Thoughts on Daniel: A Companion Edition to Thoughts on Revelation

By William Merrifield

Thoughts on Daniel begins a voyage that takes us from the great exile of the Jews in 597 BCE to a small island in the Aegean Sea called Patmos. What began as an in-depth study of Daniel and his prophecies soon morphed into a journey of discovery that led to Revelation and those things that were shown to John. In my studies, I have become convinced that Daniel and Revelation are bound by a thin red thread. The object of my studies finds a single objective--to bring a message to the church that will give light to future events not only for the church but also for the world.

There are many things in Scripture that are hard to understand. For the untutored, it is a constant struggle to bring to light the unknown secrets--secrets that are hidden in plain view for those who

do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9798888326329

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Thoughts on Daniel

A Companion Edition to Thoughts on Revelation

William Merrifield

ISBN 979-8-88832-631-2 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88832-632-9 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by William Merrifield

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

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Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. (Daniel 1:17)

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1

A Time in History

The Warnings

A New Empire Rises

Into Exile

The Days of Daniel

How not to Defile the body

Graduation

Chapter 2

A Time for All Things

The Time of the Prophets

The Dream

The Time of the Gentiles

The Interpretation

Chapter 3

The Fiery Furnace

The Fiery Furnace

One like a Son of God

The Rest of the Story

A Worldwide Structure

Out of the Fire

The Most-High God

Chapter 4

A Faithful Remnant

A Remnant

The Number of a Man

The Parallel

A Far Greater Truth

Why do Heathens Rage?

A Time of God's Silence

A Solemn Warning

Bad News and Good News

Chapter 5

The Vision of a Tree

A Story to Tell to the Nations

Progressive Revelation

Four Prophetic Pictures

Vision of the Tree

Interpreting the Dream

A Time of Madness

Nebuchadnezzar's Conversion

God's Word Never Fails

Chapter 6

The Rise and Fall

A Great Feast

The Writing on the Wall

An Interesting Story

The End of the Story

Chapter 7

The Handwriting on the Wall

The Words of Prophecy

The Covenants

The Promise of God

Chapter 8

The Prayer and the Pit

Daniel and the Satraps

Prayer that Overcomes the World

Putting Faith into Practice

The Result of Tribulation

Chapter 9

The Four Beasts

A Picture of the Beast

A Faithful Remnant

Visions

The Great Sea

The Beast

A World Community

Chapter 10

The Man of Sin

The Fourth Beast

Enter the Antichrist

Three and One-half Years

The Little Horn

The Ram and the Goat

Chapter 11

Seventy Sevens

A Strange Individual

Two Thousand, Three Hundred Days

The Great Tribulation

A Prayer of Repentance

Daniel's Confession

Chapter 12

To Finish the Transgression

Daniel's Confession

The Seventieth Week of Years

Chapter 13

A Time Yet to Come

Fulfilled Prophecy

The Seleucids (King of the North) and the Ptolemies (King of the South)

Dual Fulfillments of Prophecy

Daniel and the Time of the End

Significance of Daniel 11 Today

Five Practical Reasons

Chapter 14

The Personal Antichrist

Behold the Man

The Antichrist's Religion

The Approaching End

Chapter 15

The War to End All Wars

An Atheist

A Materialist

A Tale of Two Armies

Tel Megiddo

The Last Great Battle

Signs of the Time

Chapter 16

The End Time

Sealing the Book

City Building

Divorce

Agricultural Age

The Age of Music

The Age of Steel

Violence and Murder

Chapter 17

Postscript

The Beginning of the Days

These Three Periods

Notes

To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. (Daniel 1:17)

Acknowledgments

To my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to whom I owe my eternal soul.

To my loving wife who has so patiently supported my studies at the expense of quality time that should have been spent with her.

To Brother Chuck Everett for sending me on this search.

Introduction

The chapters of this book are not entirely my own. Several people have contributed to my taking up such a daunting task as setting down my thoughts on Daniel. There is my pastor, Brother Chuck Everett, who is the most knowledgeable pastor I have ever had the honor and been blessed to sit under. His knowledge, his understanding, and his ability to make the pages of Scripture come alive enflame the heart and bring joy to the soul. Then there is Brother Murry, whose thrill and joy in searching his Scriptures beckons those who listen to him to follow in his footsteps and seek out the word of the Lord.

Lest I be accused of being arrogant, what I present is not new.

