Verses 1-2
According to historical accounts that can be found on the
web, Nebuchadnezzar deported Jews from Judah and took them into captivity in
Babylon three times. The first time took
place in 605 BC during the reign of Jehoiakim king of
The way Daniel described the fall of
This was rather different from descriptions by the writers
of 2Kings, 2Chronicles, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
They all unequivocally pronounced God's judgment upon
It is rather strange that Daniel made mention of articles
from the
Unlike Jeremiah who had the courage to face and to depict
the horrid destruction God had brought on Jerusalem and its people as a matter
of God being faithful and just in what he did, Daniel did not have the courage
to face the emotion surrounding his captivity.
Shame must have been the prevailing emotion within Daniel for what had
happened to him, his countrymen and his king.
And Daniel made a conscious attempt to hide his emotion and to avoid the
humiliating aspects of his captivity by ignoring them in his writing early
on. After all Daniel was very
young. He lacked the quality of a
prophet at a very tender age like his, when a normal teenager would be
searching for his identity and forming his self-image. Being a perfectionist that he was as we shall
see, avoiding anything humiliating would be a more acceptable option for
him. In this and subsequent chapters we
shall look carefully into the personality of Daniel. Daniel surely understood the sovereignty of
God in what had happened, but he knew nothing about submitting himself to
it. If he did, he would have been
willing to face reality the way Jeremiah had.
Being willing to face the discipline God had brought was the
prerequisite to submitting to God's sovereign will. In fact Daniel was not willing to face his
own shame and guilt until seven decades later in Chapter 9 in his second
recorded prayer. There he made reference
to the destruction God had brought on
Before we delve into the text any further, let's take a look
at what other scripture writers said about the root cause of the captivity of
"The LORD said through his servants the prophets: 'Manasseh king of
This passage of scriptures makes it clear that the
Israelites eventually did more evil than the Canaanites that God had
annihilated in order to accommodate them in
"Surely these things happened to
The shedding of innocent blood seems to be such a compelling
case against Manasseh that God was not willing to forgive the Israelites. It appeared to be the last straw that broke
the camel's back and the fate of the Israelites was sealed. We can draw some lessons from
In the above-quoted passages of scriptures we could not help but notice that it was Manasseh's evil doings that did the Israelites in. It is rather consistent with the history of the Israelites in that when the leaders of the nation feared and obeyed God, the people feared and obeyed God. When the leaders had no fear of God and did evil, the people had no fear of God and did evil. So how the people turned out as a whole directly depended on how the leaders of the people conducted themselves. It was an apt description of leaders of the people as shepherds of the people - the sheep would go astray when the shepherd had gone astray. But starting with the Babylonian captivity, God was going to institute a new policy. Jeremiah 31:27-30 says:
'"The days are coming," declares the LORD,
"when I will plant the house of
"In those days people will no longer say,
`The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on edge.`
Instead, everyone will die for his own sin; whoever eats sour grapes - his own teeth will be set on edge.'
This new policy would see to it that the people would no longer reap the destruction of the sins of their leaders. Rather each person would be responsible for his own sins. For exactly this reason Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were snatched away from their people and their leaders, and they had to decide for themselves how they were going to conduct themselves before God. No one but they themselves were going to be responsible for their own conduct. In the same way we are going to see Daniel being tested separately from Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah because Daniel had become their leader, as we shall see. It is in this context that we are going to examine the dynamics between Daniel on the one hand, and Hanaiah, Mishael and Azariah on the other, in the following chapters.
Verses 3-5
Nebuchadnezzar was keen on seeking quality and capable young people to serve him even though they might not be Chaldeans. They might not be able to serve the king at the time because of cultural and language barriers, but the king saw their potentials. He created a cultural and language program for the most talented young men from among the captives to prepare them for service. So the king was wise in enlisting the service of the young and brightest in his kingdom regardless of their ethnic origin. However, the scope of their service was within the palace of the king; they would have no administrative power in the land. As we shall see, they became wise men in the king's court upon completion of the program.
