"A Biblical Overview Of Daniel - Part 1" by John Little from "Revelation 6"

 Biblical Overview Of Daniel - Part 1

There is a personal tragedy at the beginning of this book that no one talks about, and only a few of us seem to recognize. And, I must confess that I didn't see it myself until a few months ago. Furthermore, this tragedy is also a fulfillment of prophecy, but it's hard to think of this happening to one so good and Godly. 

The prophecy that I speak of is from Isaiah who spoke to King Hezekiah after his foolishness in showing the Babylonian delegation all that he had, after he had been sick:

5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: 6 ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord. 7 ‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ”

 - Isaiah 39:5-7 (NKJV)

Now, to those who say that this was a condemnation of Hezekiah, remember that Hezekiah was a good king who sought the Lord and was righteous. And, I personally believe that the turning of Hezekiah's descendants into eunuchs was unavoidable - since that is how Babylonian bureaucracy worked. And, Nebuchadnezzar was always on the lookout for those who would help run his empire.

We also see this way of running an imperial bureaucracy in China and elsewhere, to ensure that the bureaucrats running the empire wouldn't try to take it for themselves and their children. Lots of empires have fallen due to coups from within.

Anyway, it seems to me that when Hezekiah got a bit prideful in all that he had, so God took him down a notch, to let him know that none of what he had acquired was going to last. And, Hezekiah had the humility to accept that.

FULL ARTICLE AT: "A Biblical Overview Of Daniel - Part 1" by John Little from "Revelation 6"