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Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible Department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. Let's be honest, a lot of us are still treating digital ministry like it's a backup plan from 2020. But discipleship isn't just happening on Sundays anymore. People need gospel centered connection every day of the week. And if you're stuck juggling five different platforms, one for giving, another for sermons, something else for events, it's no wonder engagement feels off. That's not ministry. That's a mess. Subsplash changes that one platform. Everything you need. Media, giving, events, messaging, your app, your website built specifically for churches. No hacks, no workarounds, just clarity and simplicity. Because every day you wait, families scroll past your sermons, new guests click away from clunky sites, and real people miss real moments with Jesus. Don't waste another summer stuck in digital survival mode. Use it to get ahead, simplify, upgrade, get back to what matters. Head to subsplash.combible-dept and schedule a free no pressure demo. And let this be the summer your church gets focused and fully equipped. Family. Welcome to day 240. Man, we are making our way through the Book of Daniel today. We've got Daniel chapters four, five and six. If you've done the reading, then we're gonna have a blast. Like always. We're gonna dive into some context clues. We don't have nearly as many context clues today as we had yesterday, since yesterday was the start of a new book. And then we'll move into some nerdy nuggets. I'll try to give you at least one for each chapter that we're going to cover. And then we'll move into our timeless truth. And I love our timeless truth for the day. I love the Book of Daniel in general. If you've done the reading, then you already have tons of context for what we are about to talk about. If you have not done the reading, then stop the video, pause the audio, go do the reading, read Daniel chapters 4, 5 and 6 and then come back. And this episode is designed to supplement your reading, not substitute your reading. So let's dive into some context. Okay? Daniel chapter four, Daniel chapter five and Daniel chapter six are all going to have slightly different context, okay? Because Daniel chapter four, Daniel chapter five and Daniel chapter six are all Dealing with a different king or different ruler. Okay, so Daniel chapter 4, the ruler is Nebuchadnezzar. That's been the ruler up until, you know, Daniel chapter one, two, three, and now chapter four is all under the rulership or government of Nebuchadnezzar. Then in chapter five, we are gonna get a change. Belshazzar is gonna be the ruler. And we got a caveat with Belshazzar. He's not actually the king. He's, he's the king's son and he's a regent. And we'll deal with that a little bit when we get to chapter five. And then Daniel, chapter six, we're going to have really historically it's Cyrus, but Cyrus is going to get called Darius in Daniel chapter six. And we're going to deal with why that's the case. So three different rulers, three different moments in history. And honestly, you can see that Daniel is going to live a pretty long life. Why? Because for Jadiel, chapter 1, 2, 3 and 4, Daniel is relatively young. All right? We don't know his exact age. In Jada chapter 4, we know that he's taken into exile as a young man in 605 BC so we know that date. Okay. We also are gonna get some dates as we move on. Ok, so what we're going to see is Daniel is going to be in the Babylonian court from 605B.C. All the way into the 530s B.C. so my man is going to spend over 70 years in the Babylonian court. And so that's going to be fascinating. So that's just a little bit of context. Okay. We're going to begin to see a 70 year long lifespan for, for Daniel. And that's going to span three different rulers. Like I said, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar. Belshazzar. And the text is going to say Darius. But we know from history that it really is Cyrus. So let's, let's, that's, that's a good amount of context. Okay. And we'll deal with each chapter as the context comes. I'll kind of give you some dates right now. Okay, chapter four, the date is unknown, but again, it's somewhere between 605 BC and 562 BC probably more towards the later date as seven years go past in the actual chapter. Okay, so we're closer to 562 B.C. when we get to chapter five, we can be precisely dated. I mean, as the events take place on the very night of Babylon's fall in 539 B.C. so chapter four. Chapter four. There's a range of dates that are possible for chapter five. We know the exact date. It is the night of the fall of Babylon. This is 539 BC. And then chapter six takes place in the years following the Persian takeover of Babylon and its territories. So at some point in the early or mid-530s BC. Okay, so different context for each chapter that we are actually looking at today. Last kind of bit about context is that there's a massive chiasm. There's actually a double chiasm in the Book of Daniel. We won't talk about the double. We won't talk about both. There's actually multiple