ARTICLE #32 – OUTLINE of each Chapter in Daniel
NOTE: The chapters of Daniel are not sequential as recorded

I. Daniel’s Dedication, 1:1-21
A. Daniel’s Circumstances, 1:1-7
B. Daniel’s Dedication, 1:8-16
C. Daniel’s Rise to Favor, 1:17-21

II. Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream: The Great Image, 2:1-49

A. The Dream received by Nebuchadnezzar, 2:1-6
B. The Dream revealed to Daniel, 2:7-23
C. The Dream recited then interpreted to Nebuchadnezzar, 2:24-45
D. The Promotion of Daniel in the Babylonian Empire, 2:46-49

III. The Fiery Furnace: A Lesson in Faith, 3:1-30

A. The Test of Faith, 3:1-12
B. The Demonstration of Faith, 3:13-18
C. The Vindication of Faith, 3:19-30

IV. Nebuchadnezzar’s Vision of the High Tree, 4:1-37 (chopped down but the stump remained).

A. The Vision Narrated by Nebuchadnezzar himself in the first-person, 4:1- 18
B. The Vision Interpreted by Daniel, 4:19-27
C. The Vision Fulfilled by God, 4:28-37

V. Belshazzar’s Feast, 5:1-31

A. Belshazzar’s Contribution to the Feast: Unrestrained Sensuality, 5:1-4
B. God’s Contribution to the Feast: Handwriting on the Wall, 5:5-6
C. Daniel’s Contribution to the Feast: Announcement of Doom, 5:7-29
D. Darius’s Contribution to the Feast: Destruction of Babylon, 5:30-31

VI. Daniel in the Lions’ Den, 6:1-28

A. The Position of Daniel, 6:1-3
B. The Plot Against Daniel, 6:4-9
C. The Prayer of Daniel, 6:10-11 [This is more like a prayer we should recite or follow as an example of prayer in church. The Lord’s Prayer was preceded by the command to do that prayer in a closed closet of private communion with God the Father]
D. The Prosecution of Daniel, 6:12-17
E. The Protection of Daniel, 6:18-28

VII. Daniel’s Vision of the Four Beasts, ten horns, little horn and the Ancient of Days, 7:1-28

A. Historical Data, 7:1-3
B. The Vision and the Interpretation, 7:4-15
C. The interpretation 7:16-28

VIII. Daniel’s Vision of the Ram, Goat, and Little Horn, 8:1-27

A. The Vision, 8:1-14
B. The Interpretation, 8:15-27

1. The ram, 8:15-20
2. The goat, 8:21-22
3. The little horn, 8:23-25
4. The effect on Daniel, 8:26-27

IX. Daniel’s Prophecy of Seventy Weeks of 7 Years each week, 9:1-27; i.e. the seventy 7’s prophecies. We translate the 70-7’s as 70 weeks but this is incorrect Hebrew. Not weeks but seven years per each of the 70 years: 7 weeks; 62 weeks; 1 week (End Time anti-Christ).

A. Historical Data, 9:1-2
B. Daniel’s Prayer, 9:3-19
C. The Prophecy, 9:20-27

X. Daniel’s Prophetic Landscape, 10:1-12:13

A. Daniel’s Vision, 10:1-9
B. Daniel’s Strengthening, 10:10-11:1
C. Prophecies Concerning the Nations, 11:2-45

1. Persia, 11:2
2. Greece, 11:3-4
3. Egypt and Syria, 11:5-20
4. Antiochus Epiphanes, 11:21-35 (nicknamed Epiphmanes: ‘the insane’by many of his vindictive but so-called friends and administrators)
5. Antiochus’s actions parallel those of the End Time Antichrist, 11:36-45

D. Prophecies Concerning Israel; Daniel 12:1-13

JIV Note: per my comments in bible classes or from the pulpit, God’s covenants with Israel and the covenants for the New Testament church can follow parallel lines but are not always in-common. Quick example: Israel is promised the “Promised Land;” physical property in the Middle East during the Millennial Reign. The church is promised a rapture and Heavenly Promised Land.

Ephesians 6:12, 13 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to [take a] stand.” (Emphasis mine)

Self-Discussion: The Book of Daniel discusses the battles between angels, angelic forces and the necessity to be prepared for such deception and attacks of the prince of darkness. This Old Testament book gives us a better understanding of why Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 to put on the full armor of God; not to fight fellow mankind believers, but to resist the devil and his fallen legions in spiritual warfare [See Daniel 10 for examples].

This discussion between the angel Michael and Daniel in chapter 11 actually begins in Daniel 10:14 where he tells Daniel… “Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people(Israelites) in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.” Daniel and the angel Michael are talking about Israel and the chosen people; not the church. What more could have happened to God’s chosen people since the split in the nation of Israel into two separate kingdoms; i.e. the total dispersion of the Northern 10 tribe Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians into the hinterlands of the world and in Daniel’s time the Southern Kingdom of Judah to Babylon? These are latter day events yet to be fulfilled.

Only a very few of these Judeans (Jews) returned to Judah/Jerusalem with Zerubbabel, Ezra, and finally Nehemiah. The New Testament “Jews” are the descendants of those who returned from Babylon, not from the Assyrian diaspora or dispersion of the tribes from the Northern Kingdom.