Daniel Chapter One
Daniel 1:1-7
Part One—Daniel’s Faith—Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
I. DANIEL’S FAITH—Dan 1:1-21
I. PAGANIZATION ATTEMPTED
TEXT: Dan 1:1-7
1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.
2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God; and he carried them into the land of Shinar to the house of his god: and he brought the vessels into the treasure-house of his god.
3. And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring in certain of the children of Israel, even of the seed royal and of the nobles;
4 youths in whom was no blemish, but well-favored, and skilful in all wisdom, and endued with knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability to stand in the king’s palace; and that he should teach them the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.
5 And the king appointed for them a daily portion of the king’s dainties, and of the wine which he drank, and that they should be nourished three years; that at the end thereof they should stand before the king.
6 Now among these were, of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
7 And the prince of the eunuchs gave names unto them: unto Daniel he gave the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abed-nego.
QUERIES
a. When did this siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar occur?
b. Why attempt to nourish the Hebrew lads on Babylonian “dainties?”
c. Why were the Hebrew lads given Babylonian names?
PARAPHRASE
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and encircled the city with his army and beseiged it. And the Lord permitted Nebuchadnezzar to capture Jehoiakim along with some of the sacred vessels of worship from the temple of God. Nebuchadnezzar took all his plunder along with his prisoners back to his own land of Babylon and he put the sacred vessels on display in the treasury of his own pagan temple. Then Nebuchadnezzar ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his servants, to select some of the young Jewish nobles and to train them in Babylonian language, sciences and culture. Ashpenaz was instructed to select young, strong, healthy, good-looking men who were well informed, widely read in many fields, alert and sensible and possessed of poise and self-confidence sufficiently to make a good appearance in the court of the king. And the king took special occasion to command that they should receive a daily serving of the richest and most desirable food and wine from his own table for a three-year training period. He planned to develop these young men physically, mentally and socially in order that they might become his advisors. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were four of the young men chosen, all from the tribe of Judah. And as a part of their naturalization into Babylonian life, the king’s chief servant gave them Babylonian names. Daniel was called Belteshazzar; Hananiah was called Shadrach; Mishael was called Meshach; Azariah was called Abed-nego.
COMMENT
Dan 1:1 IN THE THIRD YEAR . . . OF JEHOIAKIM . . . Immediately the problem of an apparent discrepancy between Daniel and Jeremiah confronts us. (1) Jer 25:1 says that the fourth year of Jehoiakim and the first year of Nebuchadnezzar were the same; (2) Jer 46:2 has Nebuchadnezzar defeating the army of Pharaoh’-Necho at Carchemish in the fourth year of Jehoiakim; (3) and, finally, Jer 25:8-14 seems to imply that Nebuchadnezzar had not yet come against Jerusalem (at all?) in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, Yet, Daniel says not only that Nebuchadnezzar did come against Jehoiakim in Jehoiakim’s third year, but that Nebuchadnezzar was king when he came in this third year, while Jeremiah specifically states that the first year of Nebuchadnezzar was not until the fourth year of Jehoiakim.
Historical research offers two possible solutions one of which is undoubtedly the correct answer: (1) According to the Babylonian way of designating time of regnal activity, only the first full year of reign was called the first year of a king’s reign. The year in which the king ascended the throne, whether at the first of the year or later, was not designated his first year, but “the year of accession to the kingdom.” Daniel, writing in Babylon, many years after the event, would undoubtedly use Babylonian terminology, especially in such a technical matter, speaks of Jehoiakim’s third year but means the same year as does Jeremiah in mentioning the fourth year (Jeremiah writing in Judah, using Jewish terminology). Edward J. Young points to a biblical example of such a difference between Babylonian and Jewish methods of reckoning regnal activity. There is a passage in 2Ki 24:12 through 2Ki 25:30 where the eighth and nineteenth years of a reign are spoken of; the parallel passage to this in Jer 52:28-30 speaks of the same reign as in the seventh and eighteenth years.
(2) There is a passage in Josephus (cf. Antiquities X:II:I and Contra Apion Dan_1:19) which he copied from Berossus, the Chaldean historian, which relates that Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar’s father, had heard that a governor whom he had not set over Egypt had revolted. Being himself old, Nabopolassar dispatched his son leading the massive Babylonian army to take the rebel in hand. This Nebuchadnezzar set out to do; but while engaged in the task, his father took sick and died. Whereupon Nebuchadnezzar turned over his captives to his subordinates, selected a small band of the most courageous of his soldiers set out immediately for the capitol city of Babylon to take over the reigns of government. Among the captives Nebuchadnezzar left with his subordinates were “Jews, Phoenicians and Syrians, and of the nations belonging to Egypt.” This would imply that Nebuenadnezzar had been engaged in an expedition against Jerusalem prior to the battle at Carchemish. Notice that Dan 1:1 does not state that Nebuchadnezzar conquered and destroyed the city of Jerusalem in the third year of Jehoiakim! only that he “came and besieged it.” But, if Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem before he went home at the death of his father to take the reins of government, why does Daniel say king Nebuchadnezzar besieged the city? Daniel, writing long after the event, is using the proleptic form in applying the title king. We sometimes say, “In the childhood of President Lincoln,” or “when President Teddy Roosevelt charged up San Juan hill.”
1. Early 606 B.C. Jer. delivers the address recorded in Jeremiah 25
Early in 605 B.C. Jer. delivers the address recorded in Jeremiah 25
2. 606 B.C. Neb. besieges Jerusalem; carries off Jehoiakim, temple vessels, Daniel, and friends
Early, in 605 Neb. defeats the Egyptians at Carchemish (Jer 46:2)
3. Nebuchadnezzar hastens home at death of his father
Nebuchadnezzar then appears in Palestine
4. Early 605 B.C. Neb. defeats Egyptians at Carchemish
Then occurs the siege of Dan 1:1; also recorded in 2Ki 24:1; 2Ch 36:6-7
5. Nebuchadnezzar comes against Jerusalem twice more, 597 B.C. and 586 B.C.
Neb. hastens to Babylon at death of his father
Dan 1:2 AND THE LORD GAVE . . . INTO HIS HAND . . . AND HE CARRIED THEM . . . TO THE HOUSE OF HIS GOD . . . Although Nebuchadnezzar was unaware of it, and probably would not have admitted it at the time (however, he was later to change his mind), he became an instrument of the Divine will. God permitted Nebuchadnezzar to exercise his fury against Jerusalem and to take the covenant people into captivity for the good of God’s people (cf. Jer 25:1 ff; Jer 27:5-7, etc.). Please refer also to Minor Prophets, by Paul T. Butler, published College Press, Special Studies on Philosophy of History.
Nebuchadnezzar is spelled Nebuchadrezzar in Babylonian and means “Nebo protect the boundary,” or “Nebo protect the crown.” Jehoiakim was not deported, (cf. 2Ch 36:5) therefore all that Nebuchadnezzar “brought to the treasure house of his god” were some of the sacred vessels from the temple in Jerusalem. The suffix “them” can only refer gramatically to the vessels. Some of these vessels Belshazzar (Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson) desecrated by using them in a drunken, riotous feast (Dan 5:2-4). It was customary in those days for conquerors to commandeer and plunder thoroughly the treasuries of the vanquished. The rapine of defeated foes is still practiced by ungodly nations today—Russia robbed Europe of some of its most priceless treasures during World War II. The Babylonian prince took his booty home and put it in safe deposit in the treasure-house of the temple to his pagan gods.
Dan 1:3 . . . THE KING SPAKE UNTO ASHPENAZ . . . THAT HE SHOULD BRING: CERTAIN OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL . . . Lange points out that it is possible that Ashpenaz himself might not have been a literal eunuch since Joseph’s master at the court of Pharaoh is called by the same Hebrew word and yet was married (cf. Gen 37:36; Gen 38:1-7). It is highly probable though that Ashpenaz and all his subordinates were eunuchs in the literal sense. However, it is not necessary to assume that Daniel and his Hebrew friends were made to become literal eunuchs. In fact, Eze 14:20 seems to imply that Daniel had sons and daughters. It may also be assumed that Daniel would resist being made a eunuch with as much forcefulness as he did the “king’s dainties” since the law of Moses prohibited a eunuch to enter the congregation of Israel, (Deu 23:1).
Ashpenaz, major-domo, was commanded by the king to select only the most eminent of the captives—those of royal stock. By this means he could gather, from every subjugated nation, a select body of talented young diplomats. The value of such a heterogeneous group to a pagan court, representing an amalgamation of many different political, cultural and intellectual ideas and secrets, is at once evident. Daniel was from the tribe of Judah, the royal tribe of Israel.
Dan 1:4 . . . NO BLEMISH . . . WELL-FAVORED . . . SKILFUL IN ALL WISDOM . . . ENDUED WITH KNOWLEDGE . . . UNDERSTANDING . . . SCIENCE . . . AS HAD ABILITY TO STAND IN THE KING’S PALACE . . . TEACH THEM . . . LEARNING AND . . . TONGUE OF THE CHALDEANS . . . These are the king’s own specifications. He is first of all interested that these young men who will grace his court have no physical infirmity or blemish. They must be physically handsome. Beauty was regarded almost as a virtue among the ancients. The king would not permit an ugly, misshapen, stooped, or scarred courtier. But more important, they were to be mentally alert and capable of analytical understanding. They were to be more than mere philosophers and theorists—they were to be apt at making practical application of what was learned and known. As the Hebrew puts it—they were to have a “knowing knowledge.” They were to be possessed already of a great amount of contemporary “science” and “knowledge.” Nebuchadnezzer had in mind the extra-ordinary young man. He desired only the brilliant, the scholarly.
His purpose in being so selective was to gather a group of young men eager to learn and easy to teach the sciences and culture of the Babylonians. The king’s theory was that if he could provide himself with a retinue of widely diversified sources of knowledge and wisdom and at the same time Babylonianize them or bind them to loyalty to Babylon, he would be that much more able to conquer and rule.
Daniel and the other three lads were enrolled in a “crash” course in Babylonian culture and for three years were given the ancient equivalent of a liberal education. We gain some idea of the literary resources of the seventh century before Christ when we are introduced through archaeology to the vast library of Ashurbanipal (704–681 B.C. just prior to Daniel’s day) which contained 22,0000 volumes of cuneiform (i.e. “wedge-shaped” writing) clay tablets. These tablets contain religious, literary, and scientific works among which were the Babylonian creation and flood tablets. These tablets came from a variety of sources. Many were copied from originals by his own scribes. He dispatched officials to the cities of his Empire with orders to gather all texts of importance. One of his extant discoveries ends with the words, “If you hear of any tablet or ritualistic text that is suitable for the palace, seek it out, secure it, and send it here.’”
