Advanced Commentary
Texts -- Daniel 1:12-21 (NET)

Pericope

NET
- Dan 1:1-21 -- Daniel Finds Favor in Babylon
Bible Dictionary

-
WITCH; WITCHCRAFT
[isbe] WITCH; WITCHCRAFT - wich, wich'-kraft: 1. Meaning and Use of the Words 2. Biblical Usage 3. Common Elements in Witchcraft and Ancient Oriental Magic 4. Rise, Spread and Persecution of Witchcraft LITERATURE 1. Meaning and Use...
-
Students
[nave] STUDENTS Poverty of, 2 Kin. 4:1. In state school, Dan. 1. In schools of the prophets, 1 Sam. 19:20; 1 Kin. 20:35; 2 Kin. 2:2, 3, 5, 7, 15; 4:1. See: Instruction; School.
-
Shadrach
[isbe] SHADRACH - sha'-drak: The Babylonian name of one of the so-called Hebrew children. Shadrach is probably the Sumerian form of the Bah Kudurru-Aki, "servant of Sin." It has been suggested by Meinhold that we should read Meroda...
[nave] SHADRACH, called also Hananiah. A Hebrew captive in Babylon, Dan. 1; 2:17, 49; 3.
-
School
[nave] SCHOOL Of the prophets at Naioth, 1 Sam. 19:20; Beth-el, 2 Kin. 2:3; Jericho, 2 Kin. 2:5, 15; Gilgal, 2 Kin. 4:38; Jerusalem, probably, 2 Kin. 22:14; 2 Chr. 34:22. Crowded attendance at, 2 Kin. 6:1. In the home, Deut. 4:9,...
-
SKILL; SKILFUL
[isbe] SKILL; SKILFUL - skil, skil'-fool (forms of yadha` (2 Ch 2:14, etc.), bin (1 Ch 15:22), sakhal (Dan 1:4, etc.), lamadh (1 Ch 5:18), chakham (1 Ch 28:21), charash (Ezek 21:31), yaTabh (Ps 33:3); in Apocrypha empeiria (The Wis...
-
Nebuchadnezzar
[nave] NEBUCHADNEZZAR, called also Nebuchadrezzar. King of Babylon, Jer. 21:2. Empire of. See: Babylon. His administration, Dan. 1-4. Conquests of: Of Jerusalem, 2 Kin. 24, 25; 1 Chr. 6:15; 2 Chr. 36:5-21; Ezra 1:7; Jer. 39. Of ...
-
NUMBER
[isbe] NUMBER - num'-ber: I. NUMBER AND ARITHMETIC II. NOTATION OF NUMBERS 1. By Words 2. By Signs 3. By Letters III. NUMBERS IN OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY IV. ROUND NUMBERS V. SIGNIFICANT NUMBERS 1. Seven and Its Multiples (1) Ritual U...
-
MESHACH
[smith] (guest of a king), the name given to Mishael, one of the companions of Daniel, who with three others was taught, (Daniel 1:4) and qualified to "stand before" King Nebuchadnezzar, (Daniel 1:5) as his personal attendants and ad...
-
JUDAH, KINGDOM OF
[isbe] JUDAH, KINGDOM OF - || I. CANAAN BEFORE THE MONARCHY 1. The Coming of the Semites 2. The Canaanites 3. The Israelite Confederacy 4. Migration into Canaan 5. The Bond of Union 6. Early Rulers 7. The Judges 8. Hereditary Kings...
-
HANANIAH
[ebd] Jehovah has given. (1.) A chief of the tribe of Benjamin (1 Chr. 8:24). (2.) One of the sons of Heman (1 Chr. 25:4,23). (3.) One of Uzziah's military officers (2 Chr. 26:11). (4.) Grandfather of the captain who arrested Jere...
[isbe] HANANIAH - han-a-ni'-a (chananyahu, chananyah; Ananias; also with aspirate, "Yahweh hath been gracious"): This was a common name in Israel for many centuries. (1) A Benjamite (1 Ch 8:24). (2) A captain of Uzziah's army (2 Ch...
[smith] (gift of God). One of the fourteen sons of Heman, and chief of the sixteenth course of singers. (1Â Chronicles 25:4,5,23) (B.C. 1014.) A general in the army of King Uzziah. (2Â Chronicles 26:11) Father of Zedekiah, in th...