All things are wearisome, more than one can describe; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear content with hearing. What has been will be again, and what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a case where one can say, Look, this is new? It has already existed in the ages before us…¹

I make no attempt to cover the book of Daniel in great detail. That would take volumes to properly delineate all that is to be found within its pages. I have, regrettably, neither time nor space to do so. I must acknowledge that there are many splendid books on Daniel and more able writers who have set forth expositions of this marvelous prophetic book. I have learned much from many of them. Yet I feel compelled to add to these a book that is perhaps more suited to the laity and the pastors and lay leaders who labor in the cause of Christ. So bear with me as I move from one mountain peak to another and from one important truth to the next and give a working outline for the average believer. Perhaps, like Brother Murry, some might use it in further and more intensive studies.

The reasons for such a book are many. I have to admit that many of the books I have read have left me asking more questions than they answered. Others leave me hopelessly lost in the weeds of linguistic word studies. Just trying to follow their exhaustive and comprehensive explanations oftentimes loses me. Perhaps a more important reason is that I believe that either we are living in the very days of which Daniel wrote or we are very close to them. The days of the end time and the end of the ages, the present-day developments, and events that are taking place in Europe compel me to write such a book.

Third it is not only of great interest but also a great blessing seeking to explain the many things that are being fulfilled before our very eyes. There are unusual activities in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean; the Palestinian crisis, the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia seeking to add to its satellite countries, and the growing tensions and rift between American and the Russian peoples have all lead me to a new interest in Daniel.

One of my beliefs is that the book of Daniel is primarily a book of prophecy. It deals with things which are in the past, present, and future, I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.² Jesus, in Matthew 24:15 said of Daniel, So, when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand.

In preparing a series of chapters on the book of Daniel, I find that this prophecy is not as easy to follow chronologically as the book of Revelation, in which the reader can begin with the first chapter and follow through to the twenty-second chapter and find that the events follow, generally, in their proper chronological order. However, in the book of Daniel is a presentation of a series of apparently separate events; and yet all of them are interconnected, creating the whole, fulfilling the Word, and nourishing the soul.

If one is reading this book seeking an in-depth study of Daniel, then Daniel must be studied in connection with The Revelation of Jesus Christ as given by the Holy Spirit to John the Apostle. Daniel, on the other hand, in his dealings with the end times, gives most of his attention to the times of the Gentiles. This time of the Gentiles concerns the history of the nations during this present age and also the tribulation, the latter being a secondary subject. Luke said of the time of the Gentiles: "They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled."³ So, the prophecy runs deep in both the Old and New Testament.

I have toyed with the idea of listing an outline. However, those who have read my books and those who know me know that I am prone to chase rabbits. Daniel naturally divides itself into two fragments of six chapters each, making it so much easier to veer off and then return to the main thought. The first tells us of the man and of his ministry in the court of the kings of Babylon. The second section is filled with a series of visualizations, laying before the reader terrible visions of the coming doom. Here one can find oneself in the most compelling accounts of the revelations concerning the course of this modern age and particularly the closing time of the tribulation.

Lastly I want to give the reader some rules—rules I received in seminary and which I believe will greatly aid the reader in understanding my thoughts on Daniel. All Scripture has one primary interpretation. All Scripture has several practical applications. And most Old Testament scriptures have a prophetic revelation. I give these rules because to insist on the primary interpretation without regard to its practical implications and applications is to give way to a lazy style of study. However, on the other hand, to ignore the primary interpretation and occupy oneself with only its practical application can result in losing the real purpose the revelation was given. Don't take the easy way out. Question my findings; check my scriptural references.

One last rule, it is highly advisable that the reader read the entire book of Daniel before beginning this book. Make notes. Ask questions. "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."⁴ Then the we can begin to read and discuss Thoughts on Daniel.

Chapter 1

A Time in History

The Warnings

The Jewish calendar starts on Rosh Hashanah, which means Head of the Year. This is the day, according to tradition, when Adam and Eve were created. The number of any given year (the present year, 2022 CE, is 5782–5783 by Jewish reckoning).⁵ These are the years that have elapsed since creation, according to Jewish history. I have often marveled at those who, through intense studies, have arrived at a date that Jesus the Christ would return. Interesting enough, I can find none that have selected the years 2239 or 2240. This corresponds to the Jewish year 6000.

