Questions on Daniel
1. Who was Nebuchadnezzar? In what year did he attack and conquer Jerusalem (Daniel 1:1)? Answer
2. How could 605 B.C. be King Jehoiakim's third year of rule when he began to reign in 609? (Daniel 1:1)? Answer
3. What were the new names given to Daniel and his three friends when they arrived in Babylon (Dan. 1)? Answer
4. What two unique traits did Daniel, amongst all those who served God written about in the Old Testament, possess (Dan. 1)? Answer
5. What was the test Daniel gave regarding his diet (Dan. 1)? Answer
6. What makes Nebuchadnezzar's demand of his magicians and enchanters unique and extreme (Daniel 2)? Answer
7. What did the four main sections of Nebuchadnezzar's dream represent (Daniel 2)? Answer
8. What does it mean that Daniel "sat in the gate of the king" (Dan. 2:49)? Answer
9. The golden statue Nebuchadnezzar set up to be worshipped was set to be sixty cubit high and six cubits high (Dan. 3:1). How high is this using modern measurements? Answer
10. How many musical instruments are mentioned in Daniel 3? Answer
11. What makes Daniel 4 incredibly unique in Scripture? Answer
12. Who does the tree of Daniel 4:20 represent? Answer
13. Who was Belshazzar (Dan. 5:1)? Answer
14. What is the meaning of the words, "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin" (Dan. 5:25)? Answer
15. Who was Darius the Mede (Dan. 5:31)? Answer
16. What was "the law of the Medes and Persians" mentioned in Daniel 6:8? Answer
17. Who are the "Ancient of Days" and "one like the Son of man" seen in vision by Daniel (Dan. 7:13)? Answer
18. What do beasts represent in Daniel 7:17? Answer
19. Why is Media and Persia lumped together (Dan. 8:20)? Answer
20. Does Daniel 10:1 contradict what the Bible states in 1:21? Answer
21. What fascinating information does Daniel 10:12, 20 reveal? Answer
22. What makes Michael the archangel unique other than being an angel (Dan. 10)? Answer
23. What book is being referred to in Daniel 12:1? Answer
24. What does sleep symbolize in Daniel 12:2? Answer
Answers on Daniel
1. Nebuchadnezzar is considered the greatest of the Babylonian Empire's rulers. He came to power in 605 B.C. and ruled over the huge empire until 562.
[Timeline of the Old Testament]
King Nebuchadnezzar's first attack of Judea and Jerusalem took place in the same year he began as king. This attack corresponded to Judah's King Jehoiakim's third year of rule.
2. Judah's King Jehoiakim was placed on the throne, in late 609, by the Egyptians. The period from late 609 to late 608 was considered his year of succession. Year 1 of his rule ran from late 608 to late 607, with year two running from 607 to 606. This makes his third year of rule (Daniel 1:1) running from late 606 to late 605 B.C.
3. Daniel and his three friends were given new Babylonian names when they began to serve King Nebuchadnezzar.
And among them were four of the sons of Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
To whom the chief of the officers gave new names. For he called Daniel, Belteshazzar; and Hananiah, Shadrach; and Mishael, Meshach; and Azariah, Abed-Nego (Dan. 1:6 - 7, HBFV).
4. Daniel and his three friends, based on the tradition of kings at the time he was taken captive, were almost certainly made eunuchs. A man was made a eunuch usually through castration. The Jewish historian Josephus states that Daniel was a eunuch in his book on the history of the Jews (Antiquities of the Jews, Book 10, Chapter 10).
Daniel is also considered by God to be one of the three most righteous individuals in the Old Testament (Ezekiel 14:14, 20).
5. Daniel wanted to prove that a diet that did not have unclean foods, and was prepared properly, was superior to the food offered by the king's court so he proposed a test.
[What Are Clean and Unclean Foods?]
Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse (vegatables) to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants (Dan. 1:12 - 13).
6. Nebuchadnezzar was well aware that if he first told his magicians his dream and then asked for an interpretation, they would make up stuff and tell him whatever it took to please him (Daniel 2:8 - 9). The king's request that they tell him what was his dream BEFORE giving any interpretation was received with astonishment!
There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.
And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh (Daniel 10 - 11).
The magicians' attempt to explain the impossibility of the king's request not only failed miserably but made him exceedingly angry (Daniel 2:12)!
7. The first part of the statue dreamed by Nebuchadnezzar had a head made of gold (Daniel 2:32). This represented the Babylonian Empire under his rule (verses 37 - 38). The second section, with a chest and arms made of silver, symbolized the Medo-Persian Empire that would come after Babylon's rule.
[World Empires from Babylon to End Time]
The statue's belly and thighs of bronze (brass) represented Alexander the Great's Empire. The fourth section of the statue, composed of two legs of iron, symbolized the Roman Empire with its two legs referring to the eventual split of the empire into two parts (the Eastern (Byzantine) and Western parts).
