Watchtower Study, Daniel, an example to follow, Week of October 9 to 15, 2023, Comments and Practical Answers.

Study of the Watchtower, Daniel, an example to follow, 9-15-October-2023, Comments and Responses.

“You are very valuable” (DAN. 9:23).

1. Why did young Daniel attract a lot of attention from the Babylonians?

Young Daniel caught the attention of the Babylonians because of his flawless physical appearance and good looks. He also came from an important family, which gave him a certain social status. These qualities caused the Babylonians to consider Daniel a suitable candidate for training and membership in Babylonian high society.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Yes, because Daniel was a young man who did not have any physical defects and was good looking, and he also came from an important family, which is why even though he was very young, he did not go unnoticed.

The account of Daniel chapter 1 says that when they were asked to bring those young men, it mentions that they should be royalty and nobility, so when they saw them, they saw that they were wise young men with knowledge with discernment who were taught in writing and in the language. Of the Chaldeans then all that caught their attention but more than anything because he had spiritual wisdom and that caught their attention more. 

2. What opinion did Jehovah have of Daniel? (Ezekiel 14:14).

Jehovah loved Daniel and we say this because he is mentioned alongside men as faithful as Noah and Job. Jehovah appreciated Daniel not for his physical appearance or his social position, but for the type of person he had decided to be. Jehovah never stopped loving Daniel and granted him a long and extraordinary life.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

According to the Bible text at Ezekiel 14:14, Jehovah had a very favorable opinion of Daniel. Here he is mentioned along with two other righteous men, Noah and Job, highlighting that by his righteousness they could save themselves. This suggests that Danie was recognized for his righteousness and his close relationship with God.

Well, he had a fairly big opinion or saw it as very important to the extent that he put him at the level of outstanding men like Noah and Job, men of great faith, men this scriptures are seen as a great example even though Daniel was still a young man of around 20 years old and Jehovah saw him as one of these two important and great men.

And the book of Daniel 10:19 there mentions that even in his old age, Jehovah continued to love him. In fact, he tells him that he was a very valuable man, so from his youth he had that same attitude.

Yes, first Samuel 16:7 mentioned in the previous paragraph mentions how Jehovah does not pay attention to appearance if he does not pay attention to the attitude of heart and the determination to serve him, although Daniel had a beautiful appearance without defect as mentioned because he They selected for that reason in the sight of men Jehovah had selected precisely for their determination to be faithful to do what did not matter if their life was in danger to honor Jehovah. 

3. What will we see in this article?

We will first define these qualities and review some situations in which Daniel demonstrated them.

OPTIONAL ANSWER

We are going to analyze precisely how he came to develop these qualities and in our case we are also going to analyze in this article how we can follow Daniel's example.

In the article we will analyze the two qualities of Daniel that made him a valuable person for Jehovah. We will also review situations in which Daniel showed you these qualities and what he had to do to develop them. Finally, we will talk about how we can follow Daniel's example, and how we can all learn a lot from him, even though the article is aimed at young people.

BE BRAVE LIKE DANIEL

4. On what occasion did Daniel show himself to be brave?

Daniel demonstrated his bravery on two occasions. The first occasion was when King Nebuchadnezzar ordered all the wise men of Babylon, including Daniel, to reveal his dream and the interpretation of it. Daniel asked the king for time, which required faith and courage, since the Bible does not mention that Daniel had ever interpreted a dream before. He also asked his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to pray to God for mercy regarding that secret. With the help of Jehovah, Daniel was able to interpret the king's dream and thus he and his friends escaped death.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Remembering that Daniel was very young, it turns out that the king tells them about the dream he has and says that it was a very disturbing dream, but what worried Daniel a lot is that there were many lives involved since the king commented that if he was not He deciphered said dream because he would die. When Daniel found out, he had never deciphered a dream, but nevertheless I believe that his faith was very great because he invoked Jehovah and asked his companions to do it and he received Jehovah's help because he managed to do what he wanted. save the people.