-
FOOD
[isbe] FOOD - food: I. VEGETABLE FOODS 1. Primitive Habits 2. Cereals 3. Leguminous Plants 4. Food of Trees II. ANIMAL FOOD LITERATURE In a previous article (see BREAD) it has been shown that in the Bible "bread" usually stands for...
-
Daniel
[ebd] God is my judge, or judge of God. (1.) David's second son, "born unto him in Hebron, of Abigail the Carmelitess" (1 Chr. 3:1). He is called also Chileab (2 Sam. 3:3). (2.) One of the four great prophets, although he is not o...
[smith] (judgment of God). The second son of David, by Abigail the Carmelitess. (1Â Chronicles 3:1) In (2Â Samuel 3:3) he is called Chileab. (B.C. about 1051.) The fourth of ?the greater prophets." Nothing is known of his parent...
[nave] DANIEL 1. A Jewish captive, called also Belteshazzar. Educated at king's court, Dan. 1. Interprets visions, Dan. 2; 4; 5. Promotion and executive authority of, Dan. 2:48, 49; 5:11, 29; 6:2. Conspiracy against, cast into t...
-
DRUNKENNESS
[isbe] DRUNKENNESS - drunk'-'-n-nes (raweh, shikkaron, shethi; methe): I. Its Prevalance. The Bible affords ample proof that excessive drinking of intoxicants was a common vice among the Hebrews, as among other ancient peoples. Thi...
-
DIVINATION
[isbe] DIVINATION - div-i-na'-shun: 1. Definition 2. Kinds of Divination 3. Fundamental Assumption in Divination 4. Legitimate and Illegitimate Divination 5. The Bible and Divination 6. Modes of Divination Mentioned in the Bible: T...
-
DANIEL, BOOK OF
[isbe] DANIEL, BOOK OF - dan'-yel: I. NAME II. PLACE IN THE CANON III. DIVISIONS OF THE BOOK IV. LANGUAGES V. PURPOSE OF THE BOOK VI. UNITY VII. GENUINENESS 1. The Predictions 2. The Miracles 3. The Text 4. The Language 5. The Hist...
-
Captive
[nave] CAPTIVE Prisoner of war, Gen. 14:12; 1 Sam. 30:1, 2. Cruelty to: Putting to death, Num. 31:9-20; Deut. 20:13; 21:10; Josh. 8:29; 10:15-40; 11:11; Judg. 7:25; 8:21; 21:11; 1 Sam. 15:32, 33; 2 Sam. 8:2; 2 Kin. 8:12; Jer. 39:6...
-
COUNTENANCE
[isbe] COUNTENANCE - koun'-te-nans: (1) The noun (see also under the word FACE) is the translation of a variety of Hebrew and Greek expressions, panim; prosopon, being the most frequent. Besides these there are found mar'eh, "appea...
-
BIBLE, THE, IV CANONICITY
[isbe] BIBLE, THE, IV CANONICITY - IV. Literary Growth and Origin--Canonicity. Thus far the books of the Old Testament and New Testament have been taken simply as given, and no attempt has been made to inquire how or when they were...
-
Astrologer
[ebd] (Dan. 1:20; 2:2, 10, 27, etc.) Heb. 'ashshaph', an enchanter, one who professes to divine future events by the appearance of the stars. This science flourished among the Chaldeans. It was positively forbidden to the Jews (De...
-
ATTITUDES
[isbe] ATTITUDES - at'-i-tuds: Customs change slowly in Bible lands. This becomes clear by a comparison of the many references found in the Bible and other literatures of the Orient with existing circumstances and conditions. The s...
Arts

