Alan Lewis
Elon, North Carolina
June 2018
Daniel 1 is an amazing chapter. The chapter begins in Jerusalem and ends in Babylon. It begins with a military invasion and ends with a job interview with the king. It is an important chapter for young people. It is a chapter every teenager should read.
The chapter is about four teenagers, four Hebrew teenagers. They would have been in high school today. They were around fifteen or sixteen years old but they had wisdom and maturity beyond their years. There are not too many teenagers like this today. What were they like? As we list some of their traits, see if these traits describe you.
Amazing Character Traits1) They were SURVIVORS Despite experiencing hardship in their life, they thrived. Many today are crushed by difficult circumstances. They were not. 2) They were HARDWORKING They had a good work ethic. They were not lazy, like many teenagers today. 3) They were RESPECTED They were liked by their superiors. They had a good testimony with unbelievers and with their co-workers. 4) They were SMART They got straight As in school. They all graduated at the top of their class. 5) They were SUCCESSFUL They all received promotions and moved up. God prospered them. 6) They were FAITHFUL They wanted to be faithful to God even in the food that they ate. 7) They were COURAGEOUS They were not afraid to take a stand for what they believed in, despite the consequences. 8) They were PRINCIPLED They had principles. They had convictions and they stood for them. They do not budge despite the temptation to compromise. They were not wishy-washy like some Christians today that bend with the wind. 9) They were DIPLOMATIC They used tact. They were not rude and offensive, like some people. Daniel was a skilled negotiator. |
This chapter shows that you do not have to be old to do great things for God. You can be young and do great things. God can use you when you are young. David was a young man when he killed Goliath. There are all kinds of young people in the Bible who did great things for God.[1]
What were the names of these four young men? We know them as Shadrack, Meshack, Abednego and Daniel. We know Daniel from his Hebrew name. We never call him Belteshazzar. Most people in the church would not know who that was. We know Shadrack, Meshack, Abednego from their Babylonian names because someone wrote a song about them.
One person in this group of four stood out. There was one leader. It was Daniel. He was given gifts the others did not have (the ability to interpret dreams). He was also the one who purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the king’s food and wine (Daniel 1:8) and his three friends followed his example. Not everyone is a leader. Daniel was a leader.
Today, will be an introduction to the chapter. It is too much to cover in one week. We are just going to look at the first seven verses. We are going to look at the first three scenes. In scene one, Daniel is RELOCATED. In scene two, Daniel is REEDUCATED. In scene three, Daniel is RENAMED. It begins with some historical background to Daniel’s life. It tells us how Daniel got to Babylon.
Daniel Relocated
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord 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. (Daniel 1:1-2 NIV)
Babylon was the dominant power in the world in Ezekiel’s day. We think of America as a superpower today but Babylon was the military superpower in the ancient world. They defeated Assyria. They defeated Egypt and now they invade Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar actually invaded Jerusalem three times. He invaded the nation in 605 BC, in 597 BC and in 586 BC.
During his first invasion in the summer of 605 BC, he took some spoils of war. He took some articles out of the Temple and he took some hostages but he did not take just anybody. He took hostages from the royal family. Why were they taken? It was an insurance policy to keep the king in check and Daniel was one of them. This was a common practice in the Ancient Near East for conquering kings.
Daniel was young. He was just a teenager. He was kidnapped. He was abducted. He was forcibly removed from his family and his home. He lost many of his possessions. He lost his freedom. He went from nobleman to slave overnight. He was also transported to Babylon.
It was a great country. It was called Babylon The Great. It was beautiful. It was full of palm trees. It was a big. It was larger than the city of Athens. It was culturally advanced. It was technologically advanced. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, were there. The world Daniel used to know was gone forever. He would never see it again.
Everything about this place was different to Daniel. The people looked different. They dressed different. They spoke a different language. They ate different food. Their laws were different. Their government was different. Their culture and religion was different. They worshipped idols. They worshipped lots of gods and Jehovah was not one of them. Babylon was called the land of Shinar (Daniel 1:2 ESV) where the Tower of Babel was built.
When he got there, he would have walked through the main road called the Processional Way. It was a wide road. On both sides were these tall brick walls that were fifty feet tall and these walls were lined on both sides with huge ferocious lions, over a hundred of them. They represented Ishtar, one of the Babylonian goddesses. This Processional Way was a half a mile long and it led right to the temple of Marduk.
Daniel Reeducated
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— 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.
