Daniel Explained

A Commentary on the Book of Daniel

Outline

Introduction

• Importance of the Book of Daniel
  • Lessons in the stories
  • Scope of the prophecies
  • Rise and fall of interest in prophecy
  • Value in prophetic studies
• Setting
  • History of Israel
  • Purpose of the Book of Daniel
  • Prophets contemporary with Daniel
• Authorship
  • Traditional view
  • The Maccabean thesis
  • Bad fit
  • Manuscript evidence
  • Antiquity of Daniel's Aramaic
  • Testimony of Ezekiel
  • Other early allusions to Daniel
  • Current debate
  • First scheme of design
  • Second scheme of design
  • Summary of evidence

Chapter One

• The Assault on Jerusalem
  • Aftermath of Carchemish
  • Spoils and captives
  • Disposal of the spoils
  • Fate of the captives
  • Babylonian education
  • Usefulness of the captives
  • An old prophecy fulfilled
  • Four heroes introduced
• Daniel's Moral Dilemma
  • What Daniel tolerated
  • What Daniel refused to tolerated
  • Three tests to distinguish right from wrong
  • Why neither the name nor the education was unscriptural
  • Scriptural objections to the diet
  • Why Daniel could not accept the diet with a pure motive
  • Defiling effects of the diet
  • Daniel's decision
  • Excuses for sin
  • Two objectives of Daniel's protest
  • Conduct Daniel avoided
  • Steps Daniel took
• Daniel's Vindication
  • Outcome of the test
  • Purpose of the test
  • Limits to diplomacy
• Virtue Rewarded
  • How Daniel and his friends distinguished themselves
  • How God rewarded Daniel
  • How God rewards every believer

Chapter Two

• Date
  • Relation of chapter 2 to chapter 1
  • Babylonian reckoning
• Confrontation
  • Disturbing dreams
  • Magical arts of the wise men
  • The switch to Aramaic
  • The impossible demand
  • The king's motive
• Daniel's response to his peril
  • Daniel's absence
  • Daniel's standing
  • Daniel's prayer
  • Daniel's thanksgiving
  • Christ the Light
  • Daniel's appearance before the king
• The Dream
• The First Four Kingdoms
  • The several parts of the image
  • The golden head
  • The second, third, and fourth kingdoms
  • Antiquity of the conventional interpretation
  • Magnificence of the image
  • Appropriateness of the four metals
  • Strength and value of the four metals
  • Appropriateness of the first four anatomical regions
• The Fifth Kingdom
  • Unity of the feet and toes
  • Where the fifth kingdom falls in history
  • Dispensationalism
  • Two views of the feet
  • What the materials of the image signify
  • Identity of the fifth kingdom
  • Events giving rise to the period of the feet
  • Events bringing the period of the feet to an end
  • Identity of the toes
  • The revived Roman Empire
  • Emergence of a global society
• The Kingdom of God
  • The stone
  • Christ the Stone
  • Fate of the image
  • The mountain
  • Citizens of the Millennial kingdom
  • Fate of the stone
• Daniel's Elevation
  • Nebuchadnezzar's self-abasement
  • Nebuchadnezzar's progress in understanding
  • Promotions for Daniel and his friends
• Christ and the Antichrist

Chapter Three

• The Ultimatum
  • Site of the image
  • Dimensions of the image
  • Why the image was probably not a statue of the king himself
  • The throng attending the dedication
  • Nebuchadnezzar's purpose
  • The spectators
  • The orchestra
• The Ultimatum Bravely Defied
  • An eyewitness report
  • The accusers
  • Nebuchadnezzar's attitude toward the Hebrews
  • Nebuchadnezzar's attitude toward the God of the Hebrews
  • The answer of the Hebrews
  • True faith
• The Punishment
  • The unusual measures taken by the king
  • The burning fiery furnace
• The Deliverance
  • What the king saw in the fire
  • Identity of the fourth person
  • Completeness of the deliverance
• The Heroes Honored
  • How God honored them
  • How the king honored them
  • Nebuchadnezzar's progress in understanding
• Typical Meaning of the Incident

Chapter Four

• The King's Greeting to His People
  • Source
  • Purpose of the proclamation
  • A divine intrusion
• The King's Confidence in Daniel
  • Changes over the years
  • The king's mature estimate of Daniel
• The Frightening Dream
  • The lofty tree
  • The council of highest angels
• Daniel's Counsel
  • Daniel's honesty and love
  • The judgment upon the king
  • The purpose of God
  • A word of hope
  • A word of counsel
• The King's Affliction
  • God's patience
  • God's patience exhausted
  • An extrabiblical account of Nebuchadnezzar's madness
  • Dating Nebuchadnezzar's madness
  • Judgment fulfilled
  • Preservation of his kingdom
• The King's Restoration to Sanity
  • Judgment completed
  • Nebuchadnezzar's conversion
  • The soul-winner
• Typical Meaning of the Incident

