• LESSON 9 (March 4) • Daniel 8: The God Who Bestows and Breaks Power BACKGROUND: • This vision takes place in Belshazzar’s third year (548-547 B.C.). God’s Spirit takes Daniel to Susa, particularly to the Ulai canal, a body of water on Susa’s northeast side. Susa was a fortress-city about 200 miles east of Babylon. At the time of the vision, it was the capital of Elam. Later, Susa served as the winter residence for Persian kings until Darius I made it his capital in 521 B.C. and built a palace there (Neh 

; Esth 1:2). Josephus later called Susa “the metropolis of Persia” (Antiquities, 10.269). • Whereas Daniel 7 was a dream, this is described as “a vision.” One of the reasons Daniel 8 is such a remarkable chapter is that it contains a very detailed prophecy concerning the fate of the Jews 400 years after Daniel. • “The glorious land” almost certainly is a description of the land of Israel (Psa 106:24; Jer 3:19; Ezek 20:6, 15; Zech 7:14), the place the captives longed to return (Psa 137:1-6). • We have already read about “holy ones” (i.e. angels) in Daniel 4:13 and 4:23. Gabriel is the first angel mentioned by name in Scripture (Dan 9:20-21; Luke 1:19, 26); Michael is the only other (Dan 10:13, 21; 12:1; Jude 9; Rev 12:7). • “How long?” is a frequently asked question in Old Testament poetry and prophecy (Psa 6:3; 80:4; 90:13; Isa 6:11; Hab 2:6; Zech 1:12; cf. Rev 6:10). QUESTIONS WORTH THINKING ABOUT: 1. Thinking “big picture,” what should we take away from the description of the ram in Daniel 8:3-4? 2. Thinking “big picture,” what should we take away from the description of the male goat in Daniel 8:5-8? 3. Thinking “big picture,” what should we take away from the description of great difficulty in Daniel 8:9-14? 4. Thinking “big picture,” what should we take away from the explanation in Daniel 8:15-27? CLOSING THOUGHT: “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?” (Rom 9:20-21)

150311 The God Who Sees, Hears, and Acts

• LESSON 1 (January 7) • The God Who Works Behind the Scenes DANIEL: “God is my Judge” BACKGROUND: • The third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah (605 B.C. – 2 Kings 23:36-24:7) • God had promised exile if his covenant with Israel was not respected (Lev 26:27-39; Deut 4:25-27; 28:58-68). • When God’s prophets warned that Babylon was going to bring disaster, the people refused to listen (Jer 7:1-4; 20:7; 26:1-24). • Daniel and his three friends were uprooted and transported 500 miles away. • “The first year of King Cyrus” (Dan 1:21) was 539 B.C. QUESTIONS WORTH THINKING ABOUT: 1. “And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into [Nebuchadnezzar’s] hand…” (Dan 1:2) What is that statement communicating? 2. What did the names of the four Hebrews originally mean? What did their new Babylonian names mean? (Dan 1:6-7) 3. How do we know God was working behind the scenes in Daniel 1? What impact should that truth have on our everyday lives? 4. How was the resolve of these young men a living answer to the call of Proverbs 3:5-6? CLOSING THOUGHT: “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens l