Did they share his faith in God? Of course not. He was in charge of all these men (Daniel 2:48), which sounds like they were not just his colleagues, they may actually have answered to him. Daniel maintained a vibrant faith in God despite living and working in an ungodly culture surrounded by unbelievers.īelieve it or not, Daniel was eventually made the chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners (Daniel 5:11). (Maybe this is why we associate him with the pithy sayings in Fortune Cookies, even though the cookies were actually invented in California in the early 1900’s.)Ĥ. He’s known for his teachings about morality, virtues, and society, and after his death a book was written containing many of his wise thoughts and sayings. That puts these two famous, historical men about 4000 miles from each other during the years BC 550-538.Ĭonfucius, as you probably know, was a Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher. (Babylon, by the way, was located about 60 miles from present-day Bagdad, Iraq). While Daniel was serving in Babylon, Confucius was growing up in a region that today is known as Qufu, China.
Daniel lived at the same time as another influential guy (someone you might associate with cookies) Granted, it’s someone in his vision-perhaps an angel-so we have a situation of Daniel’s vision interpreting itself (not quite an Inceptionesque twist, but certainly intriguing!), which we think qualifies as Daniel getting help and not doing it himself. In fact, he continued to interpret crazy, disturbing dreams for the King (Daniel 4:24) and his son (Daniel 5:24-30).īut when Daniel has his own intriguing vision in Daniel 7: 1-14, he doesn’t know what it means, so he asks someone else to interpret his vision for him. The result? In a stunning display of God’s power, Daniel told the King the details and meaning of his dream (Daniel 2:27). A few years later, when Daniel had an opportunity to interpret a troubling dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, he enlisted the prayer support of the three Jewish friends who had been taken with him into captivity. Daniel may have been famous for doing this for other people, but he needed help doing it for himself.Įven as a young man, Daniel had a knack for understanding visions and dreams (Daniel 1:17). Instead, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah remained true to Jehovah throughout their years in Babylon.Ģ. In other words, every possible effort was made to make them forget the God of their people, and embrace Babylonian’s pagan culture. In addition, the young men were put through an intense re-education process for three years, during which time they were taught the language, literature, and culture of the Babylonians before entering the king’s service. Some folks theorize that young men were actually given the names “Belshazzar,” “Shaduku,” “Meshaku” and “Abednebo” to honor Babylonian pagan deities Bel, Marduk, Aku, and Nebo-but that Daniel changed the spelling slightly to remove direct references to the Babylonian gods. The four Babylonian names described by Daniel seem to refer to the false gods worshipped by the Babylonians, but there appear to be a few extra letters or slight misspellings. According to Daniel, in Babylon these three young men were given the names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 1:6). The young men had been named by their parents Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (their names meaning “Jehovah is Gracious,” “Who Belongs to God,” and “Jehovah Helps”). The Babylonians also changed the names of three of Daniel’s friends who were captured. Daniel explains, in Daniel 1:6, that his new name became Belteshazzar. In short order, Daniel’s name was changed by his captors, most likely in an attempt to erase the connection to Daniel’s Hebrew heritage and to the true God to whom his name referred. But when Daniel was a young man-around 13 or 14-Jerusalem was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and Daniel and many others were taken into captivity. (Okay, we’ll stop now.) But wait! There’s so much more! Read on to discover seven things about Daniel we think you’ll find fascinating!ĭaniel’s parents chose a Hebrew name for their son meaning “God is my judge,” testifying of their faith in the one, true God. You may also have heard about Daniel’s friends, Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego, who faced a similar-ahem-degree of persecution. If you grew up in church, you probably cut your teeth (so to speak) on stories of Daniel in the lions’ den.