Chapter Five

• Belshazzar's Impious Feast
  • An old charge laid to rest
  • Corroboration of Daniel 5 by archaeology
  • Corroboration of Daniel 5 by Greek historians
  • The military situation
  • The sacrilegious feast
• The Ominous Writing on the Wall
  • The king reduced to great trembling
  • The wise men brought to shame
• The Counsel of a Godly Mother
  • Timely intervention
  • Identity of this woman
  • The queen mother's testimony
  • Daniel's obscurity
• Daniel's Denunciation of the King
  • Stern counsel
  • Daniel's lofty conception of God
• The Riddle Explained
  • The cryptic message
  • Daniel's astute interpretation
  • Why the king accepted Daniel's interpretation
• The Wages of Sin
  • Belshazzar's reaction
  • Downfall of the king
  • Downfall of the city
• Typical Meaning of the Incident

Chapter Six

• The New Government under Darius
  • Another critical attack
  • Gubaru
  • Reflections of the real power structure
  • Darius's new government
  • Daniel's new position
• The Trap Laid for Daniel
  • The investigation
  • The plot
  • Why Darius consented to the decree
• Daniel's Unshaken Testimony for God
  • Daniel's response to the decree
  • Daniel's manner of worship
• Darius's Impotence to Save Daniel from the Lions
  • The king's love for Daniel
  • Irrevocable laws
  • The den of lions
• Daniel's Deliverance by an Angel
  • Darius's ambivalence
  • The deliverance revealed in the morning light
• The King's Justice
  • The terrible fate of Daniel's accusers
  • Darius's new decree
  • Daniel's outstanding consistency
• Typical Meaning of the Incident

Chapter Seven

• The Setting
• The First Three Beasts
  • The four beasts
  • The sea and the winds
  • God's estimate of earthly kingdoms
  • The first three beasts
  • Babylon
  • Medo-Persia
  • Greece
• The Fourth Beast
  • Identity
  • Appearance
  • The dispensational gap
• The Eleventh Horn
  • His coming
  • His career
  • The strange heads of the beast
  • Proof that the seven heads are not seven kingdoms
  • Proof that the seventh head represents the whole beast
  • Proof that the beast is an individual king
  • Objections refuted
  • Proof that the Beast is the same as the eleventh horn
  • The Beast's return from the dead
  • Another name for the Beast
  • The infernal trio
• The Son of Man
  • The assembly of judges
  • The Ancient of Days
  • The burning wheels
  • The fiery stream
  • The great host
  • Trial of the Beast
  • Destiny of the other beasts
  • A new glimpse of the person and work of Christ
• The Eternal Kingdom
  • Its citizens
  • Its duration
• The Effect upon Daniel
• Christ and the Antichrist

Chapter Eight

• Setting
• The Vision
• Heavenly Teachers
  • Gabriel
  • The hidden Christ
• Two Belligerent Beasts
  • The ram
  • The goat
  • The two beasts compared with the four
• The Last Horn
  • Views as to his identity
  • Proof that the last horn is not Antiochus
  • Proof that the last horn is the Antichrist
  • The dispensational break
  • The Antichrist's place of origin
  • The Antichrist as a ruler of former Seleucid territory
  • The Antichrist as a king of Babylon
  • The Antichrist as the Assyrian
  • Possible scenario
  • The Antichrist as a Roman prince
  • Two Babylons
  • The future holocaust
  • Deliverance
  • The Antichrist's methods
  • The Antichrist's downfall
• The 2300 Days
  • Desecration of the sanctuary
  • When the period of 2300 days will fall
• In the Presence of Heavenly Glory
• Christ and the Antichrist

