Daniel’s resolution to be holy and not be defiled by food was key to his role in Babylon during the exile.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study podcast. This podcast is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you’re interested in learning more, just head over to twojourneys.org. Now, on to today’s episode. This is episode one in our Daniel Bible Study podcast. This episode is entitled Daniel’s Resolution for Holiness, where we’ll discuss Daniel 1:1-21. I’m Wes Treadway, and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Wes, this is an exciting journey that we’re about to embark on. The book of Daniel, and it starts with a thrilling chapter, very dramatic. We look at the resolution of Daniel and his three friends to not defile themselves in the court of the Babylonians. And Daniel’s personal holiness, his resolution to be loyal to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is going to be vital to his role in the subsequent chapters. It’s also a vital lesson for us today, so I’m excited to walk through it with you.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read Daniel 1:1-21.
“In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. Then the king commanded Ashkenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.
The king assigned them a daily portion of food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel, he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah, he called Shadrach, Mishael, he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.
But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, ‘I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.’
Then, Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, ‘Test your servants for ten days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then, let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.’ So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for 10 days. At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food. So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.
As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom. And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.”
Andy, who was Jehoiakim, and how does his reign relate to what we will study in Daniel?
Andy
Jehoiakim was the last of the Davidic line to rule in Jerusalem. He was an evil king, a bad man, and was therefore the focus of God’s judgment. It’s not an accident that the southern tribe of Judah, the southern kingdom of Judah, fell to the Babylonians. It was a judgment of God, and I think the focal point of this judgment was on the wicked kings that came in the Davidic line, one after the other, so Jehoiakim was the last of the kings in the line of David that actively ruled over the city of Jerusalem.
Wes
What does verse two teach us about the sovereignty of God, and why did Daniel specifically mention the articles from God’s temple?
Andy
Right. It says, “The Lord delivered Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar,” and so we need to understand God is omnipotent. If God doesn’t will that Nebuchadnezzar defeat Jerusalem, it would never have happened, and so it’s very clear in the book of Ezekiel, especially, that God’s glory had left the temple. God had given the Jewish people over to their punishment. It is a punishment that was predicted in the Song of Moses, in the book of Deuteronomy before they even entered the promised land, that if they did not keep the words of this law, God would use Gentile people to punish them and drive them out of the land, and now he’s fulfilling his promise. So, it was the Lord that delivered Jehoiakim into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, and it says, also, along with some of the articles from the temple.
“We need to understand God is omnipotent. If God doesn’t will that Nebuchadnezzar defeat Jerusalem, it would never have happened…”
Wes
What does King Nebuchadnezzar order Ashpenaz to do, and what do we learn about Nebuchadnezzar from this policy in verses three through five?
Andy
Okay, so the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to choose some of the Israelites that were of the noble line, so these are some of the highest quality individuals among the exiles from Judah. These were specifically young men who were physically healthy. They had no physical defect. They were good-looking, and they showed aptitude for learning. They were intelligent. What he wanted to do was take them, not just them, but people from other conquered nations, and they had their own culture and their own language, but he would make them Babylonians. Fundamentally Babylonian, and they would be loyal to him and loyal to the Babylonian empire, and he could use their knowledge to gain and maintain control over their native peoples.
And so that was the idea. It’s the thing that no one did better than the Romans, eventually, centuries later, where you would incorporate the best of the conquered peoples and give them a measure of autonomy in their own land, and let them practice their own religion, but you ruled over all of them. And so, Nebuchadnezzar is really very intelligent in doing this. So, he’s seeking to employ the language and the culture of these young people in the service of his own empire, so that’s what he’s doing. He’s taking these young men that are special. They’re skilled, talented, physically strong, good-looking, and he’s going to make them Babylonian counselors.
Wes
What was Nebuchadnezzar’s purpose in giving food from his own table to those who were gathered into his kingdom?
Andy
Well, there’s a couple of purposes. One is just simply kindness and hospitality. He’s trying to win them over. He wants them to be loyal to him. He wants them to like him and like his purposes and his kingly reign. Obviously, in chapter two, he also wants them to fear him. He was a terrible tyrant, but by giving food directly from the king’s table, this is a tremendous privilege, and so it softens resistance. It makes you loyal. It makes you yielded to the king, but also the food has a spiritual significance. The food was offered in sacrifice to pagan deities. And so, this whole meat sacrifice to idols theme that we saw in the podcast in 1 Corinthians is going to come to bear here, so there’s a spiritual dimension to the food. To eat that food was to be effectively participating in worship to false gods and goddesses.
