A TEST OF LOYALTY
Lesson 41
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Lesson 41
Daniel – A Test
of Loyalty
Someone once said that
loyalty is like the juice of an
orange – the flavor cannot be
determined until the orange is
squeezed to the breaking point. The
Bible testifies to the truthfulness
of this statement. Loyalty is one of
the most powerful forces within the
human heart. Circumstances can
squeeze us to a point that we reveal
our highest loyalties. Loyalty can
produce good results as well as evil
results. Many examples in the Bible
demonstrate both results: Judas
Iscariot was loyal to his dreams of
self-importance, power and wealth,
instead of humility, poverty and
service. When he realized that
following Jesus would not fulfill his
dreams, he betrayed the Savior of the
world for $12.60 (30 pieces of
silver). For a while, King David was
loyal to his passions for Bath Sheba.
He killed her husband, Uriah, who was
one of his most loyal soldiers, so he
could hide his illicit affair with
Bath Sheba and cover her subsequent
pregnancy with the clock of marriage.
Peter swore his loyalty to Jesus was
100%, but when he learned that he
might have to share a martyr’s
death with Jesus, he denied three
times that he even knew Jesus. The
Philippian jailer was loyal to his
job until an earthquake destroyed his
jail, which suddenly changed his
heart. Saul was loyal to his religion
– faithfully persecuting
apostate Jews (a.k.a. Christians) -
until Jesus confronted him on the
road to Damascus. Afterwards, Paul
proved to have unwavering loyalty to
Jesus. He suffered extreme
persecution from both the Jews and
Romans, as he preached salvation
through Jesus Christ. Eventually,
Nero sentenced him to death because
of his loyalty to Jesus. Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego chose to be
loyal to the God of Heaven rather
than worship the golden image, and
for their decision, Nebuchadnezzar
threw them into the fiery furnace.
John the Baptist was loyal to
God’s standards when he plainly
told King Herod that living with his
brother’s wife was a sin, and
his remarks cost him his life. King
Saul almost killed his own son,
Jonathan, because of Jonathan’s
loyalty to David’s Heavenly
anointing. Jeremiah was loyal to the
Word of the Lord when he told the
people the truth about their
apostasy, and his own people threw
him into a cistern to die. Job’s
loyalty to God was tested with some
of the harshest suffering ever
recorded. Noah was loyal to
God’s commands and suffered an
incredible amount of ridicule, but
his loyalty and faith saved his
family. Ruth was loyal to Naomi by
choosing to suffer with her in
poverty, but this action made her an
ancestor of Jesus. Rehab, the
prostitute, was loyal to the spies
that entered Jericho, but by doing
so, she saved her family. Queen
Esther was loyal to her people and
ultimately became instrumental in
delivering them from destruction. The
prophet Daniel was another man of
loyalty who was squeezed hard.
He chose to defy the decree of the
King by openly praying toward
Jerusalem and for this small act; he
was thrown into the lion’s den.
Webster’s
definition of loyalty states that
loyalty means being constant and
faithful, bearing true allegiance to
something. The truth is, every human
being has loyalties, but the real
question is “To what or whom are
we loyal?” Our highest
loyalties are revealed when we are
squeezed into a decision that favors
one loyalty and harms another.
Thoughtfully review the first
paragraph and notice how certain
people had to make some very
difficult choices. Inevitably, we all
face situations where circumstances
leave no option but to favor a higher
loyalty and harm the lesser one! For
this reason, it is hard to say where
our highest loyalties really lie
until we are “squeezes” by
different choices. (The process of
“squeezing “explains why
there will be a Great Tribulation.
God is going to “squeeze”
the loyalty out of every human being
to see who loves Him above everything
else. See Revelation 3:10.)
I thought a Bible
study on Daniel and his lion’s
den experience might prove helpful as
we focus on the subject of loyalty.
