12. 586 BC - Destruction of Jerusalem & 3rd Exile

Time:  586 BC
Place:  Jerusalem
Event 1:  House of Yahweh Destroyed by fire
Event 2:  The 3rd Group of Exile


586 BC  is a very important date - The Year Jerusalem Temple was destroyed by fire.

Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem and "burned the house of God. He broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels."  2 Chronicles 36:19

Jerusalem finally fell.
David's house was cut off.
The temple was razed to the ground.

With the destruction of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar "took all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon."  2 Chronicles 36:18

Nebuchadnezzar "took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword and they became servants to him and to his sons."  2 Chronicles 36:20


Homework:

Take out your Timeline Graph and fill in the 3rd box:  "586 - 3rd Exile - Jerusalem Destroyed"

Mark the date 586 BC in your heart.  The temple of God was destroyed with fire. This event was recorded in Jeremiah 52.  Meditate on this tonight and tomorrow we will continue on this exposition.

:)

11. By the Rivers of Babylon

Time:  605 BC - 536 BC
Place:  Babylon Rivers
Event:  Psalm 137
People:  The Exiles

Yesterday, we saw that Ezekiel was often at Chebar River because the exiles lived there.  Chebar River was a long canal in lower Mesopotamia whose water came from the Euphrates.

What is it like by the Rivers of Babylon?

Psalm 137 gives us a glimpse of what the exiles were doing by the Rivers of Babylon.

Spend some time to meditate on Psalm 137 for it helps us to understand their longing for God in a foreign land.

Psalm 137 :1-6

By the rivers of Babylon,
    there we sat down and wept,
    when we remembered Zion.
² On the willows there
    we hung up our lyres.
³ For there our captors
    required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

⁴ How shall we sing Yahweh's song
    in a foreign land?
⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
    let my right hand forget its skill!
⁶ Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
    if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
    above my highest joy!

:)

10. Ezekiel was among the 2nd Exile

Place:  Chebar River, River of Babylon
Time:  597 BC 

Ezekiel 1:1, "In the 30th year, in the fourth month, on the 5th day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. On the fifth day of the month (it was the 5th year of the exile of King Jehoiachin),  the word of the Yahweh came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar canal, and the hand of the Lord was upon him there.

Ezekiel  was among the exiles with King Jehoiachin.   Jehoiachin was carried off  to Babylon in 597 BC.  (2King 24:15)

The word of Yahweh came to Ezekiel in the 5th year of the exile of King Jehoiachin, which is 592 BC.  Ezekiel 1:1 tells us that Ezekiel was 30 years old when he began his prophetic ministry when the word of Yahweh came upon him.  So Ezekiel was 25 years old in 597 BC.

Please take note that Ezekiel was at Chebar River when he saw the vision.  Chebar River is mentioned 8 times in the book of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel often comes to this Chebar River of Babylon because the exiles lived there.  "And I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who were dwelling by the Chebar River, and I sat where they were dwelling."

Tel-abib was located about 75 miles southeast of Babylon near the ancient city of Nippur.


Homework:

Take out your timeline graph and let's fill in the following 2 points:

1.  Ezekiel
2.  Ezekiels' age - 25

As we study Daniel, we also need to study the Book of Ezekiel alongside.

• Ezekiel was a contemporary prophet of  Daniel.   
• He was a little bit older than Daniel.  
• In Jerusalem, he sat under the prophetic ministry of Jeremiah for 25 years.  
• At the peak of his youth, he was exiled to Babylon along with 10,000 Israelites.  
• 5 years later, he started his prophetic ministry when he turned 30 in Babylon.
• From the graph, you can see that Ezekiel's ministry lasted for about 22 years, shorter than Daniel.

:)

9. 2nd Group of Exile

Place:  Jerusalem
Time:  597 BC 
Event: 2nd Group of Exile

To understand the Book of Daniel, sometimes we need to zero in to study one verse, and sometimes we need to step back and look at the situation in a panoramic view.

The Book of Daniel only tells us about the 1st group of exile in 605 BC.

In Dan 1:1-2, it says, "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 gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god."

• Only part of the vessels were taken back to Babylon at this time. 
• This was NOT a complete take over of Jerusalem yet. 

This act would have warned the Israelites that they either subject totally to Babylon or everything will eventually be destroyed in Jerusalem and taken away in due time if they do not obey God.

This is why Jeremiah kept warning the Israelites and Judah kings to repent and surrender to Babylon, but they did not take to heed Jeremiah's warnings.

In 597 BC, Nebuchadnezzar came back to Jerusalem again to lay siege in Jerusalem and carried off the second group of exile.