The Babylonians inherited the sexagesimal system from the ancient Sumerians. This system of numbering by sixties is still in use. We reckon sixty seconds to the minute, and sixty minutes to the hour. The system is also used in the division of the circle into three hundred and sixty degrees. Clay tablets have been found showing common familiarity with measurement of the area of rectangles and of right and isosceles triangles. An amazing knowledge of algebra is also shown in the Babylonian literature—tablets of squares, square roots, cubes, and cube roots. The Pythagorean theorem was known by the Babylonians more than a thousand years before Pythagoras!
Closely related to their knowledge of mathematics was their science of astronomy. By 800 B.C. Babylonian astronomers had attained sufficient accuracy to assign positions to the stars and note their heliacal settings. An attempt was made to determine cause and effect relationships between the motions of the heavenly bodies and purely human events and this is known as astrology and is definitely not scientific. A cuneiform tablet from about 700 B.C. classifies the fixed stars. Lengths of daylight and darkness at a given time could be predicted by the Babylonians.
In the field of medicine certain scientific advances were made. Their attempt to learn the will of the gods by an examination of animal entrails furnished, by way of analogy, some idea of human anatomy. As early as the Code of Hammurabi (1700 B.C.) physicians performed delicate operations on the human eye.
Babylonian science was the result of observation and classification and they used it to serve many practical purposes. Taxonomy in plant, animal and mineral kingdoms was practiced. Chemistry and metallurgy were everyday sciences in Daniel’s day.
And, of course, there was an extremely complicated theology or philosophy of Babylonian religion. We will deal with this aspect of Daniel’s education in a later section of the text.
Dan 1:5 . . . A DAILY PORTION OF THE KING’S DAINTIES, AND OF THE WINE WHICH HE DRANK . . . The king commanded that these young men enrolled in instruction in Babylonian culture should also learn to live (especially to eat indulgently) like Babylonian men of eminence. He ordered that they learn the social graces of the Babylonian royal table by eating from the king’s kitchen. “Dainties” probably refer to foods in which only the king could afford to indulge—luxurious, costly, rare, delicate—food that is associated with the lives of those who are lovers of pleasure and luxury. By association with this type of food they would be exposed to a subtle moral softening and weakening process. Godly people are warned to abstain from indulging in such eating of the flesh (cf. Psa 141:4; Pro 23:1-3; Rev 18:14).
The king’s purpose in this was certainly pragmatic and perhaps psychological. It is clear from the phrase, “that at the end thereof they should stand before the king,” the practical end the king sought was training in social graces befitting men of the court. And, it may be, Nebuchadnezzar was attempting a psychological “brainwashing” through such a thorough introduction into Babylonian table manners. The next verses suggest this.
Dan 1:6-7 . . . THE PRINCE OF THE EUNUCHS GAVE NAMES UNTO THEM . . . In olden days most names were theophoric. That is, they had the name of the deity incorporated, Daniel means “my judge is God; ” Hananiah means “gracious is Jehovah; ” Mishael means “who is He that is God?” and Azariah means “Jehovah hath helped,” When the Babylonians changed their names it meant they intended to honor their gods for victory over the Hebrews whose God the Babylonians believed they had vanquished. A parallel for such action is found in 2Ki 23:34; 2Ki 24:17; Est 2:7.
Beltheshazzar means “protect his life; ” Shadrach means “command of Aku (the moon god); ” Mesach means “who is what Aku (the moon god) is?” and Abednego means “servant of Nebo.” No doubt the purpose of the Babylonian king was to so assimilate these young men into the Babylonian culture they would become, for all practical purposes, Babylonians and dissociate themselves completely from the Hebrew ways; even from their God. Although these lads did accommodate themselves readily to new knowledge and new culture, they remained true to their knowledge of and daily walk with the Living God. The rest of their story is yet to be learned.
QUIZ
1. What evidence is there that Daniel (606–536 B.C.) wrote this book and not some pseudo-Daniel
of 200–1000 B.C.?
2. What is the purpose of the book of Daniel?
3. What is apocalyptic literature?
4. Describe the city of Babylon in Daniel’s day—give its location, etc.
5. Show how the apparent discrepancy between Jeremiah’s account of Jehoiakim and Nebuchadnezzar
and Daniel’s account do not contradict.
6. How extensive was the knowledge and wisdom of the Babylonians at this time?
7. Why did the king insist on these young men eating food from his table?
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Daniel 1:8-16
II. PERSEVERANCE ACTUATED
TEXT: Dan 1:8-16
8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s dainties, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
9 Now God made Daniel to find kindness and compassion in the sight of the prince of the eunuchs.
10 And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your food and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse looking than the youths that are of your own age? so would ye endanger my head with the king.
11 Then said Daniel to the steward whom the prince of the enuchs had appointed over Daniel, Hananhia, Mishael, and Azariah:
12 Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
13 Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the youths that eat of the king’s dainties; and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.
14 So he hearkened unto them in this matter, and proved them ten days.
15 And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer, and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youths that did eat of the king’s dainties.
16 So the steward took away their dainties, and the wine they should drink, and gave them pulse.
QUERIES
a. What sort of “defilement” was Daniel anxious to avoid?
b. Was the physical development natural or miraculous?
c. What is “pulse?”
PARAPHRASE
Daniel solemnly resolved that he would not deny the God of Israel by eating food and drinking wine, from the king’s table which had been dedicated to the worship of idols. He courteously requested from the king’s chief servant that he not be forced to participate in the worship of idols by partaking of this food. Now Daniel allowed God to live in and through him to such an extent that the chief servant of the king was inclined toward Daniel with kindness and compassion. Yet, as kindly disposed as he was to Daniel’s regard for principle, he explained his own predicament, saying, I dare not grant your request because my king shows no mercy to those who disobey him, He has ordered this food for you, and if you do not eat it and your physical development deteriorates, he will execute me without mercy, Afterward Daniel politely asked the under-steward assigned to serve them their food if he would be willing to perform a simple test which would involve no personal danger to himself—Give us a simple vegetable and water diet for just ten days. Then, at the end of this short period, compare our physical development with that of those young men who eat the king’s rich delicacies and decide upon our request according to what you see, So the servant agreed to Daniel’s proposition and fed them vegetables and water for ten days, and at the end of ten days he saw that their physical development was even more what the king desired than those who had been eating the king’s food and the steward did not bring them food from the king’s table any more but continued to give them vegetables to eat.
COMMENT
Dan 1:8 DANIEL PURPOSED IN HIS HEART THAT HE WOULD NOT DEFILE HIMSELF . . . The godly parents of this young Hebrew must have been of the same caliber as the parents of John the Baptist, “righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless” (Luk 1:6): They had done a superb job of rearing their son in the admonition and nurture of the Lord. Daniel was possessed of the great principles of righteousness and holiness and faith. He was not one who sought to be justified by a righteousness which is of law-keeping but by a righteousness which is by faith.
Leupold points out that there are three aspects of Daniel’s heathen environment about which he had to make moral decisions as affecting his relationship to the Living God:
(1) the acquisition of heathen wisdom;
(2) the bearing of heathen names;
(3) the eating of heathen food sacrificed to idols.
Daniel knew that in studying heathen sciences he could not be compelled against his conscience to believe those elements of that science that were false. He may have taken Moses and Joseph as his examples of guidance. Their exposure to heathen sciences and myths did not destroy their faith. Daniel’s second experience, that of being given a heathen name, he simply had to endure as something he could do nothing about. It had no bearing on his relationship to God any more than children today who are given “heathen” names deliberately or unconsciously by their parents.
The matter of eating from the king’s table was much more serious. It was a matter which would involve his relationship with God. All meals served at the king’s table were of foods (especially wine and meats) which had been used in worship ceremonies dedicated to heathen idols. To share in such a feast was, according to an eternal principle, the same as worshipping the idol (cf. 1Co 10:20 ff). The significance of Daniel’s act does not, as Lange comments, consist in a legalistic asceticism but in the proof of resolute faith and obedient devotion to the Living God rather than giving the slightest respect to a pagan idolatry.
But notice the courteous and amiable manner Daniel displayed in expressing his faith and devotion to righteous principle. He displays no fanaticism or rudeness, but honestly and frankly states his intention to the chief servant and asks his help.
Dan 1:9 . . . GOD MADE DANIEL TO FIND KINDNESS AND COMPASSION . . . Most commentators speak as if God worked a miracle of “irresistible grace” upon the heart of the chief eunuch so that he could not help himself but to show kindness and compassion toward Daniel. We prefer to presume, in the light of biblical teaching that man is a free moral agent, that the Spirit of God working in the heart of Daniel and subsequently in his actions toward this chief eunuch moved the eunuch to kindness and compassion. All the glory is to be given to God. For it is God who works in Daniel to strengthen him that he should not yield in devotion to hold principle while at the same time being respectful and kind to the chief servant. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Mat 5:7). The chief eunuch recognized that Daniel’s request was made upon the basis of principle and he respected the request. The response of this pagan was, in the ultimate sense, to the grace of God manifested in the life of Daniel.
Dan 1:10 . . . I FEAR MY LORD THE KING . . . SO WOULD YE ENDANGER MY HEAD WITH THE KING . . . The chief eunuch was under great psychological stress and, had not Daniel displayed the grace of God in his request, probably would have responded very inconsiderately with so unimportant a character as this Hebrew captive. He could very well have considered Daniel’s request as insubordination and impudence, This chief steward was a trusted servant of an absolute monarch, Failure to carry out his emperor’s wishes meant, if discovered, immediate death.
Yes, the chief steward sympathized with Daniel’s principles, but it meant almost certain execution for him and so he was about to deny Daniel’s request. Surely, he reasoned with Daniel, you young men would not want to be responsible for me losing my head to the king’s executioner!
Dan 1:11-13 . . . PROVE THY SERVANTS . . . TEN DAYS . . . GIVE US PULSE TO EAT . . . AND AS THOU SEEST, DEAL WITH THY SERVANTS . . . Daniel now proposes to one of the under-servants appointed by the chief servant to serve Daniel and the three lads their fare, a very simple, reasonable and relatively safe experiment. For ten days Daniel suggests, they be fed “pulse” and water. Zero’im literally means, “things sowed.” Things sowed were not customarily offered by pagans as food to their gods. This Hebrew word could be translated in a general sense as vegetables. It involves more than legumes (peas and beans) and would include wheat and other grains so that bread would be in their diet. Wine was not, of course, foreign to the Hebrew diet, except in this case the wine would have been associated with pagan worship ritual.
Ten days is reasonably short enough not to arouse the suspicion of the king and yet long enough to test the merits of the case. There are probably two elements involved in Daniel’s proposal—his faith that God will provide and his common sense that overrich fare such as the luxurious table of the king, offered in unlimited amounts, is not as conducive to good health as is plain, substantial food. The Mosaic law implies this in its prohibition of eating fat (Lev 7:22-24; Lev 3:17; cf. also Tit 1:12-13).
