Daniel

[0:00] The book of Daniel is one of the most fascinating books in all of the Old Testament. It is perhaps exceeded in its prophetic content only by the prophet Isaiah, who had a great deal to say about prophetic themes, most of which centered upon the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[0:20] But as has often been stated, prophecy is nothing more than history written in advance. And the only way that can come about is the one who knows the future is able to write in advance what it's going to be.

[0:37] And that is precisely what we have here in the book of Daniel, sometimes referred to as the book of the revelation of the Old Testament. And we will see as we go through Daniel how intricately connected it is to the book of the revelation.

[0:55] For a number of years, Daniel came in for a great deal of criticism, especially from some of the higher critic sources. And their main complaint with the book of Daniel was that there was no way it could possibly be prophecy.

[1:12] There was no way that Daniel could have known these things and written them hundreds of years in advance. And their solution was Daniel was not prophecy at all.

[1:26] It was history. And of course, he could write with the accuracy that is recorded because the events already transpired. So Daniel was not prophecy. It was history.

[1:37] But subsequent scholarship gave the lie to that and proved, I think, beyond any shadow of doubt that Daniel did enjoy an early date, not a late date.

[1:49] Daniel was written somewhere in the area of 450 to 500 years before Jesus Christ was born. And that, of course, puts it in the proper perspective.

[2:02] And that does, of course, make it prophecy. And we will see, particularly when we get into chapter 2, how on target his prophetic utterances really were.

[2:13] So if you would turn to Daniel chapter 1. I don't have scripture references to give you like we used to use with the 26 translations because each will be using their own Bible with different translations.

[2:26] The word Daniel, the name Daniel, means God is judge. If you just look at the last two letters of Daniel, you'll see that it's EL.

[2:39] That is a common ending for a lot of names in Hebrew, such as Michael. And you just look through the list of names and see how many end in EL.

[2:50] Well, the EL is from the Hebrew word Elohim, which is translated as God's. And it means that the name of God is incorporated in the human name.

[3:04] And the word name Daniel literally means God is judge. In fact, one of the 12 tribes of Israel will be called the tribe of Dan.

[3:17] That is the judgment tribe. So anytime you see that EL, you can almost be certain that it is there, that it has the name of God in it. In fact, even those names that begin with EL, like Elijah.

[3:32] E-L-I-J-A-H literally means God is the Lord or the Lord is God. And the J-A-H is reminiscent of the term Jehovah or Yahweh.

[3:46] And in contrast to all of the false gods that the Israelites were claiming in Elijah's day, his name was Jehovah, his God, as opposed to all of the false gods of the nations around them and those that the Israelites were bowing down to.

[4:03] So we've got the book of Daniel before us. And I want to begin with just a little bit more of history. And that is, and we'll see this in the first chapter, in connection with the book of Daniel and what was happening in the nation of Israel at the time, bear in mind that the northern ten tribes had already fallen prey to Assyria.

[4:28] And they are pretty much out of the picture. The two tribes in the south that remain, they are Judah and Benjamin. And Benjamin is where Jerusalem is located.

[4:40] That's where the temple is, etc. And that's where Daniel and his friends live. They were part and parcel of Jerusalem. And there are going to be a total of three deportations to Babylon.

[4:56] The king of Babylon is going to come against Israel. And there will be major battles fought there in and around Israel, in the southern kingdom and Jerusalem.

[5:09] And they will succeed in carrying off captives from Israel to Babylon in three different increments. There will be three different deportations.

[5:22] The first one will be in 605 B.C. 605 years before the birth of Christ will be the first deportation.

[5:36] And Daniel, as a very young man, will be one of the prisoners in that first deportation. The second will be in 597 B.C.

[5:49] And that will include 10,000 skilled workers. It is also recorded in Ezekiel chapter 1, verses 1 through 3.

[6:00] And Daniel and Ezekiel are contemporaries. They are going to live during that same approximate time. And then in 586 B.C.

[6:11] There will be the third deportation. And that's the one wherein Jerusalem will be utterly destroyed and leveled.

[6:22] And the walls will be broken down and everything. And these will be the same walls that Nehemiah will be dispatched later to resurrect. So we're going to be talking about a period of 70 years during the captivity.

[6:36] And Daniel is going to be in Babylon for the entirety of his life.

[6:47] As a young teenager, probably somewhere between the ages of 13 and 16, is when Daniel and his friends will be taken captive and led off to Babylon.

