Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Daniel 1:21
And Daniel continued [even] unto the first year of king Cyrus.
21. A remark on the long continuance of Daniel with the reputation, it is understood, implied in Dan 1:20 in Babylon. The first year of Cyrus (b.c. 538) would be nearly 70 years after the date of Daniel’s captivity ( Dan 1:1), so that he would then be quite an aged man.
continued even unto ] lit. was until. The expression is an unusual one; but the meaning, it seems, is that Daniel survived the fall of the empire of Nebuchadnezzar and his successors, and remained, unaffected by the change of dynasty, till the first year of Cyrus, the year in which (Ezr 1:1; Ezr 5:13; Ezr 6:3) the Jews received permission to return to Palestine. He is mentioned indeed as still alive in the third year of Cyrus (Dan 10:1); but that fact is here left out of consideration.
Cyrus ] Heb. Kresh, as regularly. The Persian form is Kuru ( sh), the Babylonian Kursh.
Additional Note on the term ‘Chaldaeans’
The term ‘Chaldaeans’ (Heb. Kasdm) is used in the Book of Daniel in a sense different from that which it has in any other part of the Old Testament. In other parts of the Old Testament (e.g. in Jeremiah, passim) it has an ethnic sense: it denotes a people which (in the inscriptions at present known) is thought to be first alluded to about 1100 b.c., and is certainly named repeatedly from 880 b.c.: they lived then in the S.E. of Babylonia, towards the sea-coast; afterwards, as they increased in power, they gradually advanced inland; in 721 b.c. Merodach-baladan, ‘king of the land of the Kaldu,’ made himself king of Babylon; and ultimately, under Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar, they became the ruling caste in Babylonia. In the Book of Daniel (except in Dan 5:30, Dan 9:1, where the term plainly has its ethnic sense), ‘Chaldaean’ is the designation not of the ruling caste at large, but of the class or one of the classes of wise men (Dan 1:4, Dan 2:2; Dan 2:4-5; Dan 2:10, Dan 3:8 (prob.), Dan 4:7, Dan 5:7; Dan 5:11). Of this sense of the word there is no trace in the inscriptions; it is first found in Herodotus ( c. 440 b.c.), and is common afterwards in the classical writers; and it dates really from a time when ‘Chaldaean’ had become synonymous with ‘Babylonian’ in general, and when virtually the only ‘Chaldaeans’ known were members of the priestly or learned class. The following passages will shew how the classical writers understood the term.
Hdt. i. 181 (in the description of the ‘ziggurat’ of Bel, i.e. [Tiele] Merodach, in Babylon): ‘as the Chaldaeans, being priests of this god, say.’
i. 183: ‘On the greater altar [in the precincts of the temple at the foot of the ‘ziggurat’] the Chaldaeans burn also 1000 talents of frankincense every year, when they celebrate the festival pf this god.’
Also, in the same chapter, ‘as the Chaldaeans said,’ and ‘I did not see it, but I say what is said by the Chaldaeans.’
Strabo (1 cent. b.c.) xvi. 1 6: ‘There is also a quarter reserved in Babylon for the native philosophers called “Chaldaeans,” who pursue principally the study of astronomy. Some claim also to cast nativities; but these are not recognized by the others. There is moreover a tribe of the Chaldaeans, and a district of Babylonia, inhabited by them, near the Arabian and the Persian Gulf [189] . There are also several classes ( ) of the astronomical Chaldaeans, some being called Orcheni [i.e. belonging to Orchoe, or Uruk], others Borsippans, and others having other names according to the different doctrines held by their various schools.’
[189] This sentence (cf. 8 and 3 6) is interesting, as it shews that ‘Chaldaeans,’ in the original ethnic sense of the name, were still resident in their ancient homes.
Diodorus Siculus (1 cent. b.c.) describes them at greater length. The ‘Chaldaeans,’ he says (Dan 2:29), ‘form a caste, possessing a fixed traditional lore, in which successive generations are brought up, and which they transmit unchanged to their successors. They are among the most ancient of the Babylonians, and hold in the state a position similar to that of the priests in Egypt. Appointed primarily to attend to the worship of the gods, they devote their lives to philosophy, enjoying especially a reputation for astrology. They are also much occupied with divination ( ), uttering predictions about the future; and by means partly of purifications, partly of sacrifices, and partly of incantations ( ), endeavour to avert evil [cf. Isa 47:9; Isa 47:11-13 ] and to complete happiness. They are moreover experienced in divination by means of birds, and interpret dreams and omens ( ); they are also practised in the inspection of sacrificial animals ( ), and have a character for divining accurately by their means.’ And he proceeds ( cc. 30, 31) to give some account of the astronomical doctrines of the ‘Chaldaeans,’ and to speak of their remarkable skill in predicting the destinies of men from observation of the planets [190] .
[190] Cf. also Cic. Divin. i. i., xli., ii. xli xliii., xlvii.; Tusc. i. xl.; de Fato viii. (a criticism of their astrological claims); Juv. x. 94, xiv. 248, with Mayor’s notes.
In the view of the classical writers, the ‘Chaldaeans’ were thus a caste of priests, who were also diviners, magicians, and (especially) astrologers. Except in what concerns the name ‘Chaldaeans,’ the statements of Diodorus, as far as they go, are correct, and substantiated by what is now known from the inscriptions. Here is what is said in the most recent and best work upon the subject [191] :
[191] Jastrow’s Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (Boston, U.S.A. 1898), p. 656 f.
“The general name for priests was shang, which by a plausible etymology suggested by Jensen, indicates the function of the priest as the one who presides over the sacrifices. But this function represents only one phase of the priestly office in Babylonia, and not the most important one, by any means. For the people, the priest was primarily the one who could drive evil demons out of the body of the person smitten with disease, who could thwart the power of wizards and witches, who could ward off the attacks of mischievous spirits, or who could prognosticate the future and determine the intention or will of the gods. The offering of sacrifices was one of the means to accomplish this end, but it is significant that many of the names used to designate the priestly classes have reference to the priest’s position as the exorciser of evil spirits, or his power to secure a divine oracle or to foretell the future, and not to his function as sacrificer. Such names are mashmashu, the general term for ‘the charmer’; kal, so called, perhaps, as the ‘restrainer’ of the demons, the one who keeps them in check; lagaru, a synonym of kal; makhkh [192] , ‘soothsayer’; surr, a term which is still obscure; shilu, the ‘inquirer,’ who obtains an oracle through the dead or through the gods [193] ; mushlu [194] , ‘necromancer’; shipu [195] or ishippu, ‘sorcerer’.”