Young argues that Daniel “received a special revelation from the Spirit of God and . . . in speaking he was acting in accord with that revelation.” He says that if Daniel had made this offer merely upon his own initiative he would have been guilty of presumption. He asks, “What warrant could faith have that at the expiration of a short period of time such a change would be apparent in the physical appearance of the youths as is suggested here?” This in turn would imply that the resultant physiological excellence of the Hebrew youths over their contemporaries was miraculous. Such a miracle is not, of course, out of harmony with the historical record of the Old Testament—many such miracles are recorded, and did occur. We simply do not have a sufficient amount of testimony from Daniel to make a final decision in the matter of how it occurred. It would seem that a combination of three elements may be involved: (a) a direct revelation to Daniel plus (b) Daniel’s common sense based on past experience and (c) faith in the directions of God as revealed in the Mosaic law concerning the eating of certain foods. Whatever the case, we consider Daniel’s proposal a direct expression of his trust and devotion to the Living God.
Dan 1:14-16 . . . AND AT THE END OF TEN DAYS THEIR COUNTENANCES APPEARED FAIRER . . . SO THE STEWARD TOOK AWAY THEIR DAINTIES . . . AND GAVE THEM PULSE . . . The remarks of Leupold are appropriate here: “It may ‘seem that a disproportionate amount of emphasis is being given to a secondary matter. But the meticulous care exercised by these young men in doing the will of their God is perhaps the strongest indication that could be found of their complete allegiance to their God. Their determination shows how clearly they discerned what issues were at stake, and how correctly they were getting their bearings in the matter of making an adjustment in reference to daily contact with heathen life. The issues involved were not trifles. In this matter they had to take a stand.”
For the believer in God there are three areas of morality: (a) that which is always right; (b) that which is always wrong; (c) that which is a matter of opinion (which the believer is at liberty to choose, guided by love for God and fellow-man). Daniel was called upon to act in all three realms. It is always right to be kind and courteous to one’s fellow man—Daniel did so, It is a matter of opinion about learning from the literature and culture of the world—Daniel did so and used it to serve God and man. It is always wrong to blaspheme God by worshipping idols-Daniel refused. The believer’s liberty is bounded by Divine authority as revealed in a propositional revelation and is also bounded by the principle of love—love for God and His will first, and love for man second. The only way the believer knows a proper action or expression of love is by direction of the revealed will of God, A believer does not live by practising any ethic or moulding himself on any ideal, but by a faith in God which finally ascribes all good to Him and seeks His will as it has been revealed through His prophets and His Son and recorded inerrantly in the Bible.
QUIZ
1. What were the three aspects of Daniel’s heathen environment about which he had to make moral decisions?
2. Why was the matter of eating the king’s dainties more serious than the other?
3. How does Daniel behave toward his captors in resisting defiling of himself?
4. How did Daniel find favor in the eyes of the chief eunuch?
5. What are the three areas of morality for the believer in God?
6. How did Daniel behave in these three areas?
7. What is the believer’s ultimate source of knowing what is right and wrong?_________________________________
SERMON NUMBER ONE
DARE TO BE A DANIEL . . .
Text: Dan 1:8
INTRODUCTION
I. WHY WAS DANIEL IN BABYLON?
A. He was one of the first groups of captives carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon during the period of
Judah’s downfall and the Captivity of the entire nation of Judah
1. The captivity of the Jews was prophesied by Jeremiah
B. Daniel’s subsequent life indicates that he could not have been one of the many reprobates who brought
God’s wrath upon the nation of Judah causing the captivity
1. We assume therefore that God had special need of Daniel and allowed him to be taken to Babylon
to serve Him and those who would repent while in captivity
C. John Noble came to this conclusion concerning his imprisonment in Communist Russian prison camps
for some 12–13 years
“. . . there were those cynics and skeptics among my fellow prisoners who asked how anyone could give thanks to a God who was permitting us to suffer as we did . . . I always answered to such criticism that while I did not know what purpose was being served by the suffering we were enduring, I was sure that there was a reason. I felt that God would deal in due time with the atheists of Russia and that meanwhile the world must see by the suffering of the victims of communist tyranny what an evil system it is.”
II. WHAT WAS BABYLON LIKE?
A. The city was surrounded by 60 miles of wall, 300 ft. high, 80 ft. thick, submerged underground 35 ft. (in
order to keep enemies from tunneling under). The Euphrates river split the city in the middle. The temple
of Bel contained a golden image and golden table which weighed more than 25 tons. It had 53 temples and
180 altars and some 4000 gods.
B. The king’s palace was perhaps the most magnificent building ever erected in antiquity. It was protected
itself by 4 succeeding walls plus moats and other defense mechanisms.
C. The hanging gardens, built by Nebuchadnezzar for one of his homesick queens, consisted of several
tiers of arches, each holding up a solid platform 400 ft. sq. upon which would be planted trees, shrubs, flowers, gardens of all kinds. These platform gardens were watered by hydraulic pumps pumping
water upward from one level to another.
D. Their society and culture was what would be expected from a pagan empire—sensual, luxurious,
indulgent, cruel, proud and powerful.
E. In such a land and amongst such a people was the young man Daniel.
DISCUSSION
I. DARE TO BE A DANIEL, DARE TO STAND ALONE
A. He had his friends with him; he was not all alone
1. They stood many of the tests of loyalty to God with Daniel
2. What a blessing believing and faithful friends can be
3. The great apostle Paul was blessed with a few faithful friends Luke, Barnabas, John Mark, Silas, Titus
4. It is a great consolation to a believer who has to suffer to know there are other believers sharing in the
same experiences and remaining faithful
5. As Christians we are one body of believers and when one member suffers we all suffer (cf. Rom 12:15;
1Co 12:25-26)
6. Yet, each believer must ultimately stand alone when his faith is tested
B. He had his God; he was not all alone
1. He undoubtedly was reared in a God-fearing, God-worshipping Jewish home and knew by the
experience of faith that God was with him
2. He knew by God’s supernatural manifestation of Himself in miraculous deeds that God was with him;
physical development on a diet of vegetables; supernatural learning and wisdom and ability to interpret
dreams
3. His providential reception by this pagan court should indicate to him that God was protecting him
4. Yet, God could not make Daniel’s choices for him . . . SO DANIEL WAS, IN A VERY REAL SENSE,
STANDING ALONE
5. Daniel, all alone, had to CHOOSE whether to self-righteously refuse training in the wisdom of the
Chaldeans or to recognize there was nothing basically immoral in studying in a selective way and
making the most of every opportunity to glorify God among the heathen.
C. Daniel had choices to make and so he was all alone
1. His friends could not decide for him; HE MUST STAND ALONE
2. God will not choose for him; HE MUST DECIDE FOR HIMSELF
3. Daniel and his three friends STOOD PRACTICALLY ALL ALONE AS THEY CHOSE TO REFUSE
PARTICIPATION IN IDOL WORSHIP
4. Every believer must make personal choices which no one else can make for him
5. Every believer must realize that those who truly trust the Lord are in the minority and often times
it will appear as if no one but themselves are standing up for righteousness and truth
6. The Bible teaches that believers are to be set apart from the world (2Co 6:14 to 2Co 7:1;
Joh 17:14-17; Mat 7:13-14, etc.)
D. Examples of those who have stood alone (except that God was with them):
1. Noah (preached 120 years only 8 were saved)
2. Abraham (left his own country and wandered)
3. Moses (stood against Egypt and Pharaoh)
4. David (stood alone against Goliath, then against Saul)
5. Paul (stood against the heathen world; against Judaizers)
6. Martin Luther (stood against powerful world church)
7. Alexander Campbell (stood against denominationalism)
8. PERFECT EXAMPLE: JESUS CHRIST, even His friends deserted Him; was forsaken
by God in order to suffer our eternal punishment for us
9. John Noble, “I was increasingly certain that many of these Russians respected the courage
with which prisoners held to their faith in God and that they would have liked to join us if they could.”
II. DARE TO HAVE A PURPOSE FIRM
A. Definition of Dare: “resolution; bravery, courage; backbone; venturous; challenging; unflinching.”
1. Standing alone without a godly purpose is vanity and pride; such are rebels without causes for any
cause that is not godly is a losing cause!
2. Daniel had purpose because he had conviction. He was fully persuaded that God exists and that
He is a jealous and loving God
B. Daniel’s Purpose
1. To glorify God. This was Daniel’s target—his main concern in every experience that life brought him.
2. He refused to eat from the king’s table because in so doing he would be participating in the worship
of idols. Practically all the rich and luxurious food and wine the king and his court ate had been devoted
as sacrifices to pagan idols. To eat this food Daniel would give the king the impression that he was
willing to worship idols. Daniel’s purpose was just the opposite.
3. It may also be that some of the food from the king’s table was “unclean” according to Mosaic law.
Daniel’s purpose was to uphold the law of God in every instance possible.
4. Daniel knew that if he trusted God, God would manifest His power and it was Daniel’s purpose to
let his life and his mouth be a testimony to the True and Living God.
5. In doing this Daniel would become a source of light to the darkened pagan society dwelling in
ignorance and sin. He would at the same time become a source of encouragement and strength to his
Jewish brethren in captivity.
C. Every believer needs to have a purpose firm
1. I have a sermon entitled “A Life Worth Living” with three main points: (a) Have a Belief Worth Trusting;
(b) Have a Job Worth Doing; (c) Get a Reward Worth Having.
2. Daniel could have rationalized like so many of us do today and said, “When in Babylon, do as the Babylonians do.” BUT HE KNEW HOW TO SAY “NO!” AND MEAN IT! It was not easy for him.
a. Consider all the pressures he had to endure.
3. Self-control is the mark of real man-hood. Strong men, cruel men, shrewd men may control nations
and empires but if they cannot control self they are the weakest of all men: cf. Alexander the Great;
Hitler, etc.
4. The world, for the most part, respects purity, courage, honesty, conviction.
5. The people who have done the most for mankind and in a lasting nature are men who have had
the one purpose which counts the most—TO GLORIFY GOD! Think of Joseph, Esther, Francis
Bacon, Michelangelo, Handel, Lincoln, David Lloyd George, Pascal, Michael Faraday, etc.
6. Such a purpose will come only with persuasion that God is, that Jesus Christ is the living, reigning,
returning Lord, and that the Bible is the Word of the Spirit, SUCH A PURPOSE WILL COME ONLY
WITH DAILY, SWEET COMMUNION WITH GOD THROUGH HIS WORD AND PRAYER!
a. This is where Daniel’s purpose came from.
7. John Noble, “This I found that honesty paid even in a Russian concentration camp where it might
seem that only a fool would try to hold to a conventional moral standard. I had resolved to try to
show . . . by example, what the faith of a Christian could do. Many times thereafter I dis covered
that no matter where I was, honesty got me further.”