Wes
Now, the food wasn’t the only spiritual aspect of what was going on in their training or their reeducation, if you will. I was fascinated by this, as we discussed it earlier. What is the significance of the new names that these captives were given?
Andy
Well, I think the giving of names very positively that we see, for example, Jesus calling Simon Peter Rock, that’s specifically a good thing. The naming is a matter of authority, like when Adam named the animals, and then later named his wife “Woman,” and then named her “Eve,” so he names her twice. So that naming aspect is a position of authority. But this has overt spiritual significance because Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, those names are all Jewish names, and they’re tied to the Jewish religion. So, Daniel means “God is judge” or “God is my judge.” Hananiah means, “Jehovah is gracious.” Mishael means, “Who is what God is.” Azariah means, “Jehovah has helped me. Jehovah has helped.”
But then the names that they’re given are really nasty pagan names. Daniel’s name is Belteshazzar, which means, “May Bel or Baal protect my life.” Baal is the Canaanite God that was one of the number one threats to true Yahweh worship. And so Shadrach means, “Under the command of Aku,” so Aku is the moon god of the Babylonians. He’s under direct orders from Aku. Then, Mishael was, “Who is what God is,” so Meshach is, “Who is what Aku is.” So, it’s a head-to-head competition. It’s very arrogant to do this, but it’s intentional as well. To some degree, it’s like, “We have beaten you on the battlefield. Now we’re going to beat you in every respect. Our gods are greater than your God, as proven by the defeat.”
Now, we already saw earlier in the book of Daniel, it was the Lord that gave Jerusalem and Jehoiakim into the hand of the Babylonians, but they didn’t see it that way, and so this name is just head to head. Then, Abednego means, “Servant of Nebo,” and Nebo in the Babylonian religion was the son of the Babylonian god, Baal. So, these names are all pagan names. I do find it interesting, in evangelicalism, we speak of Daniel as Daniel. We don’t call him Belteshazzar, but we know these other three as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. We just hardly ever remember their Jewish names. I don’t know why that is.
Wes
Verse eight tells us that Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food. What do we learn from Daniel’s resolution to abstain from the royal food, and why is prior resolution to holiness essential to standing firm in temptation?
Andy
Yeah. The mind leads everything else, as we think that’s how we will live. So, whenever you do something wrong, whenever you sin, you always should trace it back to faulty thinking. We are transformed in how we live by the renewing of our minds, and so you have to make a determination ahead of time to be holy, especially with the I perceive, whitewater pull that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were under here to become Babylonians. They’re being pulled on to be immersed in the Babylonian court culture, in the Babylonian empire, and just become overtly Babylonian people.
“We are transformed in how we live by the renewing of our minds, and so you have to make a determination ahead of time to be holy.”
And so, Daniel is going to fight that. He’s going to swim against the tide. He’s going to resist the pull, and it starts with the food issue. So, he makes a determination that he’ll not defile himself. The food, the meat offered in sacrifice to these pagan deities would’ve defiled him, and probably it was, the food itself was on the forbidden list. It was not among the foods that were permissible for Jewish people to eat. In the old covenant, there were clean and unclean foods, and so these foods would’ve been unclean, and Daniel would’ve been defiled by them. So, it starts with Daniel. He’s the leader of this group.
He begins by saying, “No, I’m not going to do that. I’m going to stand firm and be loyal to Yahweh. I’m going to be loyal to the laws of God. I will not defile myself,” and so the lesson for us is if you want to fight sin in your life, you have to make a resolution or determination to do so. You have to be vehement about it, even violent. There’s a certain fighting the good fight of faith that we have to be warriors against sin, and so Daniel takes a stand. Again, it’s the language of Ephesians 6, that we should stand our ground, and after we’ve done everything, to stand. There’s this resolution to fight and to stand, and so that’s what we see in Daniel here, a resolution for personal holiness.
Wes
What does it show us that Daniel asked permission from the chief official in order not to be defiled by the food? If Daniel believed he would be disobeying God by eating, why ask permission?
