Page 92 - Daniel

over the whole province of Babylon as well as chief prefect over the wise
men. Although this position may have been objectionable for a Jew, no
doubt Daniel found a way to avoid involvement in the usual practices of
divination, pagan rites, and other things that might normally fall to this
office.

Having been thus honored by the king, Daniel, in fairness to his three
companions who had joined him in prayer that the secret might be

revealed, requested that they too might have a position of power and
influence in the province of Babylon. Apparently, although Daniel had
great authority, it did not include appointing such officials without the
king’s permission.

Granting Daniel’s request, Nebuchadnezzar appointed Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego to positions of trust in the province of Babylon.
Daniel himself apparently had a position of honor in the king’s court
itself. Thus Daniel, the obscure Jewish captive who could have been lost
to history like many others if he had compromised in chapter 1, was

now exalted to a place of great honor and power. Like Joseph in Egypt,
he was destined to play an important part in the subsequent history of
his generation.

NOTES

1 A. Kirk Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles (1970; repr. Winona Lake, IN:
Eisenbrauns, 2000), 99.
2 D. J. Wiseman, Chronicles of the Chaldean Kings (626–556 B.C.) in the British Museum (London:

Trustees of the British Museum, 1961), 26.

3 Stephen R. Miller, Daniel, New American Commentary, E. Ray Clendenen, ed. (Nashville:
Broadman & Holman, 2001), 46.

4 John Goldingay, Daniel, Word Biblical Commentary, David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker,
eds. (Dallas: Word, 1989), 46.

5 H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Daniel (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1949), 75.
6 Ibid., 76.

7 Edward J. Young, The Prophecy of Daniel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1949), 57. See also 51.

8 See Leupold’s discussion in Daniel, 83–86; and Young, Daniel, 271–73.