Daniel 1 (Bible Study)
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Daniel’s Training in Babylon
1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
2 And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.
3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility—
4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.
5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.
6 Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.
8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.
9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel,
10 but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”
11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,
12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.
13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.”
14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.
16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
18 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.
19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service.
20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.
21 And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.
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Daniel
Introduction
Faithful Living in a Godless Society
Daniel was one of the Israelite exiles living in Babylon after the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar in the sixth century B.C. They no longer lived in a secure, believing society under a believing government. The Israelites in Judges lived among pagans in an agrarian culture as semi-autonomous tribal people. The exiles lived as individuals in an urban culture. Their circumstances are much closer to ours, and their experience is easier to apply. The message of Daniel is that “God is sovereign. He overrules and eventually will overcome human evil.” 1
Historical Background: Through Moses, God entered into a covenant relationship with Israel as a nation (Exodus 19-24 & Deut). God warned his people that if they fell into disobedience and idolatry, the result would be a loss of national sovereignty and exile (Deut. 28).
Israel did disobey and turn to idols, which led to the northern tribes of Israel exile to Assyria in 722 B.C.
Though the southern kingdom of Judah was spared, it remained under Assyria’s shadow. As the last good king of Judah, Josiah, lay dying, the Babylonian empire was rising as the dominant world power, displacing Assyria. It claimed sovereignty over Judah as Nebuchadnezzar invaded and claimed Judah a vassal state (2 Kings 24:1).
The Babylonians took many temple treasures back to Babylon, and Jews from the aristocratic and intellectual elite. Daniel was part of this first group of exiles (Dan 1:1-5). Then, in 597 BC. Jehoiakim renounced obedience to Babylon & sought protection of Egypt (2 Kings 24:7). Babylon retaliated and moved on Jerusalem. Jehoiakim died (mysteriously—perhaps assassinated) and his 18-year-old son Jehoiachin succeeded him and surrendered to Babylon after a short siege. This time, the Babylonians took the whole professional class of Judah to Babylon—10,000 of the military officers, artists, and scholars.
The purpose was to destroy the distinctive biblical culture of the Jews—to assimilate them socially, intellectually, culturally, and spiritually. Finally, Zedekiah Judah’s king revolted in 587 B.C. This time Nebuchadnezzar razed the walls and the temple in Jerusalem and exiled almost all of Judah’s inhabitants. The exile was a severe test for the faith of the Jews. How would they relate to the pagan society around them? The “exilic” literature of the Bible describes the different paths open to them. it.
“The astrologers answered the king in Aramaic” — Daniel 2:4
Read Jeremiah 28:1-4; 29:1-14. (a) What was Hananiah’s attitude to Babylonia? Should Christians relate to our society similarly?
The attitude of Hananiah and the false prophets
Hananiah predicts: “Within two years I will bring back to this place . . . the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon . . . for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.” But the Lord, through Jeremiah, said, “It will be a long time. Therefore, build houses and settle down . . .” (Jer. 29:28).
God’s denunciation of the false prophets in verses 8-9 comes just after his instructions to settle and be involved in the city and to seek its peace (v 4-7); the false prophets’ advice differs to God’s. Therefore, we conclude that the false prophets were telling the exiles the opposite of the directions of verses 4-7 (stay detached and outside the city and remain hostile to it).
Most Jewish exiles, at first, settled outside the city of Babylon. The prophets were encouraging them to stay separated, stick together, and have as little to do with Babylonian society as possible.
They said the wicked Babylonians would be soon judged by God, and that they would be home soon, back in charge of their society through a major divine intervention.
Psalm 137 was bleak; though it held onto hope for the future in principle, it had no hopeful picture of the future. Hananiah, had an optimistic view. Babylonia was enormously powerful and Judah was a tiny nation. Yet he prophesies that within two years some tremendous intervention by the Lord would occur, and all the treasures of the temple and all the exiles would be returned. This would have to be something on the order of an earthquake, a flood, or a set of plagues like those sent to free the Israelites from Egypt under Moses. In short, Hananiah predicts a glorious, miraculous restoration of Israel’s power. How does Hananiah’s approach to life in Babylon compare to the psalmist’s?
On the inside, one group would be filled with joy and confidence, while the other would be filled with anger and despondency. But on the outside, the lifestyle would be the same. Both groups would refuse to engage with and settle into the city. They would remain in small enclaves, separated from the life of Babylon. One group would be filled with joy and one with despair, but they would both essentially be separatists. Christians today who do the same thing
Today, Christians who relate to their society in the same way are often joy-filled, confident people. They talk confidently of a coming revival; they give their time to prayer, evangelism, and discipleship. You could say that the first approach was “under-spiritual” and this approach is “over-spiritual.” The first approach is too adversarial and legislative and insufficiently loving and persuasive; the second approach is too “pietistic” and individualistic and insufficiently engaged in society and culture.
Read Daniel 1:1-21 Notice how Daniel follows the advice of Jeremiah’s letter, to an extent.
The opening verses echo the shocking statement of God’s sovereign purposes in the exile. (Verse 2: “And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God.”) Since Daniel is one of the captives carried off, and since God gave Jerusalem and the captives into Nebuchadnezzar’s hand, Daniel’s condition is the result of God’s plan. This is taught everywhere in the Bible: difficulties and trials in the life of God’s people are ways he gets his good work done in their lives.
In Jeremiah’s letter, God says that the exile is not an accident or a disastrous obstruction of God’s purposes for his people. God “sent” them into a pluralistic, pagan, major city (Jer. 29:4, 7). It was their “mission,” even though it was also a judgment on their sin. God purposed to bless both pagans and believers through this exile (see immediately above). So here again we see that the exile into a pluralistic society is part of God’s plan and purpose.