Andy
One of the remarkable themes of the book of Daniel is the character of Daniel. And one of the remarkable aspects of his character is how winsome he was personally. Daniel was such a character, that people liked him. He became friends, it seems, with Ashpenaz, with the chief official here, and was able, in chapter two, when Nebuchadnezzar has resolved to kill all of the wise men in Babylon, because they could not tell him what his dream was, and Daniel being a kind of a second level counselor, was not in on the inner circle, didn’t know what was going on. When Arioch went and was going to kill them all, Daniel spoke to Arioch with wisdom and tact, it says, and why did the king issue such a harsh decree? And Arioch explained to him, so clearly there was a connection, a friendship between them, as there was in chapter one with Ashpenaz.
Then, we’re going to see in chapter four when a terrible decree comes against Nebuchadnezzar, that he’s going to be turned into an animal, a mind of an animal. Before it ever happens, he’s warned. Daniel became very distressed and said, “Okay. May this happen to your enemies and not to you.” It’s pretty clear, and then again, we see it in chapter six where Darius is very distressed about Daniel’s outcome. He did not want to throw Daniel in the lion’s den. He had been trapped by his own foolishness and his blindness. He did not want to kill Daniel. So, all of that speaks toward a holiness that’s not obnoxious, a determination for righteousness and holiness, while at the same time being winsome to his enemies and to the pagans that were watching. So, it’s a lesson to all of us. He asked permission here if he might not defile himself. Now, I don’t sense that if he hadn’t gotten permission, he would’ve gone ahead and defiled himself, but he’s working within the system as best he can.
Wes
And verse nine really underscores both the sovereignty of God in that, that he was given favor in the eyes of those who were over him, and it also teaches us that very same thing that you said about his personality. It says, “God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs.” Clearly, God was at work, both in the chief of the eunuchs, but also in Daniel, in the way he carried himself.
Andy
And it’s a lesson to all of us. I mean, there are many times that you have to go to somebody with power, a public official maybe, a boss. I can imagine missionaries overseas trying to get a visa or get permission from the government to do things, and to think about Proverbs 21:1, which says, “The king’s heart is like a watercourse in the hands of the Lord. He directs it whichever way he pleases.” God is able to give favor concerning us to people who don’t even know or acknowledge him. God has that kind of power, and so God gave Daniel favor in this case.
Wes
Now, though Daniel had favor in the sight of this official, what was the official worried about? And was this a rational fear that he expresses in verse 10?
Andy
It’s absolutely a rational fear. Daniel 2, the king’s ready to kill all of his counselors, these are Babylonians, because they couldn’t tell him what his dream was. It was a reign of terror. He is afraid that he’s going to be executed if he doesn’t do his job, and one of his jobs was to fatten these guys up and get them healthy, strong, and ready to serve. If they’re looking kind of worn down, haggard, and ugly, he’s going to get punished. It might be his head. And so he’s deeply concerned. He says, “I’m afraid of my lord the king. I’m afraid of what’s going to happen. He assigned you specifically your food and drink, and if I don’t give to you the food he gave me from his table, he’ll be after me.” So he was concerned about that.
Wes
Now, what solution, then, does Daniel propose, and why is it necessary to have very strong convictions and be winsome toward outsiders?
Andy
Well, he proposes a test, and this is a remarkable thing. It’s basically, “Let’s see if God will do a miracle here.” The test is give your servants, and by this time, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were included in it. They were drawn in by Daniel’s leadership. I believe Daniel is clearly a leader, but they’re on board with it, and they’re not going to eat this unclean food that’s not on the kosher list, on the list of clean foods that Jewish people could eat and had been offered to pagan deities. They’re not in on it. They’re not going to do this. So, they’re together in this.
But, they said, Daniel, leading the way, proposed a test, “Test your servants for ten days- just give us vegetables and water. and we’re not going to eat any of these delicacies. We’re not going to eat any of these foods and see if we don’t look better at the end of the ten days.” Now, this is not an overt, dramatic miracle, but it’s the clear outward appearance being superior. There’s no guarantee of that. And so, I think, fundamentally, God gave him the idea and said, “Say this, and I will vindicate you in the presence of this man,” so he proposes the test, and then let’s see what happens.
