Daniel Review for Jr. High

For the high school class this morning we took a look at a few different books.

We started with the beginning of Daniel. If you've ever felt alienated from being in a foreign land, or felt like you don't belong in some way, then Daniel is the person to read about! The first chapter tells us how the Babylonians took the people of Judah captive. (The Hebrews were split up into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, at this point). They carried articles from the temple of God into their own temples.

Here is where it gets interesting for Daniel. Off in a foreign land where he doesn't know the language or customs, he, amongst other Israelites that were handsome, smart, etc., had to participate in a pagan ritual for the royal food and wine. It doesn't sound bad on the page, but this food and wine the Israeli royalty and "elite" had to eat and drink were offered to the Babylonian gods in disgusting rituals. Rituals that went against the God of Israel for many reasons.

Daniel chose not to take part in these rituals for the royal food and wine. In addition he made a plan to make it happen. The consequences? Only possible death! He first talked to an official whom Daniel found favor with, but ultimately the official was afraid of death on account of Daniel not defiling himself with the royal food and wine. He then took another risk by asking the guard appointed over him, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego for a 10-day trial diet of vegetables and water.

As we can see, it paid off. Why? Because Daniel knew what he believed in and stuck to his principles. It ended up helping him in the long run, too. The last verse says that Daniel remained there until the first year of reign of the next king, which was some 60 years later.

Two important things to note. 1) Daniel's plan of action included the accountability of friends. It should be not mistaken that God doesn't intend us to follow Him all alone. We are meant to live in community. We need to help each other live more obediently to Him. 2) Obedience to Him gives us His favor. Who caused the official to show favor over Daniel? God did (verse 9). And in verse 17, it says God gave knowledge to Daniel and the other three Israelites.

We also picked three Psalms to go over. Just to pick up the main idea behind each one because they are very rich. These are the ones we looked over.

Psalm 88- A psalm of despair crying out to God from life's pressures.

Psalm 98- Quite the opposite psalm, celebrating the Lord for his faithfulness, salvation, and justice in carrying out His judgement.

Psalm 24- Written by David. Who may come into the presence of the Lord? Those who wholeheartedly seek His face.

With the jr. class we finished our review. You can click on the link to refer back to old blogs on our Foundations of Faith series.

blessings