Daniel and the Boys in the Band by Brian E. R. Limmer - HTML preview

Introducing the Boys in the Band

Let us meet the boys in the band.

Isaiah Was a Foundational Member.

Isaiah’s ministry, (about 740–680 BC), came first in the band. His prophecies were recorded and circulated early. Isaiah was the first ‘score writer of the band’. He copied the music he had been given from a spiritual vision. His writings come from a deep desire in him, and his nation, to see an answer to a promise they had held since God promised Eve:

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; the Serpent shall bruise your heal, and [one of those seeds] shall bruise the serpent’s heel¹². 

That had remained ambiguous and vague for many years. How? When? Where? These questions had developed into a deep theological debate by those that searched the Scriptures back then. God chose Isaiah to put an end to the endless speculation that humans debate in life when they have to wait for God to fulfil a promise. One day, Isaiah was caught up in a vision and told to reveal the detailed plan as to how God would achieve his promise to Eve. He was not given the ‘when’, Daniel would have to play that part. But he did bring the details to the world to stop this endless speculation.

Isaiah was told to write it down, and it became the base ‘song’ on which the others in the band built.

Now go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may stand for the time to come as a witness forever.¹³

This melodic line proclaims, God’s universal holiness, a time of Judgement upon His chosen nation, the coming of Messiah who would redeem His people, and open doors to all nations, into the kingdom. Then messiah would reign forever:

For to us a child is born… and the government shall be upon his shoulder… of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.¹⁴

Isaiah picks up on God’s promise in Genesis 3:15, which introduces an “offspring”, the seed of a woman. Isaiah introduces this ‘promise through seed’ language, to focus on a miraculous child. Isaiah underlines, not just any child, but an extraordinary birth, hinting at divine intervention and, implicitly, the “seed of the woman”:

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.¹⁵

Matthew later explicitly ties this to Jesus Christ¹⁶.

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.¹⁷

The Big Debate.

The next big debate rife in society was, How would God put the world to right. He would do it by sending a great conquering king to subdue all nations under one government. That was the Genesis expectation. A descendant would one day subdue the forces of evil (bruise his head), and establish a righteous dominion over all nations. Isaiah picks that up, agrees it will be so, but describes the more complicated process that will bring it about.

 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder…¹⁸

The method God chose to implement this plan was as follows:

God would choose one nation.

It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,  but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that is why the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.¹⁹ 

God would produce a seed line through that nation.

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.²⁰ 

God would test that nation by spreading the people out of their land and into the nations:

By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?  And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.²¹ 

He would sacrifice one man from that nation to open up his kingdom to all the nations and peoples who had been his enemies.

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors ²². 

In that same sacrifice, God would satisfy his anger, restore his chosen nation to its rightful place, and open up the kingdom to include all other nations;

He says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for all the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.²³ 

All this he would do to keep his promise to Eve.

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.²⁴ 

Jeremiah: The Second Guy In The Band

Jeremiah (626–580 BC), came about a century later. He quotes Isaiah copiously, showing that he had studied and absorbed Isaiah at seminary. His impatience comes from the fact that he was too young to be a priest by law, So God got round that by making him a prophet. He became the second indispensable member of the band by his enthusiasm; he worked among the people to make Isaiah’s message public in places where Isaiah, (by protocol), could not go. The main points he brought to the people were:

The nations may be raging, but God is reigning²⁵

Judah is rebelling, but God wants repentance²⁶

Judgment is coming, but after that restoration²⁷

The Holy One of Israel wants a Holy People²⁸

Jeremiah is the first person in the band to set a time scale. He sketched out the four points above, but then, specifically dealing with Israel, alludes to bigger events to come for the whole world. In particular, he concentrates on his commission of explaining why judgement was coming, (because of idolatry, social injustice, and covenant unfaithfulness), telling the people punishment would last seventy years:

“This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”²⁹               

 By the end of those 70 years, the people (Israel), would:

Dispense with idolatry and learn to be faithful,³⁰

The people could return to their land,³¹

God would write His law on their heart³²

Never since that time has Israel gone back to Idolatry.

