Recap

So far in Daniel, we’ve read how Daniel and his friends found themselves in Babylon and how they rose to authority. King Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem, sieging it and taking its residents into exile back to Babylon. Some of the Israelites that were taken were chosen to be given an education and trained to serve in the king's court.

Amongst these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. They were renamed Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and trained in the king’s court. We read as these men were faced with three tests. The first was whether they would eat the royal food that was previously forbidden to them. They don't and end up being healthier. Then came Nebuchadnezzar's dream, which Daniel interpreted. The third test was if they would bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's giant golden statue. They refused and were thrown into a flaming furnace, but survived untouched. Each of these tests demonstrated God's authority in Babylon and caused the men to rise in prominence.

Then came stories of proud kings. The first is Nebuchadnezzar, who had another dream. Daniel interpreted the dream as a warning from God that Nebuchadnezzar would be punished for his pride. A little later, Nebuchadnezzar congratulated himself for building this kingdom on his own and God struck him with insanity. For seven years, Nebuchadnezzar acted like a cow outside the city eating grass. After seven years, God healed Nebuchadnezzar and restored him as king. From that point Nebuchadnezzar remained humble and honoured God.

This is contrasted with the story of Nebuchadnezzar's son, Belshazzar. Belshazzar decided to mock God by using the sacred things of Jerusalem's temple to drink and feast with. A hand appeared and wrote on a wall. Daniel came and interpreted the writing, explaining that God would kill Belshazzar and give his kingdom to the Medo-Persian empire, which is then what happened.

We then got one final test, like the tests before. Daniel rose in prominence before the new king Darius and attracted enemies. These enemies convinced Darius to introduce a rule that anyone who worships anyone other than Darius was to be thrown into a lion's pit. Daniel continued to worship God and so is thrown into the pit. But God rescued him from the lions, and again both Daniel and God are honoured by the king. This ended the first section of the book focused on stories from Daniel’s life.

Daniel 7-9

We now start the second half of the book, focused on Daniel’s visions. In Daniel's first vision, he sees four beasts; a lion with eagles' wings, a bear, a leopard with four wings on its back, and a beast with iron teeth and ten horns. Each of these beasts represents a different kingdom or empire.

The fact that they are weird mashups of different animals shows that they don't fit in with God's natural order. They are beings of chaos that are against God. Their role is to kill and destroy.

Then a throne is placed down and God sits in it to make judgement. The fourth beast is destroyed and thrown into fire, with the other three are allowed to live a little longer but longer have authority. But then Daniel sees a human-like figure. This human is riding on a cloud, an image that's often attributed to God (see Psalm 68:32-33; Psalm 104:1-4; and Isaiah 19:1).

This human is given an everlasting kingdom over all the earth and all of its people. Daniel then asks for the interpretation of his dream. As mentioned, each of these beasts represents a different kingdom, with the fourth being the worst. This fourth beast will set itself against God and his people in an attempt to destroy them, and for a time, he will be allowed to. But then God will pass judgement on it, and it will be destroyed and its authority broken. A new kingdom will be formed that will belong to the people of God, and this kingdom will last forever.

There is a lot of debate over which kingdoms each beast represents. Some argue that they refer to the kingdoms Daniel was facing at the time, similar to the vision that Nebuchadnezzar had of the statue made of five different materials. Others argue that these kingdoms are kingdoms we see today, or will see in our future.

Again, in some ways, it doesn't matter. Daniel wasn't given specific names for each of the beasts. That wasn't the point. The point was that there will be kingdoms that rise and fall, but they are all part of a much larger spiritual battle that is being fought between the powers of chaos and the kingdom of God.

As Daniel sees the rise and fall of empires, and the destruction and evil that comes with them, he should see all of it in the context of this larger spiritual battle. Yes, chaos and evil seem to be winning at the moment, but one day God will destroy it and will establish a new kingdom for all his people.

In Daniel's second vision, we do get specific empires named. First, he sees a powerful ram with two horns, charging around, destroying everything in its way. Then came a goat with a particularly large horn. This goat easily defeats the ram and continues to grow in power.