chasms. There's chiasms everywhere in the Book of Daniel. If there's a weakness of mine when it comes to biblical scholarship, it's finding chiasms. I really do rely on other people to find chiasms for me. But here we go. Chapter two and chapter seven mirror each other. Okay, chapter two, we get four kingdoms, and then we get four kingdoms and beasts that come out of the sea in chapter seven. Okay, so we're going to get four kingdoms in chapter two and chapter seven. Okay, and then you move in. Okay, we're going to get. In chapter three, we're going to get the. The three Hebrew boys. We don't know them. We're not going to. We reject Shadrach, Bach and Abednego. We know them as Mishael, Azariah and Hananiah. They're going to get thrown into the fiery furnace. What is that mirrored with in chapter six, Daniel's going to get thrown into the lion's den. Okay, so we're going to get four kingdoms in chapter two, four kingdoms in chapter seven. And you move in and you're going to get the. Yahweh's faithful are going to get thrown into the fiery furnace, and Yahweh's faithful are going to get thrown into the lion's den. And you move in again, and Yahweh is going to humble Nebuchadnezzar's pride in chapter four. And Yahweh's gonna humble Belshazzar's pride in chapter five. Okay, and so what is the center of the chiasm? It is chapter four, verse 37. Chapter four, verse 37. And it says this. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride. And he is able to humble. So that's a massive theme for the entire book of Daniel, that those who are arrogant, those who are prideful, will be humbled. And what's the inverse? Those who honor God, those who are faithful to God even in the face of evil. Rulers are actually exalted. Okay, so we'll get more into that when we get into our timeless truth. But that is the center of that chiasm. And there's other chiasms. We'll talk about the other chiasms as we continue on. On the other days. Okay, so that's all the context that I think we need. Number one, you got a date. You got a range of dates for chapter four. You have a very specific date for chapter five. And then you have a range of dates for chapter six. And then just knowing that we've got a chiasm here, okay, the, the passage. The passages or the chapters that we're reading today exists within a chiasm. There's a center to that chiasm. In the center of that chiasm is really going to let us know that pride and humility and God's ability to humble prideful pagan rulers is going to be front and center in terms of a central theme of this passage or of this chunk of scripture. All right, let's dive into some nerdy nuggets. I'm going to try to give you a nerdy nugget from chapter four, a nerdy nugget from chapter five, and a nerdy nugget from chapter six, Daniel, chapter four. This one is fascinating. This one blows my mind, actually. Okay, so Daniel is going to get. Is going to be given a pagan name, a Babylonian name, Belteshazzar. Belteshazzar is his pagan name. We're not going to remember his. His pagan name, but we are going to remember Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego's pagan names. But you know, I talked about that yesterday. If you haven't watched yesterday's video, go back and watch yesterday's video. Here's what's fascinating. Daniel 4, 9. Okay? We're going to read this together. Daniel 4, 9. Nebuchadnezzar needs a dream interpreted. This is giving Pharaoh and Joseph vibes. Okay? And this is Nebuchadnezzar talking. He says. I said Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians. I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you. And no mystery is too difficult for you. Here is my dream. Interpret it for me. Okay, so Nebuchadnezzar does not refer To Daniel as Daniel. He refers to Daniel as the name he gave Daniel, which is Belteshazzar. Okay, Belteshazzar. And here's the next part that I want to hone in on. Chief of the magicians, we have a Jew, a servant of Yahweh, who's clearly faithful to Yahweh, who's chief of the magicians. Now, here's what's really cool. When God begins to exalt Christians and exalt, you know, God, fearing God, believing people to positions of influence, here's the ripple effect that it can have. When you open up the Gospels and you begin to see that there are magi coming from the east who want to worship Jesus, you have to ask a question. How did these pagan magicians. Magi comes from the word magician. How do these pagan magicians know that there would be a Messiah who is going to be born of the Jews? Well, it's because there's a man named Daniel who took his leadership over those pagan magicians seriously, hundreds of years before those magicians would ever set out to try to find a messiah by the name of Jesus. And so right here we have proof that Daniel is going to influence the magi or the magicians, the astrologers. Okay, if you go up, just a couple of verses to verse four says, I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at my home in my palace, contented and prosperous. I had a dream that made me afraid. I was lying in my bed. The images of visions that passed through my mind terrified me. So I commanded all the wise men of