Why Daniel?

In 2 Corinthians 10:18 Paul points out ”it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.”  Daniel was a man whom the Lord commended.  In speaking to Ezekiel, the Sovereign LORD declared three men righteous, Noah, Job, and Daniel.  Gabriel, an angle who stands in the presence of God (Luke 1:19), called Daniel, “O man highly esteemed” (Daniel 10:19 ). 

I believe Daniel’s character is at least in part a reflection of intentional parenting.  Intentional parenting can start even before the birth of the child.  A child’s life can be shaped by what their parents choose to call them.  Daniel’s name means, “God is my judge.”  Every time Daniel heard his name, he was potentially reminded of Psalm 7:10-11 that God is his shield and judge.  In his explanation of why the lions did not hurt him, Daniel makes it clear that he was judged by God. “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.” (Daniel 6:22 NKJV) 

  1. Daniel’s character
    1. From heaven’s perspective
      1. EZ 14:13-14 “Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its men and their animals, even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign LORD.”  (also EZ 14:20)
      2. EZ 28:3 “wise”
      3. DN 9:21-23 “Gabriel … said … you are highly esteemed”
      4. DN 10:11 “He [angle] said Daniel, you who are highly esteemed…” also v. 19 “Do not be afraid, O man highly esteemed”
    2. From man’s perspective
      1. DN 1:8 “resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine”
      2. DN 1:19 “The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah”
      3. DN 2:16 “At this, Daniel went in to the king and asked for time, so that he might interpret the dream for him.”
      4. DN 6:4 “no corruption … trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent”
      5. DN 6:10-11 “three times a day got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to God”
  2. Who was Daniel?  Daniel 1:1-6 “Israelites from the royal family and nobility—young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace.”
  3. What had been happening in Judah leading up to Daniel’s birth?
    1. 640BC Josiah at 8 became king (2KN 22:1; 2CH 34:1)
    2. 632BC Josiah at 16 began to seek the LORD (2CH 34:3a)
    3. 628BC Josiah at 20 purged Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles, carved idols and cast images (2CH 34:3b; 2KN 23:4-20)
    4. 622BC Josiah at 26 sent Shaphan, Maaseiah, and Joah to repair the temple of the LORD his God.  (2KN 22:3; 2CH 34:8)
      1. If Daniel was 17 when taken into captivity, he would have been born in 622BC.
      2. Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD that had been given through Moses. (2KN 22:8; 2Ch 34:14-15)
      3. Shaphan read from the Book of the Law to Josiah (2KN 22:10; 2CH 34:18)
      4. Josiah tore his robes in response to reading of the Law (2KN 22:11; 2CH 34:19)
      5. Josiah sent Hilkiah, Shaphan, and others to inquire of the LORD regarding what was written in the Book (2KN 22:13; 2CH 34:20-22)
      6. Huldah prophesied, “I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people ….  Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself … Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place….” (2KN 22:15-20; 2CH 34:23-28)
        1. 700BC Isaiah had prophesied to Hezekiah (the prior good king) “The time will surely come when everything … will be carried off to Babylon … your descendants … will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon” (2KN 20:17-18)
      7. Josiah renewed the covenant (2KN 23; 22CH 34:29-32)
      8. Josiah celebrated the Passover, and the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month.  (2KN 23:21-23; 2CH 35:1)  None of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah in the 18th year of his reign.  (2CH 35:18-19)
      9. Josiah appointed priests to their duties and encouraged them in the service of the LORD’s temple. (2CH 35:2)
    5. 609BC Josiah at 39
      1. If Daniel was 17 when taken into captivity he would have been 13.
      2. If Daniel was 13 when taken into captivity he would have been 9.
      3. Josiah killed in battle (2CH 35:20-24)
      4. “Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with the Law of Moses.”  (2KN 23:25)
      5. Only king of Judah to be succeeded by three of his sons (Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah all by different wives).  (2KN 23:36-24:18)
      6. “The LORD did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger … because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke him.”  (2KN 23:26)
      7. Judah slipped into a period of Egyptian domination (2CH 36:3-4)
    6. 609BC Jehoahaz (son of Josiah, born 632BC) at 23 did evil in the eyes of the LORD (2KN 23:31)
    7. 609BC Jehoiakim (son of Josiah, born 634BC) at 25 did evil in the eyes of the LORD (2KN 23:37)
    8. 605BC Daniel taken into captivity
  4. We do not know who Daniel’s father was other than he was nobility or a royal official.  DN 1. 
    1. That means Daniel’s father would have been “in the know” regarding the events in the king’s court including Huldah’s prophecy. 
    2. He would have also likely known Isaiah’s prophecy to Hezekiah in 2KN 20:17-18 and the words regarding Manasseh in 2KN 23:26. 
    3. Maybe this reading of the Law in 622BC was the first time Josiah had heard DT 28:36 “The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers.”

We do not know who Daniel’s father was other than he was nobility or a royal official. DN 1. That means Daniel’s father would have been “in the know” regarding the events in the king’s court including Huldah’s prophecy.  He would have also likely known Isaiah’s prophecy to Hezekiah in 2KN 20:17-18 and the words regarding Manasseh in 2KN 23:26.  Maybe this reading of the Law in 622BC was the first time Josiah had heard DT 28:36 “The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers.”

If Josiah was Daniel’s father, I suspect he (or the one entrusted with the care and upbringing of Daniel as a prince in the royal family) could have come to the conclusion that “as long as a good king sits on the throne, God may delay the coming of Babylon” and then devoted himself to raising a prince to be that good king.   (See DT 17:18-20)