Daniel 1:1-21: Introducing Daniel and His Friends

Rev. Ryan Fehrmann, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Wausau, WI, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Daniel 1.

In this chapter, we are introduced to Daniel and his friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah after they are taken captive by the Babylonians. The book of Daniel is both a Sunday School favorite and a deep apocalyptic discourse. Tales of Daniel and his friends surviving a fiery furnace and Daniel emerging unharmed from a lion’s den point to God’s ability to protect his people. But Daniel also writes of mysterious dreams which carry a foreboding warning, a disembodied hand that writes a cryptic message on the wall, and visions of beasts which predict the falling of great kingdoms. Could there be much more to Daniel’s message than you were taught in Sunday school?