Most Christians have rejoiced in the
story of Daniel’s escape from
the lions, but few people know the
bigger picture. Daniel’s loyalty
had a profound impact on two
significant nations! To make this
story as compelling as possible, I
have added background information to
help you “stand in Daniel’s
sandals.”
A Prisoner of War
Daniel was taken to
Babylon as a prisoner of war as a
result of Nebuchadnezzar’s first
siege on Jerusalem in 605 B.C. It was
believed that Daniel was about 17 or
18 years of age. It was King
Nebuchadnezzar’s policy to take
the best captives and enroll them in
an academy to prepare them for
government service. The King had
wisely established a school to train
captives from various tribal nations,
so the captives could eventually
return to their homeland and serve
the empire of Babylon as rulers who
were loyal to the king of Babylon. It
was for this purpose that Daniel and
some of his friends were inducted
into the king’s academy. The
book of Daniel begins with Daniel and
the closest friends asking the
king’s steward if they could be
excused from eating at the
king’s table. They wanted to
maintain a simpler, vegetarian diet,
but the steward refused this first
request. He was sure that Daniel and
his friends would become sick and
feeble if they ate nothing but
vegetables and water. If they became
sick because of his negligence, he
could lose his job or possibly, his
head! However, Daniel persisted and
eventually, the steward gave in. When
the time came for the king to test
the trainees, Daniel and his friends
were found to be at the top of their
class. In fact, the Bible
conservatively estimates their
knowledge was ten times better that
there fellow students. (Daniel 1) Do
you think the success of Daniel and
his friends had anything to do with
their loyalty to God? I do.
A short time later,
Daniel gained worldwide recognition
when God used him to interpret a
dream that God gave to
Nebuchadnezzar. As a result of that
incident, Nebuchadnezzar promoted
Daniel to a very high government
position and all the wise men
of Babylon reported to him. (Daniel
2) Do you think that Daniel’s
success had anything to do with his
loyalty to God? I do.
Why was Daniel Sent to
Babylon?
Historians tell us
that Nebuchadnezzar set siege to
Jerusalem three times. He finally
destroyed the city in 586 B.C.
because Israel’s kings refused
to submit to Nebuchadnezzar’s
“higher’ authority. In
actuality, God allowed Jerusalem to
be destroyed and all its citizens put
into captivity for 70 years because
Israel refused to submit to
God’s “higher”
authority. The Bible carefully
justifies God’s anger with
Israel. To understand God’s
wrath against Israel in 605 B.C., we
must start with Moses. Carefully read
these texts:
- Sabbath Rest
Required for the Land –
Leviticus 25
A few weeks after the
Exodus, “The Lord said
to Moses on Mount Sinai,
“Speak to the Israelites
and say to them: ‘When
you enter the land I am going
to give you, the land itself
must observe a Sabbath rest
to the Lord. For six years
sow your fields, and for six
years prune your vineyards
and gather their crops. But
in the seventh year the land
is to have a Sabbath of rest,
a Sabbath to the Lord. Do not
sow your fields or prune your
vineyards. Do not reap what
grows of itself or harvest
the grapes of your intended
vines. The land is to have a
year of
rest.’”
(Leviticus 25:1-5) This test
is self-explanatory. God
required the land to rest
every seventh year. Why would
any nation refuse a
year’s vacation every
seventh year? The Lord
continues, “You may ask,
‘what will we eat in the
seventh year if we do not
plant or harvest our
crops?” I will send you
such a blessing in the sixth
year that the land will yield
enough for three years. While
you plant during the eighth
year, you will eat from the
old crop and will continue to
eat from it until the harvest
of the ninth year comes
in.” (Leviticus
25:20-22) There is a profound
point in these verses: God
promised to send a bumper
crop every sixth year so
there would be enough food to
observe a year of rest!
