Daniel Week 1: Adonai Delivers
WEEK 1 | Daniel 1:1-2
Day 1 Central Passage Father, open my eyes to see the truth in Your Word that I may know and love you more deeply.
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.
Daniel 1:1-2 ESV
OBSERVE DETAILS
Ask and answer simple w-questions v when? where? who? what? how?
1. Who is the subject of verse 1? (Who came and besieged?)
What is his title?
Where is he from?
2. Who is the subject of verse 2? (Who gave?)
3. Who is given?
What is his title?
Where is he from?
Where is he given?
4. What else is given?
Where are they from?
To whom are they given?
Where are these items then taken?
Where are they placed?
5. Of the three who’s in this text, who initiates no action?
Yet, when does the action begin?
6. Does the text state what country the Lord is from?
Yet, where is the house of God?
OBSERVE DICTION
Ask | Which words/phrases might provide clues to the author’s message? What do they literally mean?
Ex. besiege > bind, confine, cramp
Ex. Shinar > country of two rivers, the ancient name for the territory later known as Babylon or Chaldea
Ex. Lord > Adonai, the emphatic form of the word Lord only used for the Sovereign God, the owner and ruler of the universe, in order to show reverence and submission to Him
OBSERVE FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
Ask | Which words are not literal? What is their meaning?
Ex. gave ______ into his hand
When “gave” is used with “into...hand” the meaning is deliver.
When “hand” is used figuratively, the meaning is power.
Historical Context – The Law of Moses commanded that each of Israel’s Kings write a personal copy of the Law when he ascended to the throne (Deut 17:18-20). Few kings, however, demonstrated this commitment to the Law and to shepherding the people; therefore, Israel fell into idol worship and serving their own passions instead of justice. King Josiah was in the eighteenth year of his reign when the Law was discovered in the Temple and brought to him for the first time. Josiah led Israel into repentance, but Jeremiah the prophet warned that Israel would pay the price for her sin of idolatry and the sins of King Manasseh, Josiah’s grandfather (Jeremiah 3:6-10; 2 Kings 23:26-27).
On the political landscape, Assyria, one of Israel’s foremost enemies, had dominated the Ancient Near East from the tenth to the seventh century B.C. In 722 B.C. Samaria of the northern kingdom of Israel fell to Assyria and thousands were taken captive. Later, however, Assyria’s hold began to weaken, so then both Egypt and Babylon fought to secure domination of the region. In the scramble to rule, allegiances get weird fast. Egypt marched through Judah to help Assyria defeat Babylon, but then Josiah, hoping to gain Babylonian favor, marched against Egypt. Josiah died in battle; Israel was defeated. Egypt the victor placed her choice on the throne Josiah’s second son Jehoiakim in 609 B.C. He reigned for three accession years under Egypt as a vassal until at the Battle of Carchemish Nebuchadnezzar defeated Assyria once and for all. While driving Egyptian forces back to their border, Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem in 605 B.C. and took prisoners, including Daniel, a teenage son of one of the royal families of Judah.
To read the Bible’s account of some of this context, go to 2 Kings 23.
INTERPRET
Ask | Why did the author choose to include these details, use these words, & make any figurative comparisons?
7a. Having made some observations and read some of the historical context of Daniel 1:1-2, what interpretations can you make about the nature of the Lord from this text? Use your observation answers and the notes to help you.
7b. Nebuchadnezzar placed the Temple vessels in his own god’s treasury to boast in his god’s superiority over the God of Israel. What does God know about what is true of His own nature that He Himself delivered these vessels into this pagan king’s hands?
8. Having made some observations and read some of the historical context of Daniel 1:1-2, what interpretations can you make about the nature of man from this text? Use your answers and the notes to help you.
Praise God for His attributes magnified in this text. Pray you would rest in the Father’s love for you.
Day 2 Deeper Daniel Father, open my eyes to see the truth in Your Word that I may know and love you more deeply.
How to Read Your Bible -- What we know about God is what He chose to reveal to us through general revelation and the special revelation of Scripture and His Son. When we read the Bible properly, we see how all 66 books, including Daniel, point to Jesus, the King of the Universe (Luke 24:44-47). But we must remember that God revealed Himself and His purposes to humanity progressively over time. God rules over all time, but He also has dispensed a distinct rule for different periods of time in His salvation history. Although each rule is distinct, they hold these elements in common: a test, failure, judgment, and grace. All these certain plans for certain times progressively affirm the ONLY way to God is through faith in His Son upon whom rests His pleasure and His glory.