[6:59] And Daniel will spend his entire lifetime in Babylon, probably well into his 80s or almost 90 before he expires.

[7:11] So with those historical thoughts in mind, let's look to Daniel chapter 1 and verse 1. And we read that it is in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged him.

[7:31] This besieging means that they throw up a siege apparatus against the city and against the wall.

[7:42] And they succeed in at least a partial kind of victory, whereby they are able to capture a number of those Israelites. And then they take them off to Babylon.

[7:54] And years later, they'll come back again and besiege it again. And then years later, they will come back the third time. And that's the time when it will be utterly destroyed. And then they will carry away the last group.

[8:07] So we read in verse 2 then, And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand. Now that's really significant.

[8:18] Who gave who? Yeah, God is the one who delivered the Israelites. Into the hands of the Babylonians.

[8:31] And the typical response to look at that is, Now wait a minute. Aren't those the good guys? Aren't those the ones who were on God's side? Well, yes and no.

[8:42] Theologically and doctrinally, the people of Israel were the chosen people. But their worship had depreciated. Their idolatry had increased.

[8:53] And as we saw in our first session last week, It was Jeremiah the prophet, Who was also contemporary to this, Because Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel are all in that same time frame.

[9:07] And Jeremiah repeatedly warned against the idolatry of the south, And told them that an enemy was coming, And what the result would be.

[9:19] And of course, none of them believed it. But that's precisely what happened. So, we've got a situation here, That is just the fulfillment of what Jeremiah prophesied, In our session last week.

[9:30] God has told them, through Jeremiah, Because of your sin, Because of your idolatry, I'm going to give you over to a foreign nation. And they are going to take you prisoner.

[9:41] And, God also said, How long they would be there. This is going to be 70 years long. And if you think in terms of that generation pretty much dying off, That was the point.

[9:56] It was the same kind of point that was established, With the wilderness wandering for 40 years, It was for that generation to die off. And a new generation to come up. So, this is what we've got here.

[10:07] Where God is chastening his own people, And he is using a pagan nation to do it. That is quite remarkable. And, I'm sure that it is something that escapes our point of view, From the standpoint of the rationale.

[10:24] But this is simply what God had prophesied before. And it's not the first time he did that. And it won't be the last. So, we see that, He gave Jehoiakim into his hand, Along with some of the vessels of the house of God.

[10:41] These are the items of furniture. And he brought them to the land of Shinar. And that goes all the way back to the book of Genesis. Shinar is a synonym for Babylon.

[10:54] It is the same area, And it is in this area where they built the ziggurat, The tower of Babel.

[11:07] It is in this same area. And he brought them into the land of Shinar, To the house of his God. And he brought the vessels into the treasury of his God.

[11:19] This was common practice, Whereby you take the spoils of war, From the enemy that you have defeated, And you put them on display, For your own people, In your own country.

[11:31] And they constitute bragging rights. And the whole idea, Theologically behind this is, And what they thought this was proving, Was, This proves, That the God of the Babylonians, Is a superior God, To the God of the Israelites.

[11:51] In other words, Our God's bigger than your God. And our God can whip your God. And our God is the most powerful God. And our victory, Over Israel, Proves it.

[12:04] And here's all of the evidence. And I'm sure that there were a lot of Babylonians, Who bought into that. Matter of fact, There might have even been some Jews displaced, Who bought into it too.

[12:15] Who probably thought, Their God, The God of Israel, Had let them down. He had allowed them to be defeated. But again, Keep in mind, That that defeat, Was prophesied, Long before it happened.

[12:30] Jeremiah was preaching this theme, For years. Trying to get the people to repent, And change their direction. Because he said, If you don't, God is going to judge you.

[12:43] Well, that's exactly what happened. So, In verse 3, Then the king ordered, Ashpenaz, The chief of his officials, To bring in, Some of the sons of Israel, Including some of the royal family, And of the nobles.

[13:03] Now, Why in the world, Would he want to do that? Well, For the simple reason, That he is going to take advantage, Of the best, And the brightest, That Israel has to offer, And he is going to take, These young Jews, While they are still, At a tender, Impressionable age, And he is going to, Convert them.