Babylon, hint, hint, wise men of Babylon, be brought before me to interpret the dream for me. When the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners came, I told them the dream. So the wise men or the magi or the magicians, AKA the astrologers, the people who know how to read the stars, come and appear at the cave that Mary and Joseph are at to worship King Jesus. It is because they have been insanely influenced by this guy named Daniel, which means if you're a Christian and you've been placed in a position of authority over pagans, you should really take your position seriously because there may be a ripple effect that's going to cause something significant to happen hundreds of years into the future. Family, the wait is over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos is out now and available everywhere. Books are, are sold, literally. Today I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes and noble. Or you can go to a Books a million or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective, if you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is going to be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. Hey, are you looking for a really cool gift or just solid tools to support your family, faith and daily Life? Check out Mr. Pen. They've got no bleed Bible pens and highlighters that actually work on thin Bible pages. Journaling Bibles, Bible tabs and faith based journals. Even school supplies for parents, teachers and students. 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The arrogance or the pride of Belshazzar is going to get highlighted in chapter five. So these are mirroring each other. Belshazzar. Interestingly enough, a lot of people used to use this passage as a place where the Bible was incorrect. Because in fact, Belshazzar is not the king. All right? The Bible is gonna say that he's the king. He's not the king. The problem with this story is that there was no Babylonian king called Belshazzar. And the last king of Babylon, who would have been reigning at this time is a man by the name of Nabonidus. Okay? Nabonidus. Good old Nabo. For years this was seen as an example of how the stories in the Bible are just. Are fairy tales, are fables, are fabricated, are made up with only occasional links to historical reality. That is, until Babylonian and Persian records were found that state that Nabonidus spent most of his rule campaigning with the army away from Babylon. And so he placed his son as regent in the city to govern the empire when he was fighting. And guess what his son's name is? That's right. Belshazzar. Which interestingly enough. So let's go to Daniel 5, 29. Okay. Daniel, chapter 5, verse 29. Belshazzar is actually going to say something quite interesting to Daniel. He's going to say this then. At Belshazzar's command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom. Why number three? Well, because Nabonidus is number one, Belshazzar is number two, and. And Belshazzar can't make Daniel number two because he's not number one. This is why Daniel is made number three. Number three in all command. So you see how it's giving Pharaoh and Joseph vibes. The only problem is Belshazzar is not the king, but he's the king's son and he's been placed there as a regent. Nerdy nugget from chapter five. Okay, now the way that the Persians are going to take over or overthrow the Babylonians is that the river ran right through the middle of the great city Babylon. And so all the Persians did was they went upstream, dammed up the river, the river went dry, and then they crawled through the river gates and took over the city in one night. Which is exactly what Isaiah prophesied. What happened? So exactly what Isaiah said would happen hundreds of years before it happened actually happened. So that is chapter five. Let's go to chapter six. Okay, I'll give you one nerdy nugget from chapter six. And I love this one. Okay. It says it please Darius. Okay. Ah, this one's difficult. Okay. A lot of people would say, because we know that Cyrus is the person that actually is going to overthrow the Babylonian empire and rule the Persian empire at this point in history. But the Bible's telling us that it's a person named Darius. And there's only two possible solutions for this. The first solution is that Darius kind of functions like the word Caesar. Okay, so Darius is actually a title. Now, that could work because we have three different Dariuses in the Persian Empire, throughout the kingdoms, throughout the kingdom of the Persian Empire. We have three different Dariuses. That's possible. It could also be possible that Darius is simply the governor that Cyrus appoints. The governor that's gonna be over the city of Babylon. Hey, there's options here. Neither of those are super satisfying, but hey, that's the reality. And I want you to know that there's some tension here, okay? Because we know from history Cyrus is the person ruling, but the Bible's going to call him Darius, all right? And the NIV is going to deal with this by saying like the reign of Darius, comma, the reign of Cyrus. So anyway, different translations are gonna deal with this in different