This is one of those big ideas that is best understood by seeing, rather than telling. So for these next three days, we are going to go deeper into understanding the heart of our God by reading key excerpts of points in time where God made a move to dispense a distinct rule. Everyone is invited on this Deeper Daniel venture. Let’s start with the beginning:
1. Read Genesis 1:27-28.
If man is created in God’s image, then how is God glorified through the bearing of children and the filling of the earth?
Why is it fitting that God would give His image bearers the responsibility to rule and subdue the earth?
2. Read Genesis 2:15-17, 25
What test of faithfulness to His Word does God give?
What is the consequence for failure to trust Him?
What is the state of relationship between man and his wife and mankind and God at this point in time?
3. Read Genesis 3:4-7, 15, 22-24.
What lie does the serpent tell the woman?
Why is the tree so desirable?
Freedom – Theologians refer to this dispensation of God’s rule as “Freedom.” Adam and Eve enjoyed a freedom in their relationships that only the innocent could enjoy. But their innocence was not a “confirmed innocence” because their trust in God and His Word was not tested. Every dispensation of God’s rule for a time will come with a test, so Adam and Eve were free to eat from any tree except the one that gave them knowledge of good and evil. After Adam and Eve failed their test, God gave humanity a grace, an undeserved gift, by promising that the woman’s offspring would defeat the serpent’s offspring. This is the promise of Jesus the Messiah who defeated Satan, the father of lies, when He died on the cross for our sins and then defeated death by rising from the dead on the third day.
How is God’s judgment of exile from the Garden of Eden for Adam and Eve both just and merciful?
Praise God for His attributes magnified in this text. Pray your family would rest in the Father’s love for them.
Day 3 Deeper Daniel Father, open my eyes to see the truth in Your Word that I may know and love you more deeply.
From Freedom to Conscience summary – God’s rule for a certain time within all time can be divided into seven progressions. Yesterday we learned about the dispensation of Freedom or Unconfirmed Innocence. When man fell and now possessed the knowledge of good and evil, God gave man the test to follow through with what his conscience dictated to be right with God. When he sinned, he had to offer an acceptable blood sacrifice. In keeping with that, God warned Cain, Adam and Eve’s son, that he must rule his desire for domination over Abel instead of letting his desire rule him. Cain failed to do so and murdered his brother (Genesis 4:1-8). After humanity began to multiply on the earth, so did desire for violence and destruction. God’s judgment was the world-wide flood (Genesis 6-8). In His grace He saved one righteous man named Noah and his family from death and promised never to flood the earth again.
From Conscience to Civil Government – After the flood receded, God told Noah, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” Man’s test in this dispensation, therefore, was to again multiply the image of God, establishing just governments as they filled the earth.
1. Read Genesis 10:8-12. Nimrod’s name and descriptors as “mighty one” and “mighty hunter” all speak of a man who is strong and valiant, but also rebellious.
Where is the beginning of Nimrod’s kingdom?
Read Daniel 1:1-2 from Day 1. Note the words in this text that you see in Genesis 10:10.
2. Read Genesis 11:1-4.
Why do the people of Shinar build a city and a tower? Who are they determined to glorify?
How does this defy God’s command to fill the earth? Who are they determined NOT to glorify?
God established civil government to protect man created in His image. The tower was actually built to protect the dominion of one government that relied upon astrology. This failure of God’s test of this dispensation is the first idolatrous act recorded in the Bible.
3. Read Genesis 11:5-9.
How does God judge the people?
What reason does He give for doing so?
Bonus Q – Given the conflict presented in Daniel 1:1-2, what might be Daniel’s purpose in using the ancient word Shinar from Genesis 10:10 and 11:2?
To see God’s grace in this dispensation, you would have to read the rest of Genesis 11 and trace the bloodline of Shem one of Noah’s sons (v10) to Abram (v26). This genealogy reveals that God is protecting the seedline of the Messiah in fulfillment of His promise that an offspring of Eve shall defeat Satan and death.
Praise God for His attributes magnified in this text. Pray our church family would rest in the Father’s love for us.