[13:28] He is going to, Change their thinking, Change their attitude, Change their agenda, He is going to, Babylonianize them, And to a certain extent, He will succeed, To a certain extent, He will fail miserably, Because these, Four, Daniel and his three friends, These four, Are anchored, Solidly, Into a, Monotheistic, Jehovah headed theology, And they will not break, And they will not bend, They had already, Probably established themselves, As being, Among the elite, Among what we would call, The best and the brightest, And they were singled out, And these young men, Are going to be pressed, Into positions of service, In the Babylonian government, Because, They are thoroughly familiar, With the Jews, And hence will have, An understanding,

[14:29] And make it easier, To govern all of these prisons, Because they are going to be captives, There is going to be thousands of them, And they are going to be, Assimilated into the culture, Of Babylon, And by the way, A great many of these, When they have children, In the next generation, During this 70 year period, Of captivity, A great many of them, Are not going to return, To Israel, When this period of time, Is over, Because you will recall, One of the things, That will happen, Is that, It will be, The Babylonians, Who have defeated, The Jews, Who are themselves, Going to be, Defeated later, By the Persians, Remember the writing, On the wall, In Belshazzar, So, What's going to happen, Is that, Many of the Jews, Carried away from Israel, And deported, And making this new home, As prisoners, In Babylon, They never are going to return,

[15:30] They stay there permanently, And I don't want to get ahead, Of myself too much, But I do want to inject something, That I think is really important, And that is, Those magi, Who came from the east, This is Babylon, This is the east, The magi, Hundreds of years later, Are going to come, To Jerusalem, And who will they be seeking?

[15:58] The king of the Jews, And the reason they will, Is because, They are Jews themselves, The magi, In my humble opinion, Will be, Descendants, Of these captives, In Babylon, Who never return, And eventually, They will send that party, To look for the Messiah, Because, Fellas, Just think about this, Why in the world, Would those who were Babylonians, Care about anybody, Being born king of the Jews?

[16:26] It wouldn't give a rip about that, But if you are a Jew, And you are thinking, Of the Messiah, That is an entirely different thing, Joe? And they would have known, What that God did, Back in the time of Daniel, Absolutely, They would have known, What he did, And so they would have known, How great he is, Absolutely, Absolutely, Thank you, Okay, So the king, Ordered, Ashpenaz, The chief of his officials, To bring in, Some of the sons of Israel, Including, Some of the royal family, These are from the king's own family, And of the nobles, Youths, In whom, Was no defect, Who were, Good looking, Showing intelligence, In every branch of wisdom, Endowed with understanding, And discerning knowledge, And who had ability, For serving, In the king's court, These young men, Remind me, Of the men, Of the caliber, That,

[17:27] Would apply for, And win an appointment, To West Point, For the naval academy, And, We probably all know, Somebody, Who did that, But I'll tell you what, They are unusual people, They are not, Run of the mill individuals, They rank high, In their graduating class, In high school, They have a good, Moral background, They, Have obvious intelligence, About them, And ability, And to win an appointment, To one service academy, Is no small thing, That's the caliber, Of these young men, These were outstanding, Young men, Probably in the area, Of 13 to 18 years of age, Serving in the king's court, And he ordered him, To teach them, The literature, And the language, Of the Chaldeans, The Chaldeans, Is nothing but a, Synonym for the Babylonians, It's the same thing, But we generally think, Of the Chaldean,

[18:28] As a language, And that's what, Language the Babylonians spoke, It was Chaldean, Now among them, From the sons of Judah, Were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, And Azariah, They are going to lose, Those names, And you know them better, By Shadrach, Meshach, And Abednego, That's their Babylonian name, They're going to change, The names, Because they want to change, Their psyche, Change their thinking, Whatever it is, That you are able to name, Indicates, That you are exercising, Authority and dominance, Over that, That you name, And by the way, That becomes, At least part and parcel, Of, The husband, And the wife, And the wife, Taking the husband's name, By taking his name,

[19:28] She is acknowledging, That she is, Subservient to him, As the scriptures indicate, Which of course, Is anathema today, Because, You know, We don't think that way, In this culture, But that's the way it was originally, And when you change the name, When you name something, That is an exercise, Of control, When God created the animals, He brought them to Adam, For what?

