Successfully navigating the challenges of exile flows from faith in God’s sovereignty, confidence in our identity as his people, and a determination to remain loyal to him. Outwardly we might look identical to the world, as Daniel and his friends looked identical to the other young men taken into the king’s service, but inwardly we are set apart. Subsequent challenges will expose the uncompromised ultimate loyalty to God that has been there all along.

The Book of Daniel is a handbook for the people of God in exile. It covers the long service of Daniel to Babylonian and Persian rulers from Nebuchadnezzar to Cyrus. He and his compatriots face severe trials and threats, and yet stand firm in their faith and loyalty to the God of Israel. They witness to him and commend him to their pagan masters. The result is that Israel is ultimately able to return from exile to their land, finally cured of their addiction to idolatry and syncretism. They have learned that the LORD is the sovereign God who holds history and human kingdoms in his hands.

The foundations for this lifetime of faithfulness, service and witness are laid in Daniel 1, where the themes that dominate the book emerge. Chapter 1 shows that God is sovereign, that his people must remain loyal to him and that he will bless them if they do so.

The book begins with Nebuchadnezzar besieging Jerusalem at the time of King Jehoiakim, plundering some of the articles from the temple & deporting some of the young men from the royal family and aristocracy.

It is hard to fully grasp what this must have meant for Daniel and his friends. Their God had seemingly failed them. They were effectively enslaved by the Babylonian king. They were likely made eunuchs to serve in his administration.

However, right at the beginning of the book it is made clear that the LORD was sovereign over this defeat and deportation (1v2). It was the LORD who gave Nebuchadnezzar his victory over Jehoiakim. Nothing happens that is outside of his sovereign purpose. Despite appearances, Nebuchadnezzar is not the one who is in control. His gods are not triumphing over the God of Israel. This is the fundamental theological truth that runs through the book. It is its primary message, from which everything else flows.

Having brought Daniel and his friends into his service, Nebuchadnezzar demands that they be assimilated into Babylonian culture.

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