Day 63 ~ the Golden toenail

• Daniel was a Jew taken captive as a child or very young many in the first round of capitives taken to Babylon during the reign of king Nebuchadnezzer in about 605bc. In our timeline, Ezekiel refers to Daniel, who by the time of Ezekiel would have likely been in a position of power in the court of Nebuchadnezzar.
• Chapter 1 - Best and brightest youn men/children were chosen to serve in the kings court, Daniel and his three friends were chosen and given new names.
• 1:16 - something to be said for vegetarian diets.
• 1:21 - Daniel must have lived all but his childhood in Babylon - he served under Nebuchadnezzar until at least the early years of Cyrus - about 68 years or longer.
• Chapter 2 - does Nebuchadnezzar's dream have any correlation to another prophet's vision?
• 2:5-6 - you don't want to mess with Nebuchadnezzar
• Daniel, known as a wise man, was being searched out to be killed per Neb's demand that the wisemen be killed because they could not interpret his dream. Daniel thinks quickly on his feet, and we see that he keeps the safety of others foremost in his thoughts (2:24). Daniel also makes sure to give God the glory before he even begins the task before him (2:28).
• According to the commentary in my Bible, Nebuchadnezzar II built the hanging gardens of Babylon (one of the seven wonders of the world), Ishtar gate, Ziggurat (like a pyramid without smooth sides), canals, and he was the father of Evil-Merodach, the king who released king Jehoiachin (Judah's king in exile).
• Not only does Daniel interpret the king's dream, he tells the king what the dream was.
• In the description of the statue, indicating weakening rulers of Babylon, I'm thinking that the correspondence goes as follows just off the top of my head - Gold - Nebuchadnezzar, Silver - Evil Merodach, bronze - ?, iron - ?, iron/clay - Belshazzar.
• Chapter 3 - the huge golden statue. When Grace was about 3, we had a VBS that had a dramatic segment about Daniel and the call to worship the golden statue. As an actor portraying a Babylonian under king Nebuchadnezzar's rule, I created a huge golden toenail and told the kids that I had stolen it off the statue. The children were jewish captives that were not to bow to false idols. We talked about worshipping false gods and the rules that Neb had created for requiring idol worship at the sound of specific instruments, and talked about what the consequences were if you didn't bow, plus what the eternal consequences were if you did bow. We cued some appropriate music and I told the kids (as the Babylonian idol worshipper) that they had to, by law, bow to the golden toenail. Half the kids, including Grace, hit the deck and bowed that golden toe in fright. It was something else. We had to have a good discussion about how God would view that weakness in our faith. I wonder if I scarred her for life.
• 3:5 - who else was in the furnace? An angel, some say Jesus. How does Nebuchadnezzar know what the "son of God" looks like? Had God appeared to Neb before?
• Chapter 5 - Belshazzar - son of Nabonidus (per my commentary), but that isn't clear to me from scripture. I realize that when they say "son of" that they mean in the line of. Anyway, he was a royal descendant of Nebuchadnezzar who took the throne (I think he's the iron/clay feet). Under Belshazzar's rule, Persians take over - in fact, that very night (5:30) of the writing by the hand on the wall. Apparently, the Persians had been seiging the city (just as Babylon had done to Jerusalem) for some time, and they cut off the Euphrates. Belshazzar didn't much mind - he must have felt (falsly) safe enough to hold a party for 1,000.
• Chapter 6 - Daniel is one of three in charge in the new Persian government. He was "set up" by power hungry men who got the king to make a decree that they knew Daniel wouldn't follow. The king should have read the fine print, for he was very upset when Daniel was a victim of the severe consequences.
• Chapter 7 - Highly prophetic - end times? "Ancient of Days" there are so many questions to be answered - a riddle answered by a riddle
• Chapter 8 - okay, with all this highly prophetic stuff, my commentary in my Bible is silent.
• 8:14 - 2300 days = 20 years. Is this a vision of kingdoms who would rule over Judah in captivity?
• 8:17 - Time of the end of what?
• 8:21 - Greece - do they defeat Persia? Does Persia defeat Greece? Is this the first reference to Greece that we see?
• Chapter 9 - Daniel knows the 70 years of captivity is almost over.
• 9:21 - Gabriel flew fast - from where? heaven?
• 9:25-26 - 25 “ Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. "
• Okay. Is this telling them when the Messiah would come? What is the length of a "week?". Sixty two "week" would be 434 "days" - is a day a year? Wouldn't that be about right - aren't there 400 years between the last book of the Old Testament and Jesus? Just guessing, I would say a "day" is a year.
• Why would a chapter break (10-11) occur in the middle of a parenthetical statement?