusalem at this time is only
to make it his vassal.
His primary goal right now isto take away a tributary from
Egypt, his enemy, and to make ithis to bring the income from
(03:36):
Judah his way rather than theway of his enemy.
The first verse talks about thisbeing the third year of the
reign of Jehoiakim whenNebuchadnezzar came and besieged
Jerusalem.
And right off the bat, thatseems to contradict what
Jeremiah says.
(03:56):
When Jeremiah received a wordfrom the Lord, in Jeremiah 25.1,
it reads In Jeremiah 25.1 itreads no-transcript.
(04:19):
Also, in the book of Jeremiah,chapter 46, verses 1 and 2,
reads the word of the Lord thatcame to Jeremiah, the prophet,
concerning the nations, aboutEgypt, concerning the army of
Pharaoh, necho, the king ofEgypt, which was by the river
Euphrates, at Carchemish, andwhich Nebuchadnezzar, king of
(04:41):
Babylon, defeated in the fourthyear of Jehoiakim, the son of
Josiah, king of Judah.
So we see from the book ofJeremiah that Nebuchadnezzar's
military campaign in his firstyear occurred in the fourth year
.
So why does Daniel record it inthe third year of the reign of
(05:04):
Jehoiakim?
Well, most scholars believe thatDaniel was recording this.
According to the Babyloniantraditions in which he is about
to be raised, daniel didn'tinclude the first year of a
king's reign because inBabylonian traditions this was
known as the year of ascensionof a king's reign, because in
(05:24):
Babylonian traditions this wasknown as the year of ascension
of a king, and when weunderstand that this is,
according to Daniel, actuallythe fourth year of Jehoiakim's
reign, because the first year isnot included under Babylonian
traditions and that puts it inharmony with Jeremiah when he
says it was the fourth year ofJehoiakim.
(05:45):
Now, according to James Usher'sAnnals of the World, the year
of this first siege, when Danielis taken back to Babylon, is
607 BC.
As I said before, this is thefirst of three sieges that
Nebuchadnezzar will bring onJudah.
This first siege puts Israelunder Babylonian authority
(06:11):
rather than Egyptian authorityand, again, the purpose of this
first siege is simply to putIsrael under his authority as a
tributary rather than Egypt'sauthority, as a tributary rather
than Egypt's.
I think it's also important torecognize that during the time
of Daniel and these 19 yearsthat are left of Judah, in which
(06:33):
they will be the vassal ofBabylon, there were many
prophets that the Lord wasbringing forth, warning the
people of God.
I'd like to name some of themnow Zephaniah, the prophet,
prophesied for almost 15 yearsand was ending just around the
time Daniel was born.
Nahum, the prophet, prophesiedfor 45 years and was ending just
(07:00):
around the time Daniel wasexiled.
Habakkuk was a prophet whoprophesied for about 10 years at
the time Daniel was taken intocaptivity and exiled.
Jeremiah, the prophet, couldprobably be considered the major
prophet for Israel at the timeof Daniel, and Jeremiah's
(07:22):
influence as a prophet lastedfor 65 years.
Jeremiah prophesied for 35years before Daniel and then 30
years into Daniel's life.
Ezekiel was a prophet rightalongside Daniel, as a
contemporary for about 50 years.
As a contemporary for about 50years, daniel himself prophesied
(07:49):
and bridged the entire 70 yearsof Babylonian captivity and
continued to prophesy for atotal of at least 80 years.
And as we talk about the book ofDaniel, which we are going to
be looking more at, I think it'simportant to recognize that
nine of the 12 chapters inDaniel are prophetic revelations
(08:10):
about God's future plans forthe world, and they come to
Daniel in dreams and visions.
The book of Daniel is to theOld Testament.
What revelation is to the NewTestament?
Verse 2 of Daniel says and theLord gave Jehoiakim, king of
Judah, into his hand with someof the vessels of the house of
(08:33):
God, and he brought them to theland of Shinar, to the house of
his God, and placed the vesselsin the treasury of his God.
Here in verse 2, daniel recordshow the Lord gave Jehoiakim
into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.
(08:53):
Both Daniel and the prophetJeremiah record how
Nebuchadnezzar was used as aninstrument of God against the
sin of Israel.
Nebuchadnezzar, at this time,was a pagan and worshipped pagan
gods, but yet the prophets tellus that God used this king and
(09:14):
moved him to punish his peopleand become the dominant king
because his people had sinnedagainst him.
