Last week I hypothesized that Daniel was a man who was way ahead of his time.  He didn’t think God was mad at Him or unapproachable.  He wasn’t afraid to ask God for wisdom—including dream interpretations.  And if we peruse the book, we will see that God fulfilled Daniel’s “asks” time after time. But it’s almost like Daniel was reading the book of James every day and avoiding pitfalls like: And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.  James 4:3

Even after everything that God did to rescue and elevate Daniel, he had no confusion, through his entire life, about Who God was.  He had an amazing amount of respect for God and he remained humble!

The Jewish Publication Society Jewish Study Bible says that Daniel rose to become an important Jewish courtier (a person who attends a royal court as a companion or adviser to the king or queen).  I believe that, during Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Daniel (like Joseph) was not only the number two man in Babylon, but he helped run the country. He was also among three top governors in the country during Darius’/Cyrus’ reign, and very quickly became the favorite. Also, it’s possible that he was in his 70’s or even 80’s by this time (estimates are that he lived to 85).

The chronology of the three Babylonian kings is given in the Talmud as follows: Nebuchadnezzar reigned forty-five years, Evil-merodach twenty-three, and Belshazzar was monarch of Babylonia for two years, being killed at the beginning of the third year on the fatal night of the fall of Babylon (Meg. 11b).¹

Wiki and other encyclopedic sources say Daniel’s career timeline actually synchronized with Nebuchadnezzar II’s (N2’s not N1’s) reign.  Amel-Marduk was his son but only reigned for two years.  He was assassinated by his brother-in-law Nergal-sharezer or Neriglissar, who reigned for six years.  His son, Labashi-Marduk, then became king while still a child.  After nine months he was murdered in a conspiracy led by Nabonidus—a governor’s son who evidently became too big for his britches.  So why the abbreviated king cataloging in the Tanach/Talmud?  Well, a very interesting fact about Nabonidus was that he was also way ahead of time in the sense that he may have been the first archeologist who ever lived.  In fact, instead of running the country, he was wandering around the countryside, excavating various sites, looking for destroyed temples that he could rebuild—in homage to his fav false god, who, ironically, was named, “Sin.” (I’m not making this stuff up folks. 🙂 )  So while he was on these field trips, he left his son, Belshazzar in charge.  They were co-regents for at least ten years.  And Belshazzar was the unfortunate one who happened to have the Conn on that fateful night when the writing on the wall mysteriously appeared.

Like the Book of Matthew’s abbreviated genealogical account (several kings who achieved power through assassination or other such despicable acts were noticeably absent from Jesus’ bloodline detail), the Talmud author may have chosen to remove all the dishonorable garbage in the king catalogue. Anyway, it appears that Daniel was very much in the limelight during N2’s reign, but was a virtual unknown by the time Belshazzar took the reins.  However, Daniel hadn’t been totally drop kicked out of the court.  We know this for two reasons:

1.  Daniel had the Ram and Goat vision in Chapter 8, which was the third year of Belshazzar’s reign.  8:27 says I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was confounded by the vision; it was beyond understanding.  So he was still working for the king, even if he had gotten caught in a more vertically-intensive hierarchical reshuffle of the org.

2.  It took five minutes, not five years, for Daniel to make his appearance at the banquet when he was summoned on that fateful night…when the queen mother finally said, “Go see if that old guy is still around here—you know, the guy who used to sit in that tiny, corner cubicle at the back of the bay in the basement—you know, the cheerful one with all the piles of scrolls on his desk—who used to show them to his homies when he was letting them borrow his Keurig and use his K-Cups—yes go get that guy.” 😊 Then the CEO proceeded to give Daniel a radical promotion, just prior to discovering that the former’s golden parachute had some serious quality control issues and unfortunately failed to open that fateful night. The CEO was gone gone, but Daniel’s promotion wasn’t.

Daniel in his early 20’s:  Then the king (N2) made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon. Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king. Daniel 2:48-49

Daniel in his late 70’s:  It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom; And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first: that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.  Daniel 6:1-3

Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re too old or too young. 😊

Now let’s talk more about this “excellent spirit” that was in Daniel—sounds a lot like the precious Holy Spirit to me.  Here’s an example of Daniel’s praise style: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals the deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him. To You, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, because You have given me wisdom and power. And now You have made known to me what we have requested, for You have made known to us the dream of the king.” Daniel 2:19-22

• Way ahead of his time:  This is a new testament praise report!!
• Daniel gave honor to the Name of God, in addition to God. Acts 3:16
• Daniel acknowledged that wisdom and geburah—strength and might are owned by God—so all wisdom and power originate from Him. 1 Corinthians 1:23,24
• Daniel acknowledged that God has absolute dominion over the space/time continuum—and over global governments.  But He can also impart wisdom, knowledge, strength and might to humans.  Ephesians 1:18-22
• Daniel acknowledged that God is the source of his strength. Ephesians 6:10; 2 Corinthians 12:9a, 10b
• Daniel acknowledged that God is the source of his wisdom.  James 1:5
• Finally, Daniel acknowledged that God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all.  1 John 1:5
  
  

Bottom Line:  Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise—every single one of us can have the same praise report today…because of Jesus.

¹Wikipedia Website:  /wiki/Amel-Marduk