Daniel alluded to the fact that the king was picking people from among the young men of the royal family and nobility of the Israelites for the program. That was the prerequisite for a Jewish exile to enter into the king's service. On top of that prerequisite Daniel detailed the list of qualifications that were required. It is not certain whether the list was actually compiled by the chief court official or whether it was Daniel's own perception of the qualifications. Either way it is obvious that Daniel paid much attention to the physical and intellectual qualities that were required for serving the king. Based on that observation he seemed to hold these qualities to be of much importance. He seemed to cherish and value them as a young man who was finding his self-worth and forming his self-image at a time when his ego was under assault as an exile. In a way the training program provided some sort of affirmation of his former identity as a member of the Jewish aristocrat. It afforded him the comfort of having a channel of expression for his personal excellence. It opened up an opportunity for him to productively engage his heart and mind in the pursuit of a career. That gave Daniel refuge from the harsh reality, and became an important coping device for a young man facing a serious crisis of his self-worth and self-image. It might be legitimate to say of Daniel's current pursuit of wisdom and understanding that it was a way for him to try to forget and to escape the trauma he had gone through. Instead of finding his strength in God as a prophet should, Daniel was in danger of turning to his career for comfort and fulfillment.
We can see some telltale signs of the personality of a perfectionist in Daniel based on the description of the qualifications. It referred to young men who were without any physical defect and handsome. Any teenage young man, no matter how handsome he may be, would always find some defect in the way he looks. When he looks at himself in the mirror, invariably he would wish that the defect in his appearance could be rectified or eliminated. Very few teenage young men would be completely comfortable in claiming that he has no defect in his physical appearance at all. We can also see some exaggeration in the description in that these young men must show aptitude for every kind of learning. We know from reality that the human brain is wired differently for people who show aptitude for different kinds of learning. So there are different professions and there is specialization within the same profession. It is highly unusual that a person can have aptitude for every kind of learning. Finally there was probably more to the list since it was mentioned at the end of the list that these young men must be qualified to serve in the king's palace.
Ashpenaz, the chief court
official, was to teach these young men the language and literature of the
Babylonians. It appeared that the king
himself took a personal interest in the nutrition of these young men. He would personally assign them a daily
amount of food from his table. So the
king was making sure that they would receive the best nourishment
intellectually and physically. Perhaps
more importantly these young men were not allowed to continue in their former
way of life. They had been completely
uprooted from their homeland. They were
young and inexperienced, and had no elders around to counsel them. They had essentially no support system to
help them navigate the deep waters of the pagan culture of
Verses 6-7
There were a number of people who had been selected for enrollment in the training programming. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. According to the NIV study bible footnotes, Daniel means 'God is my judge'. Hananiah means 'The Lord shows grace'. Mishael means 'Who is what God is?' Azariah means 'The Lord helps'. They were given new names by the chief official: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego. New names imply new identities. Thus they were on their way to a complete makeover in their identity.
Verses 8-10
Please note that none of these things forced on Daniel
except the royal food would defile his body.
According to footnotes in the NIV study bible, food from the king's
table was contaminated because the first portion of it was offered to
idols. Likewise a portion of the wine
was poured out on a pagan altar.
Ceremonially unclean animals were used and were neither slaughtered nor
prepared according to the regulations of the law. But Daniel resolved not to eat food that
would defile his body. He made a firm
decision not to compromise on this matter.
So Daniel boldly asked the chief official for permission not to defile
himself this way. Talking to the chief official
the way he did put Daniel in a position of defying the order of the king of
Here's yet another occasion that demonstrated Daniel's firm belief in the sovereign power of God. The chief official must be on very friendly terms with Daniel because he confided in Daniel his fear of losing his life if the king found out about it. He specifically emphasized the fact that the king himself had assigned their food and drink. Rejecting the food and drink was nothing but rejecting the king himself for his good will. It was a cause for alarm on the part of the chief official who was responsible for their physical well being. The chief official could have told Daniel to shut up and to simply obey the king's order. Instead he made known his fear to Daniel as one would confide in a trusted friend. Furthermore the chief official did not make an attempt to stop Daniel and his three friends from disobeying the king's order. He only mentioned that it would be disastrous for him should the king find them undernourished. He was not at all trying to convince them to back off from their request; he was simply letting it be known to them that if they could find a way to stay healthy without partaking of the royal food and drink, it would be fine with him.
Here we get an idea of the fact that the king was interested in comparing all the young men in training with one another. That was the reaction from the chief official as to what he thought the king might notice as a matter of comparison. Indeed the king was in a habit of comparing these young men in training with one another and with others in his court, as we shall see in the remainder of this chapter. Or perhaps it was Daniel himself who had a penchant of comparing people in his narrative and so conveniently put the king in that context.