The large horn is broken and is replaced with four more horns and a fifth, much smaller horn. This horn would grow in power and might, setting itself against the stars in heaven (these represent the spiritual beings in God's divine court) and even against the Prince of the hosts, God himself. This goat and its horn would be allowed to trample over God's people and seemingly his kingdom for a time. But then he will be removed.

Again, Daniel asks for an interpretation. This time, he is told that the ram represents the Medo-Persian empire and that the goat represents the Greek empire that is to come. Each of these horns is a king, with the final king setting himself up against God and his people. He will be successful for a while, but God will eventually break him. The focus, again, is that these rises and falls of empires that are to come should be seen in the context of a wider spiritual battle of the forces of chaos against the kingdom of God.

Later, Daniel begins to pray for his people, the Israelites. He had studied the words of Jeremiah, and it seemed to him that God had spoken that his people would be in exile for seventy years. So Daniel begins to pray.

He recognises the wicked of the people. How they had sinned against God and his law. They had ignored his prophets and been disobedient. Even Moses had predicted this would happen, but still, they had ignored it and done what was right in their own eyes.

Then Daniel prays that God will restore his city and have mercy on his people. Gabriel visits Daniel to explain to him what was going to happen. Unfortunately, the seventy years that Daniel had identified weren't seventy years, but seventy 'weeks'. Each 'week' represented seven years. In other words, it wasn't seventy years, but 490 years.

There will be seven 'weeks', forty-nine years, between when Jeremiah prophesied and the people returning to Jerusalem. Then there will be sixty-two 'weeks', 434 years where the city and temple will be rebuilt. But these years will be difficult times.

After this time, there will be an 'anointed one' that will be cut down and a prince of chaos who will rise up and destroy the city and its people. This prince will reign for a final 'week' before final judgement is poured out on this 'desolator'.

It can be tempting, as with Daniel's first vision, to plot this out and work out exact timings for everything. But the point of the vision isn't necessarily to give an exact timeline. It is to tell Daniel and those who would listen to him that when the Israelites return to their land from exile, everything isn't going to be perfect. There will still be difficulties. But there will come a day when chaos and evil are judged and destroyed.

Psalm 45

This psalm is attributed to the sons of Korah and falls into the category of royal psalm. Royal psalms are psalms that are focused on either God as king or on a human king. This psalm was likely recited at a royal wedding.

Psalm 45:1 - The psalmist introduces themselves

Psalm 45:2-9 - Praise directed at the royal groom

Psalm 45:10-15 - Praise directed at the royal bride

Psalm 45:16-17 - Final blessings over the royal groom

The psalm opens with the psalmist declaring their intentions to sing the king a poem to mark his wedding day.

They then launch into praise for the king, describing his beauty and eloquence of his words. As a king, the psalmist encourages him to step into the authority and victory that is rightfully his, strapping on his sword and going out to battle.

The psalmist points to God’s throne and majesty. Just as God has conquered evil and reigns in power, he has allowed the king to conquer his enemies and reign with authority over the lad. 

Because of this, God has, and will continue to, bless the king with great riches. He has rich oils and fragrances to enjoy, as well as a palace and musicians. His court is filled with many great and upright women, and the greatest of them all stands next to him, ready to be his wife.

At this, the psalmist changes focus to the bride. They acknowledge the homesickness she must feel being away from her people and family, in a foreign land ready to marry the king. But they encourage her not to dwell on it too long.

Instead, she should take pride in her new husband, for, as queen, she is also blessed with great luxuries. Her bed chamber is great, and she has many different expensive clothes to enjoy. The psalmist is trying to show her that she is no longer a daughter in her father’s house, but a queen in her own house.

And so, the psalmist turns back to the king and speaks a blessing over him. He will leave a legacy as his sons will one day take over from him, as he took over from his father and fathers before him. His memory will be upheld and he will be praised among the nations.

Psalm 45 is at face value a hymn to be sung at a royal wedding, and it has value as such. But as well that this psalm would take on a messianic quality, and would come to reflect Jesus’ relationship with the church. We know this because the writer of Hebrews would quote it in reference to Jesus (Hebrews 1:8-9). 

Like the bride, we are called to leave our old life behind and take pleasure in our new king and groom.