III. DARE TO MAKE IT KNOWN
A. Daniel had conviction and purpose and was not afraid to make it known
1. There were plenty of excuses Daniel might have had to keep silent about his faith in God
2. To the contrary, Daniel took every opportunity to testify concerning the True and Living God
3. There was the time he prayed to Jehovah with his windows open in defiance to the king’s edict
4. There was the time he delivered the true message of God to Nebuchadnezzar about his insanity
5. There was the time he delivered the true message of God to Belshazzar
6. And, of course, there were many other occasions
B. This world needs people, Christian people, who will dare to make their purpose known—to glorify God.
1. Our heathen world needs believers with conviction. About the only conviction most people have
today is that it’s wrong to have convictions.
2. Dare to proclaim the counsel of God—the whole counsel of God
3. Dare to make the most for God of every situation
4. Dare to be honest with self, with God, with associates in every situation—Daniel did not give up,
but neither did he cause undue alarm or antagonism in the heart of his pagan ruler. Joseph and Moses
and Paul are prime examples.
5. Believers will never be encouraged and strengthened unless there be those who have purpose who
will dare to make it known
6. Unbelievers will never become believers unless believers dare to make the gospel known (Rom 10:17)
C. Examples of those who dared to make it known
1. All the Old Testament prophets; Isaiah (ch. 6); Jeremiah (ch. 1 and Jer 20:9); Jonah, Ezekiel, Amos,
Hosea, etc.
2. John the Baptist: one of the loneliest men who ever walked the earth was fearless in making the
glory of God known
3. Paul the apostle—preached from house to house, night and day, with tears; preached to kings
and authorities
4. Jesus Christ—this was His “food” (John 4); Zeal for the house of God consumed Him (John 2).
Jesus dared to “tell it like it is” (cf. Jn. 7–8–9; Matthew 23, etc.)
D. How may every believer “dare” to make his purpose known?
1. By personal evangelism with his neighbors, friends and relatives
2. By teaching a Bible School class (elders are to be “apt to teach”)
3. By supporting various arms of evangelism with financial means: Bible Colleges; T.V. Programs;
Missionaries; Printing Efforts
4. By writing letters to unconverted friends and relatives
5. By living lives that do not compromise with worldliness but yet do not withdraw into a monastic
life and dissociate from the daily affairs of needy men.
CONCLUSION
I. HERE IN THE FIRST REAL TEST OF DANIEL’S FAITH WE SEE VICTORY
A. God providentially cared for them in the matter of food and they developed physically to a state more
to be desired than their heathen contemporaries
B. God providentially supplied greater knowledge, learning, wisdom than all their contemporaries
C. Notice: these providential blessings were not afforded for Daniel to indulge himself but to give him
greater opportunity to serve the Lord
D. God has promised to give every believer such an abundance of opportunity to serve the Lord
(cf. Eph 3:20; 2Co 9:6-15) Joseph recognized this, Gen 50:20
II. AT THE END OF DANIEL’S LIFE AND BOOK (ch. 12 WE SEE VICTORY
A. It is significant that of all the Old Testament books, Daniel is the one which deals most of moral courage
and faith—and it is the one which deals the most with the resurrection
B. Daniel is given a vision of victory like the aged John in Revelation. Daniel’s curiosity almost gets the
best of him—he wants to know the why and wherefore of all that he had seen in vision but God knows
that what he needs most is assurance of victory.
C. “They that be wise, shall shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to
righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.”
D. “But go your way till the end; and you shall rest, and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of
the days.”
E. DANIEL, WHO HAD WITNESSED SO COURAGEOUSLY AND FAITHFULLY TO HIS LAST DAYS
IS TOLD, “YOU SHALL REST.”
DANIEL, WHO DARED TO STAND ALONE, DARED TO HAVE A PURPOSE FIRM, DARED TO MAKE IT KNOWN . . . SHINES AS THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE FIRMAMENT, ONE OF THE BRIGHTEST OF THOSE STARS WHICH HAVE TURNED MANY TO GOD AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
III. WILL YOU DARE TO BE A DANIEL . . . A JOSEPH . . . A MOSES . . . A PAUL?________________________________
Daniel 1:17-21
III. PROSPERITY AWARDED
TEXT: Dan_1:17-21
17 Now as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams,
18 And at the end of the days which the king had appointed for bringing them in, the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.
19 And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king.
20 And in every matter of wisdom and understanding, concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his realm.
21 And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus.
QUERIES
a. How did God give these youths knowledge, learning and wisdom?
b. Who were the magicians and enchanters in Babylon?
c. Who is king Cyrus?
PARAPHRASE
God gave these four youths supernatural ability to learn and they soon mastered all the literature and science of the time; and God gave to Daniel special ability in understanding the meanings of dreams and visions when they are given as divine messages. And when the three-year training period was completed, the chief of the eunuchs brought all the young men in this training program to the king for interview and examination. King Nebuchadnezzar interviewed each one at length and found that none of them impressed him as much as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. So they were appointed to his regular staff of advisors. And in all matters requiring information and reasoned judgment the king found these young men’s advice ten times better than that of all the skilled wise men and prognosticators in his realm. And Daniel held this appointment as the king’s counsellor for some twenty-four years and through five or six emperors, until sometime in the first year of the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
COMMENT
Dan 1:17 . . . GOD GAVE THEM KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL IN ALL LEARNING AND WISDOM . . . The only conclusion to reach from the statement in Dan 1:17 is that the ability to gain knowledge and have learning and wisdom was a direct and supernatural gift of God to the four young lads. The gift of God was received, of course, willingly and we may safely presume they applied themselves diligently to their task. The phrase “skill in all learning and wisdom” indicates God gave them a power to perceive, distinguish and judge everything they learned whether it was to be accepted and practiced and taught as truth or to be rejected as false. They had inerrant insight into all the knowledge and learning of Babylonians. Leupold says, “. . . a discernment that enabled these four to sit in judgment on all secular learning that was offered them and to evaluate it according to the estimate of all-wise God.” They were also given “wisdom” which is the ability to rightly apply the knowledge acquired as God would have it applied. Daniel was given an additional gift that the other three did not have—understanding in all visions and dreams.
Visions and dreams were often used by God in the Old Testament to reveal special missions or messages to certain men (cf. Jacob, Joseph, etc.), Inasmuch as these dreams and visions were usually in extended symbolism they required special, divine interpretation, directly from God or through one of God’s appointed messengers. This would be especially necessary when such dreams and visions were given to pagan rulers. Daniel’s gift was extraordinary. See our introductory study entitled “Interpreting The Prophets,” in The Minor Prophets, by Paul T. Butler, pub. College Press, for information on dreams and visions. Daniel was not unique in this gift of interpreting dreams and visions (Joseph had the gift and exercised it extensively).
Dan 1:18-19 . . . AND AMONG THEM ALL WAS FOUND NONE LIKE DANIEL, ETC. . . . It is still amazing to some people, but true in most cases, that firm but courteous propagation of principle and truth will be appreciated and rewarded even by pagans who themselves are prone to follow falsehood and myth. Joseph, Moses, Peter and John and Paul are prime examples as they stood before pagan rulers and princes. This is true because truth is always wise! What is true may not be immediately and physically pleasurable, but it is always wise. And only the degraded reprobate will fail to recognize that. It did not take Nebuchadnezzar long to recognize the contrast between the wisdom of these four youths and the foolishness of the mythology and mysticism of the enchanters and magicians.
Dan 1:20-21 . . . HE FOUND THEM TEN TIMES BETTER THAN ALL THE MAGICIANS AND ENCHANTERS . . . The word “ten” is, of course, hyperbolic and simply means Daniel and his three companions were found exceedingly wise and perceptive. They were much more learned and discerning than the young men who had been born and reared in Babylon—in fact more than all the trained wise men of Babylon!
It would be well to give a brief resume of Babylonian religion here. The religion which the Jews of the Exile found in Babylon had roots which went back over two thousand years. The ancient Sumerian religion was highly polytheistic and made a practice of absorbing or incorporating every religion or god it contacted. The god of a victorious state was considered to be the most powerful deity, for warfare was always waged on two levels. The earthly states were championed by their celestial deities, and the battles in the sky were accounted as real as the battles on earth (cf. Daniel chap. 10). In very ancient Sumerian times (2000 years before the Jewish captivity) the chief god was known as Anu, the sky god who was regarded as father of the great gods. The second great god was Bel (the Semitic Baal) which means “Lord,” and he was ruler of earth. The third of the great Sumerian gods was known as Enki who ruled the waters upon which the Babylonians believed the terrestrial world floated. Then there was a pantheon of some 4000 gods which included Sin the moon-god, Shamash, the sun-god, and Adad the storm god. Fertility and reproduction in the Tigris-Euphrates valley were associated with Ishtar also the goddess of war. There was Ninurta, fertility god who was responsible for the annual flooding of the rivers; Gibil the god of fire who was invoked by magicians in their tasks of exorcism—he was called upon to burn to death evil spirits and sorcerers; Nergal, destroyer of life, the god of pestilence and death, god of the land of no return; Nabu (Nebo) god of the scribes who was keeper of the Table of Fate with power to prolong or shorten life (Nebuchadnezzar’s name expresses faith in Nebo).
During the First Dynasty of Neo-Babylon an important revolution took place in the religion of the country. A minor deity named Marduk was chosen as the principal god of the whole of Babylonia and was placed at the head of the pantheon. The mythological story of how he rescued all the gods and goddesses from the monster Tiamat and was acknowledged by all he rescued as chief god is too long to recount here, Tammuz, son of Ishtar, was a god of vegetation who disappeared each year in the late summer and returned (i.e. was resurrected) the following spring (cf. Eze 8:14), In the Greco-Roman world Tammuz was worshiped as Adonis (a name which is a variant of the Semitic Adon, lord, or master).
The Babylonians of Daniel’s day had an elaborate system of good genies or spirits and evil genies. Evil genies were believed to enter houses even when doors were bolted and if they found men or women in sin without the protection of their personal god they entered that man or woman and possessed them. The Babylonian felt himself surrounded by ghosts, or spirits of men whose lives had proved unhappy on earth. The ghosts had been cheated out of happiness in this life and, nursing their grief, they were determined to torment the living.
This is the kind of “learning and wisdom” Daniel and his three friends, and especially Daniel, would later renounce in favor of being true to Jehovah God and would, indirectly at least, expose as mythological and false. We shall deal with the magicians and enchanters in chapter two.
QUIZ
1. What was the knowledge and skill in learning and wisdom given these youths?
2. Why did God use visions and dreams to communicate to man?
3. Why is truth usually rewarded with respect even by heathen?
4. What was the character of Babylonian religion?
5. Who was the chief god of the Babylonians in Daniel’s day?
Part One—Daniel’s Faith—Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
I. DANIEL’S FAITH—Dan 1:1-21
I. PAGANIZATION ATTEMPTED
TEXT: Dan 1:1-7
1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.