[192] Whence, probably, the ‘Rab- mag,’ i.e. ‘chief of the soothsayers,’ of Jer 39:3; Jer 39:13.
[193] Cf. the Heb. in Deu 18:11; Jdg 1:1; 1Sa 23:2 ; 1Sa 28:6, &c.
[194] Lit. the ‘bringer up,’ from el = : comp. 1Sa 28:11.
[195] Comp. on Dan 1:20.
The antiquity, if not of the ‘Chaldaeans’ under this name, yet of the priests in whose hands the traditional lore mentioned by Diodorus was, is also well established: “the magical texts formed the earliest sacred literature” of Babylonia [196] ; and the great astrological work, called Nr-Bel, ‘the Light of Bel,’ is earlier than b.c. 2000.
[196] Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, p. 337.
Babylonia was the land of magic (cf. Isa 47:9-13); and a very extensive literature, dealing with different branches of the subject, has been brought to light during recent years. Demons, or evil spirits, were supposed to be active upon earth, bringing to mankind diseases, misfortunes, and every kind of ill; the heavens were supposed to exercise an influence over the destinies of men and nations; all kinds of natural occurrences which we should describe as accidental, such as an animal entering a building, were supposed to be declarations of the will of the gods; and methods had to be devised for the purpose of dealing with the occult agencies concerned, of interpreting all significant phenomena, and of averting, where this was held to be possible, the evils which they portended. The demons were ever present and ever active: so sorcerers and sorceresses sprang up, who, by means of various magical devices, could invoke the demons at their will, and bring such persons as they chose within their power. On the other hand, the priests were ready with means for protecting people who were thus assailed; and many collections of ‘incantations’ have come down to us, each dealing with some particular kind of demonic evil, or providing some particular method of protection against demons. In particular, every kind of disease was attributed to the action of some malignant spirit, either attacking a person spontaneously, or induced to do so by bewitchment; and the cure was effected by exorcising the demon through prescribed formulae of supposed power, accompanied by symbolical acts (e.g. burning the image of the witch) [197] . Omens were also carefully observed, and tables were drawn up describing the significance of all kinds of occurrences, including the most trifling, in heaven and earth. “Fully one-fourth of the portion of Asshurbanabal’s library that has been discovered consists of omen-tablets of various sizes in which explanations are afforded of all physical peculiarities to be observed in animals and men, of natural phenomena, of the positions and movements of the planets and stars, of the incidents and accidents of public and private life in short, of all possible occurrences and situations [198] .”
[197] Jastrow, pp. 253 293.
[198] Jastrow, pp. 352 406. See further Lenormant, La Magie chez les Chaldens (1874), and La Divination et la Science des Prsages chez les Chaldens (1875); the translations of magical texts in Sayce’s Hibbert Lectures for 1887, p. 441 ff. (‘to be accepted with caution,’ Jastrow, p. 713); and the literature cited by Jastrow, p. 717 ff. Minuter details would here be out of place, as they would not really illustrate anything in the Book of Daniel.
The principles upon which the explanations of all these phenomena were drawn up were, no doubt, partly the association of ideas (as when the sight of a lion symbolized strength, or success), and partly the extension of a single coincidence between a given phenomenon and a particular subsequent occurrence, into a general law. It is, however, evident to what long and elaborate treatises the systematization of rules for dealing with, and explaining, such an immense variety of phenomena would ultimately lead.
There are six terms used in the Book of Daniel as designations of diviners or magicians, viz. (1) wise men ( ), (2) enchanters ( ), (3) magicians ( ), (4) ‘Chaldeans’ ( ), (5) determiners (of fates) ( ), (6) sorcerers ( ), which are distributed as follows:
Dan 1:20 the magicians and the enchanters.
Dan 2:2 the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans.
Dan 2:10 b any magician, enchanter, or Chaldean.
Dan 2:27 wise men, enchanters, magicians, (or) determiners (of fates).
Dan 4:7 the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the determiners (of fates).
Dan 5:7 the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the determiners (of fates).
Dan 5:11 (of Daniel) ‘master of magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, (and) determiners (of fates).’
Dan 5:15 the wise men, (even) the enchanters.
Wise men occurs besides, alone, in the expression ‘(all) the wise men of Babylon,’ in Dan 2:12-13 (‘the wise men’), 14, 18, 24, 48, Dan 4:6; Dan 4:18 (‘all the wise men of my kingdom’), Dan 5:7-8 (‘the wise men of the king’): ‘Chaldeans’ also occurs alone in Dan 1:4 ‘the literature and language of the Chaldeans’ (seemingly in a general sense); in Dan 2:4-5; Dan 2:10 a (as speaking on behalf of the ‘wise men’ generally); and in Dan 3:8: and arummim is used in a generic sense in Dan 4:9 (where Daniel is called ‘master of the arummim ’; cf. Dan 2:48 and Dan 5:11).
A comparison of the passages shews that the terms in question are used with some vagueness. The generic term appears certainly to be ‘wise men’; but in Dan 2:27 even this appears to be coordinated with three of the special classes. In Diodorus Siculus ‘Chaldaeans’ is the generic term; but in Daniel that, except once, appears as the name of one class beside others: in Dan 1:4, however (unless, which is improbable, there was no special ‘literature’ connected with any of the other classes), it is used in a generic sense. In Dan 4:7 and Dan 5:11 ‘determiners (of fates)’ appears to take the place of ‘sorcerers’ in Dan 2:2, although the two terms do not seem to be by any means synonymous. Nor are the several classes of wise men named in Daniel known to correspond to any division or classification indicated by the inscriptions. The attempts which have been made to prove the contrary cannot be pronounced successful. Lenormant, for example [199] , observing that the great work on magic preserved in Asshurbanabal’s library consists of three parts, dealing respectively with incantations against evil spirits, incantations against diseases, and magical hymns, argued that these three divisions corresponded exactly to the three classes, arummim or ‘conjurateurs,’ wise men or ‘mdecins,’ and ’ashshphim or ‘thosophes,’ mentioned in Daniel by the side of the astrologers and diviners ( kasdim and gzerin): but the parallel drawn is an arbitrary one; there is no reason whatever for supposing that ‘wise men’ in Heb. or Aramaic denoted ‘mdecins,’ or ’ashshphim ‘thosophes.’ It seems evident that the author simply took such terms denoting diviners or magicians, as were traditionally connected with Babylon, or seemed to him on other grounds to be suitable, and combined them together, for the purpose of presenting a general picture of the manner in which the arts of divination and magic were systematically studied in Babylon.