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. Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego. (Daniel 1:3-7 NIV)
Daniel was taken to Babylon. What happened when he got there? Here’s the shock. When he got there, he was rewarded with the finest food in the land. He got to eat the same food the king ate. It was prepared by the top chefs. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table (Daniel 1:5 NIV).
He was also enrolled in the best education program in the land. He got to not only go to school but to go to the top school in the country, the best school that money could buy.
That is strange. Slaves do not go to the top schools in the country while they are slaves. They are usually not educated and usually do not eat gourmet food. They are slaves
When Daniel gets to Babylon, he is not abused and imprisoned but treated like royalty. He was not made to be a slave or a prisoner but a student. He was given a scholarship. He was not only given an education but job placement and economic security. If Daniel does well in that program, he is guaranteed a government job.
Not anyone could attend this school. Like Harvard and Princeton, this school only took the best and the brightest. It was for the cream of the crop, the crème de la crème, the best of the best. This was not like going to the public school where everyone can attend.
It is not even like going to a private school. Daniel did not apply to go to this school. He did not ask to go. He was chosen to go. He and his friends were handpicked for this program. Four young men were chosen. Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. (Daniel 1:6 NIV)
It was a three-year program (Daniel 1:5), which was the standard length of time in the ancient world for higher education. Who was chosen for this special program? What were the requirements?
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. (Daniel 1:3-4 NIV)
This school was limited to a select group of people. It was limited to people who had five special characteristics. One, you had to be male. No females were allowed in this school. Two, you had to have royal blood. You had to be related to the king. Three, you had to be young. Four, you had to be smart. Five, you had to be good looking. It is not enough to be muscular, you also had to have a brain. It is not enough to be good-looking, you also had to know how to spell. The Babylonians valued some of the same things that people value today: youth, good looks, intelligence.
Daniel and his friends had all of these traits. Genetically, they were of royal blood. They were not commoners. Daniel 1:6 says that they came from the tribe of Judah. Josephus says they were relatives of King Zedekiah.[2] Physically, they were attractive. They were good-looking.
Intellectually, they were smart. They had high SAT scores. Their IQ scores were off the chart. They also had good character traits. They had integrity. They must have been raised right.
The man in charge of this Royal Academy was a man named Ashpenaz. 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 (Daniel 1:3-4 NIV).
Was Daniel a Eunuch?There is a long tradition in both Jewish (Josephus, Talmud) and Christian sources (Origen, Jerome) that Daniel was castrated. They believe that he was a eunuch. Even some Messianic Jews believe that Daniel was castrated (e.g., Fruchtenbaum). Is it true? Probably not. Daniel’s private tutor is called the “chief eunuch” in the ESV. The Hebrew word (saris) could mean a literal eunuch (Isaiah 56:3) but it could also mean just a government official (Genesis 39:1). It is used of Potiphar who was married. He was wife. He wasn’t a eunuch. It could mean “chief eunuch’ (ESV) or it could simply mean “chief of his court officials” (NIV), like Nebuchadnezzar’s Chief of Staff. Nebuchadnezzar looked for youths without any physical blemish or defect (Daniel 1:4). It would seem strange for him to look for boys without any physical defects only to give them a major defect, as some have pointed (Constable).[3] Even if Ashpenaz was a literal eunuch (which cannot even be proven), this does not necessarily prove that Daniel was one as well. |
What was the curriculum of this three-year program? What did Ashpenaz teach them? He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians (Daniel 1:4 NIV). He probably also taught them about the Babylonian culture and way of life. There was a Babylonian way of thinking and worldview but the royal curriculum consisted of the language and literature of the Babylonians.
Daniel learned Chaldean. He studied Aramaic and Akkadian. Studying a new language is not easy but it wasn’t like learning Chinese. Aramaic and Akkadian are members of the same language family as Hebrew. They all both Semitic languages. They are similar languages (cognates). Daniel didn’t study English lit or even Hebrew lit. He studied Babylonian lit. He probably learned the Babylonian Flood story, which was written long before his time.
Daniel received a quality education. The Babylonians were advanced. Some of the math we use today comes from the Babylonians. Why do we measure time the way that we do? Why are there sixty seconds in a minute? Why are there sixty minutes in an hour?
Why are there twenty-four hours in a day? It all came from the Babylonians. They used a number system based on sixty. We think a day is twenty-four hours long but it is actually not twenty-four hours long. It is only about twenty-three hours and fifty-six minutes.
Daniel Renamed
The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego. (Daniel 1:7 NIV).