[19:57] Naming them, Adam, Named the animals, He called them by name, And that, Was the origin, Of the expression, Of domination, And control, Over that which you name, So it's going to happen, A number of times, As you go through the Bible, Names are going to be changed, Abram's name, Is going to be changed, To Abraham, And Shari's name, Is going to be changed, To Sarah, And, Jacob's name, Is going to be changed, To Israel, And as you go on, Through the Bible, There are a number of name changes, Like that, And each of them, Are significant, But again, This is, Culture related, We have difficulty, Connecting with this, Because, We don't do anything like that, In our culture, With the exception, Of a woman, Changed her last name, When she marries, And even now, There are some, Who retain their name, But that's another issue, In another story, So, In verse 7, Verse 7,

[20:59] The commander, Of the officials, Assigned new names, To them, To Daniel, He assigned the name, Belteshazzar, To Hanani, To Isaiah, Shadrach, To Mishael, Meshach, And to Azariah, Abednego, But Daniel, Made up his mind, That he would not, Defile himself, With the king's, Choice food, Or with the wine, Which he drank, So he sought permission, From the commander, Of the officials, That he might not, Defile himself, Now this is really, Something significant, That we ought to plug into, It's an extraordinary, Position, For a person, As young, And tender, As Daniel was, In years, To have convictions, Like this, And it can only be, The result, Of his family, Of his parents, Having,

[22:00] Adequately, Taught this young man, In the ways, Of the Lord, And he, As a very young person, Had developed, A bedrock, Conviction, From which, He would not, Be swayed, And there's even, A little song, That kids sing, In Sunday school, It has, Dare to be, A Daniel, And it's got, Great truth in it, Because this, Was a young man, Of conviction, Of principle, Of ideals, That he would not, Allow to be tarnished, He's not going to cave, And the pressure, Is going to be significant, Because there's going to be, Pure pressure, We do not know, How many of these young men, There were, That were involved, But you may be sure, There were more than four, And apparently, Although the text, Doesn't say this, I think it's, Silence may be implied, That it went along,

[23:00] With the program, And the program was, The king instructed, This ice panace, And he is, The caretaker, Of all of these young men, He's in charge, Of all of them, And the king has said, I want you to give them, The finest food, And nourishment, And take good care of them, And in the first place, What, What person among us, Does not appreciate, Does not appreciate, A really good meal, Hmm, I mean, Let's face it, The taste buds, Are important, And the adequacy, Of the food, Is important, And when you are, Wined and dined, In a style, That befits royalty, Do you know, What it does, It brings your sympathies, More and more, To the source of that, Hey, These people, Aren't so bad, They're really looking out, For us, Taking good care of us, I mean, This is not like, A POW camp, Where they're,

[24:01] Barely eking out, An existence, These, These people, Are being very, Well cared for, In every respect, And Daniel, Sees what is involved, In the food, That he's supposed to eat, Now Daniel, Being a Jew, What is he committed to, He's committed to, A kosher diet, That's part, And parcel of being a Jew, That of course, Has since passed away, But back then, It was a very important thing, And Daniel now, Is faced, With a decision, And someone has said, Someone has said, Woe, Woe unto the person, Who tries to learn, And establish his doctrine, In a crisis, And the point is, You need to have your doctrine, And your standards, In place, Before the crisis comes, So that, When the crisis comes, Your position, Is made for you, It is a slam dunk,

[25:02] And you don't have to weigh, And worry over it, What shall I do, Should I do this, Should I do that, Your mind is already, Made up in advance, And that's where Daniel, And these young men, Are coming from, They are not going, To defile them, You see, This would be, A defilement, This would be, A moral problem, For them, If they partake, Of all the king's food, But how are they, Going to go about this, Well, There are two ways, Of going about it, Daniel, Could have said, Folded his arms, Says to Ashkenaz, No way, You're not going, To get me, To eat that garbage, I'm a Jew, And I'm going, To be loyal, To my upbringing, And I'm not going, To touch that thing, Do with me, What you will, But I'm not going, Well, He could have done that, You know, He could have done that, But he takes, A diplomatic appeal, And I'll tell you, One of the sterling qualities, About this young man, Daniel, And it will be proved, Time and again, As we go through the book, He was a man,

[26:04] Of reason, Of compassion, Of logic, Of understanding, Of wisdom, And he is going, To apply all of those qualities, In different situations, That will arise, This guy, Daniel, Is one of, Few individuals, In the Bible, And the other, And I think that was, Joseph, Daniel and Joseph, Are two young men, Against whom the Bible, Has nothing negative, To say, These were both, A couple of, Real sterling individuals, And they go down, In history, As having absolutely, No negative, And no black marks, Against them, Joe, And they were two people, That were put in, Put through real trials, And heartache, In their lives, Being set, Like Daniel, Being separated, From his parents, And from his company, And from his culture, How would we react, If we were taken off,