The second group of Exile is recorded in 2 Kings 24:13-16.

This time, Nebuchadnezzar carried off all the treasures of the house of Yahweh and the treasures of the king's house.  They cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of  Yahweh as Yahweh had foretold.  The King carried away all Jerusalem, and all the officials and all the mighty men of valor, all the craftsmen and smiths - a total of 10,000 captives.    King Jehoiachin was also carried away to Babylon.   2 Kings 24:10-16

Nebuchadnezzar ransacked the city for everything of value and carried away 'all' he could. Much of the population of Jerusalem were taken to become slaves in Babylon.  Only the poorest  people were left behind.

This event happened 8 years after the 1st Exile.


Homework:

Take out your Timeline graph and write in "597 2nd Exile" in the second box.

:)

8. Daniel's early years of spiritual training

Daniel did not suddenly become bold when he was taken into captivity in Daniel chapter 1. Although there is no record of Daniel's early childhood in Jerusalem, we know that he was nurtured with the Word of God during Josiah's revival.  The Word of God is very important to lay a strong foundation for our spiritual growth.  

The Book of Daniel also tells us how Daniel built up a strong relationship with God steadily.  How?  Through daily prayers of drawing close to God.

Daniel 6:10

He went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.

As you can see, Daniel had a regular habit of praying before his God 3 times a day on his knees. This pattern of spiritual life did not come about haphazardly.  It requires long years of spiritual discipline to daily set aside specific times to draw close to God in prayers.  This is the key to being men of God.

David, the man after God's heart, also has this spiritual discipline.  Psalm 55:16,17:

But I call to God,

    and the Lord will save me.

Evening and morning and at noon....

Why did Daniel choose these times to pray?  Notice the verse says that Daniel set his face toward Jerusalem.  Daniel remembered his early years in Jerusalem where daily sacrifices were conducted at the Jerusalem Temple, morning and evening, with the evening sacrifices extending to the night.  (Numbers 28:1-8)

Early days: Daniel’s spiritual life is already well nurtured in his early years in Jerusalem.  In Jerusalem he could have very well have been a follower of Jeremiah.  We see him mentioning about Jeremiah.  (Daniel 9:2)

Often times when we think of Daniel, we easily bypass Daniel's early years of spiritual training in Jerusalem. He heard Jeremiah's preaching. He was only a child.  Never underestimate the potential of children listening to sermon messages. 

Daniel also learned to pray already as he grew up as a young boy in his teens.  He might have had godly parents to nurture him spiritually from day 1.

We can surely use Daniel's example to instill spiritual patterns in our children. Blessed are today's children who grow up in spiritual families with godly parents who can teach them the God's abiding Word. 

We need to work hard in Sunday School to instruct our children to love God with all their hearts in their early age.  We teach them the Word of God and turn all our story telling, song singing and arts and crafts to inspire them to truly love God with their all.

7. Yahweh's People Renew their Covenant with God

Time:  622 BC - 605 BC
Place:  Jerusalem
Event:  Cleansing of the Temple & Covenant Renewal

Little Daniel witnessed the reformation of King Josiah and the cleansing of the Temple.

Once again the people of God gathered together at the Temple & had the Book of the Law read to them.  

How privilege it is to be in covenant with God, to be Yahweh's people again, worshipping the one True God, Yahweh.

2 Chronicles 34:29-31

Then the king Josiah called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of Yahweh  with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of Yahweh .  The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of Yahweh—to follow Yahweh and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book.

**This video is an excerpt from our Music Drama in Easter Camp 2014**


:)

6. Shema Yisrael

Time:  622 BC - 605 BC
Place:  Jerusalem

With the rediscovery of the Book of the Law, Josiah and Jeremiah would have instructed the Israelites to the most important verse in the Book of the Law - Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one.

Hebrew:
:שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יהוה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יהוה אֶחָד

These words express the uncompromising worship of the one true God, Yahweh. Once our focus is on Yahweh God, this verse is immediately followed by the command, "You must love Yahweh God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength." (Deut 6:5)

At the time, the Israelites had strayed from the one true God and worshipped many idols and gods.  True spiritual revival calls people to return to worship and love the one true God Yahweh with all of their being.

Parents were instructed to impress these commandments onto the hearts of their children. They were to talk about them while sitting at home, walking along the road, lying down and getting up.

It is under this kind of spiritual atmosphere that Daniel lived in his early childhood under Josiah's revival and Jeremiah's preaching.  Jeremiah was a prophet preaching in Jerusalem at that time.  A firm spiritual foundation was laid.  Daniel knew the one true God Yahweh in his heart and to love God with all his being.