Ezekiel and Jeremiah Became Mates & Corresponded

Ezekiel (593–571 BC), as a contemporary of Jeremiah probably studied Isaiah’s work at the same seminary. Both lived through the destruction of Jerusalem; Ezekiel was exiled to Babylon, Jeremiah remained in Judah. They certainly share the same imagery, The watchman³³, The Shepherd leaders,³⁴ ‘Renewed with a New Heart and Spirit’³⁵, etc.. That is literary evidence of a shared theological discussion of some sort, possibly at Seminary. Ezekiel is said to have received reports or writings from Jerusalem before it was destroyed. They overlap by about seven years (592–586 BC).

Daniel And His God

Daniel was a young Jewish man who was taken from Jerusalem to Babylon after King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah around 605 BC. Even in exile, Daniel remained faithful to God in a foreign and pagan land. Daniel wrote his book between 536 and 530 BC, near the end of their captivity. God gifted Daniel with exceptional abilities, among these were his mathematical skills, organisational skills and his ability to interpret dreams and apply them to the reality of this world. From Nebuchadnezzar’s visions of future kingdoms, Daniel foretold the rise and fall of coming empires that would happen over the next 490-years.

Daniel’s prophetic gift is a particular challenge to skeptics, and atheists of all time because of the accuracy and detail of his prophecies. Academic and pseudo-researchers have employed every argument in the book to discredit Daniel. They have claimed it was written much later and after the events, which have been discredited with a simple check of history. A visit to the national museum where some of the original artefacts are on show, including the decree Cyrus himself issued. Copies of the Septuagint and the Dead Sea Scrolls are also easily checked out.³⁶ Daniel recorded the prophecies in the time-line language of his day, (which are explained in the chapter on time), but it accurately culminates in the completed mission of Christ at the end of the age.

Daniel was so confident of his understanding that it stirred him to action. As a leader, he prayed in repentance for his nation.³⁷ In response to reading Jeremiah’s prophecy, and realising the seventy years was almost up, he started planning on the strength of what he had been shown. We call that faith today!                In response to that faith, God showed him something more astounding: future events for the next four-hundred-and-ninety years.³⁸                                                               
He would be shown the rise and fall of the next four kingdoms; the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple;³⁹ the withdrawal of communication between God and mankind by prophets for four-hundred years; the birth of Messiah; the return of a prophetic voice as one crying in the wilderness;⁴⁰ The coming of “an anointed one” (the Messiah), the ‘cutting off’ of Messiah; the destruction of the temple once again; the dispersion from the land once again. Daniel describes what Jesus later summarises as ‘The time of Gentiles’⁴¹. Daniel also sees the end of the time allocated for gentiles, He sees Israel returning to their land during this time. He also predicts:

The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed … He shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end.⁴²

The Character of a True Prophet.

From an interest point of view, we see how Daniel is given these visions and prophecies, not in isolation, but in response to what he has read. He checks out what Isaiah, and the boys in the band have written, then turns it to faith. Having examined their writings, he used his organisational skills, turning it into action. To trust dreams and visions without a thorough examination of God’s word is synonymous with a False Prophet.

In these days, where we are prone to pigeon hole everyone, we would categorise Daniel as a Calvinist, or Perhaps a Puritan. Daniel believed in the divine right of kings. Divine-right gives kings the right to reject who they want, choose who they want, position people where they want, to demand of people what they want, and to punish people as they want if they do not deliver what they want. He was comfortable working under Nebuchadnezzar, who shared the same view, but he also applied those values to God.

