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• LESSON 1 (January 7) • The God Who Works Behind the Scenes DANIEL: “God is my Judge” BACKGROUND: • The third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah (605 B.C. – 2 Kings 23:36-24:7) • God had promised exile if his covenant with Israel was not respected (Lev 26:27-39; Deut 4:25-27; 28:58-68). • When God’s prophets warned that Babylon was going to bring disaster, the people refused to listen (Jer 7:1-4; 20:7; 26:1-24). • Daniel and his three friends were uprooted and transported 500 miles away. • “The first year of King Cyrus” (Dan 1:21) was 539 B.C. QUESTIONS WORTH THINKING ABOUT: 1. “And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into [Nebuchadnezzar’s] hand…” (Dan 1:2) What is that statement communicating? 2. What did the names of the four Hebrews originally mean? What did their new Babylonian names mean? (Dan 1:6-7) 3. How do we know God was working behind the scenes in Daniel 1? What impact should that truth have on our everyday lives? 4. How was the resolve of these young men a living answer to the call of Proverbs 3:5-6? CLOSING THOUGHT: “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision” (Psalm 2:2-4)