[199] La Magie, p. 13 f.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus – When the proclamation was issued by him to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem, Ezr 1:1. That is, he continued in influence and authority at different times during that period, and, of course, during the whole of the seventy years captivity. It is not necessarily implied that he did not live longer, or even that he ceased then to have influence and authority at court, but the object of the writer is to show that, during that long and eventful period, he occupied a station of influence until the captivity was accomplished, and the royal order was issued for rebuilding the temple. He was among the first of the captives that were taken to Babylon, and he lived to see the end of the captivity – the joyful day of Jewish freedom. – Prof. Stuart. It is commonly believed that, when the captives returned, he remained in Chaldea, probably detained by his high employments in the Persian empire, and that he died either at Babylon or at Shushan. Compare the Introduction Section I.
Practical Remarks
In view of the exposition given of this chapter, the following remarks may be made:
(1) There is in every period of the world, and in every place, much obscure and buried talent that might be cultivated and brought to light, as there are many gems in earth and ocean that are yet undiscovered. See the notes at Dan 1:1-4. Among these captive youths – prisoners of war – in a foreign land, and as yet unknown, there was most rich and varied talent – talent that was destined yet to shine at the court of the most magnificent monarchy of the ancient world, and to be honored as among the brightest that the world has seen. And so in all places and at all times, there is much rich and varied genius which might shine with great brilliancy, and perform important public services, if it were cultivated and allowed to develope itself on the great theater of human affairs. Thus, in obscure rural retreats there may be bright gems of intellect; in the low haunts of vice there may be talent that would charm the world by the beauty of song or the power of eloquence; among slaves there may be mind which, if emancipated, would take its place in the brightest constellations of genius. The great endowments of Moses as a lawgiver, a prophet, a profound statesman, sprang from an enslaved people, as those of Daniel did; and it is not too much to say that the brightest talent of the earth has been found in places of great obscurity, and where, but for some remarkable dispensation of Providence, it might have remained forever unknown. This thought has been immortalized by Gray:
Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear;
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
Some village Hampden, that with dauntless breast
The little tyrant of his fields withstood;
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest.
Some Cromwell, guiltless of his countrys blood.
There is at any time on the earth talent enough created for all that there is to be done in any generation; and there is always enough for talent to accomplish if it were employed in the purposes for which it was originally adapted. There need be at no time any wasted or unoccupied mind; and there need be no great and good plan that should fail for the want of talent fitted to accomplish it, if what actually exists on the earth were called into action.
(2) He does a great service to the world who seeks out such talent, and gives it an opportunity to accomplish what it is fitted to, by furnishing it the means of an education, Dan 1:3. Nebuchadnezzar, unconsciously, and doubtless undesignedly, did a great service to mankind by his purpose to seek out the talent of the Hebrew captives, and giving it an opportunity to expand and to ripen into usefulness. Daniel has taken his place among the prophets and statesmen of the world as a man of rare endowments, and of equally rare integrity of character. He has, under the leading of the Divine Spirit, done more than most other prophets to lift the mysterious veil which shrouds the future; more than could have been done by the penetrating sagacity of all the Burkes, the Cannings, and the Metternichs of the world. So far as human appearances go, all this might have remained in obscurity, if it had not been for the purpose of the Chaldean monarch to bring forward into public notice the obscure talent which lay hid among the Hebrew captives. He always does a good service to mankind who seeks out bright and promising genius, and who gives it the opportunity of developing itself with advantage on the great theater of human affairs.
(3) We cannot but admire the arrangements of Providence by which this was done. See the notes at Dan 1:1-4. This occurred in connection with the remarkable purpose of a pagan monarch – a man who, perhaps more than any other pagan ruler, has furnished an illustration of the truth that the kings heart is in the hand of the Lord. That purpose was, to raise to eminence and influence the talent that might be found among the Hebrew captives. There can be no doubt that the hand of God was in this; that there was a secret Divine influence on his mind, unknown to him, which secured this result; and that, while he was aiming at one result, God was designing to secure another. There was thus a double influence on his mind:
(a) what arose from the purpose of the monarch himself, originated by considerations of policy, or contemplating the aggrandizement and increased splendor of his court; and
(b) the secret and silent influence of God, shaping the plans of the monarch to the ends which He had in view. Compare the notes at Isa 10:5 following.
(4) as it is reasonable to suppose that these young men had been trained up in the strict principles of religion and temperance Dan 1:8-12, the case before us furnishes an interesting illustration of the temptations to which those who are early trained in the ways of piety are often exposed. Every effort seems to have been made to induce them to abandon the principles in which they had been educated, and there was a strong probability that those efforts would be successful.
(a) They were among strangers, far away from the homes of their youth, and surrounded by the allurements of a great city.
(b) Everything was done which could be done to induce them to forget their own land and the religion of their fathers.
(c) They were suddenly brought into distinguished notice; they attracted the attention of the great, and had the prospect of associating with princes and nobles in the most magnificent court on earth. They had been selected on account of their personal beauty and their intellectual promise, and were approached, therefore, in a form of temptation to which youths are commonly most sensitive, and to which they are commonly most liable to yield.
(d) They were far away from the religious institutions of their country; from the public services of the sanctuary; from the temple; and from all those influences which had been made to bear upon them in early life. It was a rare virtue which could, in these circumstances, withstand the power of such temptations.
(5) Young men, trained in the ways of religion and in the habits of temperance, are often now exposed to similar temptations. They visit the cities of a foreign country, or the cities in their own land. They are surrounded by strangers. They are far away from the sanctuary to which in early life they were conducted by their parents, and in which they were taught the truths of religion. The eye of that unslumbering vigilance which was upon them in their own land, or in the country neighborhood where their conduct was known to all, is now withdrawn. No one will know it if they visit the theater; no one will see them who will make report if they are found in the gambling room, or the place of dissipation. In those new scenes new temptations are around them. They may be noticed, flattered, caressed. They may be invited to places by the refined and the fashionable, from which, when at home, they would have recoiled. Or, it may be, prospects of honor and affluence may open upon them, and in the whirl of business or pleasure, they may be under the strongest temptations to forget the lessons of early virtue, and to abandon the principles of the religion in which they were trained. Thousands of young men are ruined in circumstances similar to those in which these youths were placed in Babylon, and amidst temptations much less formidable titan those which encompassed them; and it is a rare virtue which makes a young man safe amidst the temptations to which he is exposed in a great city, or in a distant land.
