And Daniel remained thereDaniel's presence in Babylon signifies God's providence and faithfulness. Despite being in exile, Daniel's steadfastness and commitment to God allowed him to thrive in a foreign land. His role in the Babylonian court demonstrates how God can use His people in any circumstance to fulfill His purposes. Daniel's ability to remain in a position of influence highlights the importance of faithfulness and integrity.
until the first year of King Cyrus.
The mention of King Cyrus is significant as it marks a pivotal moment in Jewish history. Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire, conquered Babylon in 539 BC. His decree in 538 BC allowed the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 29:10). This event underscores God's sovereignty over nations and His faithfulness to His promises. Daniel's presence until this time indicates his long-term influence and the fulfillment of God's plan through him. Cyrus is also seen as a type of Christ, a deliverer who sets the captives free, prefiguring the ultimate deliverance through Jesus Christ.
Persons / Places / Events
1.
DanielA young Jewish noble taken into Babylonian captivity, who remained faithful to God and served in the royal court through multiple reigns.
2.
BabylonThe empire where Daniel was taken captive and where he served in the king's court.
3.
King CyrusThe Persian king who conquered Babylon and allowed the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem, marking a significant shift in the Jewish exile account.
4.
ExileThe period during which the Jewish people were taken captive to Babylon, a time of testing and faithfulness for Daniel and his companions.
5.
First Year of King CyrusMarks the end of the Babylonian captivity and the beginning of the return to Jerusalem, highlighting God's sovereignty and faithfulness to His promises.
Teaching Points
Faithfulness in ExileDaniel's long service in a foreign land exemplifies steadfast faithfulness to God despite challenging circumstances. Believers are encouraged to remain faithful in their own "exiles" or difficult situations.
God's SovereigntyThe transition from Babylonian to Persian rule and the fulfillment of prophecy through Cyrus demonstrate God's control over world events. Trust in God's timing and plan is essential.
Endurance and InfluenceDaniel's influence in the royal court over many years shows the impact a faithful life can have. Christians are called to be salt and light, influencing their surroundings positively.
Hope and RestorationThe mention of King Cyrus signifies hope and the beginning of restoration for the Jewish people. Believers can find hope in God's promises of restoration and redemption.
Bible Study Questions and Answers
1.What is the meaning of Daniel 1:21?
2.How does Daniel 1:21 demonstrate God's faithfulness throughout Daniel's life?
3.What can we learn from Daniel's longevity in service "until the first year"?
4.How does Daniel's endurance compare to other biblical figures who served long-term?
5.How can we apply Daniel's steadfastness in our own spiritual journeys today?
6.What role does faith play in maintaining integrity over long periods, as seen in Daniel?
7.How does Daniel 1:21 demonstrate God's sovereignty over historical events and kingdoms?
8.Why is Daniel's longevity in Babylon significant in Daniel 1:21?
9.What does Daniel 1:21 reveal about God's faithfulness to His servants?
10.What are the top 10 Lessons from Daniel 1?
11.Why does the Book of Daniel describe events from the 6th century BCE inaccurately, suggesting it was written later?
12.How can Daniel 10:1 reference the “third year of Cyrus” if other passages suggest a different timeline for Cyrus’s reign?
13.In Daniel 5:1, why does the text present Belshazzar as king of Babylon when historical records identify Nabonidus as the last king?
14.If Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel 2:1 was as significant as described, why is there no historical record outside the Bible that confirms any such event or demand from the king?What Does Daniel 1:21 Mean
And Daniel remained thereDaniel’s presence in the Babylonian court was not a brief cameo; it was a settled, God-directed placement.
• Because Daniel “resolved that he would not defile himself” (Daniel 1:8), God honored that resolve by granting him “favor and compassion” (v. 9).
• His staying power shows the Lord’s faithfulness to keep His servants where He wants them, much like Joseph in Egypt (Genesis 39:21-23).
• The verse reminds us that our obedience today positions us for long-term usefulness tomorrow—echoing Jesus’ words, “The one who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much” (Luke 16:10).
• Daniel outlived several kings—Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-Merodach, and Belshazzar—demonstratingProverbs 22:29: “Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings.”
until the first yearThe timeline matters. God marked Daniel’s tenure right up to a pivotal prophetic milestone.