2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God; and he carried them into the land of Shinar to the house of his god: and he brought the vessels into the treasure-house of his god.
3. And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring in certain of the children of Israel, even of the seed royal and of the nobles;
4 youths in whom was no blemish, but well-favored, and skilful in all wisdom, and endued with knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability to stand in the king’s palace; and that he should teach them the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.
5 And the king appointed for them a daily portion of the king’s dainties, and of the wine which he drank, and that they should be nourished three years; that at the end thereof they should stand before the king.
6 Now among these were, of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
7 And the prince of the eunuchs gave names unto them: unto Daniel he gave the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abed-nego.
QUERIES
a. When did this siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar occur?
b. Why attempt to nourish the Hebrew lads on Babylonian “dainties?”
c. Why were the Hebrew lads given Babylonian names?
PARAPHRASE
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and encircled the city with his army and beseiged it. And the Lord permitted Nebuchadnezzar to capture Jehoiakim along with some of the sacred vessels of worship from the temple of God. Nebuchadnezzar took all his plunder along with his prisoners back to his own land of Babylon and he put the sacred vessels on display in the treasury of his own pagan temple. Then Nebuchadnezzar ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his servants, to select some of the young Jewish nobles and to train them in Babylonian language, sciences and culture. Ashpenaz was instructed to select young, strong, healthy, good-looking men who were well informed, widely read in many fields, alert and sensible and possessed of poise and self-confidence sufficiently to make a good appearance in the court of the king. And the king took special occasion to command that they should receive a daily serving of the richest and most desirable food and wine from his own table for a three-year training period. He planned to develop these young men physically, mentally and socially in order that they might become his advisors. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were four of the young men chosen, all from the tribe of Judah. And as a part of their naturalization into Babylonian life, the king’s chief servant gave them Babylonian names. Daniel was called Belteshazzar; Hananiah was called Shadrach; Mishael was called Meshach; Azariah was called Abed-nego.
COMMENT
Dan 1:1 IN THE THIRD YEAR . . . OF JEHOIAKIM . . . Immediately the problem of an apparent discrepancy between Daniel and Jeremiah confronts us. (1) Jer 25:1 says that the fourth year of Jehoiakim and the first year of Nebuchadnezzar were the same; (2) Jer 46:2 has Nebuchadnezzar defeating the army of Pharaoh’-Necho at Carchemish in the fourth year of Jehoiakim; (3) and, finally, Jer 25:8-14 seems to imply that Nebuchadnezzar had not yet come against Jerusalem (at all?) in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, Yet, Daniel says not only that Nebuchadnezzar did come against Jehoiakim in Jehoiakim’s third year, but that Nebuchadnezzar was king when he came in this third year, while Jeremiah specifically states that the first year of Nebuchadnezzar was not until the fourth year of Jehoiakim.
Historical research offers two possible solutions one of which is undoubtedly the correct answer: (1) According to the Babylonian way of designating time of regnal activity, only the first full year of reign was called the first year of a king’s reign. The year in which the king ascended the throne, whether at the first of the year or later, was not designated his first year, but “the year of accession to the kingdom.” Daniel, writing in Babylon, many years after the event, would undoubtedly use Babylonian terminology, especially in such a technical matter, speaks of Jehoiakim’s third year but means the same year as does Jeremiah in mentioning the fourth year (Jeremiah writing in Judah, using Jewish terminology). Edward J. Young points to a biblical example of such a difference between Babylonian and Jewish methods of reckoning regnal activity. There is a passage in 2Ki 24:12 through 2Ki 25:30 where the eighth and nineteenth years of a reign are spoken of; the parallel passage to this in Jer 52:28-30 speaks of the same reign as in the seventh and eighteenth years.
(2) There is a passage in Josephus (cf. Antiquities X:II:I and Contra Apion Dan_1:19) which he copied from Berossus, the Chaldean historian, which relates that Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar’s father, had heard that a governor whom he had not set over Egypt had revolted. Being himself old, Nabopolassar dispatched his son leading the massive Babylonian army to take the rebel in hand. This Nebuchadnezzar set out to do; but while engaged in the task, his father took sick and died. Whereupon Nebuchadnezzar turned over his captives to his subordinates, selected a small band of the most courageous of his soldiers set out immediately for the capitol city of Babylon to take over the reigns of government. Among the captives Nebuchadnezzar left with his subordinates were “Jews, Phoenicians and Syrians, and of the nations belonging to Egypt.” This would imply that Nebuenadnezzar had been engaged in an expedition against Jerusalem prior to the battle at Carchemish. Notice that Dan 1:1 does not state that Nebuchadnezzar conquered and destroyed the city of Jerusalem in the third year of Jehoiakim! only that he “came and besieged it.” But, if Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem before he went home at the death of his father to take the reins of government, why does Daniel say king Nebuchadnezzar besieged the city? Daniel, writing long after the event, is using the proleptic form in applying the title king. We sometimes say, “In the childhood of President Lincoln,” or “when President Teddy Roosevelt charged up San Juan hill.”
1. Early 606 B.C. Jer. delivers the address recorded in Jeremiah 25
Early in 605 B.C. Jer. delivers the address recorded in Jeremiah 25
2. 606 B.C. Neb. besieges Jerusalem; carries off Jehoiakim, temple vessels, Daniel, and friends
Early, in 605 Neb. defeats the Egyptians at Carchemish (Jer 46:2)
3. Nebuchadnezzar hastens home at death of his father
Nebuchadnezzar then appears in Palestine
4. Early 605 B.C. Neb. defeats Egyptians at Carchemish
Then occurs the siege of Dan 1:1; also recorded in 2Ki 24:1; 2Ch 36:6-7
5. Nebuchadnezzar comes against Jerusalem twice more, 597 B.C. and 586 B.C.
Neb. hastens to Babylon at death of his father
Dan 1:2 AND THE LORD GAVE . . . INTO HIS HAND . . . AND HE CARRIED THEM . . . TO THE HOUSE OF HIS GOD . . . Although Nebuchadnezzar was unaware of it, and probably would not have admitted it at the time (however, he was later to change his mind), he became an instrument of the Divine will. God permitted Nebuchadnezzar to exercise his fury against Jerusalem and to take the covenant people into captivity for the good of God’s people (cf. Jer 25:1 ff; Jer 27:5-7, etc.). Please refer also to Minor Prophets, by Paul T. Butler, published College Press, Special Studies on Philosophy of History.
Nebuchadnezzar is spelled Nebuchadrezzar in Babylonian and means “Nebo protect the boundary,” or “Nebo protect the crown.” Jehoiakim was not deported, (cf. 2Ch 36:5) therefore all that Nebuchadnezzar “brought to the treasure house of his god” were some of the sacred vessels from the temple in Jerusalem. The suffix “them” can only refer gramatically to the vessels. Some of these vessels Belshazzar (Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson) desecrated by using them in a drunken, riotous feast (Dan 5:2-4). It was customary in those days for conquerors to commandeer and plunder thoroughly the treasuries of the vanquished. The rapine of defeated foes is still practiced by ungodly nations today—Russia robbed Europe of some of its most priceless treasures during World War II. The Babylonian prince took his booty home and put it in safe deposit in the treasure-house of the temple to his pagan gods.
Dan 1:3 . . . THE KING SPAKE UNTO ASHPENAZ . . . THAT HE SHOULD BRING: CERTAIN OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL . . . Lange points out that it is possible that Ashpenaz himself might not have been a literal eunuch since Joseph’s master at the court of Pharaoh is called by the same Hebrew word and yet was married (cf. Gen 37:36; Gen 38:1-7). It is highly probable though that Ashpenaz and all his subordinates were eunuchs in the literal sense. However, it is not necessary to assume that Daniel and his Hebrew friends were made to become literal eunuchs. In fact, Eze 14:20 seems to imply that Daniel had sons and daughters. It may also be assumed that Daniel would resist being made a eunuch with as much forcefulness as he did the “king’s dainties” since the law of Moses prohibited a eunuch to enter the congregation of Israel, (Deu 23:1).
Ashpenaz, major-domo, was commanded by the king to select only the most eminent of the captives—those of royal stock. By this means he could gather, from every subjugated nation, a select body of talented young diplomats. The value of such a heterogeneous group to a pagan court, representing an amalgamation of many different political, cultural and intellectual ideas and secrets, is at once evident. Daniel was from the tribe of Judah, the royal tribe of Israel.
Dan 1:4 . . . NO BLEMISH . . . WELL-FAVORED . . . SKILFUL IN ALL WISDOM . . . ENDUED WITH KNOWLEDGE . . . UNDERSTANDING . . . SCIENCE . . . AS HAD ABILITY TO STAND IN THE KING’S PALACE . . . TEACH THEM . . . LEARNING AND . . . TONGUE OF THE CHALDEANS . . . These are the king’s own specifications. He is first of all interested that these young men who will grace his court have no physical infirmity or blemish. They must be physically handsome. Beauty was regarded almost as a virtue among the ancients. The king would not permit an ugly, misshapen, stooped, or scarred courtier. But more important, they were to be mentally alert and capable of analytical understanding. They were to be more than mere philosophers and theorists—they were to be apt at making practical application of what was learned and known. As the Hebrew puts it—they were to have a “knowing knowledge.” They were to be possessed already of a great amount of contemporary “science” and “knowledge.” Nebuchadnezzer had in mind the extra-ordinary young man. He desired only the brilliant, the scholarly.
His purpose in being so selective was to gather a group of young men eager to learn and easy to teach the sciences and culture of the Babylonians. The king’s theory was that if he could provide himself with a retinue of widely diversified sources of knowledge and wisdom and at the same time Babylonianize them or bind them to loyalty to Babylon, he would be that much more able to conquer and rule.
Daniel and the other three lads were enrolled in a “crash” course in Babylonian culture and for three years were given the ancient equivalent of a liberal education. We gain some idea of the literary resources of the seventh century before Christ when we are introduced through archaeology to the vast library of Ashurbanipal (704–681 B.C. just prior to Daniel’s day) which contained 22,0000 volumes of cuneiform (i.e. “wedge-shaped” writing) clay tablets. These tablets contain religious, literary, and scientific works among which were the Babylonian creation and flood tablets. These tablets came from a variety of sources. Many were copied from originals by his own scribes. He dispatched officials to the cities of his Empire with orders to gather all texts of importance. One of his extant discoveries ends with the words, “If you hear of any tablet or ritualistic text that is suitable for the palace, seek it out, secure it, and send it here.’”
