The Fiery Furnace

The Fiery Furnace

Daniel Chapters 1-4

Introduction

As we begin to address each book of the Bible, it is always good to attempt to establish some understand of the original authorship and audience of the book, in order to understand the general purpose of the book. Many books, such as the book of Daniel, are not “signed” by the author, and the authorship must be determined through traditional or analytical evidence. The book of Daniel presents a number of analytical problems.

Perhaps most surprising is that the book is written in both Hebrew and Aramaic. The book begins in Hebrew, switches to Aramaic in the second chapter, and then returns to Hebrew in the seventh chapter. With the change in language, the book also has a change in form. The Aramaic chapters are narrative, and speak of Daniel and his companions in the third person. The Hebrew chapters contain Daniel’s visions, which he relays personally, and which are apocalyptic in nature.

This notion of the two sections of Daniel having so obviously been formed into one is a strong indication that some editor, probably later than Daniel himself, is responsible for the collection and organization of scripture we have today. There are indications that this editor was very late, and that the work of the editor involved some application of the scripture to his own age, which was possibly as late as the second century B. C. Such application is always a temptation with apocalyptic writing, which seems either to apply only to the age for which it was written, or equally well to all ages.

We must not let this idea of authorship challenge us. We know that all scripture is inspired by God. When we approach scripture, we put our faith in a process which begins with original authorship and continues down through our modern translations. Each time we read scripture, we participate in its purpose: the ongoing revelation of God to mankind.

Nonconformists

Chapter 1 tells one of the stories from the book of Daniel that every child in Sunday School knows. If, in a child’s Sunday School class, it is taught as a lesson in the importance of eating the right foods to grow up healthy and smart, maybe that is not a bad thing, but there is more to the lesson.

These four young men were of the Lord’s chosen, but were forced to live among as strangers in a foreign land. Even their names, all of which honored their God, were changed to honor the pagan god of the land in which they were held captive. But these four showed that changing what they were called did not change them. The Israelites had very strict dietary laws. They could not eat meat offered to idols, they could only eat certain kinds of meat, the meat had to be slaughtered a certain way, and they could not eat meat cooked with milk or milk products, just to mention a few things. The cooking utensils had to be ritually clean, as well, and cooking of anything clean would make the vessel unclean.

So, though they had been offered food and wine from the kings table, the safest thing for them to do, if they wished to follow their dietary regulations, was to eat raw vegetables and drink water. They found a way to do this without disparaging what they were given and insulting their host. One wonders what the others were eating, as in only ten days Daniel and crew were healthier than those eating the king’s fare. The Lord blessed them and they learned the ways of the Babylonians and entered the king’s service.

In Romans 12:2 Paul tells not to be conformed to this world. The writer of Daniel knew full well that the fall of Israel began as the Hebrews came to accept the customs and religions of the indigenous peoples of the area. Daniel and his friends refused to accept the customs of the Babylonians. In the John, Chapter 17, there is an amazing prayer, as Jesus prays for us, the believers that will come. He prays that we will be in the world, but not of the world.

The First Dream

In Chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. Apparently, it is a troubling, recurring dream. His reaction to the dream is somewhat strange. He calls in his wise men and tells them they must not only interpret the dream, but first tell him what he has dreamed! There is some beating around the bush, but then the king orders all the wise men killed, because they have failed to do as he commanded.

Daniel himself becomes involved in verses 12-19. Imagine the surprise of Daniel when the commander of the king’s guard showed up to put him to death because he had not interpreted a dream he had never heard about. Daniel reacted calmly. He discussed the matter with the commander; he asked the king for time; he and his friends prayed to God for mercy. It is very significant that they should pray. Many of the Israelites had abandoned God for their idols. Others had abandoned God for their religion. These believed in the god of Israel, or the god of the Temple, but they did not believe in the God of heaven who could hear their prayers wherever they were.

In verses 24-29, Daniel is brought to the king to interpret the dream, but he s careful to say that he is not the source of the interpretation, but that God has provided the interpretation, because God has a message for the king. Daniel refused to take credit for the work God did, or the gift God gave him.

The Fiery Furnace

Chapter 3 has another very famous story from the book of Daniel. The king had an image made, and ordered the people to bow down to it. We do not know were Daniel was in this story, but Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not bow down to the image, even though they were threatened with death. Their calm assurance is instructive: “Our God is able to rescue us from your hand… but even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not worship the image of gold that you have set up.” (Verses 17&18) We have the benefit of hindsight, and know that they were saved, but they did not know they would be, yet they still refused.

How many images does our society ask us to worship? Do we always even notice? We may never be tried by fire, but there is always one with us, one on which we cam depend. His presence does not allow us to say that nothing will ever happen to us, but to have faith that we will be safe, no matter what happens to us.

The Second Dream

Chapter 4 contains the story of a second dream, the nature of which is very strange. The form of the chapter is a letter written by the king, telling the people that he had a dream, it was interpreted by Daniel, and the events came true. The reason that is very strange is that the prediction of the dream is that the king would be driven from the kingdom and live like a wild animal. According to the king’s letter, about a year after the dream occurred, he was on the roof of his royal palace when a voice from heaven came to him and restated what was to happen. Then, he had what today we might call a “psychotic break” and lived out in the wild for a while.

As was predicted in the dream, he eventually got over it.