Lesson 18

Daniel 500 BC

Open with prayer.

Introduce and show the Daniel video

Bible reading:

Ch 1. This covers Daniel as a youth, like the kids present, being taken from his family in Israel
to Babylon, the capitol of Chaldea, under the powerful king, Nebuchadnezzar.

Ch 6: 1-24. Daniel in the Lion’s Den which is covered by all ‘Daniel’ videos.

This reading takes 7 minutes. This is another incredible opportunity to merge scripture with
world history. Assyria, which has been a powerhouse for 500 years has been on the decline,
perhaps the decline commenced with Jonah? Chaldea is on the rise with the strong warrior king,
Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel, a prophet who interpreted dreams, rose to prominence under
Nebuchadnezzar and maintained influence as kings changed. Under a later Chaldean king,
Belshazzar, the Medes and the Persians had risen to power and took over Chaldea under the
incredible leadership of Cyrus, known as Cyrus the Great. Cyrus turned over control of Babylon
to Darius. The origin of the Medes and the Persians is shown on map 10. Finally the Medes and
the Persians were later ousted by the Greeks which we could call an era of change, similar to our
Middle Ages from 1000 AD to 1500 AD. One final note: Babylon and Chaldea is comparable to
Paris and France: Paris has more than half of the population of France – this is likely similar to
Babylon and Chaldea with the area in or around Babylon having the majority of the population
of Chaldea. This is the incredible learning opportunity for world history and to see the merging
of scripture with this world history.

Specific questions:

1. What was the name of the prophet born in Israel and raised in Chaldea/Babylon? Daniel
2. What was the name of the strong first king of Babylon? Nebuchadnezzar
3. What was the name of the Mede/Persian king who conquered Babylon? Cyrus the Great
4. What was the name of the person Cyrus turned over Babylon to run the city? Darius
5. Does anybody remember the name of the city where Abraham was born that would have
been so close to Babylon? Ur

Open ended questions:

1. Did anyone see any difference between what was on the video and what we read in the
Bible? (On the first and second class, tell the kids that this question is coming as we start the
video.)
2. What was the best ‘love’ thing you saw from either the video or the Bible reading?
3. How do you think Daniel and his friends felt being taken from their family to a far away
place?
4. How did Daniel felt sitting in the lion’s den?