(6) We have in this chapter an instructive instance of the value of early training in the principles of religion and temperance. There can be no doubt that these young men owed their safety and their future success wholly to this. Parents, therefore, should be encouraged to train their sons in the strictest principles of religion and virtue. Seed thus sown will not be lost. In a distant land, far away from home, from a parents eye, from the sanctuary of God; in the midst of temptations, when surrounded by flatterers, by the gay and by the irreligious, such principles will be a safeguard to them which nothing else can secure, and will save them when otherwise they would be engulphed in the vortex of irreligion and dissipation. The best service which a parent can render to a son, is to imbue his mind thoroughly with the principles of temperance and religion.
(7) We may see the value of a purpose of entire abstinence from the use of wine, Dan 1:8. Daniel resolved that he would not make use of it as a beverage. His purpose, it would seem, was decided, though he meant to accomplish it by mild and persuasive means if possible. There were good reasons for the formation of such a purpose then, and those reasons are not less weighty now. He never had occasion to regret the formation of such a purpose; nor has anyone who has formed a similar resolution ever had occasion to regret it. Among the reasons for the formation of such a resolution, the following may be suggested:
(a) A fixed resolution in regard to the course which one will pursue; to the kind of life which he will live; to the principles on which he will act, is of inestimable value in a young man. Our confidence in a man is just in proportion as we have evidence that he has formed a steady purpose of virtue, and that he has sufficient strength of resolution to keep it.
(b) The same reasons exist for adopting a resolution of abstinence in regard to the use of wine, which exist for adopting it in relation to the use of ardent spirits, for
(1) The intoxicating principle in wine or other fermented liquors is precisely the same as in ardent spirits. It is the result of fermentation, not of distillation, and undergoes no change by distillation. The only effect of that chemical process is to drive it off by heat, condense, and collect it in a form better adapted to commerce or to preservation, but the alcoholic principle is precisely the same in wine as in distilled liquors.
(2) Intoxication itself is the same thing, whether produced by fermented liquors or by distilled spirits. It produces the same effect on the body, on the mind, on the affections. A man who becomes intoxicated on wine – as he easily may – is in precisely the same condition, so far as intoxication is produced, as he who becomes intoxicated on distilled liquors.
(3) There is the same kind of danger of becoming intemperate in the use of the one as of the other. The man who habitually uses wine is as certainly in danger of becoming a drunkard as he who indulges in the use of distilled liquors. The danger, too, arises from the same source. It arises from the fact that he who indulges once will feel induced to indulge again; that a strong and peculiar craving is produced for stimulating liquors; that the body is left in such a state that it demands a repetition of the stimulus; that it is a law in regard to indulgence in this kind of drinks, that an increased quantity is demanded to meet the exhausted state of the system; and that the demand goes on in this increased ratio until there is no power of control, and the man becomes a confirmed inebriate. All these laws operate in regard to the use of wine as really as to the use of any other intoxicating drinks; and, therefore, there is the same reason for the adoption of a resolution to abstain from all alike.
(4) The temptations are often greater in relation to wine than to any other kind of intoxicating drinks. There is a large class of persons in the community who are in comparatively little danger of becoming intemperate from any other cause than this. This remark applies particularly to young men of wealth; to those who move in the more elevated circles; to those who are in college, and to those who are preparing for the learned professions. They are in peculiar danger from this quarter, because it is regarded as genteel to drink a glass of wine; because they are allured by the example of professed Christians, of ministers of the gospel, and of ladies; and because they axe often in circumstances in which it would not be regarded as respectable or respectful to decline it.
(c) Third reason for adopting such a resolution is, that it is the only security that anyone can have that he will not become a drunkard. No one who indulges at all in the use of intoxicating liquors can have any certainty that he will not yet become a confirmed inebriate. Of the great multitudes who have been, and who are drunkards, there are almost none who meant to sink themselves to that wretched condition. They have become intemperate by indulging in the social glass when they thought themselves safe, and they continued the indulgence until it was too late to recover themselves from ruin. He who is in the habit of drinking at all can have no security that he may not yet be all that the poor drunkard now is. But he will be certainly safe from this evil if he adopts the purpose of total abstinence, and steadfastly adheres to it. Whatever other dangers await him, he will be secure against this; whatever other calamities he may experience, he is sure that he will escape all those that are caused by intemperance.
(8) We have in this chapter a most interesting illustration of the value of temperance in eating, Dan 1:9-17. There are laws of our nature relating to the quantity and quality of food which can no more be violated with impunity than any other of the laws of God; and yet those laws are probably more frequently violated than any other. There are more persons intemperate in the use of food than in the use of drink, and probably more diseases engendered, and more lives cut short, by improper indulgence in eating than in drinking. At the same time it is a more base, low, gross, and beastly passion. A drunkard is very often the wreck of a generous and noble-minded nature. He was large-hearted, open, free, liberal, and others took advantage of his generosity of disposition, and led him on to habits of intoxication. But there is nothing noble or generous in the gourmand. He approximates more nearly to the lowest forms of the brutal creation than any other human being; and if there is any man who should be looked on with feelings of unutterable loathing, it is he who wastes his vigour, and destroys his health, by gross indulgence in eating. There is almost no sin that God speaks of in tones of more decided abhorrence than the sin of gluttony. Compare Deu 21:20-21; Psa 141:4; Pro 23:1-3, Pro 23:20-21; Luk 16:19; Luk 21:34.
(9) We have, in the close of the chapter before us, a most interesting illustration of the effect of an early course of strict temperance on the future character and success in life, Dan 1:17-21. The trial in the case of these young men was fairly made. It was continued through three years; a period long enough for a fair trial; a period long enough to make it an interesting example to young men who are pursuing a course of literary studies, who are preparing to enter one of the learned professions, or who are qualifying themselves for a life of mechanical or agricultural pursuits. In the case of these young men, they were strictly on probation, and the result of their probation was seen in the success which attended them when they passed the severe examination before the monarch Dan 1:19, and in the honors which they reached at his court, Dan 1:19-21. To make this case applicable to other young men, and useful to them, we may notice two things: the fact that every young man is on probation; and the effect of an early course of temperance in securing the object of that probation.
(a) Every young man is on probation; that is, his future character and success are to be determined by what he is when a youth.
(1) all the great interests of the world are soon to pass into the hands of the young. They who now possess the property, and fill the offices of the land, will pass away. Whatever there is that is valuable in liberty, science, art, or religion, will pass into the hands of those who are now young. They will preside in the seminaries of learning; will sit down on the benches of justice; will take the vacated seats of senators; will occupy the pulpits in the churches; will be entrusted with all the offices of honor and emolument; will be ambassadors to foreign courts; and will dispense the charities of the land, and carry out and complete the designs of Christian benevolence. There is not an interest of liberty, religion, or law, which will not soon be committed to them.
