Daniel
After his family and people were captured and taken to Babylon, Daniel and three friends were brought to serve in the palace of the king. As teenage boys, they refused to eat the sacrificial meat and drink the wine that those in the palace ate. They kept the commandments and were given knowledge and skill. In Daniel 1:20, it says that the king found these four “ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.”
• Daniel 1:1–7—Daniel and his friends are trained in the king’s court.
• Daniel 1:8–16—They eat plain food and refuse the king’s wine (Note: Pulse means foods made from seeds and grains).
• Daniel 1:17–21—God gives them knowledge and wisdom.
• Daniel 2:1–23. King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream and commands his advisers to describe and interpret it (2:1–13). Daniel prays with his friends, and God reveals to him the dream and its interpretation (2:14–23).
• Daniel 2:24–49. Daniel reveals that King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream foretells the rise and fall of the great kingdoms of the earth and the latter-day triumph of the kingdom of God over all other kingdoms.
• What did the different parts of the image represent? (See Daniel 2:36–43)
a. The head of gold represented Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom of Babylon.
b. The breast and arms of silver represented Cyrus and his kingdom of Media and Persia.
c. The belly and thighs of brass represented Philip and Alexander and the Greek or Macedonian kingdom.
d. The legs of iron represented the Roman Empire.
e. The feet of iron and clay represented a group of European nations.
• What did Daniel prophesy concerning the Church in the latter days? (See Daniel 2:34–35, 44.)
You may want to list the following prophecies on the chalkboard. Daniel prophesied that the Church would:
a. Be “cut out without hands” (Daniel 2:34).
b. Become “a great mountain, and [fill] the whole earth” (Daniel 2:35).
c. “Never be destroyed” (Daniel 2:44).
d. “Not be left [given] to other people” (Daniel 2:44).
e. “Consume all [other] kingdoms” (Daniel 2:44).
f. “Stand for ever” (Daniel 2:44).
• Daniel 3:1–7—King Nebuchadnezzar commands the people to worship a golden image.
• Daniel 3:8–18—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to worship the idol.
• Daniel 3:19–27—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are cast into a fiery furnace and come forth unharmed.
• Daniel 3:28–30—Nebuchadnezzar recognizes the power of God and gives Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego more responsibility in his kingdom.
• Daniel 6. King Darius’s men persuade the king to sign a decree that for 30 days all petitions must be directed to him rather than to any other man or to God (6:1–9). In spite of the king’s decree, Daniel prays to God (6:10–13). As punishment for disobeying the decree, Daniel is thrown into a den of lions (6:14–17). The Lord sends an angel to protect Daniel (6:18–23). (This was as an Adult)