When Jehoiakim had been giveninto Nebuchadnezzar's hand,
nebuchadnezzar chained Jehoiakimto take him back to Babylon.
We find that in 2 Chronicles36.6.
(09:37):
However, we also read thatJehoiakim was allowed to stay in
Jerusalem and at his own home.
It's safe to assume that, basedupon promises of subjection,
nebuchadnezzar allowed Jehoiakimto remain as the king in Judah.
As we stated earlier, it wasn'tNebuchadnezzar's desire at this
(10:00):
time to change the civil laws ofthe Israelites or to change
their worship or to change theirworship.
At this time, his primary goalwas to make Israelite a vassal
and a tributary to Babylon,instead of being a tributary to
Egypt.
It was at this time thatNebuchadnezzar took with him
(10:20):
some of the finest of thepriestly instruments from the
house of God.
He didn't take everything atthis time.
This wasn't the time where helooted the entire house of God.
In fact, he left most of thethings in the house of God.
He left what was needed forcontinuing public worship at
this time and he didn't try tochange the religious worship.
(10:44):
It won't be for another eightyears until Nebuchadnezzar comes
and takes all of the treasuriesfrom the house of God, and
we're told that Nebuchadnezzarbrought it back to the land of
Shinar.
Now, the land of Shinar was aplain in the lower Euphrates
(11:05):
Tigris River system, the lowerEuphrates-Tigris River system.
The name the land of Shinaroriginated way back around the
time of Noah, ever since Noah'sfamily came down from the
mountains of Ararat and theysettled in the plains of Shinar.
That can be found in Genesis 11too.
(11:25):
It was here in these plainsthat the original tower of Babel
was erected, and now it is thelocation of Nebuchadnezzar's
kingdom of Babylon, verse 3,.
Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring
(11:46):
some of the people of Israel,both of the royal family and of
the nobility Youths, withoutblemish of good appearance and
skillful in all wisdom, endowedwith knowledge, understanding,
learning and competent, to standin the king's palace and to
(12:07):
teach them literature andlanguage of the Chaldeans.
In verses 3 and 4, we see thatafter this first siege of
Jerusalem, nebuchadnezzar tookthe most promising young men
from noble families to betrained in his kingdom.
These were young men that werehealthy, attractive and had a
(12:28):
good foundational education.
The Hebrew word for youth heremeans boys or children, so these
young men were very likelybetween the ages of 13 and 16.
Daniel was probably around theage of 15 when he was taken, and
they all came from noblefamilies and they were being
(12:50):
educated in affairs of state.
They were being educated at thepalace of the king.
By taking these young men,nebuchadnezzar wasn't only
improving his own kingdom, buthe was demoralizing and
impairing the nation of Judah,which he would later completely
conquer.
And then Nebuchadnezzar hadthese young boys brought back to
(13:12):
Babylon so that they might beindoctrinated into his education
program and into the ways ofBabylon, so that they might
serve him in his kingdom.
As I researched this, I foundthat some scholars believed that
Nebuchadnezzar had a similarthinking to Alexander the Great,
(13:33):
who would take the best mindsfrom any kingdom and bring them
into his for his purpose, whileother scholars believe that
Nebuchadnezzar wanted rulersfrom Judah trained as leaders,
so that when he would eventuallyconquer Judah, he'd have
leaders who could relate andrule the nation of Judah that he
(13:56):
would conquer.
Perhaps both of those are true.
Verse 5.
The king assigned them a dailyportion of the food that the
king ate and of the wine that hedrank.
They were to be educated forthree years and at the end of
that time they were to standbefore the king.
(14:18):
In verse 5, we see that theking assigned these noble boys
from Israel a daily portion ofthe food that he himself ate and
the wine that he himself drank.
The Hebrew word for food heremeans rich food.
This was delicacies.
(14:39):
The best of the best is whatthe king ate.
Of course he did, and he wasgiving the best of all of the
land, the richest delicacies inall of Babylon, to these young
noble boys Now in Babylon.
Surely it must have beenconsidered a great honor to eat
(14:59):
the food that the king ate, butthis brought an immediate
temptation for Daniel and hiscompanions to begin assimilating
into this idolatrous andself-indulgent culture.
This was in fact part of theindoctrination into Babylonian
(15:21):
royalty that was being taught toDaniel and the other Jews, and
the training that Daniel wasabout to receive would last for
three years of his life,learning Babylonian culture and
the Babylonian language.
And at the end of those threeyears all of these young
(15:41):
students would come to standbefore King Nebuchadnezzar and
they would have to presentthemselves and be approved by
the king.