This date in history for the Jewish faith marks the time of the beginning of the Messianic Age. The Talmud, the Midrash, and the Zohar all state that the year 6000 is to be the time in which the Messiah must appear. Deuteronomy 16:1 says, "Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover of the Lord your God." Meaning, we need to ensure that Passover is celebrated in the spring. We need to make sure that all the festivals are celebrated in their proper seasons.

The question is, Where do we begin to properly understand the coming ruination? This coming disaster was because of the nation's sins against God. It did not overtake Israel in a sudden blinding flash of fire and destruction but was a slow eroding of the nation's faith. Micah, who was a contemporary of Isaiah, began by saying:

Look! The Lord is coming from His dwelling place; He comes down and treads the high places of the earth. The mountains melt beneath Him and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope. All this is because of Jacob's transgression, because of the sins of the house of Israel.⁶

Later he would prophesy, "Therefore, the Lord says: ‘I am planning disaster against this people, from which you cannot save yourselves. You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of calamity.'"⁷ Israel had gone into idolatry. I cannot move on without noting the similarity to modern-day America. Our nation is careening out of control. This rapid descent did not happen suddenly. It started slow, and when America did not apply the moral brake, the speed increased. Only now do we see the erosion. Only now do we shake our heads and ask the age-old question, How did this happen? First Kings tells us that "…as Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods."⁸ Solomon, almost as an afterthought, giving a prophetic pronouncement, declared: I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish?⁹ Because his son Rehoboam would not listen to wise advice, the nation was split into two kingdoms. Jeroboam was made king over Israel while Rehoboam remained king of Judah. Yet Jeroboam was no wiser. "After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."¹⁰

This had not gone unnoted. They had been warned time and time again to forsake their false gods and return to the Lord their God. They had been solemnly warned of God's coming judgment upon them because of their idolatry. "During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, ‘Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there.'"¹¹

Even after numerous warnings, they did not listen. "But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward."¹² Because of their sin, the people of Israel, who had given themselves to idolatry, as well as many of the faithful, would be carried off captive to Babylon. Babylon, a center of idolatry and one of the most wicked cities in the ancient world.¹³ Later Jeremiah would declare the end of the matter.

This is what the Lord says: Look, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is being stirred up from the ends of the earth. They are armed with bow and spear; they are cruel and show no mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride on their horses; they come like men in battle formation to attack you, Daughter Zion.¹⁴

There was a short revival during the reign of Hezekiah, but it was immediately removed by his son Manasseh. He was Judah's most wicked and longest-ruling king. The nation never fully recovered from the effects of his evil kingship. Manasseh's son Amon continued in his father's depravity but was soon murdered. His successor, Josiah (about 640–609 BCE), restored traditional covenant religion, which was based on the Book of the Law newly discovered in a Temple storeroom.¹⁵

Even so, many did not follow Josiah's example however, and the prophet Zephaniah foretold disaster for the nation.

‘I will stretch out My hand against Judah and against all who live in Jerusalem. I will destroy every remnant of Baal worship in this place, the very names of the idolatrous priests—those who bow down on the roofs to worship the starry host, those who bow down and swear by the Lord and who also swear by Molek,¹⁶ those who turn back from following the Lord and neither seek the Lord nor inquire of Him.' Be silent before the Sovereign Lord, for the day of the Lord is near. The Lord has prepared a sacrifice; He has consecrated those He has invited. ‘On the day of the Lord's sacrifice I will punish the officials and the king's sons and all those clad in foreign clothes.'¹⁷

A New Empire Rises

Through the last half of the seventh century BCE, the Assyrian influence dwindled under the blistering assault of the Babylonians. By 610 BCE., The Assyrian Empire had collapsed. Nebuchadnezzar claimed his country's throne soon after the fall of Nineveh. Babylon was prepared to march against Egypt. Against Jeremiah's advice, Josiah intervened and was killed at Megiddo.

Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; ‘Because you have not heard My words, Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations… And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation,' saith the Lord, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.'¹⁸

After King Josiah, there was no real hope for Judah. The last three kings were totally evil. The Babylonians swept down on Jerusalem in 605 BCE and captured it. A second attack led to Jerusalem's second defeat in 586 BCE. Captives from both campaigns were taken to Babylonia to mark the captivity of the Southern Kingdom. Israel, in forsaking God's covenant, had ignored the Sabbath day and the sabbatical year.