Wes
Yeah. He proposes the test. They say, “All right. We’ll do it.” What was the result of the test? And perhaps a question some might have is, was this a diet that Daniel would maintain for the rest of his life, living in this foreign land?
Andy
Right, so it says in verse 15 of chapter one, at the end of the ten days, they looked healthier and better nursed than any of the young men who ate the royal food. They visibly looked better. They visibly looked more energetic. Now, for those of you that are vegan out there, and you think that that’s the only way to go, and you’re zealous about persuading others to do that, keep in mind, there are many godly meat eaters in the Bible, including Jesus. And so, fundamentally, we’re not going to say that eating meat is intrinsically bad for the health.
Some people choose, make a decision, to eat only vegetables and et cetera, but no, I don’t think this was Daniel’s regular diet the rest of his life. As a matter of fact, later in this book, he abstains from foods that are delicacies, and he anoints himself with oil and does some other things. And so clearly, he was on some kind of regular diet of meat or other things. My guess is, by that time, he had enough influence and pull to be sure that the meat was something that a Jewish man could eat. He wasn’t violating the laws of Moses. So no, this was not a lifetime thing of nothing but vegetables. It was just this unique time in his life when he was establishing his holiness and his reputation in the court.
Wes
How did God bless Daniel and his friends as a result of their resolution?
Andy
Well, it went beyond just their physical appearance. They did look healthier and better nourished, but God also, it says, gave them knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. So, they were outstanding students. And they learned Babylonian literature, they learned Babylonian history, Babylonian culture, so I think that was implied there. They’re immersed in the education of the Babylonian court, and it would’ve been essential for them so to be trained in order for them to serve in the government.
So, there’s nothing evil or wrong about that education. Just knowing the history and knowing how things worked, that was vital. Daniel got an extra blessing, above and beyond Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah’s knowledge. He had that as well, but he also had the ability to interpret dreams and visions, and this is going to be essential to the rest of the book. I mean, basically, seven through twelve, chapter seven through twelve, is just a series of visions and dreams given directly to Daniel that were prophetic of the future. Then, of course, in chapter two and in chapter four, Daniel interprets a dream given to Nebuchadnezzar, so this is going to be vital for the rest of the book.
Wes
Well, it seems along with this learning and skill in literature and wisdom, as well as what you just mentioned, Daniel’s ability to understand visions and dreams, they also were seen to be superior to their peers. It even says, at the end of verse 19, “They stood before the king,” which gives this sense of elevation, really, God elevating them, as a result of their resolution in the face of these temptations.
Andy
Yeah. It’s amazing. I mean, they were just better than all of them. They went right to the head of the class, and Daniel to the head of the three of them. So, they were positioned, and we’re going to see this again and again, especially in chapter six in the Medo-Persian empire, Daniel is basically third-highest ruler in the entire empire. So, he has that level of influence, and the reason is he was not negligent, and he was extremely skillful in what he did. He’s a hard worker and remarkably skillful. So that’s the end of his life. But it’s just amazing how they were positioned, gifted by God, and positioned in the Babylonian court to do what they would later do.
Wes
Andy, is there anything we can take away from these verses, as it relates to academic or professional success?
Andy
Yeah. All of it is in the hands of God. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well. It’s remarkable, the history in this book of Daniel, and it says that Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus which, according to Old Testament historians, was 65 years. He was in government official service for 65 years, and that’s across the change of an empire. That never happens. You don’t go from the Babylonian empire to the Medo-Persian empire, which has conquered the Babylonian empire, and then establish one of them as a significant leader in that kingdom. That just never happens.
And so, the lesson I take from this is the absolute sovereignty of God. It was God who positioned them. It was God who gave them their abilities and their knowledge. It was God that made them look healthier than anyone else. It was God that gave favor. God is the center of all these things. These men were in the halls of power. This was the most powerful empire on earth. You can think of what it is that people want, and what people want is they want pleasure, they want power, they want honors, preferments, and all that. Well, the first and foremost thing that Daniel 1 teaches me is seek God above all these things. Don’t seek those things. Seek to be holy. Don’t let your God be your stomach. Show discipline in eating. Show discipline in pleasures, and then let God position you as he sees fit for his glory.