Days 4 & 5 Deeper Daniel Father, open my eyes to see the truth in Your Word that I may know and love you more deeply.
From Civil Government to Promise – God’s rule in this dispensation is seen through promises of land and seed. He commanded Abram to leave the land of Shinar and go to a new land where God would make him a father of a great nation. Through this nation all the families of the world would be blessed because the Messiah would descend from this line. Living faithfully as God’s people in the land was Abraham’s family’s test, but they failed to fulfill their responsibility to the covenant when they either left the land or intermarried with Canaanites. God judged them by sending this family into bondage in Egypt, but His grace is seen throughout this dispensation in how He preserves the seed and Israel’s cultural identity and how with many signs and wonders He brings this family out of Egypt as His chosen nation.
From Promise to Mosaic Law – After God’s mighty deliverance from Egypt, Israel failed to trust God to defeat the idol-worshipping nations in battles they would need to fight to secure the Promise Land. So God judged Israel with forty years of wandering in the wilderness, an exile from the Promise Land even before Israel came home. At the time Moses composes this covenant, Israel has served those 40 years, Moses is about to die, and Israel is about to cross the Jordan to claim her homeland. But, before Yahweh allows her to cross, she must agree to obey the Mosaic Law.
The book of Deuteronomy details God’s covenant with Israel. His name Yahweh is used for the first time in the Bible here (Deut 1:3) and is used over 220 more times in this book. Yahweh means Covenant-Keeper, and this name, like all the names of God, defines His character, reputation, essentially revealing His glory and reason to be praised. To understand God’s covenant relationship with Israel, it is essential to read the book of Deuteronomy, in particular chapters 28-30, which delineate most graphically God’s commitment to make Israel a holy nation through blessings if she does obey, curses if she does not obey, and restoration if she turns back to Him.
Read Deuteronomy 28. This is a lengthy passage, and one we are not studying verse by verse for our purposes today, so if you prefer to listen, go to BibleGateway.com. Type in the references in the search box. Choose your preferred version of the Bible. Try English Standard Version (ESV) if you do not know your preference yet. Then click the megaphone icon below the box.
1. What observations can you make about God’s blessings for Israel’s obedience?
2. What observations can you make about God’s curses for Israel’s disobedience?
Read Deuteronomy 29:22-29. Ironically, it is the pagan “nations” who ask, “Why has the Lord done all this to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?” And it is God’s own people who answer that they violated the covenant God made with them; therefore “the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, fury, and in great wrath, and hurled them into another land, as it is this day.”
3. Review the words used to describe God’s anger. Why is His anger righteous?
Praise God for His attributes magnified in this text. Pray our rest in the Father’s love would draw others to Him.
Group Reflection Faithful in Exile
On this landing page each week, your group will process together how we can live faithfully as believers who live in this world, but are not of this world. You will pray for one another and for our church as we lead our city in a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church. You will be sent out as image-bearers to live what you learned and then come back next week to be emboldened again.
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are punished by Him; 6 For whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He punishes every son whom He accepts.”7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Hebrews 12:6-8.
1. Punishment is payment for sin. All who trust that the Son of God paid their punishment on the cross are legitimate children of God. What is the purpose of God’s discipline for His children? In your answer consider how the purpose of discipline differs from the purpose of punishment.
2. Think of a time when the Adonai who LOVES you delivered you into a set apart time of discipline (perhaps you are in it now). Choose 1-2 of the prompts below to share. Group, please read question #3 before you start sharing stories.
What rebellion led to God disciplining you?
How did resisting God’s love through His discipline drive you further from Him?
How did letting God love you through discipline drive you closer to Him?
What did you learn that deepened your love and life for Him?
3. Use the space below each prompt in #2 to record any patterns you hear in how God builds trust in His children.
Prayer If you completed the Deeper Daniel work, then you saw how God over time has corrected the lies humanity believed about Him as Creator and ourselves as created in His image. In each dispensation the Father taught us that only He can save us and only He give us true dominion where He is most glorified. Shout out a few ideas about what that true dominion would be for you. Take notes as others share to prepare you to pray for one another.
We also saw in each dispensation how leaders God positioned over families and nations either led the people to God or drew them away. In light of this lesson, pray for our pastors and for the marriages and families at Grace.
God’s joy & strength to you!
kpaulson@gracelaredo.org