DANIEL SIMPLIFIED

 

CHAPTER 1.15

Gleanings from the Book of Daniel:

A Weekly Verse-by-Verse Bible Study Series

 

DANIEL

Chapter One

The Early Life of Daniel in Babylon

 

The Outline of Daniel Chapter One

1. The Deportation of Judah (Vv. 1-2)

2. The Design of Nebuchadnezzar (Vv. 3-7)

3. The Deportment of Daniel (Vv. 8-16)

4. The Development of Daniel (Vv. 17-21)

 

Review

As captives of Babylon, young Daniel and his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah faced a dilemma. They have presented an opportunity to become part of the king's court. To take part in Nebuchadnezzar's three-year inculcation program, they were to partake of the king’s food and drink the king’s wine. However, in participating as Hebrews, they would be defiling themselves under Mosaic Law, and compromising their religious convictions, since the Babylonian’s meat and wine were offered to idols.

 

So, at the risk of being expelled from the king’s program, Daniel took a leap of faith and proposed an alternative scheme for Melzar, the steward in charge of the banquets. Rather than refusing Nebuchadnezzar’s protocol, Daniel asked to be evaluated after eating vegetables and drinking water for ten days. This plan would prove their condition health-wise, whether good or bad.  In the previous lesson, Melzar approved, and the results became evident as follows…

 

 

(Verse 15)

 

And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat.

 

After the ten-day examination, the physical condition of the four youths was favorably noticeable. The diet of vegetables and water demonstrated they were fairer (i.e., healthier) and fatter in the flesh (literally, firmer flesh, not obese) than any other participants in the three-year program. 

 

Observation: The appearance of the four Hebrew youths certainly was not a result of not eating the royal food for ten days but of a special blessing from God. This principle is outlined in the Psalms:

Psalm 25:14 - The Lord is the strength of them that fear Him; and His covenant is to manifest truth to them (BST).

 

So, by following God’s Law, Daniel, and his friends were eating healthier, and at the same time, pleasing God.

 

 

(Verse 16)

 

Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse.

 

Based on Daniel’s uncompromising stand for the vegetable and water diet, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were granted permission to continue their alternative dietary program for three years and beyond from the steward Melzar. Thus, they did not defile themselves by eating food and drinking wine offered to idols.

 

Footnote:  Symbolic of Daniel’s faith, children often jumped rope to the refrain of this poem by Philip P. Bliss (1873):

Dare to be a Daniel,

Dare to stand alone!

Dare to have a purpose firm!

Dare to make it known.

 

 

4. The Development of Daniel

(Verse 17)

 

As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

 

As a result of their uncompromising walk in obedience to God, He sovereignly blessed the four Hebrews not only physically, but more than they asked. Sovereignly, He endowed them to ascend academically in three specific areas:

1. God gave them knowledge

Knowledge (conscious intelligence, reasoning skills, and thought processes) was significantly increased

 

2. God gave them skills in all learning

Skill (comprehension, insight, consideration by pondering) encompassed learning all literature in the languages of Babylonia, namely, Chaldean, Akkadian, and Sumerian

 

3. God gave them wisdom

Wisdom is the practical application of the heart from His Word, experience, and knowledge and making sound judgments

Proverbs 2:2 - …incline thine ear unto  wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding.

 

Once again, God granted them special abilities by His grace. Simply stated:

James 1:5 - If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth (without reproach, or finding fault) not; and it shall be given him.

 

Additionally, Daniel exclusively attained special prophetic gifts from God in two specialized areas:

A. God gave Daniel understanding in visions

Visions (mental sight) embodied revelations, which included divine utterances and mental pictures

 

B. God Gave Daniel an understanding of dreams

Dreams, on the other hand, were popular amongst the occultists. But more importantly, they were also a means by which God communicated His revelations to Old Testament prophets:

Numbers 12:6 - And He said, Hear now My words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make Myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.

 

Note: There are 34 recorded dreams in Scripture. The Old Testament contains 22, and the New, 12.

 

Consequently, Daniel’s interpretation of dreams will be the backdrop for his prophecies, however, only after fervent prayer (cf. Daniel 2:17-23). Noteworthily, Daniel models Joseph in Pharaoh’s court in Egypt (cf. Genesis 41:1-45).

 

 

(Verse 18)

 

Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.

 

At the end of days is a phrase denoting the expiration of three years of training between verses 17 and 18. Forthwith, Ashpenaz brought all youths deported in 605 B.C. before King Nebuchadnezzar for an examination.

 

 

(Verse 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.

 

The Hebrew word for communed is dâbar (דָבַר), pronounced daw-bar', It indicates all who completed their three-year training were intensely questioned, and extensively evaluated. But, among the captive youths, Nebuchadnezzar found Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah to be far more superior to the rest in all matters both physically, and particularly intellectually. Therefore, the king advanced the four to a position of favor of standing with him near his throne.

 

To stand before the king meant having an elevated position of honor as a personal attendant. Proverbs elucidate:

Proverbs 22:29 - Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.

 

 

(Verse 20)

 

And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.

 

Upon their examination, King Nebuchadnezzar found the Hebrews ten times better (an exaggerated idiom meaning many times better, i.e., in superiority) than Babylon’s conclave of magicians and astrologers.

 

Magicians [Hebrew, charṭôm (חַרְטֹם)], was a general term for practitioners of occultism, whereas astrologers studied stars, both in astronomy and astrology. As a grouping, they were known as wise men (Magi). Centuries later, their successors appear in the account of Jesus’ birth (cf. Matthew 2:1).

 

 

(Verse 21)

 

And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus.

 

Remarkably, Daniel’s political career and influence continued through Belshazzar, Darius the Mede, and into the third year of the reign of Cyrus the Great of Persia [cf. Daniel 10:1(539 B.C.)]. Also, ironically, he outlived the Babylonian Empire. Thus, Daniel would remain an emblematic prophet during the 70 years of Captivity, even ultimately leading to the influence of Nehemiah, in the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem, and the nation of Israel.  

 

Commentary

In the context of idolatry, apostasy, and captivity, this introductory chapter has presented Daniel as an outstanding character with an eloquent testimony to the plan and grace of God at a time in Israel’s dark history. As a fulfillment and an example to be God’s light for Israel (cf. Isaiah 42:6: 49:6), Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself by eating the prescribed meat and wine offered by King Nebuchadnezzar (cf. Daniel 1:8).

 

Even though Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were in servitude to a pagan king, they managed to serve God through their obedience to His dietary laws. By this, as the succeeding chapters will reveal, God blessed them abundantly as such:

1. God gave them knowledge

2. God gave them understanding

3. God gave them discernment

4. God gave them wisdom

5. God gave them the ability for the application to their lives

6. God gave them the ability to separate truth from error

7. God gave them a living relationship with Him

 

Chapter One also serves the Church today to expectantly prepare for the revelations of God to follow until the times of the end. Hence, Chapter 1 is the backdrop, not only for Chapter 2 but also for the forthcoming revelatory chapters.

 

In the following study, Daniel will be summoned to test his God-given abilities, i.e., the interpretation of dreams, to the infamous statue of Nebuchadnezzar.

 

 

QUESTIONS:

1. What was the key element of Daniel’s faith?

2. What was the result of Daniel’s proposed diet?

3. What abilities did the four men receive from God?

4. What extra abilities did Daniel receive from God?

5. To whom does Daniel model in the Old Testament?

6. What is the meaning of the term magicians?

7. How does Daniel influence Judeo-Christian history?

 

 

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