Sinclair Ferguson states: All too frequently . . . we tend to see [our trials and temptations] as isolated nightmares. God, however, sees them from a different perspective. They are important and connected punctuation marks in the biography of grace He is writing in our lives. They give formation, direction, and character to our lives. They are all part of the tapestry He is weaving in history. He uses them to build up our strength and to prepare us to surmount greater obstacles, perhaps fiercer temptations. 8
Daniel’s stance toward Babylonian culture
Daniel was willing to be educated in Babylonian culture. He and his friends do not refuse the call to get involved in a pagan university (v 4-5). At the same time, however, they resolved to eat vegetables and water instead of the rich royal food and wine. It was a red line; they wont eat the king’s food.
They are doing what Jeremiah proposes: they are involved in the life and culture, yet they are keeping their conscience clear and heart “undefiled,” showing their distinctiveness in their service to God.
Notes 2-7 = Derek Kidner
8 Sinclair Ferguson Daniel
In Daniel 1:6-16. I wonder what were the king’s reasons for this study course for the young Jewish men.
Look at and discuss Daniel & Co’s act of civil disobedience in refusing the king’s food.
Nebuchadnezzar’s main reason for deporting the elites of Israel was to destroy their cultural distinctiveness and assimilate them into Babylonian culture. That would destroy the Israelites’ distinct identity as a people “apart.” This 3 year course of study and food are just “round two” of the effort to assimilate them. They were 1. given new Babylonian names (v. 7) that had to do with pagan gods. 2.They were given a complete education in Babylonian culture. 3.Last, they were to eat the king’s food. At the end of the three years, they would be fit for a civil service job (v. 5). Daniel accepted the name and the education, but not the food. Why didn’t they eat the food?
Commentators are divided on this issue. Some have said that Daniel did not eat the food because it failed to conform to Jewish dietary laws. But this view is not correct, since Daniel not only refuses the food (to eat vegetables) but the wine as well (to drink water). Wine was not against Mosaic “kosher” laws. Moses’ dietary laws Moses were not vegetarian. Others say Daniel did not eat the food because it had been formally consecrated to idols in ceremonies. That is possible, but the author does not say so. Therefore it is unlikely that this is the lesson we are to be learning. Both answers miss the subtlety of the lessons we are to be learning.
The min thing about this decision was that there was nothing unlawful or sinful about this food. Daniel did not reject the food because it broke a rule. The king’s food was a temptation to move beyond just learning about the priorities and values of the Babylonians into adopting them. Notice that it says the food would “defile” them (v 8). That is a religious word. It means spiritual “pollution.”
That seems to be the reason Daniel refused the food. “Polluting” food has two possibilities.
1.The first possible reason that the king’s food was polluting is that it was part of a rich, luxury-loving lifestyle that was the ideal of an idolatrous society. Biblical worship, is about humbling yourself and receiving grace so that you become a servant of all. It was not sinful to taste the king’s food, but he could be tempted to get sucked into the idolatrous love of money, status, beauty, materiality and power, the essence of the worldview of pagan elites. He didn’t want to lose his heart to that view of life. You can easily worship Yahweh formally while living for idols.
2.An additional reason Daniel refused was to bear witness to the Babylonians. He wanted to let the Babylonians know that he and his friends were keeping their distinctive identity. In v9 we see that God began to work in the heart of the chief official through Daniel’s witness. The language of verses 11-21 is very interesting possibly a “wisdom test.” Daniel challenges the official to “test” them for 10 days.
In the end, they are (v15) healthier & wiser than those who ate the king’s food and (v. 19).
Can this passage guide and direct our own stance toward our secular culture?
First, Daniel models to us that we cannot simply rely on “keeping the Christian rules.” The food was not “against the rules,” but in some way Daniel knew that eating the food would pull his heart away from complete commitment to the Lord toward other, idolatrous commitments. Everyone must watch for the same dangers. We have to know our own hearts and the true idols of our culture. In traditional cultures, the idols are family, ancestors, tribal connections, duty, and custom; in more secular cultures, the idols are personal fulfilment, status, beauty, and power. Then there are intellectual idols of all sorts that reign in different times and eras. It is not the formal idols of other religions but the “idols of the heart” that can be smuggled into our lives even when we formally subscribe to right doctrine and ethics.
Second, by keeping their commitment to the Lord rather than falling into idol commitments, the young men came to see through the wisdom of the Babylonians. They became masters of it, rather than being mastered by it. They understood it thoroughly but they also saw its weaknesses, limits, and errors. What a model! We too must not separate from the pagan culture but must come to understand all it teaches. We must expose the false, bankrupt commitments at the root of all non-believing systems of thought. Then we too can become “masters” of wisdom.
Third, the main way we witness to people is not through arguments. The fruit of God’s wisdom in our lives is seen in how our family, business, and psychological lives are all under the lordship of Christ. The chief official learned respect for the God of Israel because he saw the fruit of the Lord’s service concretely in the health, understanding, and character of these young men. (He also saw Daniel’s courage in taking this stand.) This is the best witness. Do our lives have anything remarkable or different about them? Is our character and wisdom different from anyone else’s? If we have to tell a pagan why we are different, can we do so as winsomely as Daniel? Summary: We must not imbibe the world’s education and values while superficially and formally keeping God’s rules (“privatization of faith”). Nor should we keep ourselves in Christian ghettoes, disengaged from the culture(“separation of faith”). Rather, we must be immersed and engaged in the culture, mastering its wisdom and remembering who we are as God’s people.