(2) The world is favorably disposed toward young men, and they who are now entrusted with these great interests, and who are soon to leave them, are ready calmly to commit them to the guardianship of the rising generation, as soon as they have the assurance that they are qualified to receive the trust. They, therefore, watch with intense solicitude the conduct of those to whom so great interests are so soon to be committed
(3) Early virtue is indispensable to a favorable result of the probation of young men. A merchant demands evidence of integrity and industry in a young man before he will admit him to share his business, or will give him credit; and the same thing is true respecting a farmer, mechanic, physician, lawyer, or clergyman. No young man can hope to have the confidence of others, or to succeed in his calling, who does not give evidence that he is qualified for success by a fair probation or trial.
(4) Of no young man is it presumed that he is qualified to be entrusted with these great and momentous interests until he has had a fair trial. There is no such confidence in the integrity of young men, or in their tendencies to virtue, or in their native endowments, that the world is willing to commit great interests to them without an appropriate probation. No advantage of birth or blood can secure this; and no young man should presume that the world will be ready to confide in him until he has shown that he is qualified for the station to which he aspires.
(5) Into this probation, through which every young man is passing, the question of temperance enters perhaps more deeply than anything else respecting character. With reference to his habits on this point, every young man is watched with aft eagle eye, and his character is well understood, when perhaps he least suspects it. The public cannot be deceived on this point, and every young man may be assured that there is an eye of unslumbering vigilance upon him.
(b) The effect of an early course of temperance on the issue of this probation. This is seen in the avoidance of a course of life which would certainly blast every hope; and in its positive influence on the future destiny.
1. The avoidance of certain things which would blast every hope which a young man could cherish. There are certain evils which a young man will certainly avoid by a course of strict temperance, which would otherwise certainly come upon him. They are such as these:
(a) Poverty, as arising from this source. He may, indeed, be poor if he is temperate. He may lose his health, or may meet with losses, or may be unsuccessful in business; but he is certain that he will never be made poor from intemperance. Nine-tenths of the poverty in the community is caused by this vice; nine-tenths of all who are in almshouses are sent there as the result of it; but from all this he will be certain that he will be saved. There is a great difference, if a man is poor, between being such as the result of a loss of health, or other Providential dispensations, and being such as the result of intemperance.
(b) He will be saved from committing crime from this cause. About ninetenths of the crimes that are committed are the results of intoxicating drinks, and by a course of temperance a man is certain that he will be saved from the commission of all those crimes. Yet if not temperate, no man has any security that he will not commit any one of them. There is nothing in himself to save him from the very worst of them; and every young man who indulges in the intoxicating cup should reflect that he has no security that he will not be led on to commit the most horrid crimes which ever disgrace humanity.
(c) He will certainly be saved from the drunkards death. He will indeed die. He may die young, for, though temperate, he may be cut down in the vigour of his days. But there is all the difference imaginable between dying as a drunkard, and dying in the ordinary course of nature. It would be a sufficient inducement for anyone to sign a temperance pledge, and to adhere to it, if there were no other, that he might avoid the horrors of a death by delirium tremens, and be saved from the loathsomeness of a drunkards grave. It is much for a young man to be able to say as he enters on life, and looks out on the future with solicitude as to what is to come, Whatever may await me in the unknown future, of this one thing I am certain; I shall never be poor, and haggard, and wretched, as the drunkard is. I shall never commit the crimes to which drunkenness prompts. I shall never experience the unutterable horrors of delirium tremens. I shall never die the death of unequalled wretchedness caused by a mania a potu. Come what may, I see, on the threshold of life, that I am to be free from the worst evils to which man is ever exposed. If I am poor, I will not be poor as the victim of intemperance is. If I die early, the world will not feel it is benefited by my removal, and my friends will not go forth to my grave with the unutterable anguish which a parent has who follows a drunken son to the tomb.
2. A course of temperance will have a direct and positive effect on the issue of such a probation. So it had in the case of the young men in the chapter before us; and so it will have in every case. Its effect will be seen in the beauty, and healthfulness, and vigour of the bodily frame; in the clearness of the intellect, and the purity of the heart; in habits of industry, in general integrity of life, and in rendering it more probable that the soul will be saved. In no respect whatever will a steadfast adherence to the principles of temperance injure any young man; in every respect, it may be the means of promoting his interests in the present life, and of securing his final happiness in the world to come. Why, then, should any young man hesitate about forming such a resolution as Daniel did Job 1:8, and about expressing, in every proper way, in the most decided manner, his determined purpose to adhere through life to the strictest principles of temperance?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 21. The first year of king Cyrus.] That is, to the end of the Chaldean empire. And we find Daniel alive in the third year of Cyrus, see Da 10:1.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. In the court of Babylon until Cyrus, and then he was in the Persian court, and he lived in honour and high employment all that time, yea, after Cyrus began to reign; for, Dan 10:1, he had visions and revelations in the third year of Cyrus. He might live longer, for the word until doth not exclude things that follow after, Psa 110:1; 112:8.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. Daniel continued . . . unto . .. first year of Cyrus (2Ch 36:22;Ezr 1:1). Not that he did notcontinue beyond that year, but the expression is designed tomark the fact that he who was one of the first captives taken toBabylon, lived to see the end of the captivity. See my Introduction,“SIGNIFICANCE OF THEBABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY.”In Da 10:1 he is mentioned asliving “in the third year of Cyrus.” See Margin Note,on the use of “till” (Psa 110:1;Psa 112:8).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Daniel continued,…. In Babylon, and at court there, and in the favour of Nebuchadnezzar and his successors:
even unto the first year of King Cyrus: by whom Babylon was taken, and when the seventy years’ captivity of the Jews were at an end; which time Daniel was there, for the sake of observing which this is mentioned: not that Daniel died in the first year of Cyrus; or went from Babylon with the rest of the Jews to Jerusalem upon the proclamation of Cyrus, as Jacchiades thinks; for we hear of him at the river Hiddekel, in the third year of Cyrus, Da 10:1, but he was till this time in the court of the kings of Babylon; and afterwards in the courts of the kings of Media and Persia; for when it is said he was there, it does not so much intend his being there as the state and condition in which he was there; namely, as a favourite and prime minister; for he is said to prosper in the reign of Darius and Cyrus, Da 6:28. This is that Cyrus who was prophesied of by name, near two hundred years before he was born, by the Prophet Isaiah, Isa 44:28, which were sure prophecies, and to be depended upon; and had their exact accomplishment in him. Heathen writers report many things, as presages and predictions of his future greatness; they tell us some dreams, which his grandfather Astyages had concerning his daughter Mandane, the mother of Cyrus; which the interpreters of dreams in those days explained of a future son of hers, that was to be lord of all Asia h: and Megasthenes i relates a prophecy of Nebuchadnezzar, who before his death foretold to the Babylonians that a calamity should befall them, which neither his progenitor Belus nor Queen Beltis could avert; which was, that a Persian mule should bring them under subjection, assisted by a Mede; which is understood of Cyrus, who was a Medo Persian; his father was Cambyses king of Persia, and his mother Mandane was daughter of Astyages king of Media; and he, with Darius the Mede, or however with his army, conquered Babylon: and he is also supposed to be the mule in the Pythian oracle that should be king of the Medes; by which Croesus was deceived, who concluded a mule would never be a king; and therefore, as his kingdom was safe till there was such an one, it must be for ever so k. The birth, parentage, and education of this prince, together with his victories, and particularly his taking of Babylon, are recorded by Xenophon in his history, in great agreement with this book of Daniel. Plutarch says l that Cyrus, or Coresh, as his name is in Hebrew, in the Persian tongue signifies the sun; and the name of the sun, Cheres, is pretty near in sound to it in the Hebrew tongue; and of the same signification and derivation with Cyrus, or Coresh, seems to be Carshena, one of the seven princes of Persia. Cyrus is remarkably famous for the edict he published in favour of the Jews, giving them liberty to go to their own land, and rebuild their temple, Ezr 1:1, according to Cicero m, out of Dionysius the Persian, he lived to be seventy years of age; and died after a reign of seven years, according to Xenophon n; and of nine years, according to Ptolemy’s canon; the one reckoning from the time he became sole monarch of the empire; the other from his reigning in partnership with his uncle Cyaxares, or Darius the Mede.