Wes
Well, this has been episode one in our Daniel Bible study podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for episode two, entitled Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream, where we’ll discuss Daniel 2:1-23. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast, and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to be with you all.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study podcast. This podcast is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you’re interested in learning more, just head over to twojourneys.org. Now, on to today’s episode. This is episode one in our Daniel Bible Study podcast. This episode is entitled Daniel’s Resolution for Holiness, where we’ll discuss Daniel 1:1-21. I’m Wes Treadway, and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Wes, this is an exciting journey that we’re about to embark on. The book of Daniel, and it starts with a thrilling chapter, very dramatic. We look at the resolution of Daniel and his three friends to not defile themselves in the court of the Babylonians. And Daniel’s personal holiness, his resolution to be loyal to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is going to be vital to his role in the subsequent chapters. It’s also a vital lesson for us today, so I’m excited to walk through it with you.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read Daniel 1:1-21.
“In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. Then the king commanded Ashkenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.
The king assigned them a daily portion of food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel, he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah, he called Shadrach, Mishael, he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.
But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, ‘I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.’
Then, Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, ‘Test your servants for ten days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then, let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.’ So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for 10 days. At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food. So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.
As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom. And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.”
Andy, who was Jehoiakim, and how does his reign relate to what we will study in Daniel?
Andy
Jehoiakim was the last of the Davidic line to rule in Jerusalem. He was an evil king, a bad man, and was therefore the focus of God’s judgment. It’s not an accident that the southern tribe of Judah, the southern kingdom of Judah, fell to the Babylonians. It was a judgment of God, and I think the focal point of this judgment was on the wicked kings that came in the Davidic line, one after the other, so Jehoiakim was the last of the kings in the line of David that actively ruled over the city of Jerusalem.
Wes
What does verse two teach us about the sovereignty of God, and why did Daniel specifically mention the articles from God’s temple?
Andy
Right. It says, “The Lord delivered Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar,” and so we need to understand God is omnipotent. If God doesn’t will that Nebuchadnezzar defeat Jerusalem, it would never have happened, and so it’s very clear in the book of Ezekiel, especially, that God’s glory had left the temple. God had given the Jewish people over to their punishment. It is a punishment that was predicted in the Song of Moses, in the book of Deuteronomy before they even entered the promised land, that if they did not keep the words of this law, God would use Gentile people to punish them and drive them out of the land, and now he’s fulfilling his promise. So, it was the Lord that delivered Jehoiakim into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, and it says, also, along with some of the articles from the temple.
“We need to understand God is omnipotent. If God doesn’t will that Nebuchadnezzar defeat Jerusalem, it would never have happened…”
Wes
What does King Nebuchadnezzar order Ashpenaz to do, and what do we learn about Nebuchadnezzar from this policy in verses three through five?
Andy
Okay, so the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to choose some of the Israelites that were of the noble line, so these are some of the highest quality individuals among the exiles from Judah. These were specifically young men who were physically healthy. They had no physical defect. They were good-looking, and they showed aptitude for learning. They were intelligent. What he wanted to do was take them, not just them, but people from other conquered nations, and they had their own culture and their own language, but he would make them Babylonians. Fundamentally Babylonian, and they would be loyal to him and loyal to the Babylonian empire, and he could use their knowledge to gain and maintain control over their native peoples.
And so that was the idea. It’s the thing that no one did better than the Romans, eventually, centuries later, where you would incorporate the best of the conquered peoples and give them a measure of autonomy in their own land, and let them practice their own religion, but you ruled over all of them. And so, Nebuchadnezzar is really very intelligent in doing this. So, he’s seeking to employ the language and the culture of these young people in the service of his own empire, so that’s what he’s doing. He’s taking these young men that are special. They’re skilled, talented, physically strong, good-looking, and he’s going to make them Babylonian counselors.
Wes
What was Nebuchadnezzar’s purpose in giving food from his own table to those who were gathered into his kingdom?
Andy
Well, there’s a couple of purposes. One is just simply kindness and hospitality. He’s trying to win them over. He wants them to be loyal to him. He wants them to like him and like his purposes and his kingly reign. Obviously, in chapter two, he also wants them to fear him. He was a terrible tyrant, but by giving food directly from the king’s table, this is a tremendous privilege, and so it softens resistance. It makes you loyal. It makes you yielded to the king, but also the food has a spiritual significance. The food was offered in sacrifice to pagan deities. And so, this whole meat sacrifice to idols theme that we saw in the podcast in 1 Corinthians is going to come to bear here, so there’s a spiritual dimension to the food. To eat that food was to be effectively participating in worship to false gods and goddesses.