The King asked him to reveal the dream; he himself did not understand it. But here the important thing is that no one understood it, he had many wise men in his court and no one knew how to decipher that dream. Daniel, in Daniel 2:16 says that he asked the king to give him time to decipher that dream, where Daniel's courage comes in because He was not known as a dream revealer. He had never deciphered a dream before, but he trusted that Jehovah was going to help him at that moment. As already mentioned, lives were at stake, and Daniel cared about this. He trusted Jehovah. He was brave. He asked for time. to the king and the king granted it so that was where Jehovah acted.

If he asked his friends who were also Hebrews to pray for him, they would beg God for mercy and he says specifically because this was a secret and as we already saw he had never interpreted that. Furthermore, when we see this story we see that he was not only a king. He was restless, we could say he was furious, he was eager, but seeing a king like that is imposing. Daniel's bravery. 

5. On what other occasion did Daniel show himself to be brave?

On another occasion, Daniel demonstrated courage by explaining to King Nebuchadnezzar the meaning of another chilling dream in which he saw a gigantic tree. Despite the possible consequences, Daniel did not hide any details and spoke boldly about what the dream meant, even mentioning that the king would go mad and would not be king for some time.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Yes Daniel 4:25 there this gives a brief explanation of how he said to Nebuchadnezzar he said techaran from among men you will live with the animals of the field and you will eat grass like bulls the dew of heaven will wet you and seven times will pass for you until you know that the Almighty is ruler of the kingdom of humanity and that he will give it to whoever he wants and telling him that he was crazy was not easy at all.

Yes, on this occasion Daniel was giving King Nebuchadnezzar not a good message but a bad message for him, so Daniel had to have a lot of courage to be able to tell the king something like this, basically he was telling him that he was going to stop being king that he was going to leave. He was going to go crazy so without a doubt Daniel had to have a lot of courage and a lot of trust in Jehovah to be able to tell the king all the details without hiding anything from him. 

6. What possible helped Daniel to be brave?

As a young man he learned a lot from the good example of his parents; they obeyed the instructions that Jehovah had given the Israelite parents and taught him the law of God.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

What may have helped Daniel to be brave was the good example of his parents, who taught him God's law and to obey Jehovah's instructions not only regarding the commandments, but also about what foods the Israelites could eat and what they could eat. No. Furthermore, Daniel knew the history of God's people and knew what happened when they disobeyed. On the other hand, everything that happened throughout his life convinced him that Jehovah and his powerful angels would always be there to support him.

As a young boy, Daniel later demonstrated many qualities that obviously indicate that his parents were disciplined, they taught him about Jehovah and he also had very good study habits. If we even see other things, how come he already saw the consequences of not having a good spiritual routine even He therefore knew what happened when Jehovah's rules were not obeyed.

Yes, it surprises me as it says in Deuteronomy 6:6, surely what helped him was that what they learned from their parents was in their hearts. It is not only learning from Jehovah but when we allow the things of Jehovah to come down to our hearts. Jehovah incites us to act so in his life he had that courage to face such strong situations.

He says that there are three possible reasons why Daniel rejected food that was offered to the Babylonians: first, it was the meat that was from animals that the law prohibited eating, and second, perhaps the meat was not properly bled, and third, perhaps consuming those foods. It was considered part of a ritual of worship to God. It is false, so they preferred to eat legumes to be healthy. Then the king saw that they were healthy by eating legumes. So they gave the meat to others. Then they saw that they were very well and very healthy

Yes, then everything that happened throughout Daniel's life convinced him that Jehovah and his powerful Angels are always there to support them. 

7. What else helped Daniel to be brave? (See also the image).

He studied, prayer and trust in Jehovah helped Daniel to be brave.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

In addition to studying the scriptures, for example the scroll of Jeremiah, he came to the conclusion that the exile was about to end. Trusting in Jehovah greatly helped Daniel to be courageous. Likewise, constantly praying to Jehovah, confessing his sins, telling him what he felt and asking for help, helped develop and strengthen his courage. Thanks to that he was able to face the challenges as we see in the image, where he is in front of King Nebuchadnezzar to interpret his chilling dream.