h Herodoti Clio, sive l. 1. c. 107, 108. Justin. e Trogo, l. 1. i Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 41. p. 456, 437. k Herodotus, Clio. sive l. 1. c. 55. l In Vita Artaxerxis. m De Divinatione, I. 1. n Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 45.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Expositors are puzzled with this verse, because, as we shall afterwards see, the Vision occurred to Daniel in the third year of Cyrus’s reign. Some explain the word היה, haiah, by to be “broken;” but this is by no means in accordance with the history. Their opinion is right who say that Daniel continued to the first year of the reign of Cyrus in the discharge of the prophetic office, although expositors do not openly say so; but I state openly what they say obscurely. For since he afterwards set out into Media, they say this change is denoted here. But we may understand the words better in the sense of Daniel’s flourishing among the Chaldeans and Assyrians, and being acknowledged as a celebrated Prophet; because he is known to have interpreted King Belshszzar’s vision, on the very night on which he was slain. The word here is simple and complete — he was — but it depends on the succeeding ones, since he always obtained the confidence and authority of a Prophet with the kings of Babylon. This, then, is the true sense. (99)
(99) See the Dissertations at the end of this Volume.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(21) Continued.(See Introduction, I.) The phrase does not mean that he prophesied, but that he lived until the time specified; by no means implying that he died in the first year of Cyrus. This year is specified on account of its importance to the Jewish people as the year of their deliverance. We are led to think of Daniel during this period holding high positions in the courts of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius, yet so using the things of this world that at the close of his life (Dan. 10:11) he became the man greatly beloved by God. (See Pusey: Daniel the Prophet, pp. 21-23).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. For Cyrus see Introduction, III, 3, (6). If continued (Hebrews, was) means in this connection “remained alive,” as many suppose, and as seems a very natural sense, then this verse contradicts Dan 10:1. Several explanations are offered: certain words may have dropped out of the text (for example, “in the king’s court”); or “first” is a copyist’s blunder for “third;” or, as it was some time after the capture of Babylon before Cyrus took the title “King of Babylon” [Introduction, III, 3, (5); 4], this first year as king of Babylon might coincide with his third year as “king of Persia” (see Introduction, II, 8). While no explanation relieves the matter of difficulty, it is so incredible that a writer would have permitted a plain contradiction to remain uncorrected in his original treatise that it seems likely either that the author had a satisfactory explanation of the discrepancy or else that this verse, as Prince maintains, is a marginal note which has slipped by accident into the text.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And Daniel continued, even to the first year of Cyrus the Persian.’ The ‘first year of Cyrus the Persian’ was an epochal day in the lives of the children of Israel, ranking possibly with the day of the giving of the Law at Sinai, for it probably means the year in which he became king over Babylon, and thus the year when the Babylonian dynasty ceased, and Israel’s deliverance and ability to return from exile was announced. It refers to that year in which Cyrus made his decree that announced the end of the exile and that stated officially that the people could return home (Ezr 1:1).
So this verse is declaring that from the day of his acceptance by Nebuchadnezzar Daniel continued to have standing in the Babylonian court right up to its end in its overthrow at the hands of Cyrus, sixty six years or so after his being taken from Jerusalem. And for much of the time he was respected and admired by the kings of Babylon. He had a worthwhile career. It is also telling us that he lived through the whole of the exile until the decree that ended it. (Those events were considered far more important than his death. It is saying nothing about what followed those events, and in Dan 10:1 we learn that Daniel was still alive in the third year of Cyrus).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Dan 1:21. And Daniel continued He was known, employed, and continued under Nebuchadnezzar and his successors, till the monarchy passed from the Chaldeans to the Persians, in the person of Cyrus; under which prince also he maintained his authority.
REFLECTIONS.1st, God had threatened Hezekiah, to punish him for his pride, that the treasures in which he gloried should be plundered by the king to whose ambassadors he had vainly shewed them, and his children led into captivity. The fulfilment of that prophesy is here recorded. In the third of Jehoiakim, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, that conqueror invaded Judaea, and besieged and took Jerusalem; yet, not designing intirely to subvert the government, he left the king in possession of his royal dignity, though a tributary, and contented himself with the plunder of a part of the vessels of the sanctuary, as a trophy of his victory, and to be placed in the temple of his god, as a tribute of thankfulness for his success. So much more devotion and gratitude do idolaters often shew to their false gods, than the professors of the Christian religion pay to the only living and true Jehovah. He chose also the most promising and ingenious youths, that were of royal or noble extraction, to be trained up in his court, and qualified for offices of trust and government under him. Thus while he rendered them useful ministers of state, they served also as hostages for the fidelity of their parents. We may observe,
1. The directions given for the choice of these youths, which shewed the consummate wisdom and policy of the monarch. They must be without deformity, well-favoured, the lovely countenance bespeaking often the sweet disposition of the mind. They must be young, that they might more readily incorporate with the people among whom they were captives, and learn their manners and language: and persons of genius and learning, well skilled in all the knowledge that was proper for their years and station, and likely to improve under the tuition of their Chaldean masters.