This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.' I said, ‘Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you six years, you must let them go free. Your ancestors, however, did not listen to Me or pay attention to Me.'¹⁹

So, in retrospect the seventy years of captivity were, in effect, God claiming the Sabbath, and the sabbatical year which Israel had violated. The Jewish nation has begun in bondage in Egypt, and it would appear that the people would end the same way in Babylon.

It was the Lord's will that Judah should submit to Babylonia, His will that they take their punishment, and His will that they repent. Those who did so were carried away in the parable of the figs. Jeremiah stated, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land.²⁰ Zedekiah and others, however, refused to submit.

Daniel 1:1, 2 reads:

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.

These opening verses give us the historical setting which includes the first siege and capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. This occurred in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, or approximately 605 BCE or 4366 of the Jewish calendar. There are parallel accounts in both Second Kings and Second Chronicles. The capture of Jerusalem and the first deportation of the Jews from Jerusalem to Babylon, including Daniel and his companions, was the fulfillment of countless warnings from the prophets of Israel.

Nineveh and Assyria had fallen. This left only Egypt and Babylon seeking world sovereignty. The young king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish in the northern region of Syria. From there, it was on to Judah during Jehoiakim's reign. He took thousands of Hebrews back to Babylon; this included Daniel, who was to become one of the greatest of prophets. Nebuchadnezzar made two more attacks. Each time, he took captives (including Ezekiel the prophet). Only a remnant of the frailest, the underprivileged, and the least likely to survive the deportation were allowed to remain.

Jehoiachin, also called Jeconiah, king of Judah, was captured by King Nebuchadnezzar and taken to Babylon, along with some ten thousand of Jerusalem's principal citizens and royal families. After they arrived in Babylon, the prophet Jeremiah wrote them a letter, telling them to build houses and plant gardens.²¹ He prophesied:

This is what the Lord says: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill My good promise to bring you back to this place.'²²

As the Lord had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures from the temple of the Lord and from the royal palace, and cut up the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the Lord. He carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers and artisans—a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left.²³

Israel had fallen into a terrible moral rejection of the faith. Isaiah's opening message is typical of the lamentations of the prophets: Israel was a sinful nation.

The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner's manger, but Israel does not know, My people do not understand. Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him.²⁴

Here then is the caustic verdict of God—Israel, because of sin, was being carried off captive to wicked Babylon. The first capture of Jerusalem and the first captives deported was the beginning of the end for Jerusalem. Jerusalem—that emerald city, that city where God lived, and that city which had been made magnificent by David and Solomon—had fallen; and how great was the fall. When the word of God is ignored, when it is violated, divine judgment is inevitable.

Nebuchadnezzar set up a puppet king (Zedekiah) of David's linage to be the king of Judah.²⁵

Zedekiah was as faithless as the other evil kings of Judah. He rebelled, and when Nebuchadnezzar heard of his rebellion, he came back in 586 BCE for the last time. Nebuchadnezzar reduced Jerusalem to rubble and burned the Temple to the ground. Zedekiah was forced to witness the slaughter of his sons before his eyes were put out, and he himself was carried off to Babylon. The kingdom was over, and the time of the Gentiles²⁶ had begun.

According to Daniel 1:1, the crucial siege and capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came "in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah." Jeremiah noted that it was in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, which was in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, which is an apparent contradiction.²⁷ In my studies, I have found nothing to support the claim that Daniel is a counterfeit book written by someone who was actually unfamiliar with the events of the captivity. I tend to side with those who believe that Daniel used the Babylonian method of reckoning. It was customary for the Babylonians to consider the first year of a king's reign as the year of accession and to refer to the next year as the first year.

What many ignore is that the years of Daniel were an unusual event because, of all the prophets, Daniel was the only one thoroughly instructed in Babylonian culture and their point of view. As he had spent most of his life in Babylon, it is only natural that Daniel should use a Babylonian form of chronology. On the other hand, Jeremiah would have used the Hebrew form of reckoning, which included a part of the prior year as the first year of Jehoiakim's reign. I find this line of thought both satisfying and acceptable to explain this supposed discrepancy.

Perhaps a key to the chronology of events in this crucial period in Israel's history was the Battle at Carchemish in Sivan (the fifth month) 605 BCE, a date that is well established. It was there that Nebuchadnezzar met Pharaoh Necho and destroyed the Egyptian army; this occurred "in the fourth year of Jehoiakim."²⁸ So then, the invasion of Jerusalem and the captivity of Daniel 1:1 would have been just after the battle or about 606 BCE (4366–4367).