Wes
Now, the food wasn’t the only spiritual aspect of what was going on in their training or their reeducation, if you will. I was fascinated by this, as we discussed it earlier. What is the significance of the new names that these captives were given?
Andy
Well, I think the giving of names very positively that we see, for example, Jesus calling Simon Peter Rock, that’s specifically a good thing. The naming is a matter of authority, like when Adam named the animals, and then later named his wife “Woman,” and then named her “Eve,” so he names her twice. So that naming aspect is a position of authority. But this has overt spiritual significance because Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, those names are all Jewish names, and they’re tied to the Jewish religion. So, Daniel means “God is judge” or “God is my judge.” Hananiah means, “Jehovah is gracious.” Mishael means, “Who is what God is.” Azariah means, “Jehovah has helped me. Jehovah has helped.”
But then the names that they’re given are really nasty pagan names. Daniel’s name is Belteshazzar, which means, “May Bel or Baal protect my life.” Baal is the Canaanite God that was one of the number one threats to true Yahweh worship. And so Shadrach means, “Under the command of Aku,” so Aku is the moon god of the Babylonians. He’s under direct orders from Aku. Then, Mishael was, “Who is what God is,” so Meshach is, “Who is what Aku is.” So, it’s a head-to-head competition. It’s very arrogant to do this, but it’s intentional as well. To some degree, it’s like, “We have beaten you on the battlefield. Now we’re going to beat you in every respect. Our gods are greater than your God, as proven by the defeat.”
Now, we already saw earlier in the book of Daniel, it was the Lord that gave Jerusalem and Jehoiakim into the hand of the Babylonians, but they didn’t see it that way, and so this name is just head to head. Then, Abednego means, “Servant of Nebo,” and Nebo in the Babylonian religion was the son of the Babylonian god, Baal. So, these names are all pagan names. I do find it interesting, in evangelicalism, we speak of Daniel as Daniel. We don’t call him Belteshazzar, but we know these other three as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. We just hardly ever remember their Jewish names. I don’t know why that is.
Wes
Verse eight tells us that Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food. What do we learn from Daniel’s resolution to abstain from the royal food, and why is prior resolution to holiness essential to standing firm in temptation?
Andy
Yeah. The mind leads everything else, as we think that’s how we will live. So, whenever you do something wrong, whenever you sin, you always should trace it back to faulty thinking. We are transformed in how we live by the renewing of our minds, and so you have to make a determination ahead of time to be holy, especially with the I perceive, whitewater pull that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were under here to become Babylonians. They’re being pulled on to be immersed in the Babylonian court culture, in the Babylonian empire, and just become overtly Babylonian people.
“We are transformed in how we live by the renewing of our minds, and so you have to make a determination ahead of time to be holy.”
And so, Daniel is going to fight that. He’s going to swim against the tide. He’s going to resist the pull, and it starts with the food issue. So, he makes a determination that he’ll not defile himself. The food, the meat offered in sacrifice to these pagan deities would’ve defiled him, and probably it was, the food itself was on the forbidden list. It was not among the foods that were permissible for Jewish people to eat. In the old covenant, there were clean and unclean foods, and so these foods would’ve been unclean, and Daniel would’ve been defiled by them. So, it starts with Daniel. He’s the leader of this group.
He begins by saying, “No, I’m not going to do that. I’m going to stand firm and be loyal to Yahweh. I’m going to be loyal to the laws of God. I will not defile myself,” and so the lesson for us is if you want to fight sin in your life, you have to make a resolution or determination to do so. You have to be vehement about it, even violent. There’s a certain fighting the good fight of faith that we have to be warriors against sin, and so Daniel takes a stand. Again, it’s the language of Ephesians 6, that we should stand our ground, and after we’ve done everything, to stand. There’s this resolution to fight and to stand, and so that’s what we see in Daniel here, a resolution for personal holiness.
Wes
What does it show us that Daniel asked permission from the chief official in order not to be defiled by the food? If Daniel believed he would be disobeying God by eating, why ask permission?