It was matter of fact to Daniel that God had the right to choose a nation from among all nations, to require them to live to a given standard, and to demonstrate to the rest of the world an exemplary example of that life style. If they didn’t, he had the right to punish them by removing them from their land. It was a matter of fact to Daniel that ‘Might was right’! He did not complain that the nations were not playing fair or abiding by a treaty. Might can disregard treaties that have been signed by those with lesser might. Sovereignty meant just that, Sovereignty! Democracy requires us to think differently. If the government does not please the people, then the people judge the government. There is no such thing as sovereignty by consent. Sovereignty means:

I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.⁴³

Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.⁴⁴

To Jeremiah, God has the sovereign right, not to tell the clay what he intended to make of it. If he found the clay was not pliable enough, the potter is entitled to squash it down and make something else from it. To Daniel, The law is grace. It was the grace of His God to lay out what He expected of his people in the law, and to punish them if they did not live up to it. That literalistic, unquestioning character in Daniel (perhaps what we would today bundle under the label ‘autistic’), enabled God to reveal the future to Daniel. If God had given the message to Moses, he would have argued with God saying, ‘OK, mess with my people, then you cut me off too’! If God had give this message to Abraham, he would have gone into bargaining mode saying, ‘What if...50...40...10...1?' Daniel never questions God, he hears from God, fasts and prays for forgiveness on behalf of the people. No wonder no one else could see the vision.

Only I, Daniel, saw the vision; the men with me did not see it, but a great terror fell upon them, and they ran and hid themselves.⁴⁵

If nothing else, this must surely show the value of diversity of character, in the body of the church.

Daniel Read Jeremiah Directly.

Daniel was an avid reader of the works of Jeremiah. He says so himself:

I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.⁴⁶

Daniel, living in Babylon at the end of the seventy captive years, read the prophecy, prayed over them, interpreted the time scale literarily, and took practical planning steps in faith as a leader of Israel. Jeremiah’s prophetic books were literal history, so Daniel’s chronological expansion of the “Plot”, must also be literal. There was no hidden wisdom. That would defeat the whole point of God revealing his plans to mankind. Daniel read Jeremiah’s writings and understood that Israel’s appointed captivity time of seventy years was almost complete:

I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.⁴⁷

Backing Boys: Micah, Obadiah and Amos

Micah, Obadiah and Amos were backing boys in the band. If it had been a secular band, there most certainly would have been a copyright dispute. Isaiah 2:2 to 4 parallels Micah 4:1 to 3, so either Micah drew from Isaiah, Isaiah from Micah, or both drew from a common source like the Holy Spirit. Again, Isaiah 13 to14 echoes Obadiah’s judgment on the nations. But then again, Isaiah 1:11 to 17 sounds like Amos 5:21 to 24, both condemn the people for hypocritical worship while neglecting justice and righteousness.

Close Harmony in the Band

The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.⁴⁸

For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.⁴⁹               

In this introduction to the band we should not overlook the dynamic of the band. The prophets harmonise with each other. In the band, Isaiah lays out the main score of the whole piece, (the life and times of the coming King), Jeremiah writes the overture, setting a sombre mood, (seventy years of corrective captivity), Ezekiel changed the mood and tempo, promising reconciliation and release, and finally, Daniel developed the full score in three movements; (God’s timeline from exile to return, from return to the cut off of Messiah and from Messiah to climax with the King). They acknowledged each other as they wrote the score.

Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord GOD.⁵⁰               

Ezekiel was already in Babylon. Daniel was a statesman serving in the very empire Ezekiel was warning about. Thus, Ezekiel was aware of Daniel’s faith and reputation. That indicates, at minimum, that news of Daniel’s life and integrity had reached the Jewish communities beyond Babylon.

Although their lives and messages overlapped, we must remember Daniel served in the royal court and was bound by its protocol, while Ezekiel lived among the exiles, serving as a priest and prophet to ordinary people. The Babylonians didn’t freely allow movement between these groups. It’s unlikely that Ezekiel, a captive among the common exiles, would have had access to a high official like Daniel. Likewise, Daniel’s official duties might have prevented such personal contact. Even if they never met, they spoke with one heart and one spirit. Both proclaimed that God is sovereign over the empires and that His kingdom will endure forever⁵¹. Both received visions of God’s glory; Daniel in the court, Ezekiel by the river Chebar ⁵².