8. The King James phrase "sat in the gate of the king" means that Daniel became one of the king's chief counsellors and was head over the governors of the different orders into which the empire's magicians (Magi) were divided.
9. Nebuchadnezzar's golden image he set up in Dura was, at a minimum, 87 feet (26.5 meters) high and roughly 9 feet (2.7 meters) wide.
10. Daniel mentions several musical instruments, most of which are not found anywhere else in the Bible!
Daniel mentions a harp, a stringed instrument possibly like a lyre (Daniel 3:5, 7, 10, 15). He also lists a Psaltery (possibly like a dulcimer), a Sackbut (a type of harp or lyre), a Cornet and a Flute (possibly a flute with two reeds).
[Musical Instruments in the Bible]
Daniel also lists an instrument called a Sumponia in Hebrew that is mistranslated in the King James as "Dulcimer." Biblical commentaries differ regarding what type of instrument is being referenced.
11. Daniel 4 was written by King Nebuchadnezzar himself, a person who was clearly a Gentile (non-Israelite).
12. The tree of Daniel 4 represented King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4:18). This tree symbolized the king's life of vanity and self-promotion.
13. King Nabonidus ruled the Babylonian Empire from 555 to 539 B.C. His son Belshazzar, whose job it was to defend the empire's capital city as regent, co-ruled with him starting in 553. Belshazzar's death (Daniel 5:30) is believed to have taken place on October 12 of 539.
14. "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin" were the words written by the hand of God on a wall during Belshazzar's banquet (Daniel 5). The literal word-for-word meaning of what was written is "numbered," "numbered," "weighed" and "divided up or split."
[Handwriting on the Wall Meaning]
15. Darius the Mede is the same person referred to as Cyrus (Daniel 1:21, 6:28) or Cyrus the Great. Cyrus was born c. 600 B.C. Daniel 5:31 states that it was "Darius" who, at the age of 62, overcame the Babylonians. Cyrus the Great was about 62 when this event took place in 539 B.C. Cyrus, whose reign started in 559 B.C., is considered the first ruler of the Medo-Persian Empire.
[Medo-Persian Empire at Peak Map]
Darius I, also called Darius the Great, was not born until c. 550 B.C. He would have been roughly 11 years old when Babylon was conquered. His reign over the Persian Empire did not begin until 522 B.C.
It should also be noted that although Daniel 6:28 seems to indicate the Darius and Cyrus were two different people, the verse can also be translated as, "So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius, even the reign of Cyrus the Persian."
16. The Medes and the Persians maintained an old law that stated that whatever decree was signed both by the King and his lords it could not be changed later and therefore remained unalterable. This same sort of edict is also found in Esther 8.
17. Daniel states he saw the following in a night vision.
I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him (Daniel 7:13).
The Ancient of Days, who holds the power of judgment over all, has countless spiritual beings serving him (Daniel 7:9 - 10). This spirit being is God the Father. The other spirit being, who was "like the Son of man," was Jesus Christ. Daniel's vision is one of the very few times that both spirit beings in the Godhead are shown together (see Acts 7:55 - 56).
18. In Daniel 7:17 "beasts" represent worldly kingdoms controlled by carnal men.
19. Cyrus the Great became king of Persia in 559 B.C. Desiring to remove the dominance of Media over the Persians, he attacked and conquered them in 549.
The Medes, though conquered, continued to be honored in the new empire and were many times referenced together with the Persians (Esther 1:2 - 3, Daniel 5:28, 6:12, 8:20). This is why the ancient Persian empire is often referred to as the Medo-Persian Empire.
20. Daniel 1:21 states that the writer continued to the first year of Cyrus. The assumption that this was the year he died is incorrect. This is because Daniel 10:1 states that he was still alive in Cyrus' third year of rule.
In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar . . . (Dan. 10:1).
Daniel 1:21 is likely a reference to when the writer retired to no longer serve in a position of responsibility in the government. Daniel, in Cyrus' third year, had spent about 69 years living in Babylon after being captive as a child.
21. Daniel 10 reveals that angels do fight and wage war!
Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.
But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia . . .
Then said he (Gabriel the archangel), Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come (Dan. 10:12 - 13, 20).
22. Michael is one of only three angels whose names have been revealed in Scripture. The other two are Gabriel and Lucifer (who turned himself into the devil).
23. The book being referenced in Daniel 12:1 is the book of life. This spiritual volume contains the names of those who will be granted eternal salvation (see Philippians 4:3, Revelation 3:5, 8, 17:8, 20:12, 15, 21:27 and 22:19).
24. "Sleep" in the Bible can be symbolic of death. This is because, from God's point of view, our death is a dreamless sleep from which, someday, he will resurrect us.