Daniel
Daniel was taken from Judah and given the name Belteshazzar. He would not eat the king's food because he did not want to defile himself. He could interpret dreams and was brought before Nebuchadnezzar. The king had had terrible dreams and his interpreters were not able to answer them. God revealed the answer to Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a creature made of different metals, a head of gold and stone feet. Daniel interpreted:
"And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall rise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise." Daniel, 2: 38-40
The stone is the last kingdom that will crumble. The king was pleased with this. He set up a golden image for his people to worship. The Jews would not worship it and he grew angry with them. He threw them into a furnace, but an angel saved them. He decided that their God was good. He had a feast and drank from vessels brought from the plundered Temple. He got sick and asked Daniel why. Daniel explained that these things were meant only for God. He explained that because of this, Babylon would fall to Darius.
Under the administration of Darius, Daniel was favored. Darius decreed that men should fear Daniel's God. Daniel wrote down a dream. He saw four beasts flying over the ocean. One had a horn with eyes and a mouth, it spoke until it was destroyed. The beasts were the four kings that would come over the earth. After the four there would be ten and the last would subdue others and sit in judgement. Later, Daniel saw a ram with two great horns pushing westward. A goat came to the ram and one horn was broken. The goat told him that in 2,300 days the sanctuary would be cleansed. An angel spoke and said the ram was the king of Persia and the goat was the king of Grecia who would overcome the Persians.
Daniel prayed to God to forgive Jerusalem, and God gave him 70 weeks to get the people to stop sinning. He promised that there would be a messiah who would be cut down and the sanctuary would be destroyed again. Daniel envisioned a man by a river and he heard his words. He told him not to fear because Grecia would defeat Persia. The kings of Persia would fight each other and help bring about their downfall. A great king would overcome them all. His name was to be Michael and he was to be righteous. God told him to spread the word of these things.
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