One can only imagine what kindof pressure that must have put
on these young men.
Verse 6 and 7.
Among them were Daniel,hananiah, mishael and Azariah of
(16:07):
the tribe of Judah, and thechief of the eunuchs gave them
names Daniel, he calledBilchitzar.
Hananiah, he called Shadrach.
Mishael, he called Meshach.
And Azariah, he called Abednego.
In our last two verses for theday, we see that a major part of
(16:31):
this indoctrination intoBabylonian culture was to change
the names of these young boys.
In fact, changing their nameswas quite significant because
their names used to link themback to Yahweh, the one true God
of Israel, but now these newnames link them to the gods of
(16:53):
Babylon.
As we finish up today, I'mreminded of the great pressure
that comes with beingindoctrinated into an idolatrous
culture with expectations ofperforming for authority, and
I'm also encouraged in my heartby what I know.
(17:14):
I'm going to read in the nextfew verses about Daniel's
faithfulness.
Until next week, my friends, mybrothers and my sisters.
God bless you this week.
Grace, peace and love be multiplied to you in the
name of our Lord and Savior,jesus Christ.
This podcast begins an in-depthstudy of the book of Daniel.
As in all of our podcasts withthe mysteries of God's Word, I
will be going verse by verse,but because the book of Daniel
(00:21):
contains many prophecies, bothend-time prophecies as well as
prophecies that have alreadyoccurred historically, I want to
do my research thoroughly.
So if there's a week in which Idon't post a podcast, know that
it's because I want to do mybest at bringing you the word of
(00:42):
God and dividing it properly.
Now let's start at verse 1 ofDaniel.
It begins In the third year ofthe reign of Jehoiakim, king of
Judah.
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged
(01:03):
it.
Let's just talk a little bitabout verse 1 and the people and
places that it's naming.
First of all, we see Jehoiakim.
Jehoiakim is the third from thelast king of Judah.
Jehoiakim was actually a vassalking.
He came to power under Egyptianauthority via the appointment
of Pharaoh Necho shortly afterhis father, josiah, had died in
(01:27):
a war with the Pharaoh.
So Jehoiakim was a pawn inEgypt's hand.
If you will paying tribute tothe Egyptians, pharaoh Necho
from Egypt actually changedJehoiakim's name so that
Jehoiakim knew he was underPharaoh's authority and Judah,
(01:47):
at this time, had become thetributary of Egypt.
And we say Judah because allthat was left of the nation of
Israel was Judah.
The divided kingdom of Israelhad fallen a hundred years prior
and now Judah had become thetributary of Egypt.
(02:08):
Additionally, the Assyrianempire had ruled much of the
Middle East for some time, butwas now on the way out.
The empire of the Assyrians wasfalling and much of the Middle
East was up for grabs, and thetwo greatest competitors were
Egypt and Babylon.
(02:29):
Egypt, as we all know, hasalways been primarily located
around the Nile.
However, the empire of Babylonis less known.
Babylon was in the Mesopotamianplain, a land also known as
Shinar, to give a modern-daylocation for this.
(02:52):
It's about 55 miles south ofBaghdad, iraq today.
And at this time,nebuchadnezzar was just coming
to power and it was his firstyear as king when he came and
besieged Jerusalem for the firsttime.
And I say the first timebecause Nebuchadnezzar actually
(03:14):
sieged Jerusalem three separatetimes.
But Nebuchadnezzar's siege onJerusalem at this time is only
to make it his vassal.
His primary goal right now isto take away a tributary from
Egypt, his enemy, and to make ithis to bring the income from
(03:36):
Judah his way rather than theway of his enemy.
The first verse talks about thisbeing the third year of the
reign of Jehoiakim whenNebuchadnezzar came and besieged
Jerusalem.
And right off the bat, thatseems to contradict what
Jeremiah says.
(03:56):
When Jeremiah received a wordfrom the Lord, in Jeremiah 25.1,
it reads In Jeremiah 25.1 itreads no-transcript.
(04:19):
Also, in the book of Jeremiah,chapter 46, verses 1 and 2,
reads the word of the Lord thatcame to Jeremiah, the prophet,
concerning the nations, aboutEgypt, concerning the army of
Pharaoh, necho, the king ofEgypt, which was by the river
Euphrates, at Carchemish, andwhich Nebuchadnezzar, king of
(04:41):
Babylon, defeated in the fourthyear of Jehoiakim, the son of
Josiah, king of Judah.
