Why Daniel Was Chosen by God

Why was Daniel chosen to have the gift to interpret dreams and be the only “wise man” in the Babylonian kingdom that was successful? I will be predominantly using the Book of Daniel to try and answer this question. Certainly the Babylonian Empire consisted of millions of people and at least hundreds of other wise men, but no one else could interpret dreams as Daniel did.
Daniel varies from many of the figures in the Old Testament in his characteristics that he was one of the outstanding persons out of the Jewish people. Often God would use the least of men to ensure that God received all the glory. However Daniel 1: 4 says that Daniel was chosen to join the royal court because he was “without any physical defect, handsome, well informed…”. Daniel does not think of himself boastfully however, as we see through throughout Daniel as he talks respectfully to those even of a low rank. In Daniel 1:17 Daniel and his three companions receive their gifts from God. However, God only gives them their gifts after they chose to not defile themselves with the meat and wine of the king. They had to show that they would not give into temptations the world had to offer and would be willing to follow God’s law even in a lavish lifestyle. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego show a similar willingness in Daniel 3 when they refuse to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s idol although faced with a blazing furnace. Daniel’s priority of God first and willingness to put anything else aside to obey the law was part of the reason God gave him gifts of great understanding.
The success of Daniel is not due to his individual intelligence. Nearly every dream interpretation he gives to a king he includes that it is God interpreting the dream and simply conveying it through Daniel. The sorcerers of the king used magic and false gods to try and interpret dreams. We see very similar themes in the stories of Moses (Exodus) and of Joseph (Genesis). God simply works through these men to show his power. Often sorcerers would come up against them only to be defeated by God. Through their failures Yahweh is given praise. As in the story of Moses the king doesn’t acknowledge the God of Israel completely until God takes everything from Nebuchadnezzar until he professes God being above all else.
According to Bob Deffinbaugh from Bible.org, due to the Book of Daniel having several powerful and accurate prophecies some critics believe that Daniel was actually written after the events and recorded as prophecies. This is an important debate as if this were true it would cause a shadow of doubt over the Bible and God’s sovereignty. Some argue that it was written in a “late” Aramaic form using some new words from Persia that did not exist during the time Daniel was supposed to have lived[i]. However, according to W.D. Jeffcoat, Daniel lived in the beginnings of the Persian Empire, which would have given him the correct vocabulary[ii]. Both Deffinbaugh and Jeffcoat show considerable knowledge in the matter as well as education in the field.
The depiction of Daniel in the lions den by Peter Paul Rubens[iii] (1615) is particularly interesting. Rubens shows Daniel as being terrified of the lions and praying to God for His protection. This is logical. However, according to Daniel 6:17-22 there was a large stone over the top of the den as well as the mouths of the lions being shut by God. “Daniel in the Lion’s Den” shows the exact opposite of these two.
I believe the Daniel was chosen by God not because of his physical attributes, but because of his willingness to follow God’s law. I believe God gave Daniel such perfect attributes so that Nebuchadnezzar would take Daniel into his court so that God could work through him there. However, what made Daniel a man of God was that he never boasted of his gifts or took the credit for his own. Instead, by saying constantly that God is the source and interpreter of dreams he is giving God praise and staying humble. Without humility, God would cease to work through him as he did before as happened to King Saul.

[i] Daring to Believe Daniel. Bob Deffinbaugh. Bible.org. http://bible.org/seriespage/daring-believe-daniel

[ii] The Linguistic Argument for the Date of Daniel. W.D. Jeffcoat, M.A. http://www.apologeticspress.org/rr/reprints/Linguistic-Argument-for-the- Dat.pdf

[iii] “Daniel in the Lions’ Den”. Znanje.

http://www.znanje.org/i/i21/01iv07/01iv0703/daniel-lions-den_B.jpg