Chapter Nine

• Seventy Years of Captivity
  • Jeremiah's word of hope
  • Term of captivity
  • Start of the seventy years
  • End of the seventy years
  • The captivity viewed as removal from Temple worship
• Daniel's Intercession for His People
  • What Daniel sought
  • What arguments Daniel used
• The Seventy Weeks
  • The angelic messenger
  • God's program for the Jews
• The Sixty-Nine Weeks
  • The prophecy revealing when the Messiah would come
  • The rebuilding under Nehemiah's direction
  • Artaxerxes' ruling
  • Author of the commandment
  • Persian date of the commandment
  • Transferring the date to the Julian calendar
• Date of the Messiah's Coming
  • Term of sixty-nine weeks
  • Date of the terminal month
• The Terminal Event
  • The Triumphal Entry
  • The Transfiguration
  • The coming of Christ
  • The coronation of Christ
  • The offices of Christ
  • Jesus' assumption of His prophetic office
  • Jesus' assumption of His high priestly office
  • Conversation signaling the start of the terminal month
  • Date of the Transfiguration
• Date of the Messiah's Crucifixion
  • Day of the week
  • Calendar date
  • Year
  • Verifying the date of the Transfiguration
• Date of the Messiah's Indictment
  • Next event after the Messiah's coming
  • Span of sixty-two weeks
  • Official indictment
  • Witness of the Talmud
  • First validation of the solution
• Date of the Messiah's Enthronement
  • Double meaning of Jerusalem
  • Jerusalem as the church
  • Opening and closing events
  • Second validation of the solution
• Significance of the Sixty-Nine Weeks
  • The significance for apologetics
  • The significance for hermeneutics
• The Destruction of Jerusalem
  • Next event after the death of Christ
  • View of the critics
  • How prophecy was fulfilled
• Week of the Covenant
  • The dispensational gap
  • The man who will confirm the covenant
  • The many who will be party to the covenant
  • Usual scenario
  • Two distinct weeks
  • The covenant
• The Seventieth Week
  • Significance of the seventieth week
  • First half
  • Second half
  • Theory of a seven-year Tribulation
  • Scriptural objections
  • Historical impossibility
  • Actual length of the Tribulation
• The Effrontery and Fate of the Antichrist
  • Events ushering in the final half week
  • The overspreading of abominations
  • Fate of the desolator
• Christ and the Antichrist

Chapter Ten

• Daniel's Mourning
  • Setting
  • Glimpses of the unseen
  • The switch to ordinary weeks
  • Cause of Daniel's mourning
• The Glorious Visitor
  • His appearance
  • Proof that He was the preincarnate Christ
  • Reaction of the men with Daniel
  • Typical meaning of the incident
  • Progressive revelation
• The Angelic Helper
  • Daniel's acute weakness
  • The messenger
  • Proof that Daniel talked with only one angel
  • Proof that the messenger was not Christ
• The Angel's Message
  • Daniel's original petition
  • The latter days
  • The identity of Michael
  • Evil principalities
  • Michael's lonely stand
• The Larger Picture
  • The purposes of Satan
  • The Scripture of Truth

Chapter Eleven

• The Persian and Greek Empires
  • Crux of the debate over the date of Daniel
  • Role of good angels in shaping history
  • The wealthy Persian king
  • The mighty king
• The Long Contest between Two Kingdoms
• The Career of Antiochus Epiphanes
• The Dispensational Break
  • Placement
  • Single reference throughout
  • Importance of Antiochus
• The Religion of the Antichrist
  • First feature of his religion
  • Second feature of his religion
  • Third feature of his religion
  • Fourth feature of his religion
  • Fifth feature of his religion
• The Antichrist's Expansionist Wars
  • An ambiguity resolved
  • Parallel accounts in Daniel
  • War of Gog and Magog
  • Time frame of the wars in Daniel 11:40-45
  • The opening period
  • The final end distinguished from the end time
  • The lull before the storm
  • Parallel accounts in the New Testament
  • The Rapture
  • Opening of the first seal
  • Opening of the second seal
  • The modern nations matching the names in prophecy
  • Hints of modern warfare
  • The Antichrist's plunder
  • Opening of the third seal
  • Opening of the fourth seal
  • The Antichrist's palace
• Fate of the Victor
  • The Antichrist's death
  • The Antichrist's resurrection

Chapter Twelve

• The War in Heaven
  • Michael's crusade
  • Stars cast to the earth
  • The amillennial view of evil powers
  • Satan's defeat
  • The woman's flight into the wilderness
  • The abomination of desolation
• The Closing Phase of the Tribulation
  • Unprecedented trouble
  • Deliverance
• The Israelite Resurrection
  • The dilemma
  • Popular interpretations
  • Why it is not national revival
  • Why it is not two resurrections a thousand years apart
  • Time and compass of the resurrection "at that time"
• The Glorification of the Saints
• The Sealing of the Book
  • Knowledge denied
  • Knowledge granted
• Two More Beings
  • Number of beings in the vision
  • Identity of the last two
  • Identity of the two witnesses
• The End of These Things
  • Duration of the great ordeal
  • Purpose of the great ordeal
  • Daniel's question
  • The Lord's reply
  • The warning to us
• Three Terminal Events
• Daniel's Future
  • Heavenly honor
  • Present state of the righteous dead
• Christ and the Antichrist

Appendix 1: Literature on the Sixty-Nine Weeks

Appendix 2: The Book of Daniel as Poetry

Appendix 3: Artaxerxes' Twentieth Year

Appendix 4: The Sabbath after the Crucifixion

Appendix 5: The Darkness at the Crucifixion

Appendix 6: Calendar Date of Christ's Death

• An apparent discrepancy
• The first day of Unleavened Bread
• Day of the Last Supper
• Inconsistency of popular usage
• The Last Supper as a Passover Meal

Appendix 7: Structure of the Book of Revelation

Select Bibliography

© 2007, 2012, 2014 Stanley Edgar Rickard (Ed Rickard, the author). All rights reserved.