Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Male): Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now, teaching God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levytam.

Gideon Levytam: This study of Daniel Chapter 6, they made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in to dance, it pleased Herod and them that sat with him. And the king said unto the damsel, "Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give thee." And he sware unto her, "Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give thee, and to the half of the kingdom."

And she went forth and she said unto her mother, "What shall I ask?" And she said, "The head of John the Baptist." And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and she asked, saying, "I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist." And the king was exceedingly sorry.

You see, he made a mistake here. The same Herod made a mistake when it's come to John the Baptist because he said that he was going to give her up to half of the kingdom and he realized that he made a mistake. Well, the same thing we find with Darius. When he realized that they tricked him, he completely wanted to somehow help Daniel with the situation that he found Daniel in.

And so, I'm back at Daniel right now, Daniel Chapter 6. And then what happened, he was displeased with himself, and he was trying as much as he could to help Daniel outside of this problem. You notice this expression in verse 14? He labored till the going down of the sun.

Why the going down of the sun? Because he had to execute the punishment before the sun was down. So he was trying to wait, to delay it, to try to find one way or another how he could deliver Daniel out of this punishment. He waited up to the going down of the sun. When the going down of the sun came, he had to send him to his punishment.

And so we find in verse 15, then these men assembled unto the king and they said unto the king, "Know, oh king, that the law of the Medes and the Persians is that no decree nor statute which the king established may be changed." And ultimately, they challenged him. They told him, "You cannot change the decree," and he had to obey them by the time that the sun came down. So the accusation against Daniel is in verses 10 to 15.

Now, from verse 16 to 17, the sentence of King Darius. Listen to the sentence. Verse 16: "And the king commanded and they brought Daniel and he cast him into the den of lions. And the king spake and he said unto Daniel, 'Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.'" Now, he was sending Daniel to the lions' den, but at the same time, he believed that the God of Daniel is able to deliver him.

This word here, by the way, the word "deliver" comes from the Hebrew word "l'hatzil." L'hatzil means to be able to deliver in— you know, sometimes we can use the word to deliver, like I delivered something from one home to another home. There's a delivery boy, there's people who bring something from one place to another. That's also called deliver. But in Hebrew, this particular word which is also in the Aramaic here, l'hatzil or hatzil, means simply to take one out of a problem, take one out of a difficult position and bring him out. It's almost like to save a person.

And just to bring somebody outside of a problematic situation. And so he says, "God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee." And it is so true, beloved, that God was able to deliver Daniel out of this difficult problem.

And so in verse 17, a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel. So he placed the stone on top, and apparently it was like a pit. The lions were inside, and they covered that pit with a stone, and no one was able to deliver Daniel. And Daniel was there throughout the whole night until the next morning.

Now, I want to speak a little bit about the word "deliver" from various other passages in the Hebrew scriptures. And so if you don't mind, please turn with me to Exodus, right now, Exodus Chapter 3 and verse 8. The same word "deliver." Exodus 3:8. God said concerning Israel, who were in bondage in the land of Egypt, he said in verse 8, "I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians."

Chapter 18 also, please. Exodus Chapter 18 and verse 8 and 9. And Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the Lord delivered them. Verse 9: And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians.

This expression "to deliver" simply means to save, to bring out of death, if you will, into life. It is the same word that is being used for a lifeguard on the beach. "Matzil," we call it in Hebrew, a lifeguard, a person that brings someone back, if you will, to life, or preserves the life of an individual.

And so in Daniel Chapter 6 and verse 16: Thy God whom thou hast served continually, he will deliver thee. Daniel Chapter 6, and let's quickly go to the last verses. Verse 18 to 23, the deliverance of Daniel. First of all, verse 18: what do you think happened to the king at night?

In verse 18, the king went to his palace and he passed that night instead of feasting, fasting. He could not eat. He was fasting, it says here in verse 18, neither were instruments of music brought before him, and his sleep went from him. The king who could have— he was in control over everything. He could have gone to his home, into his house, and he could have forgotten about Daniel.

But instead of feasting, he was fasting. He knew something troubled him. He was not right with what he allowed himself to do to that man who served him so well. So instead of sleeping, he lost his sleep for the night. And I'm sure, at least from the chapter, while Daniel was sleeping, the king could not sleep the whole night.

It is amazing how the reverse is happening. Instead of Daniel being awake down there, we find that Daniel had been preserved, but the king felt something wrong in his own heart. Daniel was in the den, he was in his home. Daniel was sleeping, but the king could not sleep. They wanted perhaps to bring him some musical instruments? No instrument, no music. No food, he could not eat because he knew that he had done something wrong.

And I'm sure that the spirit of God was not letting him rest because of the foolishness that he had allowed his princes to cause him. The pride, perhaps, because they told him for 30 days you're going to be the only one that can be worshipped. And because of it, God did not allow him to sleep.

Then the next thing we find in verse 19, that he's rising up very early in the morning to look to see what's happened with Daniel. Then the king was very early in the morning, he rose and he went in haste unto the den of lions. The first thing he does in this morning, the next morning, he's going to see what's happening with Daniel. He's running very early in the morning, he's running, going to the lions' den.

And notice in verse 20 it says here: When he came to the den and he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel, and the king spake and he said unto Daniel, "Oh Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God whom thou servest continually able to deliver thee from the lions?" And verse 21 and 22: So Daniel said unto the king, "Oh king, live forever. My God has sent his angel and has shut the lions' mouth, that they have not hurt me forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me and also before thee, oh king, have I done no hurt."

King Darius, he says, you know what's happened? God has sent his angel to shut the lions' mouth and therefore I was preserved. How many times in the Bible we find God is sending his angel to protect the people of God? Hebrews Chapter 1 and verse 14 says that the angels are ministering spirits.

