Deeper Reflection
How a book in the Bible concludes is significant. Judges – the story of Israel living in deep spiritual darkness – ends with a negative note: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judg 21:25). Judges is followed by Ruth – a story in the days of Judges (Ruth 1:1). The last word of Ruth is “David” (Ru 4:22). “David” was the greatest king of Israel. And “David” was God’s answer to the “there was no king in Israel” crisis in Judges. The conclusion of Ruth complements the conclusion of Judges. Matthew begins with Jesus born as “Immanuel” – “God with us” (Matt 1:23), and it ends with the promise of the resurrected Christ: “and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt 28:20).Daniel 1 concludes with “And Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus” (v.21). What is the significance? Daniel went into exile to Babylon in 605 BC. The Babylonian empire fell to Cyrus, king of Persia, in 539 BC, and “Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus.” The theological point is, Daniel outlasted the Babylonian empire! Daniel was a captive of Babylon. Under Babylonian control, he had to take on a Babylonian name, wear Babylonian clothes and undergo Babylonian education. But Daniel became larger than the great Babylonian empire. However, the conclusion does not speak so much about Daniel as it is about “the God of Daniel” (Dan 6:26). Behind this grand conclusion of Daniel 1 is “the Lord gave” (v.2), “God gave” (v.9) and “God gave” (v.17).