• Jeremiah had foretold “seventy years for Babylon” (Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10). Daniel’s career spans that exact window, confirming Scripture’s precision.
• InDaniel 9:2 he is studying Jeremiah’s prophecy “in the first year of Darius,” indicating he was tracking God’s calendar and expecting fulfillment.
• The “first year” signals a fresh chapter: exile ending, restoration beginning—just asIsaiah 40:1-2 had promised comfort after judgment.
• Our seasons of service also have God-appointed boundaries (Psalm 31:15). He moves His servants on right on schedule.
of King CyrusCyrus the Persian was no random ruler; he was God’s chosen instrument.
•Isaiah 44:28 named Cyrus long before his birth: “He is My shepherd, and he will fulfill all My purpose.” Daniel lived to see that prophecy come true.
•Ezra 1:1-3 records Cyrus’ decree that released the Jews to return and rebuild the temple, paralleling2 Chronicles 36:22-23. Daniel’s endurance positioned him as a firsthand witness, likely an influencer of that decree (cf.Daniel 6:28).
• The change from Babylonian to Persian rule shows the Lord “changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes them” (Daniel 2:21).
• For believers today, Cyrus underscores that even unbelieving leaders can unwittingly advance God’s redemptive plan (Proverbs 21:1).
summaryDaniel 1:21 is more than a closing footnote to chapter 1. It testifies that God sustains obedient servants, orchestrates exact timelines, and raises world rulers to accomplish His purposes. Daniel’s decades-long influence under multiple empires assures us that our faithful stand today fits into a much larger, God-written story that will end in His people’s ultimate restoration.
(21)
Continued.--(See
Introduction, ? I.) The phrase does not mean that "he prophesied," but that he lived until the time specified; by no means implying that he died in the first year of Cyrus. This year is specified on account of its importance to the Jewish people as the year of their deliverance. We are led to think of Daniel during this period holding high positions in the courts of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius, yet so using the things of this world that at the close of his life (
Daniel 10:11) he became the man greatly beloved by God. (See Pusey:
Daniel the Prophet, pp. 21-23).
Verse 21. -And Daniel continued even unto the first year of King Cyrus. The Septuagint suppliesΠερσῶν. Theodotion and the Peshitta agree with the Massoretic. It has been objected by Canon Driver that the natural classical order of the latter two words should have beenhammelek Koresh, not, as it is in the Massoretic,Koresh hammelek. The Septuagint text seems to have hadparseem, which would make the order perfectly classical. A greater difficulty is to explain how it is said that Daniel "continued," or, if we take the Hebrew literally "was," until thefirst year of "Cyrus the king," when in the tenth chapter the third year of Cyrus is referred to. There are several ways of getting over this difficulty. The first way is to suppose that some words have dropped out of the text. There are, however, different ideas as to the words so lost. Thus Bleak would supply "in high respect in Babylon." Earlier commentators would supply "in Babylon," thinking that not impossibly he returned to Palestine. Jerome - one of these - does not, however, intrude his suggestion into the text, as does Ewald. His suggestion is that the omitted words are "in the king's court," which is much the same as Delitzsch's "at the court." Hitzig is credited by Kranichfeld with asserting that the author did not intend to make his hero live beyond the year he refers to - the first year of Cyrus. In his commentary, however, Hitzig suggests thatb"sha'ar hammelek, "in the gate of the king," has dropped out. He does certainly hint that the sentence, to be complete, would needhayah (חָיָה), nothayah (חָיָה). Zockler would supply the same word. There is certainly this to be said for the above theory - that the sentence as it stands is incomplete. The verbhayah is never used instead of hayah. At the same time, there is no trace in any of the versions of any difficulty in regard to the text. Another method of meeting the difficulty is that adopted by Hengstenberg, followed by Havernick, but suggested in the eleventh century by Jephet-ibn-Ali. It is this - that as the first year of Cyrus was the year when he allowed the Jews to return to their own laud, that the attainment of thisannus mirabilis was an element in his wonderful prosperity, that he who had mourned for the sins of his people, who had been one of the earliest to feel the woes of captivity, should live to see the curse removed, and Judah permitted to return to their city and temple. The objection to this view, urged by Professor Bevan, is that the author elsewhere "never alludes to the event save indirectly (Daniel 9:25)." To this it may be answered that the whole ninth chapter goes on the assumption that the seventy years are now all but over, and therefore that the return cannot be long delayed. We regard this silence of Daniel in respect