People of the Bible

Daniel

Prophets · Around 600 BC · Appears in The book of Daniel

Daniel is the young man carried captive to Babylon who rose to serve at the highest levels of the empire while never compromising his faith. Famous for surviving a night in the lions' den, he interpreted the dreams of kings and received visions of the coming kingdom of God that would never be destroyed.

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.Daniel 6:10 (KJV)

Faithful in a foreign court

Daniel was among the young nobles of Judah carried captive to Babylon when Jerusalem fell, taken far from home to be trained for the service of a pagan king. Chosen for his ability and appearance, he and his three friends were enrolled in the king's academy and assigned the king's rich food and wine. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself, and he asked to eat only vegetables and drink water. After ten days he and his friends were healthier and better nourished than all the rest, and God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning.

This early scene sets the pattern of Daniel's whole life: quiet, courteous, unbending faithfulness in a hostile culture. He did not withdraw from Babylon or rail against it; he served it with excellence while drawing a clear line he would not cross. From the beginning God honored that faithfulness, giving Daniel understanding in visions and dreams that would soon raise him to the highest offices of the empire.

The dreams no one else could tell

King Nebuchadnezzar was troubled by a dream and demanded that his wise men not only interpret it but tell him what he had dreamed, on pain of death. When no one could, Daniel sought mercy of God with his friends, and in a night vision the secret was revealed to him. He gave God all the glory and told the king his dream of a great statue of gold, silver, brass, and iron, broken to pieces by a stone cut out without hands, which became a great mountain and filled the whole earth, a vision of empires rising and falling and of God's kingdom outlasting them all.

Nebuchadnezzar fell down before Daniel and confessed that his God was a God of gods and a revealer of secrets, and he set Daniel over the whole province of Babylon. Yet Daniel's God kept humbling the proud king, most memorably when Nebuchadnezzar, glorying in his own greatness, was driven mad to live like a beast until he lifted his eyes to heaven and blessed the Most High, learning that heaven rules and God puts down the proud. Daniel served through the rise and fall of kings, interpreting even the writing on the wall that spelled the doom of Babylon in a single night.

The lions' den

Under Darius the Mede, Daniel so distinguished himself that the king planned to set him over the whole realm, and jealous officials looked for some fault in him but could find none, for he was faithful. So they schemed to use his very devotion against him, persuading the king to sign an unchangeable decree that for thirty days no one should ask a petition of any god or man but the king, on penalty of the lions' den. Daniel knew the decree was signed, and yet he did exactly as he had always done.

He went into his house, and his windows being open toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. His enemies caught him at prayer and forced the reluctant king to throw him to the lions. But God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, so that in the morning Daniel was found unharmed, and he told the king, My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me. The king rejoiced and decreed that all should fear the God of Daniel, the living God whose kingdom shall not be destroyed.

Visions of the kingdom to come

Beyond the famous stories, Daniel received great visions of the future, of beasts rising from the sea that were kingdoms of the earth, of thrones set up and the Ancient of days seated in glory, and of one like the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven, given dominion and a kingdom that all peoples should serve, an everlasting kingdom that shall not pass away. He saw the sweep of history and the certainty that God's rule would outlast every empire.

Daniel was also a man of deep prayer and confession. Reading in the prophet Jeremiah that the exile would last seventy years, he set himself to seek God with fasting, confessing not only the sins of his people but numbering himself among them, pleading God's mercy for the desolate city and sanctuary. He looked ahead to a coming Anointed One and to the resurrection, when many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life. His long life of faithfulness spanned the whole exile, from the fall of Jerusalem to the first return.

The fiery furnace and the fourth man

The courage of Daniel's faith was shared by his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in one of the most stirring scenes in Scripture. When King Nebuchadnezzar set up a great golden image and commanded all to fall down and worship it or be cast into a burning fiery furnace, the three refused to bow. Brought before the raging king, they answered that their God was able to deliver them, and then spoke words of pure faith: But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods.

They would obey God whether he rescued them or not, and they were thrown into a furnace heated seven times hotter than usual. But the king rose up in astonishment, for he saw four men walking loose in the flames, unharmed, and the form of the fourth was like the Son of God. They came out without so much as the smell of fire upon them, and Nebuchadnezzar blessed the God who had sent his angel to deliver his servants who trusted in him. Their faith, willing to die rather than deny God, has strengthened the persecuted church ever since.

His character and where he points to Christ

Daniel is the model of faithfulness in a foreign land. He served pagan kings with excellence and integrity, rising to the top of a hostile empire without ever bending his conscience or hiding his God. Whether facing the king's table, a fiery furnace by the side of his three friends, or a den of lions, he quietly did what was right and left the outcome to God. His life has strengthened believers under pressure ever since, showing that the people of God can remain wholly faithful even under an idolatrous power.

Daniel saw in a night vision one like the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven, given everlasting dominion, and Jesus took that very title, Son of man, as his own, and quoted Daniel's vision at his trial before the high priest. Daniel was sealed in a den of death by a stone and delivered alive in the morning, an ancient picture of resurrection. And the kingdom he foresaw, a stone cut without hands that shatters the kingdoms of the world and fills the earth, is the kingdom Jesus came to bring, the everlasting reign of the true Son of man.

A note on the sources: everything above is drawn from the biblical text itself. Where a detail comes from later tradition rather than Scripture, it is named as tradition. Dates for the earliest figures are traditional and approximate, and Scripture does not always give them. The aim is to tell each life honestly, and to let it do what the whole Bible does, point to Jesus Christ the Lord.

Related: Isaiah · Jonah · All the people of the Bible