October 21, 2024 | Be God's Light
Daniel and Others Enter the King's Service
Scripture: Daniel 1(NIV)
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.
Devotional
Recall that the Babylonian empire attacked Judah and took exiles from there back to Babylon in three waves over more than twenty years. Daniel was taken captive in the first wave, Ezekiel was deported during the second wave, and Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and took more exiles in the third wave.
Ezekiel’s ministry was to the Jews in Jerusalem and the Jews in Babylonia. Daniel, however, was taken into the capital city of Babylon to serve their king. He was chosen because of his physical looks and intellectual acumen. He was then given the best food and education to prepare him for his task. This was like my three-year seminary degree, except Lisa and I ate whatever food we could afford.
Daniel must have felt our pain, because he refused to eat the Babylonian cuisine, probably because it included forbidden food for Jews. The official in charge agreed to the ten-day test, giving Daniel and his three friends a vegetarian diet. They passed, then spent the next three years studying all kinds of literature and languages.
This chapter gives me too many seminary flashbacks. But it is not really about the kind of diet or education you undertake. The key phrase comes at the beginning of verse 8, where Daniel “resolved not to defile himself.”
Every day we make decisions, from tiny to titanic. Should I say this? Should I do that? Is it okay to believe one way and live another?
Jesus once said, “What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them” (Matthew 15:11). The disciples didn’t get it, and basically said the Hebrew version of “Huh?”
Jesus responded with clarity in Matthew 15:16-20, saying, “Are you still so dull? …Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”
For Daniel, eating forbidden food would defile his heart and lead him down the path of compromising his faith in God. For the Christian, food restrictions are a thing of the past. But there are plenty of other ways to sidestep Jesus and do our own thing.
Are there any ways in which you are compromising your faith? What is the Lord saying to you? What is your next step?
Poem
Best And Brightest
I’ll steal your best and brightest
The conquering King declared
I’ll use them to advance my name
I’ll use them to shore up my reign
Enslave them for my bounty
Their brilliance will surround me
Give me your best and brightest
God’s heavenly kingdom call
I’ll gift you to advance my name
I’ll gift you to spread forth my reign
Release them for salvation
For each and every nation
