Daniel 1:4,12-13

Daniel is a much-loved book, and Daniel himself is a much loved and inspiring character in the Bible. Out of all the prophets, more stories concern or arise from Daniel than any other. Daniel in the lions den, the writing on the wall, the three men in the furnace, the big statue of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniels dreams.

Daniel takes place over the space of about 70 years (605BC to 539BC), from when Nebuchadnezzar takes Judah, to when Cyrus becomes king. He is a contemporary of Ezekiel, but aimed at a different purpose.

Chapter one tells us some of Daniel’s character, and that of his friends (Hananiah , Mishael, and Azariah) whose names were changed to Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. Daniel’s name was changed to Belteshazzar.

This was done for the purpose of brainwashing the captives into their new society. Their names were changed from God-pleasing ones (eg. Daniel means ‘God is my judge’) to names that honoured the gods of Babylon (eg. Belteshazzar means ‘Bel protect the king’ – Bel was a Babylonian god). This was meant to dull their zeal and fervour for their own God and social practices, and eventually win them over to the ‘new society’.

This was especially done for those who ranked highly, or who had great potential. Verse four says:

‘...young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to service in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans.’ (Daniel 1:4)

It was thought that if these leaders or future leaders of society could be turned, then all the rest would unwittingly follow. So our first impression of Daniel is that he is somewhat special. He is attractive, smart, wise, socially aware, and extremely literate. And so are his friends.

Another method of brainwashing them was to get them to eat and drink as the Babylonians did. And Nebuchadnezzar didn’t leave it at that – he commanded them to eat of his own delicacies. That is, not only to eat in a different manner and different foods, but to eat the very ‘best’ of those foods – literally meals fit for a king!

This was especially degrading for Jews, who had a very strict and complex set of rules for eating, laid down by God. There were meats that were unclean and not fit for eating, and furthermore, many of the foods eaten by the Babylonians were offered to their idols first. Now, we know how the story goes – that Daniel and his friends would not eat the foods offered to them, but only vegetables. Sometimes I think we gloss over the real impact of this however, and moreover the way they went about this.

First of all, they had to know it was wrong. They had to know their own law and also know the customs of the Babylonians (to know that it was offered to idols). This was possibly the easiest part for these men, who were gifted with wisdom and knowledge (verse 4). However, it parallels our own decisions in that we must know what the Bible says and commands, and also what God wills, but we also must know the devices of the enemy. We must have knowledge and wisdom on both sides to stand a chance of resisting evil. Now, these men were gifted in wisdom and understanding, and not all of us are. But all of us are gifted with the Holy Spirit who guides us. We must tune in to Him.

Secondly, they had to resist the temptation of the food offered. No doubt, the thought of eating the king’s delicacies would have appealed to their stomachs and their taste buds. No doubt in each of their minds there would have been a voice telling them that it was okay. To resist this temptation would have been very hard. Much harder are some of the temptations we have today. And yet resist them we must. Notice that none of their ‘special qualities’ could help them with this – this was their own personal choice and only God could help them here. If they failed at this step, then none of their qualities would have been any good. So don’t depend on any gifts that God has given you, neither feel as if it’s impossible if you don’t have all wisdom or understanding (or good looks!).

Thirdly, they had to deal with circumstance. Not only would the food have been tempting, but all the more so since they had been taken from their own land. No more were they in their own land, overseen by God, with the temple in walking distance and a culture of the law and God’s history around them. In fact, it could have easily seemed to them that God had forsaken them, left them to be taken by an ungodly nation. The doubt would have crept in – ‘well if God left you, why shouldn’t you leave Him?’ and ‘no-one cares anymore if you keep the law or not, no-one here keeps the law anyway so no-one will notice.’ Circumstances had changed for these young men, they were taken out of their comfort zone and all of a sudden they were asked to own their faith, rather than live it because their whole society lived it (I say ‘lived it’ not implying that all who ‘lived it’ really lived it from the heart, nor lived it in the secret as well as in public!). They were out of earshot of people who might care what they did, and they were faced with a tantalizing prospect. But they held firm. They owned their faith. It was theirs, not their societies, not their parents’. For us, most of us being young people, this is one of the hardest things. We probably grew up in a Christian home, learning everything about God, learning all the stories (even this one!), learning how to live like a Christian, how to look like a Christian, how to sound like a Christian. Then all of a sudden, we move out of home, the parents aren’t there anymore to watch over us, and there’s so many things we can do that we never considered before, and all of them look so tantalizing...Do we own our faith? Is it ours, or is it a facade for our parents and our church?

Finally, we must understand the method by which Daniel goes about his resistance of this food. There are some who might say something like ‘the food is categorically evil, and to partake would be wrong by definition, therefore Daniel should completely refuse without a shred of doubt and possibly even add a small rebuke for the eunuch (the man who tells them to eat the food on behalf of the king)’. This would seem to be right, because, as we have already pointed out, to eat the food would have been compromise and sin. Therefore, to not resist it completely and unashamedly would be sin, right? Now others might say something like this: ‘Now, to eat the food is sin, but, God has a higher plan than just eating food, because He wants everyone to know about Him – so Daniel should comply with the eunuch and become friends with him, eventually leading him to God, for the greater glory of God! This might involve small sin in the present, but God is not looking at our actions but at our heart...’ Now then, this also has truth in it – God is looking at the greater plan. For sure, He cares more about the salvation of the eunuch and indeed the king than what foods Daniel puts in His mouth. Now we look back over the two statements and find that they are in direct opposition to each other, and yet both sound true! Let’s look at what Daniel said:

‘Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king’s delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants.’(Daniel 1:12-13)

You see, the eunuch was merely afraid of the king, because if he gave the men vegetables instead of all the delicacies, and the men got worse health because of it, then it would be his fault. But Daniel had already purposed in his heart that he would not eat the defiled food (verse 8). Instead of bluntly refusing to eat it, irrespective of the circumstances of the eunuch, he said that they could be tested for ten days to see if it would make them worse of health. Needless to say, they actually looked healthier after the ten days than any of the men who did eat the defiled food.

Now notice that Daniel had never compromised – he first of all purposed in his heart that he would not eat the food. It wasn’t ‘I don’t want to eat the food’ or ‘I’ll try not to eat the food’, but he made up his mind firmly that he would not. Neither when he made the deal was he compromising, for in his faith he knew that after ten days he would be healthy enough – he trusted God would take care of that. However, neither did Daniel act as one unsubmissive or rebellious, and he didn’t offend the eunuch, rather making a fair deal in the eyes of the eunuch.

And so we come back to the two conflicting statements above – the first is right in that we should never compromise, we should never back down on the truth, but there is a right and wrong way to go about this truth. To offend others with it (although sometimes necessary) should not be our first course of action. For indeed, God has a higher plan. God does care more about the salvation of the eunuch and the king than He does about the food put in Daniel’s mouth, but God is bigger than that – He can fulfil both at once. There is no need to work it all out and think that we have to compromise to achieve this end. God can (as exemplified by this passage) achieve both – the eunuch was satisfied and Daniel’s relationship with him maintained, and also Daniel did not sin. I think it is a general principle that if we do not sin, even in the small things, then God will work through that much more than if we do sin. That is, don’t sin and God will take care of everything! Purpose in your heart that you will not sin, and trust that God has a plan in which to bring everything around for the best. This is what Daniel did.