According to footnotes in the NIV study bible, the Hebrew
for 'your' and 'you' in verse 10 is plural.
This implies that Daniel was talking to the chief official not just for
his own sake, but also on behalf of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. It would appear that Daniel resolved not to
defile himself with the royal food and wine and his three companions followed
suit. So from the first cited incident
of these four young men having to make a conscious decision as to how they were
to conduct themselves in a pagan culture, Daniel took the lead and the others
followed. All four of them knew that
what they were doing was nothing short of outright defiance of the king's
order. They knew the seriousness of the
potential consequence of their request and they made the request anyway. Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah entrusted the
whole matter to Daniel and let him handle it before the chief official on their
behalf. So Daniel was clearly the leader
of this small group of young men from
Essentially God was giving these four young men a test in their isolation. They had been separated from their king, their priests and their elders. Their support network had been taken away and there was no one around to lead them and guide them. They were isolated and had to make individual decisions as to how they were going to conduct themselves. Under that circumstance most of the people in the training program chose to partake of the royal food and drink as they had been ordered. They found an easy way out of their dilemma by simply fitting in. However, these four idealistic teenagers refused to go with the flow. They chose to separate themselves from the corrupting influence of the pagan culture and refused to fit in regardless of all the pressure for them to comply. Until these young men had been isolated to be entirely on their own, God would have no way of separating the wheat from the chaff, the faithful from the unfaithful, the profane from the sacred. Whether they chose to be consecrated to God and set apart for God's purpose had to be an individual decision - no one else could make the decision for them. If they had a leader over them to give them guidance and direction as to how to conduct themselves in a pagan culture, they might have followed the direction just to go with the flow. Obeying God would become a religious activity through which they could fit in. Then God would have no way of finding out what really is in a person. For that reason God isolated these young men so that they could be scrutinized on individual merit. Only those who were willing to face adversity as a consequence of their action by faith would be considered faithful.
From what had transpired, we know that Daniel had a strong personality and was rather independent. On the other hand his three friends simply followed Daniel's leadership in the whole matter as to what they were going to do. From this we know that the three had the mentality of followers and tended to be dependent. Since Daniel had become the leader of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, God was going to give Daniel a second test separately from the second test God was going to give the three in the following two chapters. That arrangement would compel the followers to make individual decisions as to how they were going to respond to their own test. That was how God was going to further differentiate them. Please note that God is not in the habit of testing us to death. God loves to get to know us and understand us as in a love relationship. Therefore God is in a constant quest of getting to know us fully.
Verses 11-14
Sensing that the chief official was sympathetic to his cause, Daniel proceeded to lobby the guard who had been placed over them by the chief official. He proposed a plan to the guard of testing them with a vegetarian diet for ten days. Daniel knew to mitigate the risk for the chief official and the guard by limiting the test to a ten-day duration. That way minimal damage would be done if any. Daniel knew how to negotiate and make compromise to get others to agree with him. Daniel was a shrewd politician in that he convinced the guard to risk his life in return for nothing. Or perhaps the guard got to enjoy the royal food and drink for ten days. Daniel suggested that the guard tested them and compared them with the other young men who ate the royal food at the end of the ten days. Daniel always seemed ready to be tested because that would bring out the excellent quality within him.
On this particular occasion Daniel seemed to be rather confident that they would look better eating a vegetarian diet than the other young men eating the royal food. This is enough evidence to suggest that the royal food was predominantly meat. If it had been a more balanced diet and not just meat, Daniel and his three friends could not have looked better than the other young men, or for that matter in ten days. But if it had indeed been predominantly meat, they would have certainly looked better in just ten days. A vegetarian diet that contains various vegetables, whole grains and complementary sources of proteins provides a more nutritious alternative. Good sources of proteins would be beans, nuts, whole grains, etc., and even potatoes. A study points out that humans can get enough proteins for survival from eating potatoes as the only source of proteins. It might be a stretch, but it clearly points in the direction that meat is a sufficient but not a necessary source of proteins in our diet. Furthermore a predominantly meat diet is lacking in micronutrients. On top of that it clogs up the arteries and the colon, increases the risk of heart attacks and puts stress on the liver. A person who eats a balanced vegetarian diet most definitely have better complexion than a person who eats a predominantly meat diet. Daniel's confidence seems to point to the conclusion he had drawn from his observation in everyday life. He must have noticed how people who could not afford to eat meat could have better complexion than people who ate mostly meat.