to the return from Babylon as one of the strongest evidences of the authenticity of the book. Everybody knows how largely it bulks in preceding prophecy, and how important it is in after-days. No one writing a religious romance could have failed to have laid great prominence on this event, and introduced Daniel as inducing Cyrus to issue the decree. On the contrary, he does not even mention it. Tide is precisely the conduct that would be followed by a contemporary at the present time. In religious biographies of the past generation that involve the year 1832, when the Reform Act was passed - the greatest political change of this century - we find that most of them never once refer to it. If any one should take Cowper's 'Letters,' written during the American War, he will find comparatively few references to the whole matter, although from, at all events, 1780 to 1783, we have letters for nearly every week, and they occupy nearly three hundred pages. Now, if a person were condensing these and selecting passages from them, he might easily make such a selection as would contain not a single reference to that war or to any political event whatever. Yet Cowper was interested in the struggle that was going on. The main objection to Hengstenberg's view is the grammatical one that it implies that we should readיחי instead ofיהי, and there is no trace in the versions of this various reading The LXX. hasη΅ν; Theodotion hasἐγένετο; the Peshitta has (hu); Jerome hasfuit. It is somewhat difficult to come to any conclusion, but there are certain things we must bear in mind. In the first place, an author does not usually contradict his statements elsewhere directly. He may implicitly do so, but not when direct dates are given. If he should fail to put the matter right, some other will be sure to do so, if his work attains sufficient popularity to be commented upon. We may thus be sure that there is some solution of the apparent contradiction between the verse before us and ch. 10. In the next place, we must note that this verse is the work of the editor, probably also the translator and condenser, of this earlier part of Daniel. Therefore the difference may be found quite explicable could we go back to the Aramaic original. If 'ad represented 'ad di (Daniel 6:24) in the Aramaic, and the two latter clauses were transposed, we should translate, "And Daniel was for Cyrus the king even before his first year." The connection is somewhat violent; but if we regard the redactor as thinking of the success of Daniel, this might be a thought which suggested itself to his mind - he was with Nebuchadnezzar, and he was with Cyrus. The difficulty of the date is not of importance. That might be got over in several ways. Either by adopting inDaniel 10:1 the reading of the Septuagint, which isπρώτῳ, instead ofτρίτῳ - the only objection to this is that it is a correction that might easily be made by a would-be harmonist; but, on the other hand, the "third" year of Belshazzar being mentioned in the eighth chapter may have occasioned the insertion of "third" in the tenth. Or, since we know that, though in his proclamation Cyrus styles himself "King of Babil," yet in some of the contract tables of the flint two years of his reign he is not called "King of Babil," but only "king of nations," and there are contract tables of those years that are even dated by the years of Nabunahid, is it not, then, possible that the third year of Cyrus as "king of nations" might coincide with the first year of his reign as "King of Babil"? Yet further, we must remember that the reign of Cyrus could be reckoned from several different starting-points. He first appears as King of Ansan, then he becomes King of the Persians, and as such he conquers Babylon. His first year as King of Babylon may have been his third year as King of Persia. Thus it would be equally true to say that the Emperor William I. of Germany died in the seventeenth and in the twenty-eighth year of his reign - the one statement reckoning his reign as emperor, the other as king. No solution seems absolutely satisfactory. The difficulty presses equally on the critics and those who maintain the traditional opinion.
Parallel Commentaries ...
Hebrew
And Daniel
דָּֽנִיֵּ֔אל(dā·nî·yêl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 1840:Daniel -- 'God is my judge', the name of several Israelites
remained
וַֽיְהִי֙(way·hî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1961:To fall out, come to pass, become, be
there until
עַד־(‘aḏ-)
Preposition
Strong's 5704:As far as, even to, up to, until, while
the first
אַחַ֖ת(’a·ḥaṯ)
Number - feminine singular
Strong's 259:United, one, first
year
שְׁנַ֥ת(šə·naṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 8141:A year
of King
הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃(ham·me·leḵ)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4428:A king
Cyrus.
לְכ֥וֹרֶשׁ(lə·ḵō·w·reš)
Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3566:Cyrus -- a person king
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OT Prophets: Daniel 1:21 Daniel continued even to the first year (Dan. Da Dn)