Let us also follow the same as we teach our children about the one true God, Yahweh, to worship and to love Yahweh God with all their hearts.

**This video is an excerpt from our Music Drama in Easter Camp 2014**

5. Daniel's Childhood in Jerusalem

Time:  622 BC 
Place:  Jerusalem

The early years of Daniel’s life was under the reign of Josiah in Jerusalem. Josiah was one of the few faithful kings of Judah.

Josiah's reign lasted 31 years 640-609 BC.  

Daniel lived during the latter years of  King Josiah's reign.  Josiah was a good king: "he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand nor to the left" (2 Kings 22:2).  

Josiah saw how the nobles and people of Judah had so grievously departed from God’s ways and sought earnestly to restore the true worship of the one true God.  So, it was said of Josiah "like unto him there was no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his night—neither after him rose there any like him" (2 Kings 23:25).

In 622 BC, during Josiah's reign, God did a marvelous act.  The Book of the Law was re-discovered in the Temple of  Yahweh.  Josiah brought about a spiritual revivial by reinstituting the Covenant, celebrating a national Passover, and destroying idol worship (2 Kings 22-23).

Daniel grew up under Josiah's revival. This revival laid a strong spiritual foundation for Daniel and his friends for the coming exile and future destruction of Jerusalem.

In the next article, we will look at the most important Scriptural verse the whole nation learned from the Book of the Law as they renewed their covenant to the one true God under Josiah's revival.  Do you know which Scriptural verse this is? It is under this powerful spiritual climate that Daniel was brought up in.  All the parents would have taught the children this important golden verse in Scripture.

:)

4. Daniel is among the First Exile - 605 BC

Daniel 1:1-6

In the 3rd year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. ... Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility,  youths without blemish....to stand in the king's palace....Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.


Time: September 605 BC
Place: Jerusalem

In 605 BC,  Nebuchadnezzar deported the first group of Israelites to Babylon.

The Bible tells us that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah were among the first exiles.  They came from royal and noble families and were given an oppportunity to be trained to serve in  King Nebuchadnezzar's palace.

These were mainly teenagers.

We can guess that they must have been in their growing teenage years.

Homework:

Take your Timeline Graph out to put "Daniel" in the timeline.

• While we do not know the exact age of Daniel, the Bible tells us that he is in his youth.  Let's take an educated guess and say Daniel is approximately at the age of 15.  

• It's important that you see the age of Daniel as we move along in the Book of Daniel.

• So if Daniel was around 15, we can project backwards that Daniel was born around the year 620 BC in the land of Judah. This is why in my Timeline graph, I started Daniel's strip at around 620 BC.

You know, Daniel lives in a 'special time' of the days of Judah. My beloved, a significant event happened in 622 BC.  Do you know what it is?  God did an amazing act in that year for the Israelites!  You need to bear these important insights to heart to get involved into the life of Daniel.  Daniel did not become a man of God by accident at all!  :)

We need to look into the history not for the sake of history knowledge but to gain spiritual insights into the "special time" in which Daniel lived and how God worked out His salvation plan for His people.  In this way, we will be able to draw spiritual principles to understand how God works out His salvation plan in our times.

:)

3. 605 BC - The Book of Daniel begins at Jerusalem

Daniel 1:1

In the 3rd year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

The Book of Daniel begins at Jerusalem.

Place:  Jerusalem
Time:  September 605 BC 

Daniel 1:1 tells us a significant event - Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, came to besiege Jerusalem. This took place in September, 605 BC. How do we know?  It is the  3rd year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah.

Here are the following series of events in Nebuchadnezzar's life in the year 605 BC.

• 605 BC -  Nebuchadnezzar leads an army against Egypt in the Battle of Carchemish.  Egypt is defeated. 

• 605 BC May-June - Carchemish destroyed.  

• 605 BC August - Nebuchadnezzar learns of his father's death so he returns to Babylon to assume the crown as king of Babylon.

• 605 BC September - Nebuchadnezzar returns to Palestine, attacking Jerusalem and takes a few of the choicest of the people back to Babylon.  This is known as the  "1st Exile".

Take out your timeline graph and fill in the 605 BC Box.

The 1st exile takes place in the year Nebuchadnezzar was crowned as King of Babylon - 605 B.C. 

:)

2. King Nebuchadnezzar to King Cyrus

In our last post, we came to see who these 4 reigning Kings were in the Book of Daniel.