Questions

- The following material from The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia should be helpful here: III. Significant numbers Numbers are also used with a symbolical or theological significance. One is used to convey th...
Sermon Illustrations

Resources/Books

Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)
-
In obedience to God's command Abraham took his promised heir to Moriah to sacrifice him to the Lord. Because Abraham was willing to slay his uniquely begotten son God restrained him from killing Isaac and promised to bless hi...
-
Nehemiah's reaction to this bad news was admirable. He made it a subject of serious prolonged prayer (vv. 4, 11; 2:1). Daniel had been another high-ranking Jewish official in the Persian government, and he too was a man of pr...
-
This prophecy continues the emphasis on judgment from the previous one and stresses the irrevocability of Jerusalem's destruction (cf. Jer. 7:16; 15:1-4).14:12-14 The Lord spoke to Ezekiel again. He revealed that Jerusalem's ...
-
Daniel, the main character from whom this book gets its name, was probably only a teenager when he arrived in Babylon in 605 B.C. The Hebrew words used to describe him, the internal evidence of chapter 1, and the length of hi...
-
Theologically the book stresses the sovereignty of God."The absolute sovereignty and transcendence of God above all angels and men literally permeates the book."11"The theme running through the whole book is that the fortunes...
-
The Book of Daniel contains many unique and significant emphases. I would like to point out some of these first before we organize them into an explanation of what God has given us this book to reveal.Theologically Daniel str...
-
I. The character of Daniel ch. 1A. Historical background 1:1-2B. Nebuchadnezzar's training program for promising youths 1:3-7C. Daniel's resolve to please Yahweh 1:8-13D. The success of the test 1:14-16E. God's blessing of Da...
-
Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the whole book. It relates early events in the lives of Daniel and his three Hebrew contemporaries, but the emphasis is on Daniel's decisions. These choices formed the basis for his chara...
-
1:1 The book opens with a synopsis of the first Jewish deportation in 605 B.C. (cf. 2 Kings 21:35; 2 Chron 28:2-3).25Daniel and his three friends were part of the nobles and royal families taken from Jerusalem as captives the...
-
1:8 Evidently Daniel took the initiative with this decision, and his three friends followed his lead. His decision was not to remain morally pure but to remain ceremonially pure. Ceremonial purity was something that concerned...
-
1:17 In addition to favor with their overseers, God gave Daniel and his three friends the ability to master the subjects they studied and wisdom in these matters (cf. James 1:5). They may have thought that Nebuchadnezzar had ...
-
2:1 Daniel opened this new section of his book with another chronological reference (cf. 1:1, 21). This indicates that his interest in this book was in the progress of events and their relationship to one another. As the book...
-
2:4 The Chaldeans took the lead in replying to the king. They responded in the Aramaic language that was widely used in business and in government throughout the empire. This reference to Aramaic introduces the section of the...
-
2:14-15 When Daniel learned of his sentence, he responded with customary discretion and discernment (cf. 1:8, 12), not with objections (cf. vv. 10-11) or anger (cf. v. 12). Perhaps the king's decision in itself did not surpri...
-
2:46-47 Clearly Daniel had done what everyone considered humanly impossible. He had told the king the dream that Nebuchadnezzar alone knew, and had perhaps even forgotten, and he had given an interpretation of the dream that ...
-
We have seen that in the first three chapters of Daniel King Nebuchadnezzar came to an increasing appreciation of the greatness of Yahweh. In this chapter he learned that Yahweh is sovereign over kings as well as kingdoms (cf...
-
Belshazzar came to power some nine years after Nebuchadnezzar had died.165The events of this chapter therefore occurred about 66 years after those in chapter 1 and about 36 years after those in chapter 4.166Daniel would now h...
-
5:5 Like Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar received an omen from God. In Nebuchadnezzar's case it was two dreams (chs. 1; 4). In Belshazzar's it was a hand writing on a wall. The night of revelry became a night of revelation.176"In ...
-
6:10 The new decree did not deter Daniel from continuing to pray for the welfare of the city where God had sent them into exile and for the Jews' return from exile. That this was the subject of his praying, among other things...
-
6:25-27 This story ends as previous ones in the book did with the king praising and promoting Yahweh. This expression of praise, however, surpasses the others (cf. 3:28-29; 4:3, 34-35, 37). Not only did Darius personally prai...
-
7:15-16 Even though Daniel understood all kinds of visions and dreams (1:17), much of what he had just seen baffled and alarmed him (cf. 7:28). He now saw himself participating in the events of his vision. He evidently addres...
-
Two things signal the beginning of a new section in the book here. These two things are a return to the Hebrew language in the original text (cf. 1:1-2:3) and an emphasis on the nation Israel. Evidently Daniel wrote the remai...
-
The third year of Cyrus' rule as king over Babylon was 536 B.C.381Cyrus had issued his decree allowing the Jews to return to their land and to rebuild their temple in 538 B.C. Some of them had departed that same year under Ze...
-
The vision in chapter 9 came after Daniel had been praying and fasting (9:3). The vision that follows also came to him after he had been mourning, fasting, and undoubtedly praying for three weeks (cf. 1:11-13). Obviously thes...
-
2:1-2 When did the Magi visit Jesus in Bethlehem?74There are several factors that point to a time about a year after Jesus' birth. First, Matthew described Jesus as a "child"(Gr. paidion, v. 11), not an "infant"(Gr. brephos, ...
-
These persecuted Christians did not need to fear their adversaries or death since they would live forever with Jesus Christ. "Behold"signals an oracular declaration (cf. 2:22; 3:8, 9, 20).96The devil would incite their foes t...
Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)
-
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. 9....