Context | Sunday, June 4, 2023

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God... (Daniel 1:1–3)

Every story needs a little context—and the book of Daniel begins centuries before chapter one, in the framework of obedience, blessing, disobedience, and exile.

A Big Leap From Joshua to Daniel

We are starting a new series in the book of Daniel, and it is a significant leap from the conquest we have been studying in Joshua. We've been in Joshua chapters 10 through 13, and now we jump ahead many hundreds of years in Israel's storyline to find God's people in exile in Babylon. To understand where we're at, we need to lay some groundwork—some context.

For about ten years here we studied through the New Testament, using the book of Acts as our historical timeline. When we returned to the Old Testament, I wanted a book that would serve as a lens to make the whole thing clear, and that book is Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is the message Moses gave to Israel just before they entered the land God had promised to Abraham and his descendants.

The Deuteronomic Principle

In Deuteronomy there is a principle scholars call the deuteronomic principle. It is a conditional framework—a simple "if this, then that" algorithm. If the children of Israel would follow the Lord, seek Him, and be obedient to His covenant, then they would experience God's blessing and flourish in the Promised Land. But if they turned away from His command and departed from the covenant, they would experience the removal of His blessing, provision, protection, and presence—and therefore curses.

This is articulated clearly in Deuteronomy 28:

Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you...

He continues that they will be blessed in the city and in the country, blessed in the fruit of their body and the produce of their ground. We all want God's blessing. This was spoken specifically for the children of Israel coming into the land, but it has a general application for us as well: if we seek and follow the Lord, we will experience His abundance—though we must remember God's idea of blessing may differ from ours.

But Deuteronomy 28 doesn't end there:

But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments... that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you. (Deuteronomy 28:15)

What follows is the undoing of every blessing—cursed in the city, cursed in the country, cursed in basket and bowl—until they are destroyed and perish quickly, because they have forsaken God. We want the blessing; we do not want the curse.

The Old Testament Storyline

Following Deuteronomy comes the rest of the Old Testament—Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles—and you watch this principle play out. As soon as Israel entered the land, Joshua gathered the people between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal; the blessings of the law were read over one mountain and the curses over the other, re-establishing the covenant.

It is in this context that we meet the prophets—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Obadiah, Malachi, Habakkuk, Haggai. As Israel spiraled downward, God raised up prophets who went mostly to the kings, calling them to repentance. The prophets were experts in Deuteronomy. They looked at their nation through that lens and said, "This is what you're doing, and if you don't repent, here's what will happen." Many of their predictions were conditional: if you repent, blessing; if you continue, judgment.

Some of you exercise this prophetic gift in your own household: "If you keep doing this, then this will happen. But if you make your bed, here's the blessing." That's the deuteronomic principle—if this, then that. So Deuteronomy becomes the key to understanding the Old Testament prophets.

Godliness and the Nations

This is also a good lens for our own day. While Deuteronomy applied specifically to Israel, there are general principles that apply to us. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 14:34, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." The New Living Translation says, "Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people."

There is much talk in this political season about making America great. I suggest it will not be a politician who makes America great. It will be when the people of God follow Him faithfully and witness that to others. America has been a great nation, but we have not always been a good nation—and we will cease to be a great nation insofar as we are not a good nation. This is not just Israel's story; it is the story of many nations throughout history. We should not look for some Messianic political figure to fill the void, but pray that leaders in families, cities, nations, and churches would rise up to follow the Lord and repent.

The final step in this downward spiral is given in Deuteronomy 28:36:

The Lord will exile you and your king to a nation unknown to you and your ancestors. There in exile you will worship gods of wood and stone! You will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations... (NLT)

Point one: those who reject God are ultimately rejected by Him and exiled from His presence and blessing. It brings me no joy to say it, but it is clearly the case when you read the Old Testament.

The Lesson of Achan and the Judges

We saw this on a small, microcosmic scale in Joshua 7. After being blessed in their entry into the land, Israel was defeated before the small city of Ai because one man, Achan, had disobeyed God and stolen from Him, then lied about it. The entire nation felt the effects, because even a small, hidden sin is a reproach.