Andy
One of the remarkable themes of the book of Daniel is the character of Daniel. And one of the remarkable aspects of his character is how winsome he was personally. Daniel was such a character, that people liked him. He became friends, it seems, with Ashpenaz, with the chief official here, and was able, in chapter two, when Nebuchadnezzar has resolved to kill all of the wise men in Babylon, because they could not tell him what his dream was, and Daniel being a kind of a second level counselor, was not in on the inner circle, didn’t know what was going on. When Arioch went and was going to kill them all, Daniel spoke to Arioch with wisdom and tact, it says, and why did the king issue such a harsh decree? And Arioch explained to him, so clearly there was a connection, a friendship between them, as there was in chapter one with Ashpenaz.
Then, we’re going to see in chapter four when a terrible decree comes against Nebuchadnezzar, that he’s going to be turned into an animal, a mind of an animal. Before it ever happens, he’s warned. Daniel became very distressed and said, “Okay. May this happen to your enemies and not to you.” It’s pretty clear, and then again, we see it in chapter six where Darius is very distressed about Daniel’s outcome. He did not want to throw Daniel in the lion’s den. He had been trapped by his own foolishness and his blindness. He did not want to kill Daniel. So, all of that speaks toward a holiness that’s not obnoxious, a determination for righteousness and holiness, while at the same time being winsome to his enemies and to the pagans that were watching. So, it’s a lesson to all of us. He asked permission here if he might not defile himself. Now, I don’t sense that if he hadn’t gotten permission, he would’ve gone ahead and defiled himself, but he’s working within the system as best he can.
Wes
And verse nine really underscores both the sovereignty of God in that, that he was given favor in the eyes of those who were over him, and it also teaches us that very same thing that you said about his personality. It says, “God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs.” Clearly, God was at work, both in the chief of the eunuchs, but also in Daniel, in the way he carried himself.
Andy
And it’s a lesson to all of us. I mean, there are many times that you have to go to somebody with power, a public official maybe, a boss. I can imagine missionaries overseas trying to get a visa or get permission from the government to do things, and to think about Proverbs 21:1, which says, “The king’s heart is like a watercourse in the hands of the Lord. He directs it whichever way he pleases.” God is able to give favor concerning us to people who don’t even know or acknowledge him. God has that kind of power, and so God gave Daniel favor in this case.
Wes
Now, though Daniel had favor in the sight of this official, what was the official worried about? And was this a rational fear that he expresses in verse 10?
Andy
It’s absolutely a rational fear. Daniel 2, the king’s ready to kill all of his counselors, these are Babylonians, because they couldn’t tell him what his dream was. It was a reign of terror. He is afraid that he’s going to be executed if he doesn’t do his job, and one of his jobs was to fatten these guys up and get them healthy, strong, and ready to serve. If they’re looking kind of worn down, haggard, and ugly, he’s going to get punished. It might be his head. And so he’s deeply concerned. He says, “I’m afraid of my lord the king. I’m afraid of what’s going to happen. He assigned you specifically your food and drink, and if I don’t give to you the food he gave me from his table, he’ll be after me.” So he was concerned about that.
Wes
Now, what solution, then, does Daniel propose, and why is it necessary to have very strong convictions and be winsome toward outsiders?
Andy
Well, he proposes a test, and this is a remarkable thing. It’s basically, “Let’s see if God will do a miracle here.” The test is give your servants, and by this time, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were included in it. They were drawn in by Daniel’s leadership. I believe Daniel is clearly a leader, but they’re on board with it, and they’re not going to eat this unclean food that’s not on the kosher list, on the list of clean foods that Jewish people could eat and had been offered to pagan deities. They’re not in on it. They’re not going to do this. So, they’re together in this.
But, they said, Daniel, leading the way, proposed a test, “Test your servants for ten days- just give us vegetables and water. and we’re not going to eat any of these delicacies. We’re not going to eat any of these foods and see if we don’t look better at the end of the ten days.” Now, this is not an overt, dramatic miracle, but it’s the clear outward appearance being superior. There’s no guarantee of that. And so, I think, fundamentally, God gave him the idea and said, “Say this, and I will vindicate you in the presence of this man,” so he proposes the test, and then let’s see what happens.
Wes
Yeah. He proposes the test. They say, “All right. We’ll do it.” What was the result of the test? And perhaps a question some might have is, was this a diet that Daniel would maintain for the rest of his life, living in this foreign land?