Contrary to what many Bible
students say, the Sabbath
rest for the land was not for
agricultural purposes. In
fact, God made the land
produce its greatest harvest
during the sixth year –
when the land was in its most
exhausted condition! The
lesson to be learned from the
Sabbath year is simple. God
established the Sabbath year
rest to test His
people. There is no other
reason. Would they be loyal
or rebellious? (See Exodus 16
for a parallel concerning the
seventh day.)
- If You
Don’t Keep My Sabbath
Years – Leviticus 26
God also warned
Israel: “If in spite of this
[lesser punishments] you still do not
listen to me but continue to be
hostile toward me, then in my anger I
will be hostile toward you, and I
myself will punish you for your sins
seven times over…I will turn
your cities into ruins and lay waste
your sanctuaries, and I will take no
delight in the pleasing aroma of your
offerings. I will lay waste the land,
so that your enemies who live there
will be appalled. I will scatter you
among the nations and will draw out
my sword and pursue you. Your land
will be laid waste, and your cities
will lie in ruins. Then the land will
enjoy its Sabbath years all the time
that it lies desolate and you are in
a country of your enemies; then the
land will rest and enjoy its
Sabbaths. All the time that it lies
desolate, the land will have the rest
it did not have during the Sabbaths
you lived in it.” (Leviticus
26:27,28,31-35, insertion mine) It
does not take a rocket scientist to
understand these words. God wanted
His people to understand a profound
truth: “…[The Lord said]
the land is mine and you are but
aliens and my tenants.”
(Leviticus 25:23, insertion mine) God
wanted Israel to know that their
occupation of His land was
conditional on their steadfast
loyalty to Him. (Leviticus 18;
Deuteronomy 28)
- Because You
Have Rebelled – Jeremiah
25
The Old Testament
indicates over and over again that
Israel did not remain loyal to God.
Their cup of disobedience overflowed
and around 615 B.C. God gave a
prophecy to Jeremiah: He said,
“’I will summon all the
peoples of the north and my servant
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,’
declares the Lord, ‘and I will
bring them against this land and its
inhabitants and against all the
surrounding nations. I will
completely destroy them and make them
an object of horror and scorn, and an
everlasting ruin. I will banish from
them the sounds of joy and gladness,
the voices of bride and bridegroom,
the sound of millstones and the light
of the lamp. This whole country will
become a desolate wasteland, and
these nations will serve the king of
Babylon seventy years. But when the
seventy years are fulfilled, I will
punish the king of Babylon and his
nation, the land of the Babylonians,
for their guilt,’ declares the
Lord, ‘and will make it desolate
forever.’” (Jeremiah
25:9-12) Notice three things: First,
God calls King Nebuchadnezzar
“My servant.” This is an
important concept. God chose a pagan
king to be an agent of His wrath
against Jerusalem. (Parallel: The
Antichrist will be an agent of
God’s wrath during the Great
Tribulation.) Second, God said that
Jerusalem would be destroyed and that
Israel would be prisoners of war in
Babylon for 70 years. Third, Babylon
– for the same sins as Jerusalem
– would eventually be destroyed.
- 430 Years of
Rebellion
During the 70 years of
captivity in Babylon, God anointed
two prophets, Daniel and Ezekiel.
Ezekiel was a prisoner of war like
Daniel, but Ezekiel lived among the
captives, while Daniel lived in the
halls of power. Ezekiel was timid and
afraid of public speaking, so the
Lord prompted him to “act
out” various signs for Israel to
watch. Notice this sign:
‘…This will be a sign to
the house of Israel…[Ezekiel]
lie on your left side and put the sin
of the house of Israel upon yourself.
You are to bear their sin for the
number of days you lie on your side.
So for 390 days you will bear the sin
of the house of Israel. After you
have finished this, lie down again,
this time on your right side, and
bear the sin of the house of Judah. I
have assigned you 40 days, a day for
each year.” (Ezekiel 4:3,6,
insertion mine) This text is
important because God indicates the
length of rebellion of the twelve
tribes as 430 years. (390 + 40 = 430)
This number should catch your
attention because it is the same
number of years that Israel spent in
Egypt. (Exodus 12:41) These two
separate and distinct instances of
430 years have three things in
common: apostasy, timing and vigil.