What helped Daniel a lot was studying the prophecies of past prophets, for example Jeremiah Isaiah, and that strengthened his faith to such a point that he came to the conclusion that his captivity.

Without a doubt, in Daniel it is fulfilled that when a person fully trusts in Jehovah, it is not by chance that trust in Jehovah is cultivated when we know him more and see how Jehovah acts with other servants and with oneself and that is why it was perfectly fulfilled in Daniel. What the apostle Paul mentioned in Romans, nothing can separate us from the love of Jehovah or the love of Jesus when we have that full and absolute trust and that Jehovah will never fail us, so it is important that we cultivate that kind of faith like the one he had Daniel.

Yes, I found it very interesting that the previous paragraph said that a brave person is not one who is not afraid but who does the right thing despite being afraid, he grabs that courage as in the case of Daniel because he trusted in Jehovah, the paragraph says that Daniel Like any human being, he was not born brave, he cultivated that quality and for that, the good relationship he had served him a lot.

ILLUSTRATION

You can see the courage of Daniel and the firmness that he also has to speak before the king, why tell him and not lower what God had told him because that courage is required.

Daniel speaking to King Nebuchadnezzar, who is sitting on his throne. Other officials of the king's court listen open-mouthed. Study, prayer, and trust in Jehovah helped Daniel to be courageous. (See paragraph 7).

8. What will help us to be brave?

And the first thing we want to say is that bravery is not inherited, our parents could be very brave but that does not indicate that we are going to do it, rather it is a skill that is learned from observing and from certain techniques or certain ways in which people can manage to do this.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Courage is a quality that is not inherited, but rather learned and developed. It's like a skill that we must cultivate. Since to be brave, we must observe and learn from those who are no longer or so to speak imitate their actions. In Daniel's case, we learn that courage is the result of thoroughly studying the Bible, cultivating an intimate relationship with Jehovah through sincere prayer, and trusting that he will always support us. These actions will help us be brave when our faith is tested.

It also teaches us that we have to study the Bible thoroughly, become friends with Jehovah, pray to him a lot and from the bottom of our hearts and trust in him he will always give us his support and if we do all this we will be brave when we are put to the test.

9. What good results does being brave have?

Being brave can bring good results, earning the respect of others and awakening their curiosity to learn more about Jehovah. In Ben's case, by bravely sharing his beliefs at school, his teacher paid attention and his classmates showed admiration. Additionally, he was given the opportunity to provide information to support his arguments regarding the topic of evolution. Come's example shows that bravery is worth the effort, as it can open doors to share our faith and leave a positive impression on others.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

In the case of this little brother, he had to speak in front of his classmates alone in class and explain, convinced, why he believed in God and why he believes that God created all things and the good result he had is that, for example, many started it. To watch, they listened to him with an open mind and he also earned the respect of both his classmates and his teacher because he was able to explain clearly because he was convinced of what he believed.

Well, thank Jehovah for courage. It helps us to be calm and to give correct answers. For example, on the occasion that our brother, Ven, had to talk about how life was created by God, he was able to answer well because he was prepared, even his experience tells us. that he had to give a copy to each of his companions but that was because he knew and trusted Jehovah, this made other people curious and wanted to know more about Jehovah.

And with this then we can come to our times, we already saw Daniel and his bravery and what he faced today our young people face similar and at the same time very different situations, but the example that was already cited makes us see that it is one of the issues It is more common for young people to defend their beliefs in many areas. Here we talk about evolution. This young man did it well and we have to highlight that if we follow these good examples there will always be good results because Jehovah is with us.

Yes, in this experience we learn that courageous people often earn the respect of others and can also make other people curious and want to learn more about Jehovah. 

BE LOYAL LIKE DANIEL

10. What is loyalty?

What loyalty or loyal love translates to conveys the idea of ​​affection and deep attachment.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Loyalty, according to the previous paragraph, is a deep feeling of affection and attachment. In the Bible, it is used to discover the love that God has for his servants and the love that God's servants have for each other. Jehovah expects us to be loyal to him, and that loyalty can strengthen over time as seen in the example of the Prophet Daniel.

