Chapter 8 provides the shift we talked of earlier, from the Aramaic in chapters 2 through 7, now going to back to Hebrew for the rest of the book. Like Chapter 7, the events of Chapter 8 precede what happens in Chapter 5, but verse 1 specifically puts this event two years after the events of Chapter 7.

Now we come to Chapter 7, which is also linked back to a previous chapter, Chapter 2. Before I get into the specifics of Chapters 7 through 12, I must present a disclaimer. These chapters, full of Daniel’s vision of the future, have been controversial for centuries. Most scholars see direct connections between a lot of the specifics of Daniel’s visions and historical events that occurred after Daniel’s lifetime, but before the time of Christ. However, especially for Chapters 11 and 12, it cannot be denied that Daniel is speaking of events that have not yet been fulfilled. I have read many books and watched countless videos where modern preachers and teachers try to connect Daniel’s visions to specific events that have occurred recently, as in my lifetime, or as occurring in world history today for things that are happening now (like, as we speak!).

I thought a brief summary of the first 6 chapters we covered last week, connecting them to the summaries for the last 6 chapters this week, will help bring the “big picture” of the book of Daniel into focus.

Daniel chapter 1 begins right after Babylon’s has defeated the Kingdom of Judah (for the historical narrative, see 2 Kings 24) and, after plundering the city and the Temple, Babylon had started deporting the people of Jerusalem into exile. Included in this first wave of exiles were 4 youths of the royal families of Judah: Daniel (renamed by the Babylonians as Belteshazzar) and his three friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who became Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. As I am writing this (on Sunday, January 26, 2025), I am still basking in the glow of Pastor Kamstra’s amazing teaching about hope. One of the book of Daniel’s central themes is how, despite all their struggles, these four men maintain hope while enslaved in the land of their oppressors.