This is not a holiday! When you read the Book of Daniel, you’re not reading the account of a man who loves to travel and experience other cultures. Daniel and his three friends are not feeling honoured to be chosen by the Babylonian King to serve in his palace. This is not an exchange student experience, this is exile. Belteshazzar, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah are Israelite young men that are now prisoners of war.

The book of Daniel hosts a handful of the greatest stories in the Bible: the fiery furnace, the lion’s den, the writing on the wall, and passages containing awe-inspiring apocalyptic and prophetic imagery. Rather than focusing on one of these passages, I want to examine the author himself. This book presents us with the story of a man who was ripped from everything he knew, forced to live as an exile in a pagan nation, and yet was repeatedly promoted to positions of great authority and entrusted with incredible prophetic insight. To what can we attribute Daniel’s success? Perhaps his genius, his royal lineage, or simply a gratuitous level of favour from God? 

As we walked into church, it was undeniable. No-one really wanted to acknowledge it and, to be honest, we were not quite sure what it was at first. But as we stood in worship, the aroma rose, and it wasn’t the beautiful aroma of worship before the Lord! My brain was distracted trying to work it out. Was the BBQ with bacon and egg rolls we normally have closer than normal? Had we brought back the altar of sacrifice in our church services? Do we need to abandon the building soon? Why was I smelling smoke? 

It only takes the reader a brief look at the Book of Daniel to realise how integrated it is in the history of the world. The book opens up with the words, ‘In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it’. It is a great reminder to contemporary believers of the importance of history.

Sometimes the Bible can offend our minds to reveal our hearts. It can take our imagination on a journey that our brains are not ready to take. The Book of Revelation, Ezekiel and the last chapters of Daniel are these kinds of books for me.

Katie has written in her Dives for this book, ‘the Bible can offend our minds to reveal our hearts’. I think this idea is vital if we’re going to handle any kind of prophetic/apocalyptic text with care and responsibility. The nature of prophetic literature can have many complex elements, often including a contrast between heavenly and earthly realities.