Well, he does it in an extraordinary way, remember that Jehovah had ordered David to eliminate all of Saul's descendants, but he forgave Mephibosheth because he was the son of his friend to whom he had sworn loyalty and affection, so the appreciation that David felt for Jonathan led him to show that same loyal love also to his own son in such a way that he was now welcome to the King's house to live constantly with him and apart from that he returned the lands of his grandfather Saúl, probably in the upheaval of the moment he had lost but then now he gives them to her again and says that he was going to express that affection out of attachment to his father Jonathan.

And as we saw at the beginning, we had to define the two qualities. What loyalty is is being defined here in this paragraph, but it is even better defined with this example, an example where we can show that loyalty to each other and loyalty to Jehovah and that It must remain very deep in the hearts of young people. 

11. What test of loyalty did Daniel face when he was over 90 years old? (Look at the cover drawing).

When Daniel was over 90 years old, he faced the test of having to choose between being Loyal to God or King Darius. Some officials hatched a plan to get rid of Daniel, getting the king to sign a law prohibiting Daniel from praying to Jehovah for 30 days. Despite the danger, Daniel remained steadfast in his loyalty to God and continued to pray, which led to him being thrown into the lions' den. However, Jehovah did not redeem as a reward for his loyalty.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

He was already that age and really faced an extremely difficult test, in essence it was that he stopped praying for 30 days to Jehovah, this because of the officials who hated him and who were against him, so they managed to get the king to sign a decree in which Anyone who prayed to anyone other than their gods would be punished with death. So it was a very strong test for Daniel, but he trusted Jehovah as always and he remained loyal. He did not stop making his prayers as always and Jehovah saved him.

This helps us understand that loyal love for Jehovah is not only talked about but practiced and is by faith. Obviously, Daniel leaves the king after the decree is signed and immediately goes to his private room, opens the window. heading to the temple and makes the prayer and the satraps knew in advance that he was going to do precisely that after having signed it and they wanted to trap him, he knew in advance that they were possibly going to trap him but he did not care, the bravery he showed is what He had been practicing since his youth until that moment. 

ILLUSTRATION

In the Illustration for this paragraph, we see how Jehovah rewarded Daniel's loyalty by sending an angel to shut the lions' mouths. 

The prophet Daniel surrounded by lions in a den; he is looking at the sky. Behind him, an angel who is suspended in the air is protecting him. Jehovah rewarded Daniel's loyalty by sending an angel to shut the lions' mouths. (See paragraph 11).

12. What did Daniel do to strengthen his loyalty to Jehovah?

To strengthen his loyalty to Jehovah, Daniel focused on Jehovah's qualities and how he demonstrated them, and his love for him grew greatly. Furthermore, Daniel meditated with a grateful heart on all the good things that Jehovah had done for him and his people. Daniel's example shows that to the extent we love Jehovah, to that extent will be our loyalty to him.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

If there in Daniel 9:4 we see how he himself meditated on the qualities of Jehovah, for example, there he calls him the true God, names him great and imposing, but he also mentions that he shows loyal love to those who love him, then we see how Daniel Meditating on that love, he thought about Jehovah's qualities and how he demonstrated them, so that meditation he did helped him stay strong, be brave and loyal despite the circumstances or trials he faced. he faced could be very difficult but he trusted in Jehovah and did not let that fear weaken him.

If at the beginning of the paragraph it says how to make Jehovah loyal it is necessary to love him deeply, Danie loved Jehovah deeply because she spent time meditating on how Jehovah had helped his people, for example Daniel 9:15 mentions oh Jehovah our God who brought out his people from the land of Egypt, he was aware of how Jehovah had helped his people but also how he had helped them himself and constantly meditating on that made his love deepen and in turn his desire to be loyal. I was growing.  

13. a) What tests of loyalty do young Christians face? Give an example. (See also the photo). 