Verses 15-16
Daniel's estimation that ten days of testing would do the trick turned out to be true. Ten days of good nutrition gave him and his three friends a better complexion than those who ate mostly meat. It bore out the fact about his being well informed as required for enrollment in the training program. It also showed that Daniel had keen observation because he could only have learned this from observation in real life. The king's good intention of seeing about their being fed well turned out to be a hindrance to their learning for lack of proper nutrition. Being convinced by what he saw the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. Food assigned by the king had been referred to three times as royal food until now. Here it was referred to as choice food instead. Apparently it was from the perspective of the guard that Daniel referred to the royal food. The guard was happy to receive four helpings of choice food every day for the following three years. Even though the guard knew that the choice food was not good for the body as vegetables were, he would rather eat the choice food. He was enjoying the pleasure of food at the expense of his health. These four young men are an example to us that denying ourselves is the only way to separate ourselves from the corrupting influence of the world. So for three years these four young men ate a vegetarian diet and drank nothing but water while in training. Daniel later on said in Chapter 10 verse 3, " I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over." So Daniel did not quit eating meat all his life, but in order to separate himself from the corrupting influence of the world, he was willing to do that for a period of time. Being willing to deny himself the pleasures of sin while going through a period of intense training for service was key to his success. Keep in mind that Jesus denied himself the pleasure of food for forty days in preparation for commencing his ministry. For those who are going through training for service they would do well to deny themselves as a matter of preparation.
Verse 15 says, "At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food." Daniel could have said that they looked better than the young men who ate the royal food. The emphasis here was on the word 'any'. It was meant to particularly set them above all the others in their appearance. In the remaining verses of this chapter, we shall see a pattern of emphasis of their superiority over others.
Verse 17
These four teenagers were able to separate themselves from
the corrupting influence of the world.
They were zealous in guarding their purity. As a result they experienced the power of
holiness in this chapter. In the next
chapter they were going to experience the power of prayer. If we would use one word to describe their
experience, it would be the word miraculous .
Holiness is not beyond the reach and ability of the common man; everyone
is capable of it. It is simply a matter
of willingness. It is as simple as
picking the food that we eat and the beverage we drink. These four teenagers ate only vegetables and
drank only water. They began with small
things in practicing holiness, as small as eating and drinking. Since they had been found faithful in small
things, God entrusted them with greater things.
God uses ordinary people. These
four young men were slaves in
You might say that Christian fellowship is something every
believer should strive to fit in and to contribute to. There is no doubt about that. But when there is an inordinate emphasis on
fellowship, the work of the gospel is going to suffer. Apparently Jewish believers in
It is interesting to note that Paul was the one conducting
the persecution. So God could use Paul
to advance mission work whether Paul was doing evil or doing good. It was a good thing that Paul did not try to
fit in among the apostles in
God gave these four young men aptitude and capacity to
master all kinds of literature and learning.
But Daniel alone was given the spiritual gift of interpreting all kinds
of visions and dreams. So Daniel had
distinguished himself from these other exceptional young men by his spiritual
gift that they did not have. In other
words Daniel was the cream of the crop and the best among peers. In essence there was no equal for
Daniel. God was rewarding these four
young men for their resolve to separate themselves
from the corrupting influence of the world.
On the other hand God was also laying the groundwork to reveal what was
in each one of them. It was not
completely clear what might be going through their mind when they made that
resolution. We must not think of their
resolve not to defile themselves as something tremendous without looking into
the context of the circumstance. These
four young men had been taken captives away from their homeland and were being
trained as servants in the king's court.
They had every reason to resent what the Babylonians had done to them. And it was likely that they were every bit
inclined to resist being assimilated into the culture as a matter of national
and ethnic pride. So obeying the Law of
Moses would give them the rally point and a platform to reject the influence of
the culture. Furthermore some people
simply love a vegetarian diet for the health benefit it affords. Or perhaps they truly rejected the corrupting
influence of
Verse 17 says, "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." The particular emphasis in this verse is the two words: all kinds. It was meant to imply that nothing was too difficult for them. So we continue to see Daniel's pattern of emphasis of their excellence. It is clear that Daniel wanted to leave no doubt about their superior performance. It might suggest of a symptom of someone who had suffered from a bruised ego in turning from nobility to a slave.