The Babylonians inherited the sexagesimal system from the ancient Sumerians. This system of numbering by sixties is still in use. We reckon sixty seconds to the minute, and sixty minutes to the hour. The system is also used in the division of the circle into three hundred and sixty degrees. Clay tablets have been found showing common familiarity with measurement of the area of rectangles and of right and isosceles triangles. An amazing knowledge of algebra is also shown in the Babylonian literature—tablets of squares, square roots, cubes, and cube roots. The Pythagorean theorem was known by the Babylonians more than a thousand years before Pythagoras!
Closely related to their knowledge of mathematics was their science of astronomy. By 800 B.C. Babylonian astronomers had attained sufficient accuracy to assign positions to the stars and note their heliacal settings. An attempt was made to determine cause and effect relationships between the motions of the heavenly bodies and purely human events and this is known as astrology and is definitely not scientific. A cuneiform tablet from about 700 B.C. classifies the fixed stars. Lengths of daylight and darkness at a given time could be predicted by the Babylonians.
In the field of medicine certain scientific advances were made. Their attempt to learn the will of the gods by an examination of animal entrails furnished, by way of analogy, some idea of human anatomy. As early as the Code of Hammurabi (1700 B.C.) physicians performed delicate operations on the human eye.
Babylonian science was the result of observation and classification and they used it to serve many practical purposes. Taxonomy in plant, animal and mineral kingdoms was practiced. Chemistry and metallurgy were everyday sciences in Daniel’s day.
And, of course, there was an extremely complicated theology or philosophy of Babylonian religion. We will deal with this aspect of Daniel’s education in a later section of the text.
Dan 1:5 . . . A DAILY PORTION OF THE KING’S DAINTIES, AND OF THE WINE WHICH HE DRANK . . . The king commanded that these young men enrolled in instruction in Babylonian culture should also learn to live (especially to eat indulgently) like Babylonian men of eminence. He ordered that they learn the social graces of the Babylonian royal table by eating from the king’s kitchen. “Dainties” probably refer to foods in which only the king could afford to indulge—luxurious, costly, rare, delicate—food that is associated with the lives of those who are lovers of pleasure and luxury. By association with this type of food they would be exposed to a subtle moral softening and weakening process. Godly people are warned to abstain from indulging in such eating of the flesh (cf. Psa 141:4; Pro 23:1-3; Rev 18:14).
The king’s purpose in this was certainly pragmatic and perhaps psychological. It is clear from the phrase, “that at the end thereof they should stand before the king,” the practical end the king sought was training in social graces befitting men of the court. And, it may be, Nebuchadnezzar was attempting a psychological “brainwashing” through such a thorough introduction into Babylonian table manners. The next verses suggest this.
Dan 1:6-7 . . . THE PRINCE OF THE EUNUCHS GAVE NAMES UNTO THEM . . . In olden days most names were theophoric. That is, they had the name of the deity incorporated, Daniel means “my judge is God; ” Hananiah means “gracious is Jehovah; ” Mishael means “who is He that is God?” and Azariah means “Jehovah hath helped,” When the Babylonians changed their names it meant they intended to honor their gods for victory over the Hebrews whose God the Babylonians believed they had vanquished. A parallel for such action is found in 2Ki 23:34; 2Ki 24:17; Est 2:7.
Beltheshazzar means “protect his life; ” Shadrach means “command of Aku (the moon god); ” Mesach means “who is what Aku (the moon god) is?” and Abednego means “servant of Nebo.” No doubt the purpose of the Babylonian king was to so assimilate these young men into the Babylonian culture they would become, for all practical purposes, Babylonians and dissociate themselves completely from the Hebrew ways; even from their God. Although these lads did accommodate themselves readily to new knowledge and new culture, they remained true to their knowledge of and daily walk with the Living God. The rest of their story is yet to be learned.
QUIZ
1. What evidence is there that Daniel (606–536 B.C.) wrote this book and not some pseudo-Daniel
of 200–1000 B.C.?
2. What is the purpose of the book of Daniel?
3. What is apocalyptic literature?
4. Describe the city of Babylon in Daniel’s day—give its location, etc.
5. Show how the apparent discrepancy between Jeremiah’s account of Jehoiakim and Nebuchadnezzar
and Daniel’s account do not contradict.
6. How extensive was the knowledge and wisdom of the Babylonians at this time?
7. Why did the king insist on these young men eating food from his table?
____________________________________________________
Daniel 1:8-16
II. PERSEVERANCE ACTUATED
TEXT: Dan 1:8-16
8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s dainties, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
9 Now God made Daniel to find kindness and compassion in the sight of the prince of the eunuchs.
10 And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your food and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse looking than the youths that are of your own age? so would ye endanger my head with the king.
11 Then said Daniel to the steward whom the prince of the enuchs had appointed over Daniel, Hananhia, Mishael, and Azariah:
12 Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
13 Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the youths that eat of the king’s dainties; and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.
14 So he hearkened unto them in this matter, and proved them ten days.
15 And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer, and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youths that did eat of the king’s dainties.
16 So the steward took away their dainties, and the wine they should drink, and gave them pulse.
QUERIES
a. What sort of “defilement” was Daniel anxious to avoid?
b. Was the physical development natural or miraculous?
c. What is “pulse?”
PARAPHRASE
Daniel solemnly resolved that he would not deny the God of Israel by eating food and drinking wine, from the king’s table which had been dedicated to the worship of idols. He courteously requested from the king’s chief servant that he not be forced to participate in the worship of idols by partaking of this food. Now Daniel allowed God to live in and through him to such an extent that the chief servant of the king was inclined toward Daniel with kindness and compassion. Yet, as kindly disposed as he was to Daniel’s regard for principle, he explained his own predicament, saying, I dare not grant your request because my king shows no mercy to those who disobey him, He has ordered this food for you, and if you do not eat it and your physical development deteriorates, he will execute me without mercy, Afterward Daniel politely asked the under-steward assigned to serve them their food if he would be willing to perform a simple test which would involve no personal danger to himself—Give us a simple vegetable and water diet for just ten days. Then, at the end of this short period, compare our physical development with that of those young men who eat the king’s rich delicacies and decide upon our request according to what you see, So the servant agreed to Daniel’s proposition and fed them vegetables and water for ten days, and at the end of ten days he saw that their physical development was even more what the king desired than those who had been eating the king’s food and the steward did not bring them food from the king’s table any more but continued to give them vegetables to eat.
COMMENT
Dan 1:8 DANIEL PURPOSED IN HIS HEART THAT HE WOULD NOT DEFILE HIMSELF . . . The godly parents of this young Hebrew must have been of the same caliber as the parents of John the Baptist, “righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless” (Luk 1:6): They had done a superb job of rearing their son in the admonition and nurture of the Lord. Daniel was possessed of the great principles of righteousness and holiness and faith. He was not one who sought to be justified by a righteousness which is of law-keeping but by a righteousness which is by faith.
Leupold points out that there are three aspects of Daniel’s heathen environment about which he had to make moral decisions as affecting his relationship to the Living God:
(1) the acquisition of heathen wisdom;
(2) the bearing of heathen names;
(3) the eating of heathen food sacrificed to idols.
Daniel knew that in studying heathen sciences he could not be compelled against his conscience to believe those elements of that science that were false. He may have taken Moses and Joseph as his examples of guidance. Their exposure to heathen sciences and myths did not destroy their faith. Daniel’s second experience, that of being given a heathen name, he simply had to endure as something he could do nothing about. It had no bearing on his relationship to God any more than children today who are given “heathen” names deliberately or unconsciously by their parents.
The matter of eating from the king’s table was much more serious. It was a matter which would involve his relationship with God. All meals served at the king’s table were of foods (especially wine and meats) which had been used in worship ceremonies dedicated to heathen idols. To share in such a feast was, according to an eternal principle, the same as worshipping the idol (cf. 1Co 10:20 ff). The significance of Daniel’s act does not, as Lange comments, consist in a legalistic asceticism but in the proof of resolute faith and obedient devotion to the Living God rather than giving the slightest respect to a pagan idolatry.
But notice the courteous and amiable manner Daniel displayed in expressing his faith and devotion to righteous principle. He displays no fanaticism or rudeness, but honestly and frankly states his intention to the chief servant and asks his help.
Dan 1:9 . . . GOD MADE DANIEL TO FIND KINDNESS AND COMPASSION . . . Most commentators speak as if God worked a miracle of “irresistible grace” upon the heart of the chief eunuch so that he could not help himself but to show kindness and compassion toward Daniel. We prefer to presume, in the light of biblical teaching that man is a free moral agent, that the Spirit of God working in the heart of Daniel and subsequently in his actions toward this chief eunuch moved the eunuch to kindness and compassion. All the glory is to be given to God. For it is God who works in Daniel to strengthen him that he should not yield in devotion to hold principle while at the same time being respectful and kind to the chief servant. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Mat 5:7). The chief eunuch recognized that Daniel’s request was made upon the basis of principle and he respected the request. The response of this pagan was, in the ultimate sense, to the grace of God manifested in the life of Daniel.
Dan 1:10 . . . I FEAR MY LORD THE KING . . . SO WOULD YE ENDANGER MY HEAD WITH THE KING . . . The chief eunuch was under great psychological stress and, had not Daniel displayed the grace of God in his request, probably would have responded very inconsiderately with so unimportant a character as this Hebrew captive. He could very well have considered Daniel’s request as insubordination and impudence, This chief steward was a trusted servant of an absolute monarch, Failure to carry out his emperor’s wishes meant, if discovered, immediate death.
Yes, the chief steward sympathized with Daniel’s principles, but it meant almost certain execution for him and so he was about to deny Daniel’s request. Surely, he reasoned with Daniel, you young men would not want to be responsible for me losing my head to the king’s executioner!
Dan 1:11-13 . . . PROVE THY SERVANTS . . . TEN DAYS . . . GIVE US PULSE TO EAT . . . AND AS THOU SEEST, DEAL WITH THY SERVANTS . . . Daniel now proposes to one of the under-servants appointed by the chief servant to serve Daniel and the three lads their fare, a very simple, reasonable and relatively safe experiment. For ten days Daniel suggests, they be fed “pulse” and water. Zero’im literally means, “things sowed.” Things sowed were not customarily offered by pagans as food to their gods. This Hebrew word could be translated in a general sense as vegetables. It involves more than legumes (peas and beans) and would include wheat and other grains so that bread would be in their diet. Wine was not, of course, foreign to the Hebrew diet, except in this case the wine would have been associated with pagan worship ritual.
Ten days is reasonably short enough not to arouse the suspicion of the king and yet long enough to test the merits of the case. There are probably two elements involved in Daniel’s proposal—his faith that God will provide and his common sense that overrich fare such as the luxurious table of the king, offered in unlimited amounts, is not as conducive to good health as is plain, substantial food. The Mosaic law implies this in its prohibition of eating fat (Lev 7:22-24; Lev 3:17; cf. also Tit 1:12-13).
