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osiah’s second son was king when Daniel was taken into captivity. This is well before the final fall of Jerusalem…about 22 years before. The current king (Jehoiakim) was an evil man who changed allegiances based on who was in power at the time. He served both Egypt and Babylon, and was eventually killed by Nebuchadnezzar because he had switched allegiance back to Egypt and defied Babylon. He was never buried like most kings were, instead his body was discarded like an animal, just like the prophets said would happen. The last king of Israel (Zedekiah) took the throne in his place, and ruled for 11 years.
Daniel was taken from Israel about 605. Cyrus came to power in 550, and took ownership of Babylon (where Daniel lived) around 539. Seems like about 66 years in captivity.
Figure 18 when taken, 3 yrs in training…21 to 23 at time of first dream interpretation. About 24 years old and administrating Babylon!
add 60 years, and Daniel would be about 84 when thrown to the lions.
The statue that Daniel sees is commonly believed to reveal the 4 kingdoms that will rule the world in the ancient age:
The Babylonians represented by the gold head
The Medes and Persians represented by silver chest and arms
The Greeks (Alexander the Great) represented by bronze belly
The Romans represented by iron and clay. Rome wasn’t really overthrown by one specific nation, it was divided to 4 Generals, and then sort of disintegrated from there.
By the way, don’t forget the “fifth kingdom”, that’s the one carved from rock that smashes the Roman empire while it’s still small, and then grows and grows until it is a huge mountain. That’s Christianity! You and I are part of the “Fifth Kingdom”
Here’s a fun fact: if Nebuchadnezzar’s stature were built today and covered with 1/8th gold plate, it would cost 911 million in gold alone. That’s 90 feet high and only 15 feet in width (9 ft wide front and back would be 18 ft, I went with a smaller number). It could easily have cost 1 billion in today’s dollars. And that’s just the gold to cover whatever else they built it from. Anything 90 feet high would take some engineering.
You could pay 400 people 100,000 a year for 25 years with a billion dollars. And Nebuchadnezzar spent it all on himself. That should probably tell us something about the man.
The three Hebrews refused to worship the statue even when threatened with death. I propose that they never really were “captive” to anyone as far as their spiritual lives were concerned. Probably because they had already “surrendered” to God Most High….they couldn’t surrender to Nebuchadnezzar. It makes me wonder if we are as committed today as these young men were. How many of our “twentysomethings” would be this dedicated? I doubt that you could find this level of commitment even among the older and more mature Christians here in the United States…but I could be wrong about that. Never underestimate what God is doing, right?
God protected the three men as they were thrown into the fire for their faith. I should note here: the three men did not know they would be rescued when they were tossed in. They didn’t have time to go home and close out their affairs, or reorganize their spiritual lives. Their everyday spiritual lives consisted of a faithful relationship to God…that’s also what got them in trouble. Obedience was more important than survival. The ropes burned off their body, but the clothing wasn’t touched at all. You can’t get close to a fire without smelling of smoke….and they didn’t. When they are released from the flames they bear Nebuchadnezzar no ill will, they don’t try to call down the fire of heaven on him, or set themselves up as gods….they return to work as his administrators.
Because of all these actions, Nebuchadnezzar accepts the reality of God Most High. I doubt he becomes a follower, but he acknowledges the authenticity of God, which is a step in the right direction.
Faithfully,
PR