The angels were created to serve God and to serve the people of God. And how many times in the scripture we find out that angels had been sent for a specific purpose to help the people of God? Now, I have marked some, and I'm going to give you some of these verses, but notice he says, "My God has sent his angel, he has shut the lions' mouth, that they have not hurt me forasmuch that he saw that there was innocency found in me."

I'm just going to give you some verses, if you don't mind, please quickly. We have very short time. Turn to Numbers Chapter 20. I'm going to give you those verses because it's interesting that God did promise to protect his people. Numbers Chapter 20, verse 16: When we cried unto the Lord— that is Moses sent his messengers from Kadesh to King Edom— it says: when we cried unto the Lord, he heard our voice, and he sent an angel and has brought us forth out of Egypt, and behold we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border.

When Israel came out of Egypt, apparently the angel had some kind of ministry service among the people of Israel. Oftentimes when the Bible use this expression "the angel of the Lord," then we know that it applies specifically to the pre-incarnate Messiah, to the Lord Jesus himself. But also at times in the scripture, we find that the Lord had sent an angel. And that angel, according to verse 16, has brought us forth out of Egypt.

Let me give you another verse. Isaiah 37. Isaiah Chapter 37 has to do with Hezekiah and verse 36. Isaiah 37 verse 36: Then the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand, and when they arose early in the morning, behold they were all dead corpses.

Now, I'm just reminded of a story in 1973, the Yom Kippur War. By the way, it is up till today exactly 30 years passed since 1973 war. I was about 18 years old, a soldier in the Israeli army. In fact, I was listening today on the website in the Israeli news and there was a special occasion where various commanders who are today the leaders of Israel, like Ariel Sharon and like various opposition leaders, and various leaders of Israel today, they have been speaking today about things that had to do with 1973 Yom Kippur War.

One of the stories they didn't mention today on the radio, but one of the stories that have been mentioned by Israelis in 1973, when the Egyptians came from the south and the Syrian came from the north, and Israel was not ready at all for that particular war. This war could end the nation of Israel's survival if something miraculous would not happen.

And some soldiers said that as they saw the Syrian armies coming down from the north all the way towards the Galilee area, that something stopped the Syrian army from continuing going all the way into the land, into Galilee. Something stopped them. And they asked them, "Why did you stop? Why did you stop?" because the Israeli army was not ready.

It was the Day of Atonement, the Jewish people most of us had been either in the synagogue or in our home, being sent home from the army. "What is it that stopped you from continuing on the way into Galilee and ultimately take over this Jewish state?" Well, some have said that they had seen angels in white which caused them to stop, which gave an opportunity for the Israeli army to reorganize and the reservists to come in and to begin to push backwards the Syrians on the north and the Egyptians in the south.

And it is amazing to me, humanly speaking, it's not possible for such a little nation to be able to be preserved unless God is somehow in a miraculous way taking care of this nation. And so it is interesting that even when we talked about Numbers 20, when the Jewish people came out of Egypt, God sent his angels, Moses said.

Here when we talk about Hezekiah in asking Isaiah to pray for him and so on, he says, "Then the angel of the Lord went forth and smote the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand. When they arose early in the morning, behold they were all dead." And we can go on, and I have some verses that I have just jotted down, like in the time of Peter coming out of jail. Remember? They were praying for Peter, the angel of the Lord came and he took him out of there.

And the way that God had been working with his people throughout the generation, it is amazing. The angels are ministering spirits which have been called to serve the people of God. Now, we are not to look for angels, we are not to pray to angels, we're not to be occupied with angels, we are to be occupied with the Lord Jesus the Messiah. But nevertheless, it is evidence from the scriptures that God has used angels in serving the people of God.

And so, "God," Daniel said in Daniel Chapter 6 and verse 22, "my God has sent his angel and he has shut the lions' mouth, that they have not hurt me." And so quickly now in verse 23, what we find out that the king is responding to Daniel. In verse 23 it says here: Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and he commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den.

So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and notice what it says very clearly in verse 23: and no manner of hurt was found upon him because he believed in his God. Now, how is that possible? He was cast into the den of lions and nothing happened to him? It says very clearly: no manner of hurt was found upon him. Nothing.

Now, again, it is a miracle, but it's something that God had done on behalf of his people. Now I want to read one more verse, please, in the book of Hebrews Chapter 11. All of us know very well, just like in First Corinthians Chapter 13, it's called the chapter of love. Hebrews Chapter 11 is the chapter of faith. Hebrews Chapter 11 deals with the subject of faith.

Many times you will find the word "by faith, by faith, by faith," and it's beginning right from Abel and Enoch and so on, all the way down to the rest of the special, unique people that God has used among the people of Israel. And notice what it says in Hebrews Chapter 11, verse 31 to 33. "By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. And what shall I say more? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak and of Samson and of Jephthah, of David also and Samuel and of the prophets."

Then verse 33: "Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises,"— and listen to the end— "stopped the mouths of lions." That has a reference to Daniel. Through faith, some of the prophets stopped the mouths of lions. That has to do with Daniel that we read in Daniel Chapter 6 and verse 22 because he believed in his God.

You know, faith in God enables the people of God to go through difficult times with the help of the Lord, which otherwise we would never be able to do so. And by faith, Daniel stopped the mouth of lions. Okay, let's just finish it quickly, and we're going just a couple more verses and we end. Verse 24 to verse 28, just a couple more statements. First of all, verse 24, what happened? All the conspirators were punished. Verse 24: The king commanded that they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them with their children and their wives, and the lions had—