King Nebuchadnezzar -  43 years
King Belshazzar  - 14 years
King Darius - 3 years
King Cyrus - 6 years


If we look at the timeline again, we see a GAP between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar?

This GAP is from the period of 562 - 555 BC.

Nebuchadnezzar:  605 - 562 BC
??? :                     562 - 553 BC
Belshazzar:          553 - 539 BC
Darius:                539 - 536 BC
Cyrus:                 536 - 530 BC

During the GAP, 4 different kings (Nebuchadnezzar's sons) reigned for a very short time and they are not recorded in the book of Daniel.  We need to look into the history books to fill in this missing pieces.

The 4 Kings (562 - 553) are:

1. Evil Merodach       562-560 BC
2. Neriglissar             560-556 BC
3. Labashi - Marduk   556 BC
4.  Nabonidus             556-553 BC

As you can see from the above table, Belshazzar is actually the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar.  He was quite young when he reigned.  His immaturity and wickedness led him to the final fall of Babylon.  We read about this in Daniel 5.

Now we can appreciate the political climate Daniel was in during the Babylon days.  Who would have thought that the great Babylonian Empire who boasted of its greatness would crumble so quickly, almost overnight.

After the fall of Babylon, the Medo Persian Empire conquered and ruled for another 200 years before Greece Empire took over.

Daniel lived through the transition of the Babylonian Empire to Persia. 

From the Book of Daniel, we witness how the Babylonian kings always listened to the advice of  the humble prophet Daniel and how the Babylonian kings recognized Yahweh God is the God who rules over all the earth.  And even after the fall of the Babylonian Empire, Daniel's testimony was so great that even Cyrus the Great was touched by God. What is amazing is that Cyrus the Great issued the Cyrus Edict in 536 BC to let the Jews to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem.  God was working behind the scene all this time.

Hallelujah!  Great is our Yahweh God who works out His wonders in His time!

:)

1. The Four Kings in Daniel's Time

We will proceed the study of Daniel in an interactive workshop format.  Instead of just passively reading, you are going to "think" through this timeline graph as we work on this worksheet together.

First, look at the four color strips with a Letter in each one of them:

The Purple strip:  N
The Green strip: B
The Brown strip: D
The Turquoise strip: C

These Letters signify the beginning letter of the 4 Kings reigning during Daniel's time.

Each letter is the beginning letter of the name of the 4 Kings.

Find out who these Kings are in the following passages:

Daniel 1:1 

Daniel 5:1

Daniel 9:1

Daniel 10:1

This tells us that Daniel lived through 4 different kings in his time.  

Can you guess how many years there are from Daniel 1 to Daniel 10?

This is very important to our study in understanding the Book of Daniel in the context of these 4 reigning Kings.

:)

Daniel Timeline Graph

In the Easter Camp 2014 workshop, we also have this Timeline worksheet to work on to understand the background of the Book of Daniel.

Print out this worksheet and so that you can slowly fill in the boxes as we move along in this study.

Enjoy!  Enjoy!

We will be using this timeline graph to see everything in ONE flash

so that you can see how Yahweh God works out His salvation plan in history.

In this way, your thoughts will stay focused!

Important insights will come to you in ONE flash.

Have Fun! :)

Tsuen Wan Easter Camp 2014 - Music Drama

For this year's Easter camp 2014, our brothers and sisters are putting together a musical drama to act out the 12 chapters in the Book of Daniel.

Casts:

Jeremiah
Daniel
Ezekiel
Babylonian Kings - King Nebuchadnezzar, King Belshazzar
King Darius - Medes
King Cyrus - Persia
Israelites
Daniel's 3 friends
Son of God
Babylonians
Ashphenaz
Arioch
King's servants
King Belshazzar's wife - Queen
Gabriel


Wow, when we get together to discuss the casts and script, we are so excited! :)

Here is a 6 million dollar question:
Guess who gets to play the role of Daniel??!!

Look at the casts again: It's strange...why are Jeremiah and Ezekiel there?

Do you know why?  :)

In the following months, we will study book of Daniel step-by-step to understand fully the times of Daniel, who his contemporary prophets are, the reigning Kings at that time, and most important of all, the significant spiritual message to Daniel and to us.

Join us together to a fruitful study of the Book of Daniel in these coming months! :)

==> Click Here to "Like" our Facebook Page and you will get articles every week.

:)

The Song: By The Rivers of Babylon

Back in the 70s when I grew up as a teenager, I remember hearing this song made popular by Boney M.

Mmmmm.... Mmmmmm.....   Mm......