So we see from the book ofJeremiah that Nebuchadnezzar's
military campaign in his firstyear occurred in the fourth year
.
So why does Daniel record it inthe third year of the reign of
(05:04):
Jehoiakim?
Well, most scholars believe thatDaniel was recording this.
According to the Babyloniantraditions in which he is about
to be raised, daniel didn'tinclude the first year of a
king's reign because inBabylonian traditions this was
known as the year of ascensionof a king's reign, because in
(05:24):
Babylonian traditions this wasknown as the year of ascension
of a king, and when weunderstand that this is,
according to Daniel, actuallythe fourth year of Jehoiakim's
reign, because the first year isnot included under Babylonian
traditions and that puts it inharmony with Jeremiah when he
says it was the fourth year ofJehoiakim.
(05:45):
Now, according to James Usher'sAnnals of the World, the year
of this first siege, when Danielis taken back to Babylon, is
607 BC.
As I said before, this is thefirst of three sieges that
Nebuchadnezzar will bring onJudah.
This first siege puts Israelunder Babylonian authority
(06:11):
rather than Egyptian authorityand, again, the purpose of this
first siege is simply to putIsrael under his authority as a
tributary rather than Egypt'sauthority, as a tributary rather
than Egypt's.
I think it's also important torecognize that during the time
of Daniel and these 19 yearsthat are left of Judah, in which
(06:33):
they will be the vassal ofBabylon, there were many
prophets that the Lord wasbringing forth, warning the
people of God.
I'd like to name some of themnow Zephaniah, the prophet,
prophesied for almost 15 yearsand was ending just around the
time Daniel was born.
Nahum, the prophet, prophesiedfor 45 years and was ending just
(07:00):
around the time Daniel wasexiled.
Habakkuk was a prophet whoprophesied for about 10 years at
the time Daniel was taken intocaptivity and exiled.
Jeremiah, the prophet, couldprobably be considered the major
prophet for Israel at the timeof Daniel, and Jeremiah's
(07:22):
influence as a prophet lastedfor 65 years.
Jeremiah prophesied for 35years before Daniel and then 30
years into Daniel's life.
Ezekiel was a prophet rightalongside Daniel, as a
contemporary for about 50 years.
As a contemporary for about 50years, daniel himself prophesied
(07:49):
and bridged the entire 70 yearsof Babylonian captivity and
continued to prophesy for atotal of at least 80 years.
And as we talk about the book ofDaniel, which we are going to
be looking more at, I think it'simportant to recognize that
nine of the 12 chapters inDaniel are prophetic revelations
(08:10):
about God's future plans forthe world, and they come to
Daniel in dreams and visions.
The book of Daniel is to theOld Testament.
What revelation is to the NewTestament?
Verse 2 of Daniel says and theLord gave Jehoiakim, king of
Judah, into his hand with someof the vessels of the house of
(08:33):
God, and he brought them to theland of Shinar, to the house of
his God, and placed the vesselsin the treasury of his God.
Here in verse 2, daniel recordshow the Lord gave Jehoiakim
into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.
(08:53):
Both Daniel and the prophetJeremiah record how
Nebuchadnezzar was used as aninstrument of God against the
sin of Israel.
Nebuchadnezzar, at this time,was a pagan and worshipped pagan
gods, but yet the prophets tellus that God used this king and
(09:14):
moved him to punish his peopleand become the dominant king
because his people had sinnedagainst him.
When Jehoiakim had been giveninto Nebuchadnezzar's hand,
nebuchadnezzar chained Jehoiakimto take him back to Babylon.
We find that in 2 Chronicles36.6.
(09:37):
However, we also read thatJehoiakim was allowed to stay in
Jerusalem and at his own home.
It's safe to assume that, basedupon promises of subjection,
nebuchadnezzar allowed Jehoiakimto remain as the king in Judah.
As we stated earlier, it wasn'tNebuchadnezzar's desire at this
(10:00):
time to change the civil laws ofthe Israelites or to change
their worship or to change theirworship.
At this time, his primary goalwas to make Israelite a vassal
and a tributary to Babylon,instead of being a tributary to
Egypt.
It was at this time thatNebuchadnezzar took with him
(10:20):
some of the finest of thepriestly instruments from the
house of God.
He didn't take everything atthis time.
This wasn't the time where helooted the entire house of God.
In fact, he left most of thethings in the house of God.
He left what was needed forcontinuing public worship at
this time and he didn't try tochange the religious worship.
