Archive for November 18th, 2009
November 22, 2009: Daniel in the Lions’ Den
The text for this lesson is Daniel 6.
Key Points
- He, Jesus, who saved Daniel, would Himself be given over to the satanic lion to save the world.
- Law: In the world, evil is called good, and those who seek to do good suffer and are brought down by sinners who hate anything good.
- Gospel: In Christ, I am blessed when I suffer for His name. He is with me, granting me His comfort and strength and preserving me for salvation in Him.
Context
Daniel was among the youths from Jerusalem whom King Nebuchadnezzar exiled to Babylon in 605 BC to be trained in the “literature and language of the Chaldeans” (Daniel 1:4). When Daniel interpreted the king’s dream, the king was so impressed that he made Daniel “ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men” (2:48). When the Babylonians lost their top spot on the world’s totem pole, ousted by the Persians, Daniel kept his high political position. He was part of King Darius’s threeman cabinet, as we might call it, in charge of the 120 regional governors of Persia, called satraps. When Daniel “became distinguished above all the other presidents and satraps” (6:3), his political peers became bitter and envious. They began to plot how they might rid themselves of this foreigner, “one of the exiles from Judah” (6:13), as they contemptuously referred to him.