[27:04] Like slaves, And that's, And that's, And you know what, And Joseph, Of course, Like what his brothers, Did to him, Treated terribly like that, But yet, They had the character, Like you just said, Yeah, And it's magnificent, That they were, With this background, That they turned out that way, Indeed, Indeed it is, And it's going to be put to the test, And here, Here are a couple of examples, And there are others, In the Bible too, Where, We tend to think that, Good things, Happen, To people who do, Right things, And good things, And often, Often that happens, Because there is a cause and effect thing, And you reap what you sow, But sometimes, Sometimes there is, A terrible price to pay, For doing the right thing, Sometimes there is a penalty, That is applied, For doing the right thing, And we find that, All throughout the Bible,

[28:05] It can be costly, It can be hazardous, To your health, To be loyal, To Jesus Christ, It can cost you, It costs a lot of people, Their jobs, It costs a lot of martyrs, Their life, Just for being, Faithful and true, To the one who called it, But that is where the scripture, Things work out together, For good, For those that love him, Even though the bad things, Happen to you, Absolutely, So many bad things, Happened to Joseph, But God was using him, So that later on, He would save, His people, Basically, For they were starving, And if they hadn't been, Brought back into Egypt, The whole nation of, Israel, Jews, Would not have, Proceeded on, Without God's plan, Using Joseph, In Egypt, The way he did, Absolutely, So, Things did work out, For good, For all those bad things, He had to go through, So in our lives, We can look at it, That way too, If we really love him,

[29:05] Seriously, Bad things are going to happen to us, But God is using us, Some way, For some good, To come out of it, Down the road, Amen, The Romans 8, 28 principle, And very often, Very often, When you are in the midst, Of the difficulty, You can't see it, And you can't imagine, How in the world, Can any good come out of this, And there is a tendency, To think that, Well, Maybe that Romans 8, 28 thing, All things work together, For good for this, That's true in most cases, But my case is different, It doesn't work that way for me, And that's a natural way to think, Especially when you're down now, Facing difficulty, When you've got that negative report, Test report from the doctor, Or when you lose a loved one, Sometimes, The tendency is to think, Well, I'm an exception to the case, No you're not, God is in charge, And he is, Working all things together, For the counsel of his own good will, Even, When it hurts, And sometimes,

[30:06] The only way, That's going to be demonstrated, Is when you stand in glory, Because when we say, That God works all things together, For our good, We expect him to do it, No later than the day after tomorrow, But sometimes, It isn't even realized, In this lifetime, But trust me, It will be eventually, And when you get the glory, Maybe with all the negative, And down time, And everything else, You see what the finished product is, And you don't even know, What the finished product is, Because we don't understand so much, When you stand before the Lord, There's going to be a whole lot of, Oh, Okay, Now I see, Now I understand, Now I'm able to put the pieces together, That at the time, Were just confusing, And I'm sure Daniel probably had some thoughts like that, So what Daniel does, And he establishes himself from the very beginning, As being, A diplomat,

[31:07] This man is going to rise to the ranks, Of being a valued diplomat, In the king's court, He's going to be established, As a go-to guy, With a lot of power, A lot of prestige, A lot of influence, But it is not going to go to his head, He's going to use it judiciously, As he does throughout the whole book, So he goes to Ashpenaz, And he says, I know you're under responsibilities, For our care, And our feeding, And our quarters, And everything else, And I have, I have a respectful request to make of you, And Ashpenaz says, What are you talking about?

[31:52] And he said, Well, I've got this connection with my God, And I'm under certain requirements, And restrictions, As to what I can eat, And what I cannot eat, And I'm asking for your permission, To allow me, To satisfy my diet, With my traditional food, That would be acceptable to my God, And, And that's the request that I make, He's not making a demand, He's making a request, He realizes, He's in the position, Of the vanquished, The others, They are in charge, They are the enemy, And they are in charge, And Daniel was not going to defile himself, With the king's meat, So he sought permission, From the commander of the officials, That he might not defile himself, And God granted Daniel favor, And compassion, In the sight of the commander of the officials, I don't know how else,

[32:53] To interpret that, Other than to say, That God, Softened the heart, Of Ashkenaz, And made him, Acceptable to the offer, And as he gave it some thought, He took into consideration, The respectful way, That this young man, Made the request, He didn't make any demands, He didn't come in with any threats, Or anything, He didn't say, I'm going to have my God punish you, If you don't let me, No, no, He acknowledged, The authority that was over him, And he respectfully requested this, And then, Verse 10, The commander, Excuse me, And the commander of the officials, Said to Daniel, I am afraid of my lord the king, Who has appointed your food, And your drink, For why should he see your faces, Looking more haggard than the youth, Who are your own age, Then, You would make me forfeit my head to the king,