(10:44):
It won't be for another eightyears until Nebuchadnezzar comes
and takes all of the treasuriesfrom the house of God, and
we're told that Nebuchadnezzarbrought it back to the land of
Shinar.
Now, the land of Shinar was aplain in the lower Euphrates
(11:05):
Tigris River system, the lowerEuphrates-Tigris River system.
The name the land of Shinaroriginated way back around the
time of Noah, ever since Noah'sfamily came down from the
mountains of Ararat and theysettled in the plains of Shinar.
That can be found in Genesis 11too.
(11:25):
It was here in these plainsthat the original tower of Babel
was erected, and now it is thelocation of Nebuchadnezzar's
kingdom of Babylon, verse 3,.
Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring
(11:46):
some of the people of Israel,both of the royal family and of
the nobility Youths, withoutblemish of good appearance and
skillful in all wisdom, endowedwith knowledge, understanding,
learning and competent, to standin the king's palace and to
(12:07):
teach them literature andlanguage of the Chaldeans.
In verses 3 and 4, we see thatafter this first siege of
Jerusalem, nebuchadnezzar tookthe most promising young men
from noble families to betrained in his kingdom.
These were young men that werehealthy, attractive and had a
(12:28):
good foundational education.
The Hebrew word for youth heremeans boys or children, so these
young men were very likelybetween the ages of 13 and 16.
Daniel was probably around theage of 15 when he was taken, and
they all came from noblefamilies and they were being
(12:50):
educated in affairs of state.
They were being educated at thepalace of the king.
By taking these young men,nebuchadnezzar wasn't only
improving his own kingdom, buthe was demoralizing and
impairing the nation of Judah,which he would later completely
conquer.
And then Nebuchadnezzar hadthese young boys brought back to
(13:12):
Babylon so that they might beindoctrinated into his education
program and into the ways ofBabylon, so that they might
serve him in his kingdom.
As I researched this, I foundthat some scholars believed that
Nebuchadnezzar had a similarthinking to Alexander the Great,
(13:33):
who would take the best mindsfrom any kingdom and bring them
into his for his purpose, whileother scholars believe that
Nebuchadnezzar wanted rulersfrom Judah trained as leaders,
so that when he would eventuallyconquer Judah, he'd have
leaders who could relate andrule the nation of Judah that he
(13:56):
would conquer.
Perhaps both of those are true.
Verse 5.
The king assigned them a dailyportion of the food that the
king ate and of the wine that hedrank.
They were to be educated forthree years and at the end of
that time they were to standbefore the king.
(14:18):
In verse 5, we see that theking assigned these noble boys
from Israel a daily portion ofthe food that he himself ate and
the wine that he himself drank.
The Hebrew word for food heremeans rich food.
This was delicacies.
(14:39):
The best of the best is whatthe king ate.
Of course he did, and he wasgiving the best of all of the
land, the richest delicacies inall of Babylon, to these young
noble boys Now in Babylon.
Surely it must have beenconsidered a great honor to eat
(14:59):
the food that the king ate, butthis brought an immediate
temptation for Daniel and hiscompanions to begin assimilating
into this idolatrous andself-indulgent culture.
This was in fact part of theindoctrination into Babylonian
(15:21):
royalty that was being taught toDaniel and the other Jews, and
the training that Daniel wasabout to receive would last for
three years of his life,learning Babylonian culture and
the Babylonian language.
And at the end of those threeyears all of these young
(15:41):
students would come to standbefore King Nebuchadnezzar and
they would have to presentthemselves and be approved by
the king.
One can only imagine what kindof pressure that must have put
on these young men.
Verse 6 and 7.
Among them were Daniel,hananiah, mishael and Azariah of
(16:07):
the tribe of Judah, and thechief of the eunuchs gave them
names Daniel, he calledBilchitzar.
Hananiah, he called Shadrach.
Mishael, he called Meshach.
And Azariah, he called Abednego.
In our last two verses for theday, we see that a major part of
(16:31):
this indoctrination intoBabylonian culture was to change
the names of these young boys.
In fact, changing their nameswas quite significant because
their names used to link themback to Yahweh, the one true God
of Israel, but now these newnames link them to the gods of
(16:53):
Babylon.
As we finish up today, I'mreminded of the great pressure
that comes with beingindoctrinated into an idolatrous
culture with expectations ofperforming for authority, and
I'm also encouraged in my heartby what I know.
(17:14):
I'm going to read in the nextfew verses about Daniel's
faithfulness.
Until next week, my friends, mybrothers and my sisters.
God bless you this week.
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