2. The care taken of their maintenance and education. Three years they were liberally maintained at the king’s expence, and under the most accomplished masters, that they might become acquainted with the language, laws, arts, and learning of the Chaldeans; and, at the expiration of this time, be qualified to appear before the king, and fill that department most suited to their genius and capacity. Note; (1.) The good education of youth is a public concern. (2.) They who wish to serve their generation, must spend their earlier days not in idleness or pleasure, but study: if that season be lost, it is afterwards scarcely to be redeemed.
3. Among these youths four are particularly mentioned, as rendering themselves most remarkable in the succeeding history. Their names were, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. (See the annotations.) These the prince of the eunuchs changed into other names; either to shew his authority over them; or to intimate that they were now naturalized, and become Chaldeans; or in honour of the gods of Babylon, instead of the God of Israel, whose name they bore; and hoping perhaps the more easily to seduce them to the worship of the idols after whom they were now called. But though their names were changed, their hearts were the same; and, far from serving these idols, they approved themselves the servants of the true God.
2nd, We have,
1. Daniel a favourite with the prince of the eunuchs. His own amiable qualities, no doubt, deserved regard; but the singular affection that he found in this heathen master was from God, who hath in his hand the hearts of all men. If we find favour, therefore, with those from whom perhaps we least expected it, let us acknowledge this to be the gift of God.
2. He is scrupulously careful to maintain a conscience void of offence. The king had allowed him and his companions a liberal maintenance; but they feared to defile themselves with the meat and wine of the king; either as being such food as was forbidden by their law, or as having been offered in sacrifice to idols, or blessed in their name: they rather therefore chose to live upon the plainest and coarsest diet, than on these delicacies; and Daniel, as their spokesman, intercedes for them with the prince of the eunuchs, that they might be excused from using the king’s provision, and be permitted to live on pulse and water; hard fare for the sons of princes! Note; (1.) They who would preserve their souls from sin, must keep a strict guard over their sensual appetites. (2.) The poorest repast eaten with a good conscience, is a more delicious morsel than all the dainties of the luxurious. (3.) They who have a sense of the evil of sin, will think no suffering or self-denial hard, in order to escape from it. (4.) Humble entreaty will prevail on those, whom obstinate refusal would but have exasperated; as was the case here; for,
3. The prince of the eunuchs, after some objections, consents. He was fearful, lest such spare diet should make these young princes look worse than their fellows; the consequence of which would perhaps be the anger of the king, and might cost him his head. But as Daniel and his companions desire only ten days trial by way of experiment, he is satisfied to wait that time, and compare them with the others: or else Melzar, the officer to whose care they were intrusted, and to whom Daniel addressed anew his request, grants them this liberty, perhaps with the connivance of his superior; and the event justified the experiment; for at the expiration of the ten days, these were fairer and fatter than the others who had feasted on the king’s delicacies. Note; (1.) An abstemious diet is the best friend to health. (2.) Let the poor, who are reduced to pulse and water, remember, that God’s blessing can make these preferable to a stalled ox. (3.) Whatever we deny ourselves for God’s glory, shall, in the issue, prove our greatest gain.
3rdly, We have,
1. The great progress in learning which these gracious youths made under the divine blessing. They minded their business, and God eminently blessed them, giving them singular skill and knowledge; and Daniel in particular was endued with understanding in all visions and dreams, which he was enabled to interpret, not by any pretended rules of art, but by divine inspiration; and in these also God was pleased to make known unto him future events.
2. The king highly honoured them at the expiration of the three years. When he came to examine into the proficiency of these students, he found none to be compared with these four: he therefore took them into his service, and dignified them with a seat at his council-board. And he had abundant reason to approve the choice that he had made of them; for in all matters of wisdom and understanding, respecting the conduct of affairs private or public, they were ten times better than the wisest and most experienced of his counsellors, and the most celebrated of the magicians. From this time till the first year of Cyrus, Daniel continued at court and in favour, and lived to see that happy event, the restoration of his people to their own land. Note; (1.) They who singly make God’s glory their aim, most effectually consult their own honour and happiness. (2.) Wisdom is not always confined to age: when God teaches, he can give to youth more understanding than the ancients.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
If we consider Daniel to have been but a youth of about fifteen when brought to Babylon, and from all his history, he could not have been younger at that time, he must have lived to a good old age; for the first year of Cyrus did not commence until the whole seventy years of the captivity had run out. Think what grace the Lord manifested to his servant. And what an honor to Daniel to be so long engaged in the Lord’s service!
REFLECTIONS
READER! let us both pause over this first Chapter in the history of Daniel. And let us remark in his instance the wonderful properties of distinguishing grace. Behold! how the Lord made way for him, and guided all his paths, and directed all his ways. Though carried into captivity, yet, from that very captivity, all the great events which followed in the Prophet’s life took their rise.
And when we have duly pondered the history of Daniel in order to mark the progress of grace in his instance, let us see if we can discover nothing similar to the same in our own. If, peradventure, the eye which reads those lines hath been opened by sovereign grace, to discover the Lord’s dealings in his own experience; he will find enough to melt his very soul into tears, in the recollection, how the Lord hath been, and always is, leading on his people, making their way to differ from others; yea, to differ from themselves, in a thousand instances before their unthinking minds were brought into the least apprehension of divine mercy towards them. What a subject of this kind doth every child of God in his history, open to view when once grace opens the book, and turns back the leaves of what is past. everyone finds cause to join in what the Prophet was commissioned to deliver? Wilt thou not from this time (saith the Lord) cry unto me; My father, thou art the guide of my youth. Jer 13:4 .
Lord Jesus! give to every follower of thine grace to know thee in these things; and cause us to stand before thee in those subjects of wisdom and learning; beyond all the knowledge of worldly skill that we may discover from whom, and by whom, we derive understanding in that knowledge which maketh wise unto salvation, through the faith that is in Christ Jesus!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Dan 1:21 And Daniel continued [even] unto the first year of king Cyrus.
Ver. 21. And Daniel continued, &c. ] And afterwards also, though shrewdly lifted at under Darius; Dan 6:4 and in the third year of Cyrus he was overborne by the counsellors hired to hinder the building of the temple, whom he could not withstand, and therefore kept an extraordinary fast. Ezr 4:5 Dan 10:3-4
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
continued = continued in office. See first occurance: Exo 25:30. Dan 25:30, also Exo 27:20; Exo 28:29, Exo 28:30, Exo 28:38; Exo 29:38, Exo 29:42; Exo 30:8, &c. Compare Eze 39:14, “continual employment”.
the first year of king Cyrus: i.e. during the whole period of Babylonian supremacy over Israel for sixty-nine years (495-426 = 69). It does not say that he did not continue longer, but that he lived to see that important epoch. Compare Dan 10:1; and see App-57and App-58.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Dan 1:21
Dan 1:21 And DanielH1840 continuedH1961 even untoH5704 the firstH259 yearH8141 of kingH4428 Cyrus.H3566
Dan 1:21
And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus.