ways. You can look at your Bible to see like what, you know, how your translation of the Bible deals with it. All right, so this is what is actually fascinating. So Daniel's gonna get thrown into a lion's den. And this story gets talked about a lot in Sunday school, but I've never seen a Sunday school picture with, with this portrayed accurately. Because we know that Daniel gets deported From Jerusalem in 605 BC we know that that's a historical date, okay? And we also know that the Babylonian empire is not going to fall until. I'm trying to find the exact date until 539bc okay, so Daniel is exiled from his from Jerusalem in 605 BC and then the Persians are going to take over in 539 B.C. in one night. Now some time has gone on by the time Daniel Six even hits, which means if he's a youth in 605 BC this story takes place 66 years later. Okay? If he was a teenager when he was taken, then he is in his 70s or even 80s in the story where he gets thrown into the lion's den. If he was in his 20s in 605 BC when he was taken, then he could be in his 90s in the story. So this is a story of a very old man who still refuses to be a pagan. Daniel is so much more gangster now that, you know, homies at like 84, like, nah, feed me to the lions, bro. Like, like Daniel is a very old man when this story, when this very iconic story takes place. After almost 70 years of serving pagan kings in a pagan court, he is still just as much a righteous, loyal Jewish as he was when he was a young man when he insisted on eating kosher food. That is the example here. We have stories of young men staying loyal to their king Yahweh in chapters One and two. And even though they live in the heart of the pagan world. And we also have stories of old men who are still loyal and have never, ever, ever bowed the knee. As we get to chapter six. Okay, so we've. We. Daniel is a young man in the beginning of the book, and he's an old man in chapter six. Regardless of whether he's young or old, his stance has not changed. I will not bow the knee. Nebuchadnezzar is not my king. Cyrus ain't my king. Belshazzar ain't my king. Nabonidus ain't my king. Like Yahweh is my king. And I'll be loyal to Yahweh to the day that I die. Which leads us to some timeless truths. There's a couple, actually, in today's section of reading. The first is God humbles the proud. This is a massive lesson whether that's Belshazzar. While Belshazzar is feasting, okay, so the Persians have besieged the city, and Belshazzar in chapter five decides, let's throw a feast. Because the Persians could. They're never going to successfully break in to Babylon. Our gates in our walls will hold. While he's arrogantly celebrating in the middle of a siege, they dam up the river and they come right through and take over Babylon right there, like in a. In the blink of an eye. So God immediately humbles the proud. Okay? And so this is a massive theme, whether Nebuchadnezzar or Belshazzar, proud, proud rulers get brought to their knees. They get humbled in the Book of Daniel. That's a massive timeless truth that anyone who exalts themselves will be humbled, but anyone who humbles themselves will be exalted. This is a theme in Jesus's teaching and Jesus's lessons in the New Testament. Number two, next timeless truth. God honors and protects those who are faithful to him, man. Whether it's the fiery furnace or the lion's den, man, God protects those who don't bend the knee. If you're loyal to Yahweh, Yahweh will protect you. And number three, last timeless truth. God's people have the ability to flourish, yes, even thrive when they're in nations, organizations, places, and environments that are hostile to their God into the Gospel. Please do not think that just because we don't have perfect conditions or a Christian country that we can't flourish and thrive and cause the pagan world to flourish and thrive because we are in it, man. If there's a massive theme throughout the entire Book of Daniel. It's that people who love God and serve God and who are loyal to God and faithful to God can get elevated to position of influence and they can thrive and flourish even in the middle of pagan cultures as long as they are loyal to Yahweh. And that is true not just for Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael. That is true for you. That is true for me. That is true for the world that we live in right now. And so tomorrow we've got day 241. We'll be going through Daniel chapter seven through nine. I'm super excited. Hey, if you're on a streak, I'm proud of you. I'm so proud of you. I'm rooting for you. If you're not on a streak, let's get it going. No better time to get on a streak than today. So let's go ahead and let's get on a streak. I'll see you right here tomorrow as we keep trekking through through the Book of Daniel. I hope that it's been a value add for you today and I believe it's going to be a value add for you tomorrow. I'll see you right here as we open up the Scriptures together tomorrow. Love y'. All. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show at thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebible department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.