As we see in the image, young Christians face tests of loyalty when they are surrounded by people who do not respect Jehovah or his rules, they may even pressure them to abandon their loyalty. An example of this is Gabriel, who was insulted and mocked by his classmates and his teacher for remaining loyal to Jehovah. The teacher told the students who supported the behavior of a homosexual friend to stand on one side and those who did not on the other side. Gabriel says that everyone took the side of those who were in favor, except for another witness and him. Even though he had to endure the ridicule and pressure he felt happy because he was loyal to Jehovah and defended his faith.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

We see that our young people are surrounded by people who do not respect or love Jehovah or his rules and these people say that sometimes they despise those who say they love God and some may even pressure our young people to stop being loyal. to Jehovah.

In the previous paragraphs I talked about the bravery in this case of this little brother when defending his faith was very positive, but in this case it was not the same result of this little brother because in this case they did not listen to him but despite everything, as it was already coming commenting although he did not like it but how he felt happy because he was able to defend his faith and was able to be loyal to Jehovah. 

13. b) What could we say to someone who asks us if Jehovah's Witnesses support homosexual behavior? (Watch the video “The Result of True Righteousness Will Be Peace” on jw.org.)

We could respond that, in accordance with biblical teachings, Jehovah's Witnesses follow the principles and norms established in the Bible, which promote relationships and behaviors within the framework of marriage between a man and a woman. However, we respect everyone's right to choose how to live their lives, and we also do not force anyone to accept our beliefs or think as we do. However, we expect the same respect from others towards us and our position on homosexuality.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

We could also tell him that just as Jehovah is not partial, his servants are not partial either. Rather we try to respect everyone equally. But we must be clear that everyone is accepted but not any behavior such as that manifested by those who consume drugs, are violent or homosexual. Rather, it commands us to obey the principles and rules that govern marriage and sex between a man and a woman.

Well, it is very nice how the brothers who are in the video that has been prepared for this purpose respond, one of them, for example, said that we deeply respect people who decide to live their own rules but that we also ask for respect for our ideas, that is, we put our ideas in the Bible and then we also deserve to have our ideas respected.

And in that video it was also reasoned that we do not support homosexual behavior but we do not support other behaviors either, we do not support, for example, the use of tobacco, getting drunk with alcohol, with which there are different guidelines that we do not support, we do not condemn the person but we do not follow that way. of life.

ILLUSTRATION

Two teenage Witnesses calmly defend their beliefs in front of their angry classmates and teacher. Like Daniel, you can always be loyal to Jehovah if you love him with all your heart. (See paragraph 13).

14. What can we do to always be loyal to Jehovah?

We can always be loyal to Jehovah by striving to love him with all our hearts. Therefore, to strengthen that love, it is important to know Jehovah's personality well, and one way to do so is by studying the things that he creates, as Romans 1:20 mentions.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

To come to love Jehovah with all your heart and show loyalty to him, we find help in the section: “Did Someone Design It?” There we can find videos and short articles that can help us increase our love and respect for Jehovah.

The paragraph mentions the pamphlets “Is Life the Work of a Creator?” and "The Origin of Life", which have been of great help for young people to strengthen their faith and understanding of creation. Since studying this information allows us to reach our own conclusions and recognize that Jehovah deserves all the glory, honor and power. This was the case for a young sister named Esther, who was enchanted by the reasoning in these pamphlets.

This was also the case with brother Ben. He says that these articles and pamphlets greatly strengthened his faith and showed him that God created life. And it is also my case after studying the book Let's Draw Closer to God and thoroughly analyzing the qualities and personality of Jehovah, I agree with Revelation 4:11, only Jehovah deserves to receive all the glory, honor and power, for his entire creation. 

15. What else can we do to strengthen our friendship with Jehovah?

One way to strengthen our friendship with Jehovah is by studying the life of his son, Jesus. Since by knowing Jesus better, we will understand Jehovah better, and this is because Jesus perfectly imitates his father. Through studying the life of Jesus, we can strengthen our love for Jehovah and our loyalty to him.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Another way to strengthen our friendship with Jehovah is to follow the example of Sister Samira. She was able to get to know Jehovah better through Jesus and realized that Jesus perfectly imitates his father. As Samira got to know Jesus more, her friendship with Jehovah grew stronger. She understood that one of Jehovah's reasons for sending Jesus to earth was so that humanity would know him better. Therefore, if we want to strengthen our friendship with Jehovah and for our love and loyalty towards him to become stronger every day, we can resolve to get to know Jesus well, learn and learn from him.