After Joshua died, we read in Judges 2:10 that there arose a generation that did not know the Lord, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. The book of Judges is this cycle repeated: Israel follows God and flourishes under a godly leader; that leader dies; Israel slides into idolatry and immorality and falls into bondage to their enemies; they cry out; God raises a judge—Jephthah, Samson, Gideon, Ehud—who leads them in renewal; and then that judge dies and the spiral begins again.

A King Like the Other Nations

The last judge was Samuel. During his time the people demanded a king "like all the other nations," thinking a better leader would fix everything. Sounds like every other time in history, doesn't it? "If we just had a better king, everything would be better." Thus began the long history of Israel's kings—first a united monarchy, then a divided monarchy split by civil war into the northern kingdom (Israel) and the southern kingdom (Judah).

Point two: if you cannot obey and follow God as king, do not expect that an earthly king will make things better. Paul tells us these things were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the age have come. There is always a Messianic desire welling up in us—if we just had a better king. But it isn't so.

Saul was chosen because he looked the part—a head taller than everyone—much like our day, when we choose leaders based on whether they look presidential. Saul had issues. David was better, a man after God's own heart, but he was a really bad dad and his family fell apart. Solomon was wise but also a bad dad, and his son Rehoboam was an idiot who divided the nation. Now there were two kingdoms: Israel in the north, with its capital Samaria, and Judah in the south, with its capital Jerusalem.

Reading Kings and Chronicles is confusing because it bounces between the two kingdoms. But one thing is clear: the kings were a mixed bag—some good, most not. The northern kingdom never had a single good king. In that context, the prophets came and pleaded with the kings to lead in righteousness, and many times those prophets were persecuted, beaten, and even killed.

The Fall of the Northern Kingdom and the Deliverance of Hezekiah

About 700 years after Israel entered the land, in 722 BC, King Sargon II of Assyria laid siege to Samaria and destroyed it, scattering the people of the northern kingdom throughout the empire in what I call the Assyrian relocation program. These became the lost ten tribes of Israel. Those who reject God are ultimately rejected by Him.

A couple of decades later, around 701 BC, King Sennacherib of Assyria besieged the cities of Judah. The southern kingdom hadn't gotten the memo. According to the annals of Sennacherib—a five-and-a-half-foot octagonal pillar in the British Museum—he destroyed 42 walled cities in Judah. Only Jerusalem remained. King Hezekiah turned to God in faith and repentance, secured the city (you can still walk through Hezekiah's tunnel in Jerusalem today), and God in His grace delivered him. In one night, recorded in Isaiah 36–37, an angel struck down 185,000 soldiers of Sennacherib's army, and Jerusalem was saved.

Hezekiah was also personally delivered. Isaiah 38 tells us he became gravely ill, and God sent Isaiah to tell him, "Set your house in order, for you shall die." Hezekiah turned and prayed, and God sent Isaiah back to grant him fifteen more years.

The Babylonian Envoy and Hezekiah's Sad Response

Around 700 BC, the king of Babylon sent an envoy with a gift to Hezekiah—essentially thanking him for dealing with the Nineveh problem, since the two cities had warred for power for centuries. Hezekiah entertained the envoy and showed them everything in his household. Isaiah came and asked what they had seen.

Hear the word of the Lord: Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house... shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left... And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you... and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. (2 Kings 20:16–18)

Hezekiah's response is one of the saddest statements in the Bible: "The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good!" For he said, "Will there not be peace and truth at least in my days?" In other words, "Let another generation deal with it; at least there will be peace in my time." He just kicked the can down the road.

Point three: be careful when you think you stand—you may not be prepared for the greatness of the fall.

The Wickedness of Manasseh

When Hezekiah died, his son Manasseh became king at twelve years old, and he became the worst king Judah would ever have. He rebuilt the high places his father had destroyed, built altars to Baal, Asherah, and the host of heaven in the very temple of God, practiced witchcraft, consulted mediums, and made his son pass through the fire—leading Israel into the worship of Molech, offering children on the arms of a cast-iron idol over a fire in the Valley of Hinnom, which we know as Gehenna.

Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations... I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle... I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish... (2 Kings 21:11–13)

Moreover, "Manasseh shed very much innocent blood" (2 Kings 21:16). They killed many children. If this, then that. Deuteronomy 18 warned there should not be found among them anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, for all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord.

A Sin God Would Not Pardon

About four generations later, one of Manasseh's descendants, Jehoiakim, became king at twenty-five and did evil like his fathers. In his day Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon, and the Lord sent raiders against Judah to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh and because of the innocent blood he had shed—

...which the Lord would not pardon. (2 Kings 24:4)

Point four: some sins are so awful that God will not pardon them. Hold that in your mind. What did Manasseh do that God says, "I am done, I will not pardon this"? He filled Jerusalem with the blood of innocents as they sacrificed their children. Since 1973, the United States has killed more than 60 million babies in the womb. It was Billy Graham's wife who said that if God does not judge America, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. It's heavy.

Daniel Chapter One

It only took me forty minutes to get here. Daniel 1:1 says that in the third year of Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem and besieged it—the first of several sieges over about fifteen years. The Lord gave Jehoiakim into his hand, along with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried to Babylon, just as Isaiah had told Hezekiah.

Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king's descendants and some of the nobles—young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom... whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans. (Daniel 1:3–4)

Among them were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. The chief of the eunuchs gave them Babylonian names: Daniel became Belteshazzar, Hananiah became Shadrach, Mishael became Meshach, and Azariah became Abednego. It is sad that we mostly know them only by their Babylonian names. Say their real names: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah.

These four were transplanted from Jerusalem to the palace of Babylon. They were stripped of their Hebrew names and given Babylonian ones, stripped of their Jewish clothing and culture, stripped of their religion and trained as pagans—and they were castrated, made eunuchs under Ashpenaz. The spirit of Babylon continues. Daniel ("God is my judge") became Belteshazzar ("Bel's prince"). Hananiah ("beloved of the Lord") became Shadrach ("illuminated by the sun god"). Mishael ("who is God") became Meshach ("who is like Shach," a god of Babylon). Azariah ("the Lord is my help") became Abednego ("servant of Nego"). They were stripped of everything—homeland, family, clothing, culture, language, religion, and manhood—and planted in Babylon.

Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles

You might think they were in a perfect position to subvert Babylon from within, like 007. Not so fast—every story needs context. At the time Daniel was taken away, Jeremiah was still prophesying in Jerusalem, and he wrote a letter to the exiles, recorded in Jeremiah 29:

Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters... that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace. (Jeremiah 29:5–7)

For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. (Jeremiah 29:10)

You're going to be there a while—buckle up. And then comes the verse so many of us know:

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Every story needs context, and that verse has been ripped from its context many times. The Lord continues that they will call upon Him, seek Him, and find Him when they search with all their heart, and He will bring them back from captivity.

God at Work in Captivity

As hard as it may be to reconcile, here is point five: sometimes God's purposes and plans are fulfilled through captivity and affliction.

First, recognize that God is at work even when His people are in captivity—that is what we will see in Daniel. It is easy to read Daniel only for the amazing predictions—so specific that skeptics insist it must have been written later—and to think it's all about us today. But God says there is a bigger message: He is still at work when it seems like He is doing nothing.

Second, recognize that God has a plan for us even in our affliction. Third, recognize that we have a work to do even when the darkness deepens; God has called us to be a light shining in a dark place. This is increasingly applicable, because the culture we live in looks more and more like Babylon, and God has called us to be salt and light in a savorless, dark world. May we learn the lesson from Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

Closing Prayer

God, sometimes it feels like our culture is being stripped of the things that seem good, and it looks less and less like what we remember it to be. But God, as it becomes less and less of what we remember, would You cause us to shine brighter and brighter. Just as Azariah's name meant "the Lord is my help," help us to have boldness and faith to stand in the midst of a difficult and dark place. Help us to put on the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation, to shod our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, to put on the belt of truth, to take up the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, and having done all, to stand. Give us boldness and grace, for we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.