Daniel is the most famous person in the book of Daniel, followed by Nebuchadnezzar and Shadrach-Meshach-and-Abednego, but before he rises to fame, we encounter a number of his handlers. Chapter 1 introduces us to a cadre of officials with cameo appearances. In verse 3 we meet Ashpenaz, the king’s head honcho. English translations aren’t quite…
A Curmudgeon Cries “Context! Context! Context!”
I’m teaching Daniel to a group of urban ministry leaders on Monday nights this semester. They love the book because it preaches so well, and I love teaching them because it’s a dream to teach students so enthusiastic about the material. At least, it’s a dream for the first six chapters. When we get to…
An Ancient Hyperlink
Hyperlinks aren’t really anything new under the sun. A book as ancient as the Bible has its own kind of hyperlink – though, unfortunately, they aren’t underlined in blue. You just have to pay close attention to notice them. There’s one in Daniel 1:2. “And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand,…
Don’t Miss This! (Daniel 1)
Sometimes you can miss the first few minutes of a movie or even the first few pages of a book, and you can still catch up pretty easily. This is not the case in the book of Daniel. If you read too quickly past the first 2 verses of chapter 1, you miss the key…
The Great Date Debate
I feel a sense of professional responsibility to write this particular post, though I am prepared for all of you except my sister to bail out before the end. Prove me wrong... If you have spent any time studying the book of Daniel with the aid of commentaries, books, or Bible study notes, you are…
Danny Boy of Babylon
I’ve spent a lot of time this week thinking about death and my dissertation. (Sometimes I’ve thought I would experience death by dissertation, but I am beginning to believe I might come out of the process alive after all.) Death has been on my mind because, if I lived closer to the land of my…
Shirley Franke: ‘Til We Meet Again
When I passed my PhD exams in 2008, I took a much-needed vacation before launching fulltime dissertation work. My travels took me to see some old college friends in Knoxville, Tennessee, and while their presence would have been more than enough balm for a weary soul, the trip had a bonus balm in the person…
How to Read a Biblical Story
The Bible is full of stories – more properly called narratives—and most people don’t give a second thought to how they should be read. They’re stories, for crying out loud. Who doesn’t know how to read a story? Why are you wasting Web space – and my time – on this post? But it’s not…
What Is It, Anyway?
Daniel is a one-of-a-kind book in the Bible. In case this is news to you, let me tell you what’s so unusual about it: (1) Your translators had to do double duty in Daniel because the original is written in two different languages (Hebrew in chapters 1, 8–12, and sister-language Aramaic in chapters 2–7 );…