Here what the paragraph tells us about is that another way to be able to love Jehovah is by knowing the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. It tells us about a sister from Germany who says that she came to know Jehovah better through the Lord Jesus because she mentions that When she was a child, it was difficult for her to understand that Jehovah had feelings, but once she knew Jesus, she came to love Jehovah even more.

The goal of getting to know Jesus more because it is the way in which we are going to get to know Jehovah we want to know Jehovah's feelings how he feels so we have to get to know his son and the more we do that relationship with Jehovah It's going to be stronger.

16. Why is it good to be loyal? (Psalm 18:25; Micah 6:8).

It is good to be Loyal to Jehovah because it gives us tranquility and inner peace. This is because Jehovah promises to be loyal to his loyal friends. Psalm 18:25 tells us that Jehovah shows loyalty to those who are loyal, and in Micah 6:8 we are taught that Jehovah asks us to be righteous, love loyalty, and walk humbly with him. Being loyal therefore allows us to have a lasting and strong friendship with Jehovah.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Continuing with friendship we are going to have a friendship with Jehovah forever because he wants that and there we have Romans 8:38 and 39 that talks about the different things that we can go through and that not even that can separate us from the love of Jehovah, so We can strive to be loyal and although we are imperfect we can stop being so but as the Psalms showed, if we are, Jehovah is going to do it with us and he is perfect so it will last, we will have a friendship with him without a doubt forever.

Romans 8:38 and 39 tells us that no test or enemy can break that friendship, not even death. 

KEEP LEARNING FROM DANIEL

17, 18. What else can we learn from Daniel?

We can learn from the prophecies that can help us be braver and more loyal so we will be prepared to face the problems that will come in the future.

Aside from the qualities mentioned above, we can learn from Daniel's life that Jehovah caused him to have dreams and visions and the ability to interpret prophetic messages. Since many of these prophecies have been fulfilled and others give us information about things that will happen in the future and will affect the inhabitants of Earth, they can help us make good decisions, be brave and loyal, and also prepare us to face the trials that lie ahead. may arise. Therefore, in the next article we will continue talking about the prophecies of the Biblical book of Daniel.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?

Why did Jehovah love Daniel?

Jehovah loved Daniel because he was a very loyal young man and had great appreciation for him.

If we learned that it was because of the kind of person that Daniel decided to be, we saw that he was brave, loyal and faithful to Jehovah, in fact in Daniel 10:11 Jehovah called him a very valuable man and Jehovah considered him that way because he always decided to have that bravery and because Daniel always trusted in Jehovah, that is why Jehovah considered him a valuable man. 

On what occasions did Daniel show that he was brave?

On several occasions. First when he had to tell Nebuchadnezzar's dream, if he did not do so his life was in danger and other times when he had to demonstrate loyalty to Jehovah and was thrown into the lion's den.

Well, he demonstrated it on several occasions, first when he had to tell the dream to Nebuchadnezzar that if he had not done so his life would have been in danger, and on other occasions he also had to demonstrate loyalty to Jehovah when he was thrown into the lion's den.

What can we do to be more loyal to Jehovah?

In Romans 1:20 he invited us to see creation and in that way know the person and personality of Jehovah well and another way was to study the life of Jesus.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

We have to be loyal to Jehovah at all times, not only when everything is good, but in extreme circumstances we have to demonstrate our loyalty as Daniel did.

It will also help us determine that when we observe the prophecies it makes us see the future that Jehovah wants us to observe and analyze, in fact if we observe these things we will not adhere to what the system of things wants us to do such as accepting things that go in against creation, that is why Romans 1:20 says to observe creation Jehovah has created all things up to our days but Satan's world has created others that they want us to accept, but we will demonstrate the courage that Jehovah wants us to demonstrate.