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down 
Ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion. 
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down 
Ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion. 
When the wicked 
Carried us away in captivity 
Required from us a song 
Now how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land 
When the wicked 
Carried us away in captivity 
Requiring of us a song 
Now how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land ?

:)

We Hung Up Our Lyres

Psalm 137:1-2

By the waters of Babylon,
    there we sat down and wept,
    when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows there
    we hung up our lyres.
3 For there our captors
    required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

Many singers and musicians from the desdendants of Asaph were carried off as captives to Babylon.  Ezra 2 records for us the list of men who returned to Jerusalem from the exile.  The list of men of Israel included the musicians, the descendants of Asaph.  (Ezra 2:41) 

Lyres were musical instruments that Levites used in the temple service to worship God.

Notice, they did not hide their lyres and harps.
They did not put away their lyres and harps under their beds.

They hung them up on the willows.
There was no song to sing.

My Beloved, can you feel their heart beat?

They were so broken hearted when they remembered Zion!
No song to sing.

We Sat Down and Wept

Psalm 137:1

By the waters of Babylon,
    there we sat down and wept,
    when we remembered Zion.

Often time when we read the book of Daniel, we fail to put ourselves into the grievous situations  Daniel and the Jews were in.  If only we could put ourselves into their shoes, we would have fresh insights and new understanding of the book of Daniel.

Daniel, his 3 friends and the Jews often sat by the rivers of Babylon weeping.

They were not weeping because of the oppression and cruelties of Babylon.  They were not weeping for themselves.  They wept when they remembered Zion. 

They wept...

... the house of God was no more
... the temple of Jerusalem was burned
... the walls of Jerusalem were broken down

Zion is the place where God makes Himself known.
Yahweh God dwells in Zion.

They remembered Zion's former glory.
Their minds and thoughts were on Zion's desolations.

Can you capture their grief and sadness in their hearts?

Do we weep today?
What do we weep for?
For ourselves?
Or for Zion?
For the church?

:) 

By the Waters of Babylon

Psalm 137:1

By the waters of Babylon,
There we sat down and wept
when we remembered Zion
    

Here is a picture of the ancient River of Babylon:

Babylon is a fertile alluvial plain between the Euphrates and Tigris.

This was the heartland of the Babylonian Empire, which dominated the ancient Near East between the fall of the Assyrian empire (612 BCE) and the rise of the Achaemenid Empire (after 539).

This was a often a place for the Jews to gather together to pray for Jerusalem during their Babylonian exile in the 6th Century B.C.


What is it like by the rivers of Babylon?
Psalm 137 is the cry in their hearts.


Psalm 137  takes us back to the captivity days in Babylon where Daniels and the God's people could not sing songs about Yahweh to entertain the crowd.


Spend some time to meditate on Psalm 137 and share with me your thoughts here.  I love to hear from you.

:)

Dare To Be A Daniel

We are now preparing for the upcoming Easter camp 2014.

Our Homemakers have chosen a theme:  Dare to be a Daniel!

As I was meditating on the life of Daniel, and the situation in which Daniel was in when he was exiled to Babylon, I can picture scenes of Daniel by the River of Babylon.

As a young boy, in his teens, Daniel was taken to Babylon.  He was faithful to God  through the 4 different kings: Nebuchudnezzar, Balshazzar, Darius and Cyrus.

Daniel's faith and testimony was so great that all these 4 reigning kings (Babylon, Medes, Persia) came to recognize that Daniel's God is the God of all gods and Lord of kings (Dan 2:47).  They all came to recognize this One True God that Darius made a decree that all royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for "He is the living God enduring forever." (Dan 6:26)

Our mission too is to make known to the world "this Living God who endures forever".

Daniel was an old man, in his late 80s, under Cyrus reign where he lived to see his dream and vision coming true for the Jews to return to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity in Babylon.

I can envision in my mind Daniel's heart in Babylon in those 70 long years where he prayed and longed for Yahweh's people to return Zion.

Psalm 137

By the waters of Babylon,

    there we sat down and wept,

    when we remembered Zion.

 On the willows there

    we hung up our lyres.

For there our captors

    required of us songs,

and our tormentors, mirth, saying,

    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

How shall we sing the Yahweh's song

    in a foreign land?

If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

    let my right hand forget its skill!

Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,

    if I do not remember you,

if I do not set Jerusalem

    above my highest joy!

Today, our situation is the same.

Singing Yahweh's Song carries Daniel through his 70 humble years of faithful service to God.  

Let Daniel's example inspire us to steadfastly trust in God to fulfill God's mission on this earth.

How shall we sing Yahweh's Song in a foreign land?

Feel free to give your feedback and comments :)