Verses 18-21
At the end of the three years the training program came to a conclusion. The chief official presented these young men to the king. The king gave them an interview to find out how they had fared under the training program. How these young men conducted themselves before the king would be a direct reflection of how successfully the chief official had executed the training program. So it had been in the best interest of the chief official to fully develop their potentials and to groom their talents. Should anything have gone wrong, such as some trainees looking undernourished or being misinformed, the chief official would have come under the judgment wrath of the king. On the other hand, if the trainees came off as individuals with excellent training and ability, he would be rewarded by the king. That was why he said to Daniel that he was afraid of his lord the king that Daniel and his three friends should look worse than the other young men their age. The chief official truly knew his job and understood what was expected of him from his lord the king.
In talking to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah the king
found them to be best among their peers.
Thus these four young men entered into the king's service and became wise
men in the king's court. Not only did
the king compare these four young men to others in the training program, but he
also compared them to the wise men in his court. And he found them to be ten times better than
all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom. Thus the king was relentless in finding the
best and employing them for his service.
In fact, in the next chapter we shall see Nebuchadnezzar going so far as
to execute all the wise men in
Here we find yet another occasion where Daniel particularly emphasized the superiority of himself and his friends in competition. The king found none equal to these four young men. They certainly had graduated at the top of their class. Poor nutrition on the part of the other young men in the training program caused them their grade to a certain extent, while good nutrition on the part of the four gave them an edge. Furthermore, Daniel pointed out that they were as successful in their national competition as they were in training school. The king found these four young men to be better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom. It is doubtful that the king had tested every magician and enchanter in his whole kingdom in comparison to these four young men. But that was how Daniel described it. Daniel could have just said that they were better than the magicians and enchanters in the kingdom. Instead he emphasized all the magicians and enchanters. And it was not just in the kingdom, but in the whole kingdom. These four young men were so good that they were ten times better. Who knows what ten times better means, but it was definitely an emphasis on their superiority to the other wise men. And without exception, in every matter of wisdom and understanding the king questioned them, they were that much better.
The king was not haphazard in his screening process, but was rather serious in his manner as to question them in various disciplines of learning. It shows that the king himself was a learned man who knew what questions to ask to gauge the ability of a person. And he could recognize an able and wise man when he talked to one. The manner with which the king insisted on the wise men telling him the content of his dream in Chapter two was therefore not surprising - he would leave no room for false interpretation and knew how to seek out the best. Nebuchadnezzar was himself an intelligent man and was relentless in his pursuit of excellence among those who served him. In the meantime Daniel had presented a perfectionist image of himself who valued wisdom and knowledge above other things. He loved competition and enjoyed being compared to others because he always came out on top and winning. Encumbered by his personality he seemed to have a tendency to exaggerate the superiority of his ability and knowledge in relation to others. All these might be attributed to his mindset as a young aristocrat who was trying to bury the painful emotion of being carried away from his homeland and made a slave in a foreign land. During a most formative period of his life when he was searching for his own image and identity, he devoted his full attention to pursuing a career in the king's court as a way of escaping the trauma of his bruised ego. Thus both Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel had much to offer one another. As we shall see, Daniel's longstanding problem was his entanglement with Nebuchadnezzar who was the symbolism of dead religion.
Daniel was particular about the king's opinion of them. Twice Daniel said that the king found them superior to their peers. But when it came to the guard, Daniel did not disdain to value his opinion even though he had invited the guard to compare them with the other young men who ate the royal food, and then decide what to do with them based on what he saw. But in verse 15 Daniel did not say that the guard found them looking better than the other young men who ate the royal food. Instead he only said that they looked better than the other young men. Please keep in mind that Daniel was a member of the Jewish Aristocracy. He might not be inclined to think too much of a Babylonian guard.
To recap we see in the beginning of this chapter Daniel
depicting the present situation of the king of
Daniel remained in the royal court until the first year of
King Cyrus. The NIV study bible
footnotes dated the first year of King Cyrus to be 539 BC. That was about three years before the
Babylonian captivity ended. The
beginning of Chapter 10 mentioned that Daniel was still alive in the third year
of Cyrus. So Daniel saw the return of
the exiles to