Andy
Right, so it says in verse 15 of chapter one, at the end of the ten days, they looked healthier and better nursed than any of the young men who ate the royal food. They visibly looked better. They visibly looked more energetic. Now, for those of you that are vegan out there, and you think that that’s the only way to go, and you’re zealous about persuading others to do that, keep in mind, there are many godly meat eaters in the Bible, including Jesus. And so, fundamentally, we’re not going to say that eating meat is intrinsically bad for the health.
Some people choose, make a decision, to eat only vegetables and et cetera, but no, I don’t think this was Daniel’s regular diet the rest of his life. As a matter of fact, later in this book, he abstains from foods that are delicacies, and he anoints himself with oil and does some other things. And so clearly, he was on some kind of regular diet of meat or other things. My guess is, by that time, he had enough influence and pull to be sure that the meat was something that a Jewish man could eat. He wasn’t violating the laws of Moses. So no, this was not a lifetime thing of nothing but vegetables. It was just this unique time in his life when he was establishing his holiness and his reputation in the court.
Wes
How did God bless Daniel and his friends as a result of their resolution?
Andy
Well, it went beyond just their physical appearance. They did look healthier and better nourished, but God also, it says, gave them knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. So, they were outstanding students. And they learned Babylonian literature, they learned Babylonian history, Babylonian culture, so I think that was implied there. They’re immersed in the education of the Babylonian court, and it would’ve been essential for them so to be trained in order for them to serve in the government.
So, there’s nothing evil or wrong about that education. Just knowing the history and knowing how things worked, that was vital. Daniel got an extra blessing, above and beyond Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah’s knowledge. He had that as well, but he also had the ability to interpret dreams and visions, and this is going to be essential to the rest of the book. I mean, basically, seven through twelve, chapter seven through twelve, is just a series of visions and dreams given directly to Daniel that were prophetic of the future. Then, of course, in chapter two and in chapter four, Daniel interprets a dream given to Nebuchadnezzar, so this is going to be vital for the rest of the book.
Wes
Well, it seems along with this learning and skill in literature and wisdom, as well as what you just mentioned, Daniel’s ability to understand visions and dreams, they also were seen to be superior to their peers. It even says, at the end of verse 19, “They stood before the king,” which gives this sense of elevation, really, God elevating them, as a result of their resolution in the face of these temptations.
Andy
Yeah. It’s amazing. I mean, they were just better than all of them. They went right to the head of the class, and Daniel to the head of the three of them. So, they were positioned, and we’re going to see this again and again, especially in chapter six in the Medo-Persian empire, Daniel is basically third-highest ruler in the entire empire. So, he has that level of influence, and the reason is he was not negligent, and he was extremely skillful in what he did. He’s a hard worker and remarkably skillful. So that’s the end of his life. But it’s just amazing how they were positioned, gifted by God, and positioned in the Babylonian court to do what they would later do.
Wes
Andy, is there anything we can take away from these verses, as it relates to academic or professional success?
Andy
Yeah. All of it is in the hands of God. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well. It’s remarkable, the history in this book of Daniel, and it says that Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus which, according to Old Testament historians, was 65 years. He was in government official service for 65 years, and that’s across the change of an empire. That never happens. You don’t go from the Babylonian empire to the Medo-Persian empire, which has conquered the Babylonian empire, and then establish one of them as a significant leader in that kingdom. That just never happens.
And so, the lesson I take from this is the absolute sovereignty of God. It was God who positioned them. It was God who gave them their abilities and their knowledge. It was God that made them look healthier than anyone else. It was God that gave favor. God is the center of all these things. These men were in the halls of power. This was the most powerful empire on earth. You can think of what it is that people want, and what people want is they want pleasure, they want power, they want honors, preferments, and all that. Well, the first and foremost thing that Daniel 1 teaches me is seek God above all these things. Don’t seek those things. Seek to be holy. Don’t let your God be your stomach. Show discipline in eating. Show discipline in pleasures, and then let God position you as he sees fit for his glory.
Wes
Well, this has been episode one in our Daniel Bible study podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for episode two, entitled Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream, where we’ll discuss Daniel 2:1-23. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast, and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to be with you all.