This does not mean that Daniel died the first year of king Cyrus. We know that Daniel did not die at that time because Chapter 10, verse one places Daniel as receiving a vision in the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia. Daniel was taken before king Nebuchadnezzar at the end of their training as we saw in verses 18-20. He was chosen to go into the service of the king at that time. And he spent the rest of his life up until the first year of the reign of Cyrus in some capacity of service to the various kings who ruled over Babylon. By the first year of the reign of Cyrus, Daniel was quite aged being in his 90’s. He continued in palace service in some capacity until the first year of king Cyrus when he then likely was retired from public service and lived out the remainder of his days quietly. Daniel received the vision revealed in chapter 10 in the third year of Cyrus’ reign, he therefore spent some remaining time authoring the last chapter of the book bearing his name.
In Ezr 5:13 we see that “in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon the same king Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God”. This placed Daniel in Babylon for the entire period of the Babylonian captivity. Daniel would never get to see the temple again. But he did live long enough to see his countrymen freed and released to return to Jerusalem and begin rebuilding the city.
What an extraordinary accomplishment considering the times and tumults of the period. World empires were being forged and conquered during this stage of time in history. Daniel started out as a captive of the Babylonian Empire just a few years after Nebuchadnezzar’s father and his Median ally broke the power of the Assyrian Empire which had lasted for centuries. In all the uproar, the king of Egypt managed to seize control of some of the hotly disputed territory for a while but was unable to hold it in the face of the concentrated efforts of the Babylonian army. When Nebuchadnezzar died in B.C. 562 he was succeeded by his son Amel-Marduk who was assassinated and replaced by Neriglissar who reigned from 559 to 556 when he was dethroned by Belshazzar who was the son of Nabonidus who then became king. Belshazzar served as a co-regent of Babylon in the absence of his father who was out conquering more territories for the empire. Darius the Mede overthrew Belshazzar and the Babylonian empire was split up between the Medes and the Persians. In B.C. 539 Cyrus overthrew and took Babylon into the Persian empire.
Daniel was taken into captivity in B.C. 606 and continued in Babylon until B.C. 539. That is 67 years of Daniel’s life we can account for. If Daniel was 12 years old at the time he was taken into captivity then that would put him at near 80 years old when Cyrus conquered Babylon. What an example Daniel leaves for us today. He is one of the models of life long faith in God and perseverance in the ways of righteousness. We can look back and see the imperfections of Moses and Abraham. They had their faults as did Jacob and all the others. No man is perfect and sinless before God, but in Daniel, we see a man who lived his faith throughout his entire life. Daniel was an extraordinary man of God and lives in history as one of the greatest prophets of God ranking right up there with Jeremiah, Isaiah, Elijah and Elisha.
The book of Revelation and the book of Daniel are inseparably connected to one another as is apparent in many of Daniel’s visions. It’s no wonder that some of the prophecies of Daniel are directly tied to events and characters in Revelation. Revelation is a book of hope, perseverance, endurance and triumph in the face of severe oppression from those in a pagan nation. The Christians living under the great Roman persecution were required to reject the pagan worship and remain faithful to the one true and living God no matter what the consequences were. And in Daniel, they had the perfect role model they could look back on and see just how it was to be done.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
continued
i.e. to see the return of the remnant of Judah at the end of the 70 years, Jer 25:11; Jer 25:12; Jer 29:10. Daniel actually lived beyond the first year of Cyrus. Dan 10:1.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Dan 6:28, Dan 10:1,”He lived to see that glorious time of the return of his people from the Babylonia captivity, though he did not die then. So till is used Psa 110:1, Psa 112:8.
Reciprocal: Dan 5:13 – Art thou Dan 9:1 – Darius
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Dan 1:21. Continued, Is from haiah which Strong defines, “To exist, i.e. be or become, come to pass. The verse means that Daniel lived to see the end of the Babylonian captivity, not that he did not live any longer. It is significant that the man who was among the first to be taken to Babylon, and who gave prophecies that they would finally be released, should live to see the fulfillment of that prediction. It was in the first year of king Cyrus that the Jews were released (Ezr 1:1-4).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Dan 1:21. And Daniel continued Hebrew, , he was, namely, in the court of Babylon, known, employed, and held in reputation, under Nebuchadnezzar and his successors; even unto the first year of Cyrus Till the monarchy passed from the Chaldeans to the Persians in the person of Cyrus, under whom also he maintained his authority. For the expression, unto, or till, the first year, is not intended to signify that he lived no longer; for it appears, from Dan 10:1, that he lived at least till the third year of that monarch, in which year he had visions and revelations. He lived to see the promises of Isaiah and Jeremiah fulfilled, with respect to the deliverance of the Jews from their state of captivity in Babylon, which began to be accomplished in the first year of Cyrus, Ezr 1:1, and for the accomplishment of which we find Daniel very solicitous, Dan 9:1-2. This being so remarkable a year, the text takes notice that Daniel lived to that time, but does not say how much longer he lived.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1:21 And Daniel continued [even] unto {u} the first year of king Cyrus.
(u) That is, he was esteemed in Babylon as a Prophet as long as that commonwealth stood.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Daniel excelled quantitatively as well as qualitatively. The kings under which he served recognized and continued to employ his divinely bestowed talents for many years. Cyrus’ first year as king of Babylon was 538 B.C. This was the year in which Cyrus issued his decree permitting the Jews to return to their land. The first return took place the next year, in 537 B.C. Thus Daniel’s ministry as a government official spanned approximately 65 years. Dan 10:1 clarifies that Daniel continued to receive revelations from the Lord even after his career as a government official ended.
Two dates bracket this first chapter, the year that Daniel went to Babylon as a captive (605 B.C.) and the year that his government career ended (538 B.C.). The content of this chapter focuses on the key to Daniel’s remarkable career. He purposed to remain faithful to God’s will even in a relatively minor matter. God blessed that commitment and gave this already gifted and diligent young man additional talents and opportunities with which to serve Him. The chapter introduces the rest of the book, which contains such amazing revelations that the reader might question their validity, without this introduction to the prophet himself.
"Daniel and his three friends became models of how Jews were to remain faithful to God while under gentile dominion." [Note: Dyer, p. 702.]