Young argues that Daniel “received a special revelation from the Spirit of God and . . . in speaking he was acting in accord with that revelation.” He says that if Daniel had made this offer merely upon his own initiative he would have been guilty of presumption. He asks, “What warrant could faith have that at the expiration of a short period of time such a change would be apparent in the physical appearance of the youths as is suggested here?” This in turn would imply that the resultant physiological excellence of the Hebrew youths over their contemporaries was miraculous. Such a miracle is not, of course, out of harmony with the historical record of the Old Testament—many such miracles are recorded, and did occur. We simply do not have a sufficient amount of testimony from Daniel to make a final decision in the matter of how it occurred. It would seem that a combination of three elements may be involved: (a) a direct revelation to Daniel plus (b) Daniel’s common sense based on past experience and (c) faith in the directions of God as revealed in the Mosaic law concerning the eating of certain foods. Whatever the case, we consider Daniel’s proposal a direct expression of his trust and devotion to the Living God.
Dan 1:14-16 . . . AND AT THE END OF TEN DAYS THEIR COUNTENANCES APPEARED FAIRER . . . SO THE STEWARD TOOK AWAY THEIR DAINTIES . . . AND GAVE THEM PULSE . . . The remarks of Leupold are appropriate here: “It may ‘seem that a disproportionate amount of emphasis is being given to a secondary matter. But the meticulous care exercised by these young men in doing the will of their God is perhaps the strongest indication that could be found of their complete allegiance to their God. Their determination shows how clearly they discerned what issues were at stake, and how correctly they were getting their bearings in the matter of making an adjustment in reference to daily contact with heathen life. The issues involved were not trifles. In this matter they had to take a stand.”
For the believer in God there are three areas of morality: (a) that which is always right; (b) that which is always wrong; (c) that which is a matter of opinion (which the believer is at liberty to choose, guided by love for God and fellow-man). Daniel was called upon to act in all three realms. It is always right to be kind and courteous to one’s fellow man—Daniel did so, It is a matter of opinion about learning from the literature and culture of the world—Daniel did so and used it to serve God and man. It is always wrong to blaspheme God by worshipping idols-Daniel refused. The believer’s liberty is bounded by Divine authority as revealed in a propositional revelation and is also bounded by the principle of love—love for God and His will first, and love for man second. The only way the believer knows a proper action or expression of love is by direction of the revealed will of God, A believer does not live by practising any ethic or moulding himself on any ideal, but by a faith in God which finally ascribes all good to Him and seeks His will as it has been revealed through His prophets and His Son and recorded inerrantly in the Bible.
QUIZ
1. What were the three aspects of Daniel’s heathen environment about which he had to make moral decisions?
2. Why was the matter of eating the king’s dainties more serious than the other?
3. How does Daniel behave toward his captors in resisting defiling of himself?
4. How did Daniel find favor in the eyes of the chief eunuch?
5. What are the three areas of morality for the believer in God?
6. How did Daniel behave in these three areas?
7. What is the believer’s ultimate source of knowing what is right and wrong?_________________________________
SERMON NUMBER ONE
DARE TO BE A DANIEL . . .
Text: Dan 1:8
INTRODUCTION
I. WHY WAS DANIEL IN BABYLON?
A. He was one of the first groups of captives carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon during the period of
Judah’s downfall and the Captivity of the entire nation of Judah
1. The captivity of the Jews was prophesied by Jeremiah
B. Daniel’s subsequent life indicates that he could not have been one of the many reprobates who brought
God’s wrath upon the nation of Judah causing the captivity
1. We assume therefore that God had special need of Daniel and allowed him to be taken to Babylon
to serve Him and those who would repent while in captivity
C. John Noble came to this conclusion concerning his imprisonment in Communist Russian prison camps
for some 12–13 years
“. . . there were those cynics and skeptics among my fellow prisoners who asked how anyone could give thanks to a God who was permitting us to suffer as we did . . . I always answered to such criticism that while I did not know what purpose was being served by the suffering we were enduring, I was sure that there was a reason. I felt that God would deal in due time with the atheists of Russia and that meanwhile the world must see by the suffering of the victims of communist tyranny what an evil system it is.”
II. WHAT WAS BABYLON LIKE?
A. The city was surrounded by 60 miles of wall, 300 ft. high, 80 ft. thick, submerged underground 35 ft. (in
order to keep enemies from tunneling under). The Euphrates river split the city in the middle. The temple
of Bel contained a golden image and golden table which weighed more than 25 tons. It had 53 temples and
180 altars and some 4000 gods.
B. The king’s palace was perhaps the most magnificent building ever erected in antiquity. It was protected
itself by 4 succeeding walls plus moats and other defense mechanisms.
C. The hanging gardens, built by Nebuchadnezzar for one of his homesick queens, consisted of several
tiers of arches, each holding up a solid platform 400 ft. sq. upon which would be planted trees, shrubs, flowers, gardens of all kinds. These platform gardens were watered by hydraulic pumps pumping
water upward from one level to another.
D. Their society and culture was what would be expected from a pagan empire—sensual, luxurious,
indulgent, cruel, proud and powerful.
E. In such a land and amongst such a people was the young man Daniel.
DISCUSSION
I. DARE TO BE A DANIEL, DARE TO STAND ALONE
A. He had his friends with him; he was not all alone
1. They stood many of the tests of loyalty to God with Daniel
2. What a blessing believing and faithful friends can be
3. The great apostle Paul was blessed with a few faithful friends Luke, Barnabas, John Mark, Silas, Titus
4. It is a great consolation to a believer who has to suffer to know there are other believers sharing in the
same experiences and remaining faithful
5. As Christians we are one body of believers and when one member suffers we all suffer (cf. Rom 12:15;
1Co 12:25-26)
6. Yet, each believer must ultimately stand alone when his faith is tested
B. He had his God; he was not all alone
1. He undoubtedly was reared in a God-fearing, God-worshipping Jewish home and knew by the
experience of faith that God was with him
2. He knew by God’s supernatural manifestation of Himself in miraculous deeds that God was with him;
physical development on a diet of vegetables; supernatural learning and wisdom and ability to interpret
dreams
3. His providential reception by this pagan court should indicate to him that God was protecting him
4. Yet, God could not make Daniel’s choices for him . . . SO DANIEL WAS, IN A VERY REAL SENSE,
STANDING ALONE
5. Daniel, all alone, had to CHOOSE whether to self-righteously refuse training in the wisdom of the
Chaldeans or to recognize there was nothing basically immoral in studying in a selective way and
making the most of every opportunity to glorify God among the heathen.
C. Daniel had choices to make and so he was all alone
1. His friends could not decide for him; HE MUST STAND ALONE
2. God will not choose for him; HE MUST DECIDE FOR HIMSELF
3. Daniel and his three friends STOOD PRACTICALLY ALL ALONE AS THEY CHOSE TO REFUSE
PARTICIPATION IN IDOL WORSHIP
4. Every believer must make personal choices which no one else can make for him
5. Every believer must realize that those who truly trust the Lord are in the minority and often times
it will appear as if no one but themselves are standing up for righteousness and truth
6. The Bible teaches that believers are to be set apart from the world (2Co 6:14 to 2Co 7:1;
Joh 17:14-17; Mat 7:13-14, etc.)
D. Examples of those who have stood alone (except that God was with them):
1. Noah (preached 120 years only 8 were saved)
2. Abraham (left his own country and wandered)
3. Moses (stood against Egypt and Pharaoh)
4. David (stood alone against Goliath, then against Saul)
5. Paul (stood against the heathen world; against Judaizers)
6. Martin Luther (stood against powerful world church)
7. Alexander Campbell (stood against denominationalism)
8. PERFECT EXAMPLE: JESUS CHRIST, even His friends deserted Him; was forsaken
by God in order to suffer our eternal punishment for us
9. John Noble, “I was increasingly certain that many of these Russians respected the courage
with which prisoners held to their faith in God and that they would have liked to join us if they could.”
II. DARE TO HAVE A PURPOSE FIRM
A. Definition of Dare: “resolution; bravery, courage; backbone; venturous; challenging; unflinching.”
1. Standing alone without a godly purpose is vanity and pride; such are rebels without causes for any
cause that is not godly is a losing cause!
2. Daniel had purpose because he had conviction. He was fully persuaded that God exists and that
He is a jealous and loving God
B. Daniel’s Purpose
1. To glorify God. This was Daniel’s target—his main concern in every experience that life brought him.
2. He refused to eat from the king’s table because in so doing he would be participating in the worship
of idols. Practically all the rich and luxurious food and wine the king and his court ate had been devoted
as sacrifices to pagan idols. To eat this food Daniel would give the king the impression that he was
willing to worship idols. Daniel’s purpose was just the opposite.
3. It may also be that some of the food from the king’s table was “unclean” according to Mosaic law.
Daniel’s purpose was to uphold the law of God in every instance possible.
4. Daniel knew that if he trusted God, God would manifest His power and it was Daniel’s purpose to
let his life and his mouth be a testimony to the True and Living God.
5. In doing this Daniel would become a source of light to the darkened pagan society dwelling in
ignorance and sin. He would at the same time become a source of encouragement and strength to his
Jewish brethren in captivity.
C. Every believer needs to have a purpose firm
1. I have a sermon entitled “A Life Worth Living” with three main points: (a) Have a Belief Worth Trusting;
(b) Have a Job Worth Doing; (c) Get a Reward Worth Having.
2. Daniel could have rationalized like so many of us do today and said, “When in Babylon, do as the Babylonians do.” BUT HE KNEW HOW TO SAY “NO!” AND MEAN IT! It was not easy for him.
a. Consider all the pressures he had to endure.
3. Self-control is the mark of real man-hood. Strong men, cruel men, shrewd men may control nations
and empires but if they cannot control self they are the weakest of all men: cf. Alexander the Great;
Hitler, etc.
4. The world, for the most part, respects purity, courage, honesty, conviction.
5. The people who have done the most for mankind and in a lasting nature are men who have had
the one purpose which counts the most—TO GLORIFY GOD! Think of Joseph, Esther, Francis
Bacon, Michelangelo, Handel, Lincoln, David Lloyd George, Pascal, Michael Faraday, etc.
6. Such a purpose will come only with persuasion that God is, that Jesus Christ is the living, reigning,
returning Lord, and that the Bible is the Word of the Spirit, SUCH A PURPOSE WILL COME ONLY
WITH DAILY, SWEET COMMUNION WITH GOD THROUGH HIS WORD AND PRAYER!
a. This is where Daniel’s purpose came from.
7. John Noble, “This I found that honesty paid even in a Russian concentration camp where it might
seem that only a fool would try to hold to a conventional moral standard. I had resolved to try to
show . . . by example, what the faith of a Christian could do. Many times thereafter I dis covered
that no matter where I was, honesty got me further.”