Daniel was exposed to a new culture. He was given a new education and new food. He was also given a new name. He had a Hebrew name (Daniel). Now he is given a good Babylonian name (Belteshazzar). Why did Nebuchadnezar change his name? He changed his name to change his allegiance.
Your name is your identity. It is who you are. Names in the Bible meant something. They say something about you. Daniel said something about the God he worshipped. “Their very names were a witness, not only to their nationality, but to their religion “(Farrar). Dah-knee-el means “God is my judge.” It was changed to say something about a different god. Belteshazzar means “whom Bel favors”. Babylonians worshipped many gods but the chief one was called Bel or Marduk.
Life Lessons from a TragedyWhat happened to Daniel was a tragedy. It was a national tragedy. It was a personal tragedy. What life lessons can we draw from Daniel’s experience? What does this say to us today? 1) Unexpected things happen in our life. That was what happened to Daniel. He did not wake up one day and expected to be deported. You do not wake up thinking that you are going to have a car accident that day or my wife is going to leave me today or the doctor is going to tell you that you have cancer today. I did not wake up one day in 2016 and know I was going to have a heart attack. What do you do when life doesn’t happen as you planned? We will see in this chapter how Daniel dealt with it. 2) Don’t blame yourself for everything that happens to you We are not the cause of everything that happens to us. Bad things happen to good people. Daniel did absolutely nothing to cause these events. Daniel was a righteous man and yet he suffered. God was judging the Jews but Daniel was righteous. We are not blame for all the bad things that happen to us. 3) God is in control even when it does not look like it This chapter shows us that God is sovereign over individuals and He is sovereign over nations. He was sovereign over what happened to the Jews nationally. He was also sovereign over what happen to Daniel personally. It all had a purpose, even though it did not seem to have a purpose at the time. God actually sends Daniel to Babylon, so Daniel can give his Word to some pagan kings. Daniel becomes the prophet to Gentile kings. God is at work even when we cannot see it. He was also sovereign over what happened to the nation. Nebuchadnezzar attacks the country it looked like evil was winning. The bad guys were succeeding. It looked like Nebuchadnezzar not only beat Israel and humiliated Israel, he humiliated Israel’s God. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord 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. (Daniel 1:1-2 NIV) Where is God? It looks on the surface that the god of Babylon was greater than the God of Israel. Nebuchadnezzar puts the sacred vessels of the temple into the temple of Marduk but notice what Daniel says. He says, “the Lord DELIVERED Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand” (Daniel 1:2 NIV) God does NOT just allow Nebuchadnezzar to do this. He GIVES these things to Nebuchadnezzar. He even predicted it before it happened. Nebuchadnezzar did not defeat Jerusalem because he was stronger than they were. He gave them into his hands. God was also sovereign over Daniel being deported, which brings us to our next point. 4. Accept the things you cannot change Daniel accepted some things in his life that he did not like. He accepted the things in his life that he could not change. Many spend their entire life complaining about how bad their life is. Daniel was one of the first ones in the country to be deported to Babylon. He does not go around complaining about how unlucky but he was to be deported nine hundred miles away from his family, while other Jews still got to remain in Jerusalem. He doesn’t complain about being stranded in a foreign country against his will. He does not go around complaining about his education. He may not have liked some of the things that he had to learn in school. His curriculum was not the Bible. He had to learn about pagan Babylon and its pagan gods but he does not go around complaining about it or about Babylonian culture. Even a pagan education is not all bad. He gets a new identity in Babylon. He does not complain about his strange name that he was given. It wasn’t his real name. For thousands of years later, no one knows him as Belteshazzar. He is known as Daniel. There are no commentaries on the Book of Belteshazzar. Daniel made the best of a bad situation. Next week, we will see the one thing he did not accept. Now, we believe in miracles. God is the God of the impossible. He can do miracles. We should pray for miracles but we also need to recognize that He is God and we are not. Things that we cannot change, we should take before the Lord and leave to Him. |
[1] https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/5-young-people-in-the-bible-that-did-great-things/
[2] Antiquities of the Jews, X.10.1.
[3] II Kings 20:17-18 says, “Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, ‘Hear the word of the Lord: The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon’” (NIV).
However, not all of Hezekiah’s descendants were made eunuchs. It does not prove that Daniel was one. Ezekiel 14:20, in fact, seems to imply that Daniel had sons and daughters. It talks about delivering his sons and daughters by his righteousness, which would make no sense if he had no children. Ezekiel makes the same statement about Noah and Job. We know that both had children. Daniel may as well.
