Questions for discussion (from Good Word Online):

• What can we know about Daniel’s family background and early formative circumstances of his life?
• What do we know about Daniel that helps us understand him as an agent of hope?
• Daniel obviously played a role in the palaces of two world empires as an advisor and a governor, but how should we primarily characterize him with regard to his spiritual role in relation to his people the Jews? as a wise man, an apocalyptic visionary, a prophet?
• Although he was an amazing recipient of God’s power to interpret dreams and to reveal events of salvation history far in advance of their occurrence, what limitations in knowledge and understanding with regard to Israel’s future did he struggle with?  How is this relevant for us? See his struggle in Dan 9 with the “seventy years” prophecy.
• What should be the role of prophecy in our spiritual lives?  Is prophecy given at one juncture of history iron clad in its fulfillment, or can God change the game-plan when circumstances change?