[33:55] Fellas, We do not understand, The brutality of these ancient monarchs, But it didn't take anything, But a whim of a reason, For them to say, Off with his head, And you were, You were gone, And Ashkenaz realized that, And he is responsible, For how these young men, Are going to present themselves, When the time comes for inspection, By the king, He's going to look them over, And Ashkenaz is afraid, That you guys, Are going to look kind of haggard, Worn, And thin, And kind of, You know, Beaten down, And, And, And, And you're not going to make a good appearance, And that's going to reflect on me, And I'm going to get in trouble with my boss, And if he's not in a good mood, I could be toast.

[34:43] So there is a risk involved here. And, Daniel said to him, In verse 11, To the overseer, And the commander of the officials, Had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, Please test your servants, For ten days, Just ten days, And let us be given, Some vegetables to eat, And water to drink, This would all be kosher, Vegetables and water, By the way, Here is a good admonition to all you guys, As it comes from your wife, Eat your veggies, Okay, Things we would rather eat sometimes than veggies, But, Be advised that veggies, Are the produce of the ground, Veggies, Is God's provision, And fruit, Is God's dessert, So eat your vegetables,

[35:45] And your fruit, And you'll be in, Good order, So, Then let our appearance, Be observed in your presence, And the appearance of the youths, Who are eating, The king's choice food, And deal with your servants, According to what you see, Just give us ten days, That's all we're asking, So he listened to them, In this matter, And tested them, For ten days, And at the end of ten days, Their appearance, Seemed better, And they were fatter, Fatter on vegetables, What, I don't know, I say fatter, I say filled out maybe, And by the way, That's the remedy for wrinkles, If you have wrinkles in your skin, The remedy is, You keep eating, Until you fill them up, And the wrinkles will disappear, Okay, Their appearance seemed better,

[36:49] And they were fatter, Than all the youths, That had been eating, The king's choice food, So the overseer, Continued, To withhold their choice food, And the wine, They were given to drink, And kept giving them vegetables, I imagine, When those young men, Came up for inspection, After the ten days, Oh, Ashkenaz looked at them, And goes, Well, I'm glad you guys, Look as good as you do, Matter of fact, You look better, Than all the others, And all the others, Had the finest, And rich, King's food, Served only, Fit for a king, And the wine, That went with it, And these guys, Had vegetables, And water, And you look better, Than all the rest of them, I imagine, Oh Ashkenaz felt, A great burden relieved from him, That he's not going to be in trouble, And as for these, Mark, He had time to switch them over, If it weren't though, That's why the ten day test, Yeah, I think he had time, To switch them over, To the king's food, He did, He gave them, He gave them a window, And Daniel was wise, In doing that, He's not saying, Let us go through the inspection,

[37:49] He said, Just give us ten days, And Ashkenaz thinks about that, And like Joe says, Well, If it doesn't work out, At the end of ten days, I can always, Fill them up, And the king's food, And make them eat it, And the king's wine, But that wasn't necessary, And these four youths, Verse 17, These four youths, God gave them knowledge, And intelligence, In every branch of literature, And wisdom, Daniel, Even understood, All kinds of visions, And dreams, And then, At the end of the days, When the king had specified, For presenting them, The commander of the officials, Presented them, Before Nebuchadnezzar, And the king talked with them, And out of them, All, Not one, Was found, Like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, And Azariah, So they, Entered, The king's, Personal, Service,

[38:50] This is beginning, With an elevated position, Based on how they had, Already accounted themselves, And as for every matter, Of wisdom, And understanding, About which the king, Consulted them, He found them, Ten times better, Than all the magicians, And conjurers, Who were all, In his realm, And Daniel continued, Until the first year, Of Cyrus the king, These young men, That obviously, Established themselves, As valuable individuals, And by the way, There is something here, To be said, For their attitude, Because they could have, Taken a subversive position, And said, Look, We are prisoners here, And all we want to do, Is escape, And get back to our land, And we're not going to, Serve this king, He serves a pagan deity, And he is a pagan, And we refuse, No, No, What they did was, They accommodated themselves, To the demands, That were made upon them, Because, They realized,

[39:52] God had put them, In that position, And their cooperation, Is something that we want, To talk about, In our next session together, Hey guys, Thanks for being here today, And,