First, the apostasy of the Israelites
in Egypt is no different than the
apostasy of the Israelites in the
promised land of Canaan! Apostasy is
always the course of fallen man.
Second, God’s timing is perfect
in both instances. The Bible says
that God delivered the Israelites
from Egyptian slavery according to
His promise to Abraham, exactly 430
years to the very day. (Exodus 12:41)
If God delivered Israel from Egypt on
time, then it would be no surprise
that He sent them into captivity on
time as well. It should be noted that
when Israel violated 70 Sabbath
years, God sent them into captivity!
How do we know this? Ezekiel
performed the “430 day”
sign for all of Israel to see. There
are exactly 70 Sabbatical years in
430 years. In other words, the
Babylonian captivity was 70 years in
length because that is the exact
number of Sabbath years Israel
violated. Remember God’s threat
in Leviticus 26:34,35? “Then the
land will enjoy its Sabbath years all
the time that it lies desolate and
you are in the country of your
enemies; then the land will rest and
enjoy its Sabbaths. All the time that
it lies desolate, the land will have
the rest it did not have during the
Sabbaths you lived in it.” This
text demonstrates the last
significant point in common between
these separate 430-year periods. God
keeps vigil. He does not sleep. He is
very much aware of everything that
takes place on Earth and He will step
into the affairs of men when the
timing is just right. He delivered
Israel from slavery in Egypt during
the right year, and He sent Israel
into Babylonian captivity on time and
during the right year! Furthermore,
the text demonstrates that God also
delivered Israel out of their
Babylonian captivity during the right
year and right on time.
- Prophecy
Fulfilled
The Bible says,
“God handed all of them [the
Jews] over to Nebuchadnezzar. He
carried to Babylon all the articles
from the temple of God, both large
and small, and the treasures of the
Lord’s temple and the treasures
of the king and the officials. They
set fire to God’s temple and
broke down the wall of Jerusalem;
they burned all the palaces and
destroyed everything of value there.
He carried into exile to Babylon the
remnant, which escaped from the
sword, and they became servants to
him and his sons until the kingdoms
of Persia came to power. The land
enjoyed its Sabbath rests; all the
time of its desolation it rested,
until the seventy years were
completed in fulfillment of the word
of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.”
(2 Chronicles 36:17-21, insertion
mine) Again, the reason for the
Babylonian captivity is simple and
obvious. God handed Israel over to
Nebuchadnezzar because of their
disloyalty. They refused to keep His
Sabbaths, so He evicted them and the
land rested 70 years.
Zooming Forward
Now that we understand
why Israel went into Babylonian
captivity, we need to zoom forward in
time to the fall of Babylon, when
Nebuchadezzar’s reign ended.
Historians say Babylon fell on Tishri
16 (around October 13), 539 B.C.
Darius came to the throne during that
year (his ascension year), so his
first calendar year (according to the
religious calendar of the Jews) was
538/7 B.C. The first year of
Darius’ reign is Daniel’s
68th year in captivity.
Daniel was taken captive during 605
B.C., a “Sabbath year,” and
he calculated that the 70 years of
desolation decreed upon Jerusalem
would end on the “Friday year,
“536 B.C. (Counting inclusively,
605 B.C. minus 536 B.C. equals 70
years.)
Note: When God
established the week of years at the
time of the Exodus, God required
Israel to set his or her slaves free
every sixth or “Friday
year.” The seventh or
“Sabbath year” was to be
celebrated as a year of freedom from
the bondage of slavery. (See Exodus
21:2 and Jeremiah 34:14-16.) Daniel
was aware of the Jubilee calendar. He
also understood how the “week of
years” synchronized and knew
that 536/5 B.C. was a “Friday
year,” as well as the 70th
or final year of captivity.
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