Leading
a Rebellion: Daniel
Rebel:
-A
rebel is a person who resists any authority, control, or tradition.
The Story So Far:
-Prophets had
been prophesying for years that if Israel didn’t repent of their sins, God
would punish them by having a neighboring country conquer them and take them
captive for a period of 70 years. Unfortunately, the Israelites did not repent,
and God raised the Babylonians up to punish the Israelites. The Babylonians,
killed many in the attack. Of the ones that were still alive when they
surrendered, most were taken to be used as slave labor, the best and the
brightest were trained in all things Babylon, and the derelicts were left in
Israel to fend for themselves. I obviously, would have been considered one of
the best and the brightest.
The Rebellion #1: Refuse to Eat the
King’s Meat:
-Daniel
and his three friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were very young men,
probably in their early teens. They were singled out has having a high amount
of potential.
Scripture:
Daniel 1:3-9
-Why did Daniel find
favor with the Eunuch? Probably because he was very respectful and made the
most of his unpleasant circumstance.
-Notice vs. 8 that
Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself. He made a decision before
the situation arrived that he would not defile himself. We all need to do that.
You need to decide for yourself that you will not have sex or other
inappropriate behavior before marriage before you are put in the situation. If
you wait until you are making out with your boyfriend or girlfriend and there
are no parents around, it is probably too late to make that decision. You put
yourself in bad situations and it is hard to slam on the brakes and put it into
reverse. Hard but not impossible.
-There
were certain foods that a Jew was not to eat, and there were certain people a
Jew was not supposed to eat with. Daniel asks the Eunuch to give him and his
friends a diet test. The Eunuch is put in great risk for agreeing to do this.
Scripture:
Daniel 1:10-21
The Rebellion #2: The Plot Against
Daniel:
-A
few years down the road there is a new king over Babylon, King Darius. The king
had established three governors to rule over the land, who were accountable to
him. Daniel was so highly esteemed in the king’s eye, because God had blessed
him, that he considered putting Daniel in charge of the entire kingdom rather
than the three governors. According to Veggie Tales, the three governors got
together and sang, “Oh no, what’re we going to do? The king likes Daniel more
than me and you. Oh no, what’re we going to do? We got to get him out of here.”
So they came up with a plot. They played into Darius’ pride and convinced him
to establish a law that they knew Daniel would break. Once he broke that law,
he would then have to be put to death.
Scripture:
Daniel 6:4-11
-Daniel knew about the
law, knew when the law was signed, knew the consequences of breaking the law,
and went home and broke it anyways. That is a rebel.
-How did the governors know
when to catch Daniel? His faith was no secret. They knew exactly when and how
to catch Daniel. How secretive is your faith?
Scripture:
Daniel 6:12-23
-The king was tore up about
Daniel. It is quite unusual for a king to go without the pleasures of life,
like food and entertainment, especially over someone else. Their world revolved
around them.
-All of this would not
have happened if the king wasn’t so prideful that he thought he needed to be
worshipped.
God Avenges:
-Similar
to Mordecai getting the praise Haman thought was coming to him, and then Haman
getting the punishment he wanted to bestow on Mordecai, the governors found
themselves in a precarious position. The king still likes Daniel more than
them, and now he is really ticked off at the three of them.
Scripture:
Daniel 6:24
-Just in case you
thought the Lions just weren’t hungry.
