Points to Ponder in Daniel 1-6

September 18, 2022

To accompany your Come Follow Me study for October 31-November 6

In addition to reading the indicated chapters, you may wish to:

If you would like a Kahoot game related to this material which you could use for personal study or use with your family or your class, click here:  https://create.kahoot.it/share/daniel-1-6/2654a828-e7c8-4682-b63a-2cf853851920. (To use it with a group, after clicking on this link, you will need to log into Kahoot, creating a free account if you have not done so previously, then click on the blue “Start” button.)

Points to Ponder in Daniel 1-6

Inasmuch as the Lord has emphasized that our teaching, and therefore presumably study,  should focus on “faith” and “repentance,” let’s look at what in these chapters would tend to fortify our faith or move us to repentance. 

1. What passages from these chapters help increase your faith in God’s existence, in His goodness, and/or in the truthfulness of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

2. What passages from these chapters help teach, motivate, or inspire you to live better?

3. Why was Daniel so rude as to refuse the elegant food and drink which the Babylonian king wished to offer him?  After all, the Word of Wisdom wasn’t revealed until 1833.      

4. Why would God give inspired dreams to Nebuchadnezzar, who doesn’t seem to have been worthy of them? 

5. What defects can you find in Belshazzar (Daniel 5) which would have warranted the message of doom which the divine hand conveyed via writing on the wall of the temple?

6. Why did Daniel insist on praying publicly in spite of the king’s prohibition?  (6:10)  Why couldn’t he have just prayed in his heart, as Alma’s people did when forbidden by Amulon to pray in Mosiah 24:11-12?

Possible Answers to Points to Ponder in Daniel 1-6

1. What passages from these chapters help increase your faith in God’s existence, in His goodness, and/or in the truthfulness of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

The Book of Daniel is full of miracles and revelations that fall into this category.  My list would include: 

  • 1:15, 17, 20:  After only ten days on their diet of pulse, Daniel and his companions were “fairer and fatter in flesh” than those who ate the king’s food, and in matters of wisdom and understanding they were found “ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers.”  This clearly involved divine intervention, not simply dietary superiority.  We are told specifically, in fact, that “God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom:  and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.”
  • 2:44-45:  God revealed through Daniel the future political history of the earth and, most notably, the latter-day establishment of His kingdom, “cut out of the mountain without hands,” which would eventually replace all earthly kingdoms and stand forever.  Doctrine and Covenants 65 makes clear that central to this kingdom is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 
  • 3:25, 27:  God protected Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego from having even a hair of their head singed nor the smell of smoke on their clothes when they were thrown into a fiery furnace.  And He sent one who appeared like “the Son of God” to walk in the furnace with them.
  • 4:25:  Daniel once again through revelation interpreted a dream of Nebuchadnezzar.
  • 4:29:  The Lord in His mercy gave Nebuchadnezzar a full year to change his ways and humble himself before bringing upon him the insanity foretold in his dream if he didn’t repent.
  • 5:5:  A divine hand foretold Belshazzar’s downfall, which message was interpreted by Daniel with divine assistance. 
  • 5:30:  As invincible as the Babylonian Empire must have seemed, with a city wall 300 feet thick and 100 feet high, the city fell to the Medes and Persians within 24 hours of the delivery of this prophecy, as the attacking army was able to enter the city through a canal which ran under the city walls, once the water in it was sufficiently diverted.
  • 6:22:  God sent an angel to shut the lions’ mouths and save Daniel.  As verse 24 makes clear, these were not simply lions who had lost their appetite! 

2. What passages from these chapters help teach, motivate, or inspire you to live better?

Again, there are lots of great examples in the Book of Daniel which fall into this category.  My list would include:

  • 1:8:  Daniel refused to defile himself with the king’s meat and wine.
  • 3:17-18:  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego knew that God could deliver them from the fiery furnace.  But that didn’t know that he would do so.  “But if not,” they were willing to defy the king’s order at any rate and not break God’s commandment not to worship false gods. 
  • 4:25, 27:  Nebuchadnezzar was punished with insanity for his pride, despite God’s having warned him that he might escape such a fate should he humble himself and show “mercy to the poor.”
  • 4:19, 22-25:  Even though Daniel with good reason was hesitant to give Nebuchadnezzar the bad news contained in his latest dream, after sitting “astonied” for one hour, he found the courage to go ahead and provide the interpretation.
  • 6:3:  We are repeatedly told that Daniel had an “excellent spirit,” observable even to non-believers.  We can and should strive to be a similar light to those around us.
  • 6:10:  Daniel continued to pray despite the king’s decree against it. 

3. Why was Daniel so rude as to refuse the elegant food and drink which the Babylonian king wished to offer him?  Did Daniel just have a finicky appetite?  After all, the Word of Wisdom wasn’t revealed until 1833. 

It wasn’t a matter of appetite at all.  Though the “Word of Wisdom” hadn’t yet been revealed, the Law of Moses had been, and elements of the king’s food and drink were evidently forbidden by that law.  Furthermore, as the institute student manual points out, the food could have been previously consecrated to heathen gods, and its consumption could have been considered a form of worship of such gods.  And food prepared by heathens in any case was considered “unclean.” 

4. Why would God give inspired dreams, such as those in Daniel 2 and 4, to Nebuchadnezzar, who doesn’t seem to have been worthy of them? 

God gave revelation to Cain, too.  Revelation per se isn’t a mark of righteousness.  Perhaps God wanted to give the Babylonian king every opportunity to repent and accept Him as the one true God, and the king would have been more likely to do so if he had his own revelation than if he had only Daniel’s word about God’s message.  But as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13:2, though we have the “gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge…and have not charity,” we are nothing.”

5. What defects can you find in Belshazzar (Daniel 5) which would have warranted the message of doom which the divine hand conveyed via writing on the wall of the temple?

  • He had a lavishly worldly feast for one thousand of his associates, which evidences his pride. 
  • He disrespected the golden and silver vessels which had come from the Jewish temple by using them as wine cups.  And it sounds like he consumed an excessive amount of wine, in addition. 
  • He had multiple wives and concubines, much as king Noah in the Book of Mormon. 
  • Even though he knew well what had happened to Nebuchadnezzar because of his pride, Belshazzar refused to humble his heart.
  • He worshipped “gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone.”

6. Why did Daniel insist on praying publicly in spite of the king’s prohibition?  (6:10)  Why couldn’t he have just prayed in his heart, as Alma’s people did when forbidden by Amulon to pray in Mosiah 24:11-12?

We assume that Daniel did as he felt inspired to do, just as Alma’s people were inspired to take a different course in their day.  If Daniel had prayed only in his heart, we would have missed out on one of the great stories of the Old Testament, as he would have never been thrown into the lions’ den, and Darius would have missed out on convincing evidence of the superiority of Daniel’s God.  There is no reason to think Amulon’s heart would have been as open to change as Darius’ was.