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Daniel 1:1-16
Daniel’s Training in Babylon
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.
The Old Testament Book of Daniel is a more important book of the Bible than most followers of Jesus appreciate. It’s probably true that lots of people just remember the story of Daniel in the lions’ den from when it was read to us in children’s Sunday School. We might also remember that there’s a story about Daniel’s friends being thrown into a fiery furnace.
But the Book of Daniel also includes accounts of some prophetic visions that the prophet Daniel had. Those visions sound like stuff you’d find in the Revelation of John in the New Testament. In fact, some of the modern theology about the end times that’s so popular in some parts of the church — theology that shows up in places like the books and movies of the Left Behind series — that theology is based in part on material found in the Book of Daniel.
But there’s another interesting aspect of the book of Daniel. It turns out that when the Hebrew scriptures were translated from Hebrew to Greek in the centuries before Jesus, the Greek version of Daniel wound up having some additional stories that weren’t found in the Hebrew version. One of them this this story in which the prophet Daniel defends a young woman falsely accused of promiscuity by two elders who had been sexually harassing her. Daniel turns the tables so skillfully it almost seems like a Sherlock Holmes story.
Our passage for today is the beginning of Daniel. It’s not as well-known as the stories of the lions’ den and the fiery furnace, but there’s a moral to the story that is definitely relevant to those of us who are trying to live as followers of Jesus in the 21st century.
This story takes place after the Babylonian army had invaded Judah and taken control of the city of Jerusalem. But this wasn’t the big invasion that led to the destruction of the city and the exile of its people in 587 BC. It was an earlier invasion that ended more peacefully when the king of Judah agreed to surrender the city and accept the authority of the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar.
And like many empires throughout history – including the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire – the Babylonians made it a practice to bring some of the best and brightest young people from the countries they conquered to live in the capital. You could probably view these young people as hostages, and no doubt their families back home thought of them that way. But they were also trained to serve as officials of the empire, with considerable rank and privilege. That helped to bind the empire together by giving promising young people a stake in its fortunes.
In today’s story, King Nebuchadnezzar orders that the young men from Judah be treated very well, and even fed the same food the king himself ate. Presumably, the king thought of this ‘meal plan’ as one of the perks of his training program, and young men from most conquered peoples probably loved it. But not Daniel and his friends, because from the Hebrew perspective, the royal food was not kosher. They would have to assume that it included pork and other meats they were forbidden to eat. It might also violate standards for the preparation of food, like mixing meat and dairy in the same meal. So eating the King’s food would make the young men ritually unclean. In order to keep kosher, Daniel and his friends ask to be allowed to eat only vegetables and drink only water.
The point of the story is making, it seems to me, is that Daniel and his friends are determined to maintain their identity as God’s people, even as they were living in captivity and being trained as Babylonian officials. They were being trained to think and act like Babylonians, but they continued to see themselves as people of God’s covenant instead.
It’s also interesting to notice the respect and consideration Daniel and his friends extend to those around them. When the royal official assigned to their care expresses some reservations about the young men’s request, Daniel and the others treat the official’s concerns as valid and reasonable. They offer to eat the vegetable diet on a ‘trial basis,’ and agreed to respect the official’s decision about what was best. Maybe not surprisingly, when the trial period ends, the young Hebrew men are healthier-looking than those who ate the king’s rich food.
This is a story from the Old Testament, but there are echoes of its themes in the New Testament as well. In his letters, the apostle Peter encourages us as followers of Jesus to live like we’re exiles in this world – to obey its laws, but not to buy into its value system. And this story from Daniel provides an example of what that might look like.
It’s a little distressing to see how many people who identify themselves as Christians in our time seem to look for things to complain loudly about in the culture around us. There’s a kind of self-righteous satisfaction that comes from holding yourself up as more righteous than the culture. But that kind of religious posturing seems hollow and sort of pointless compared to what these four young men did.
It strikes me that Daniel and his friends quietly and modestly demonstrated a profound trust in God. Their respectful behavior expresses the confidence that if they obeyed God’s commandments for them, others would see the benefits of living by those commandments. And what’s more, by training themselves to live in obedience, they were preparing themselves to be strong in the face of the challenges they would face in the future.
Having said all that, maybe you can understand why I say that the example of Daniel and his friends can still be a useful model for those of us trying to live out our faith in the digital age.
Let’s pray. Lord, as we live in this world, help us to remember that our primary identity is meant to be as followers of your Son and citizens of your kingdom. Help us, like the young men in this story, to live with the quiet and respectful confidence that if we obey your laws and the teachings of Jesus, you will work out your purposes for us, and through us. Amen.
Every Blessing,
Henry
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