III. DARE TO MAKE IT KNOWN
A. Daniel had conviction and purpose and was not afraid to make it known
1. There were plenty of excuses Daniel might have had to keep silent about his faith in God
2. To the contrary, Daniel took every opportunity to testify concerning the True and Living God
3. There was the time he prayed to Jehovah with his windows open in defiance to the king’s edict
4. There was the time he delivered the true message of God to Nebuchadnezzar about his insanity
5. There was the time he delivered the true message of God to Belshazzar
6. And, of course, there were many other occasions
B. This world needs people, Christian people, who will dare to make their purpose known—to glorify God.
1. Our heathen world needs believers with conviction. About the only conviction most people have
today is that it’s wrong to have convictions.
2. Dare to proclaim the counsel of God—the whole counsel of God
3. Dare to make the most for God of every situation
4. Dare to be honest with self, with God, with associates in every situation—Daniel did not give up,
but neither did he cause undue alarm or antagonism in the heart of his pagan ruler. Joseph and Moses
and Paul are prime examples.
5. Believers will never be encouraged and strengthened unless there be those who have purpose who
will dare to make it known
6. Unbelievers will never become believers unless believers dare to make the gospel known (Rom 10:17)
C. Examples of those who dared to make it known
1. All the Old Testament prophets; Isaiah (ch. 6); Jeremiah (ch. 1 and Jer 20:9); Jonah, Ezekiel, Amos,
Hosea, etc.
2. John the Baptist: one of the loneliest men who ever walked the earth was fearless in making the
glory of God known
3. Paul the apostle—preached from house to house, night and day, with tears; preached to kings
and authorities
4. Jesus Christ—this was His “food” (John 4); Zeal for the house of God consumed Him (John 2).
Jesus dared to “tell it like it is” (cf. Jn. 7–8–9; Matthew 23, etc.)
D. How may every believer “dare” to make his purpose known?
1. By personal evangelism with his neighbors, friends and relatives
2. By teaching a Bible School class (elders are to be “apt to teach”)
3. By supporting various arms of evangelism with financial means: Bible Colleges; T.V. Programs;
Missionaries; Printing Efforts
4. By writing letters to unconverted friends and relatives
5. By living lives that do not compromise with worldliness but yet do not withdraw into a monastic
life and dissociate from the daily affairs of needy men.
CONCLUSION
I. HERE IN THE FIRST REAL TEST OF DANIEL’S FAITH WE SEE VICTORY
A. God providentially cared for them in the matter of food and they developed physically to a state more
to be desired than their heathen contemporaries
B. God providentially supplied greater knowledge, learning, wisdom than all their contemporaries
C. Notice: these providential blessings were not afforded for Daniel to indulge himself but to give him
greater opportunity to serve the Lord
D. God has promised to give every believer such an abundance of opportunity to serve the Lord
(cf. Eph 3:20; 2Co 9:6-15) Joseph recognized this, Gen 50:20
II. AT THE END OF DANIEL’S LIFE AND BOOK (ch. 12 WE SEE VICTORY
A. It is significant that of all the Old Testament books, Daniel is the one which deals most of moral courage
and faith—and it is the one which deals the most with the resurrection
B. Daniel is given a vision of victory like the aged John in Revelation. Daniel’s curiosity almost gets the
best of him—he wants to know the why and wherefore of all that he had seen in vision but God knows
that what he needs most is assurance of victory.
C. “They that be wise, shall shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to
righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.”
D. “But go your way till the end; and you shall rest, and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of
the days.”
E. DANIEL, WHO HAD WITNESSED SO COURAGEOUSLY AND FAITHFULLY TO HIS LAST DAYS
IS TOLD, “YOU SHALL REST.”
DANIEL, WHO DARED TO STAND ALONE, DARED TO HAVE A PURPOSE FIRM, DARED TO MAKE IT KNOWN . . . SHINES AS THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE FIRMAMENT, ONE OF THE BRIGHTEST OF THOSE STARS WHICH HAVE TURNED MANY TO GOD AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
III. WILL YOU DARE TO BE A DANIEL . . . A JOSEPH . . . A MOSES . . . A PAUL?________________________________
Daniel 1:17-21
III. PROSPERITY AWARDED
TEXT: Dan_1:17-21
17 Now as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams,
18 And at the end of the days which the king had appointed for bringing them in, the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.
19 And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king.
20 And in every matter of wisdom and understanding, concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his realm.
21 And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus.
QUERIES
a. How did God give these youths knowledge, learning and wisdom?
b. Who were the magicians and enchanters in Babylon?
c. Who is king Cyrus?
PARAPHRASE
God gave these four youths supernatural ability to learn and they soon mastered all the literature and science of the time; and God gave to Daniel special ability in understanding the meanings of dreams and visions when they are given as divine messages. And when the three-year training period was completed, the chief of the eunuchs brought all the young men in this training program to the king for interview and examination. King Nebuchadnezzar interviewed each one at length and found that none of them impressed him as much as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. So they were appointed to his regular staff of advisors. And in all matters requiring information and reasoned judgment the king found these young men’s advice ten times better than that of all the skilled wise men and prognosticators in his realm. And Daniel held this appointment as the king’s counsellor for some twenty-four years and through five or six emperors, until sometime in the first year of the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
COMMENT
Dan 1:17 . . . GOD GAVE THEM KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL IN ALL LEARNING AND WISDOM . . . The only conclusion to reach from the statement in Dan 1:17 is that the ability to gain knowledge and have learning and wisdom was a direct and supernatural gift of God to the four young lads. The gift of God was received, of course, willingly and we may safely presume they applied themselves diligently to their task. The phrase “skill in all learning and wisdom” indicates God gave them a power to perceive, distinguish and judge everything they learned whether it was to be accepted and practiced and taught as truth or to be rejected as false. They had inerrant insight into all the knowledge and learning of Babylonians. Leupold says, “. . . a discernment that enabled these four to sit in judgment on all secular learning that was offered them and to evaluate it according to the estimate of all-wise God.” They were also given “wisdom” which is the ability to rightly apply the knowledge acquired as God would have it applied. Daniel was given an additional gift that the other three did not have—understanding in all visions and dreams.
Visions and dreams were often used by God in the Old Testament to reveal special missions or messages to certain men (cf. Jacob, Joseph, etc.), Inasmuch as these dreams and visions were usually in extended symbolism they required special, divine interpretation, directly from God or through one of God’s appointed messengers. This would be especially necessary when such dreams and visions were given to pagan rulers. Daniel’s gift was extraordinary. See our introductory study entitled “Interpreting The Prophets,” in The Minor Prophets, by Paul T. Butler, pub. College Press, for information on dreams and visions. Daniel was not unique in this gift of interpreting dreams and visions (Joseph had the gift and exercised it extensively).
Dan 1:18-19 . . . AND AMONG THEM ALL WAS FOUND NONE LIKE DANIEL, ETC. . . . It is still amazing to some people, but true in most cases, that firm but courteous propagation of principle and truth will be appreciated and rewarded even by pagans who themselves are prone to follow falsehood and myth. Joseph, Moses, Peter and John and Paul are prime examples as they stood before pagan rulers and princes. This is true because truth is always wise! What is true may not be immediately and physically pleasurable, but it is always wise. And only the degraded reprobate will fail to recognize that. It did not take Nebuchadnezzar long to recognize the contrast between the wisdom of these four youths and the foolishness of the mythology and mysticism of the enchanters and magicians.
Dan 1:20-21 . . . HE FOUND THEM TEN TIMES BETTER THAN ALL THE MAGICIANS AND ENCHANTERS . . . The word “ten” is, of course, hyperbolic and simply means Daniel and his three companions were found exceedingly wise and perceptive. They were much more learned and discerning than the young men who had been born and reared in Babylon—in fact more than all the trained wise men of Babylon!
It would be well to give a brief resume of Babylonian religion here. The religion which the Jews of the Exile found in Babylon had roots which went back over two thousand years. The ancient Sumerian religion was highly polytheistic and made a practice of absorbing or incorporating every religion or god it contacted. The god of a victorious state was considered to be the most powerful deity, for warfare was always waged on two levels. The earthly states were championed by their celestial deities, and the battles in the sky were accounted as real as the battles on earth (cf. Daniel chap. 10). In very ancient Sumerian times (2000 years before the Jewish captivity) the chief god was known as Anu, the sky god who was regarded as father of the great gods. The second great god was Bel (the Semitic Baal) which means “Lord,” and he was ruler of earth. The third of the great Sumerian gods was known as Enki who ruled the waters upon which the Babylonians believed the terrestrial world floated. Then there was a pantheon of some 4000 gods which included Sin the moon-god, Shamash, the sun-god, and Adad the storm god. Fertility and reproduction in the Tigris-Euphrates valley were associated with Ishtar also the goddess of war. There was Ninurta, fertility god who was responsible for the annual flooding of the rivers; Gibil the god of fire who was invoked by magicians in their tasks of exorcism—he was called upon to burn to death evil spirits and sorcerers; Nergal, destroyer of life, the god of pestilence and death, god of the land of no return; Nabu (Nebo) god of the scribes who was keeper of the Table of Fate with power to prolong or shorten life (Nebuchadnezzar’s name expresses faith in Nebo).
During the First Dynasty of Neo-Babylon an important revolution took place in the religion of the country. A minor deity named Marduk was chosen as the principal god of the whole of Babylonia and was placed at the head of the pantheon. The mythological story of how he rescued all the gods and goddesses from the monster Tiamat and was acknowledged by all he rescued as chief god is too long to recount here, Tammuz, son of Ishtar, was a god of vegetation who disappeared each year in the late summer and returned (i.e. was resurrected) the following spring (cf. Eze 8:14), In the Greco-Roman world Tammuz was worshiped as Adonis (a name which is a variant of the Semitic Adon, lord, or master).
The Babylonians of Daniel’s day had an elaborate system of good genies or spirits and evil genies. Evil genies were believed to enter houses even when doors were bolted and if they found men or women in sin without the protection of their personal god they entered that man or woman and possessed them. The Babylonian felt himself surrounded by ghosts, or spirits of men whose lives had proved unhappy on earth. The ghosts had been cheated out of happiness in this life and, nursing their grief, they were determined to torment the living.
This is the kind of “learning and wisdom” Daniel and his three friends, and especially Daniel, would later renounce in favor of being true to Jehovah God and would, indirectly at least, expose as mythological and false. We shall deal with the magicians and enchanters in chapter two.
QUIZ
1. What was the knowledge and skill in learning and wisdom given these youths?
2. Why did God use visions and dreams to communicate to man?
3. Why is truth usually rewarded with respect even by heathen?
4. What was the character of Babylonian religion?
5. Who was the chief god of the Babylonians in Daniel’s day?