The purpose of this passage is to show Job the greatness of God in caring for all the beasts and the inability of Job to begin to grasp the required knowledge and wisdom for this care.
The temple was indeed completed by Zerubbabel. But that was almost sixty years ago and the people have again come to a place of spiritual deadness. They need a revival and God has prepared a special man. Ezra had dedicated his life to learning, doing, and teaching the law of the Lord (Ezra 7:10). God gives him favor with the king of Persia and he organizes a successful return to the land of promise.
The story follows Israel as a nation. However, the nation can be used as a type of an individual. As in the case with Israel, an individual can receive the word of God, become a child of God, and then rebel against His commandments. An individual can reject God’s judgment against their sin and make things even worse. Hebrews 12:5-11 can help you make this comparison. Follow the story of the rebellion and punishment of the nation of Israel as if they represented one person.
The story in this chapter shows us that God will judge sin and He will defend His honor. We know that God often delays to judge man for sin (Ecclesiastes 8:11). However, this should never be taken as weakness or lack of conviction. God delays punishment in order to give men a longer time in which to repent. The goodness of His forbearance should lead to repentance (Romans 2:4).
The book of Daniel contains a wonderful set of prophecies that have thrilled and challenged Bible students for hundreds of years. But the book also tells some great stories. In this series of outlines, we will look at the first six chapters of the book where we will find a couple of the easier prophecies and several interesting stories.