In the clay tablet, the Babylonian Chronicle, also called the Jerusalem Chronicle (605–594 BCE), recorded events from the twenty-first and final year of the Babylonian king Nabopolassar's reign and the first twelve years of king Nebuchadnezzar's reign. The text describes King Nebuchadnezzar's invasion of Jerusalem, including his capture and exile of King Jehoiachin. The text reads:

In the seventh year, the month of Kislev [the ninth month], the king of Babylon mustered his army and marched to Canaan. He encamped against the city of Judah and on the second day of Adar [the twelfth month] he took the city and captured the king. He appointed a king of his own choice there, received its heavy tribute and sent [them] to Babylon.

Assuming that Daniel used the old calendar year in Judah, which began in the fall in the month Tishri (September to October), and that Jeremiah used the Babylonian calendar, which began in the spring in the month Nisan (March to April). According to the Babylonian Chronicle, Nebuchadnezzar conquered the whole area of the Hatti country, an area that includes all of Syria and the territory south to the borders of Egypt, in the late spring or early summer of 605 BCE. This would have been Jehoiakim's fourth year according to the Nisan reckoning and the third year according to the Tishri calendar.

Let's pause and consider the first fall of the Temple. Israel had to pay heavy tribute. Jehoiachin is recorded as coming out to Nebuchadnezzar, and he and his family and all the notables were taken into captivity. At this same time, the jewels and objects of gold and precious metals in the Temple were taken back to Babylon.²⁹ God had said they were to go. Jeremiah had told them in no uncertain terms they were going. And the Bible says they went. That is the truth of the story.

Josephus noted, "…but from the generations of Adam, until this befell the temple, there were three thousand, five hundred and thirteen years, six months, and ten days.³⁰ As noted in chapter 2, Josephus charted the course of Israel in generations. So, to understand the day, one must go back and count the years of the generations. It has been argued that the Temple fell in 597, when the second invasion of Nebuchadnezzar came. Jerusalem was captured, King Jehoiakim was deported to Babylon, and Zedekiah was placed on the throne. Another date is 589 BCE, when the final siege began. Jeremiah has the fall of Jerusalem in the summer month of Tammuz 587 BCE.

However, the biblical time line of the judgment of God, actually does not support these theories. If we take the description from Second Kings, "…the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month… The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. By the ninth day of the fourth month…then the city walls were broken through."³¹ This would set the date at Av 4347. The Talmud notes that the temple was burned on the day after the Sabbath at sunset. This would set the final day as 10 Av 4347 or the tenth of July 587 BCE. The Scriptures in Second Kings, Chapter 25 gives a graphic description of the fall of Jerusalem. It also notes the destruction of the Temple. Although a long quote, I think it important to the event.

The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the Lord and they carried the bronze to Babylon. They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. The commander of the imperial guard took away the censers and sprinkling bowls—all that were made of pure gold or silver. The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the movable stands, which Solomon had made for the temple of the Lord, was more than could be weighed. Each pillar was eighteen cubits high. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was three cubits high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its network, was similar.³²

Into Exile

Scholars generally agreed that Daniel means either God is judge or My judge is God or God has judged. In explanation of how Daniel and his companions found the way to Babylon, Daniel records that the king "ordered Ashpenaz," to bring some of the children of Israel to Babylon for training to be servants of the king. Ashpenaz has often been identified as being the chief of King Nebuchadnezzar's eunuchs. The Bible does not say whether Daniel was made a eunuch. However, Daniel served as a slave in Babylon during a time in which many slaves were castrated and made eunuchs. Therefore, some have suggested Daniel was castrated as well.

Josephus may have added to this belief by his assumption:

But now Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon took some of the most noble of the Jews that were children, and the kinsmen of Zedekiah their King; such as were remarkable for the beauty of their bodies, and the comeliness of their countenances; and delivered them into the hands of tutors, and to the improvement to be made by them. He also made some of them to be eunuchs: which course he took also with those of other nations whom he had taken in the flower of their age: and afforded them their diet from his own table; and had them instructed in the institutes of the country, and taught the learning of the Chaldeans.³³

There is no biblical evidence either way, which leaves this issue uncertain. However, I would be less than honest if I did not note that there are indications that such