32. Dan 1:18-20 "None were equal" & "10 Times Better" Part 2

Time:  605 BC
Place:  King's Court
Scripture:  Daniel 1:18-20

Daniel 1:18-20

At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.  The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service.  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.

Daniel and his 4 friends - none were equal to them & they were 10X Better


We must remember that Daniel and his 4 friends were outstanding  because God acted for them on their behalf.  

• Dan 1:9 And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the steward.
• Dan 1:17 God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom.  

They were 'found worthy' in the sight of God, so God acted for them.


God acted on their behalf so that the steward and even the King were  kind and gracious to Daniel.  

When we stand up uncompromisingly for the truth, God always takes up our defense and works out His purpose.  

Proverbs 16:7 says that "when a man's way please Yahweh,  he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him."


From the life of Daniel and his 3 friends, they portray to us what God can do to people who are faithful to God. 

• They never make themselves to be the victims of unfavorable circumstances.  
• After all, Nebuchadnezzar was a fierce and angry king.  
• God performs miraculous work in their lives that even the heathen king is highly impressed with their quality of life.  

Yahweh God blesses people who are totally committed to Him. How precious this is indeed!

Where are these faithful people today?

:)

31. Dan 1:18-20 "None were equal" & "10 Times Better" Part 1

Time:  605 BC
Place:  King's Court
Scripture:  Daniel 1:18-20


Daniel 1:18-20

At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.  The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service.  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.

 
The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah;


Chapter 1  tells us that Daniel and his friends are on a different level from the others.  

• These 4 people go past the minimum and they reach standards for themselves that exceed the norm.  
• These 4 people stand above the crowd.  
• These 4 people don't choose the good.  They choose the best.  
• These 4 people  stand firm in their convictions and beliefs to please God above all else.  
• They are uncompromising people that go past the crowd.  
• Their performance and wisdom are a cut above the rest because they choose to live at a level of total commitment to God that is beyond the rest of the other Israelites who were also there for the 3 years of training.  
• Even the older magicians and enchanters with all their experiences in the whole kingdom do not match up to them.

What a testimony!  

They just shine out like the stars forever.

• The king only needed to talk to these young men to recognize their great character and quality of life.  From his conversation with them, he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

• The king questioned them in every matter of wisdom and understanding and discovered they were 10 times better than the others.

Tomorrow, we will look at Part 2 :)

29. Daniel 1:10-26 TEST your servants for 10 Days Part 1

Time:  605 BC

Place:  King's court

Daniel 1:10-16

10 and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.”

11 Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 

12 “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. 

13 Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” 

14 So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. 

15 At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food. 

16 So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.

Notice Daniel was NOT passive in this matter of 'not defiling himself.'

• Daniel saw through the difficult situation of the steward and then addressed his legitimate concerns

• Daniel was not unreasonable and insistent

• Daniel was firm, gracious and persistent with his principle

• Daniel took the initiative to suggest a workable plan that would not put the steward in crisis

• Daniel was a man of faith.  This seed of faith springs forth from a pure heart of 'not defiling' himself. 

How is Daniel's Faith manifested?

1. 'put us to the test' - our faith needs to be put to the tested
2. time is needed for the test - 10 days
3. he gives a proposal: instead give us vegetables and water 

The steward then consented to Daniel regarding this new proposal.

When we face awkward situations, we must look to God for wisdom not to be insistent, but have the wisdom to be flexible enough to let our faith be tested and come up with a wise proposal.

:)

26. Daniel 1:8 Resolves not to defile himself Part 2

Time:  605 BC
Place:  King's Court
Scripture:  Daniel 1:8


Daniel 1:8  -  Daniel 'resolved' that  he would 'not defile himself' with the King's food or with the wine that he drank.  Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him 'not to defile himself.'

Daniel 'resolved' he would 'not defile himself.'  


Look at the 2 sets of words:

• resolved
• not defile himself

"Resolve" comes from the Hebrew word that means 'to pull together, to place or direct with purpose'.  It means that in Daniel's mind, he "already has made a mental determination with purpose" of how he is going to make his decisions in life.

He has long ago "made up in his mind an overall purpose in his life for God."  Do you have an overall purpose in life? Without an overarching purpose in our life, you will end up making wrong choices in your decisions.  Without a concrete direction, you will end up being 'wishy washy' and weak in all your decisions making.

"Daniel Resolves . . . " - What is Daniel's purpose of life?

Daniel's purpose is 'not to defile himself' - repeated twice in Daniel 1:8.  

This is the overarching spiritual principle in Daniel's life as he makes decisions.

"Defile" carries the meaning of polluting or staining.

Daniel is not going to let the 'world' defile him. Why would Daniel consider the King's food defiled?  We are not told exactly why Daniel considered the King's food defiling.  It could be that these food were used for the worship of heathen gods and Daniel would not take part eating them.  The Bible text here does not give any explanations.  One thing is obvious:  Daniel rejects the king's food for a spiritual reason.  He was alert spiritually and knows one thing:  The world can 'defile' him.

Do you realize that the things of the world can 'defile you", even the good things of the world?


The food and the three years of education are the good things of the world.  All these are calling the young men to leave behind their Yahweh God and Hebrew culture, and "not to look to God" but to "look to the King" for everything. The world is forever beckoning us to love the so call good things in life.  When the love of the world takes over our heart, there is no more love for God anymore. Is this your situation?

Today Satan uses the same strategy to 'defile us'.  Satan uses the good things of the world, the legitimate things of the world to soften our spiritual values to embrace the world system.   As the years go on, do you realize that you have slowly adopted the world system in your life? We want to please the world. We want to please our friends.  We want to be accepted by our peers. We follow the ways of the world.  We have accepted the world's standard of morality.  We become 'men pleasers'.  We are overwhelmed with our desires.  We  have become defiled without knowing it.  We want to 'please ourselves'.   We don't want to ask: "Am I pleasing God?"


Daniel is actively pleasing God by avoiding defilement.

"Getting Defiled" is a slow process of  feeding on what the world offers.   Slowly the system of the world 'defile' your inner man totally unaware.  And one day, you find you don't love God anymore and you find yourself making wrong decisions one after another.  You have become totally defiled unaware and functioning in the ways of the world.  This is the spiritual tragedy in many churches. The world system had taken over the church. This is what I fear the most in building up our church.

Let us not allow the voices from the world to drown out the word of God.
Let us not succumb ourselves to adopt the world system to defile God's Church .


As Daniel had loved God in Jerusalem, he was determined to love God in Babylon.  He had made up his mind long ago to live a life of 'not defiling himself.'  He has this spiritual insight to see through the cunning system of the world that can slowly work its way to 'defile' him.

:)

24. Daniel 1:6-7 Daniel & 3 Friends

Time:  605 BC
People:  Daniel and his 3 friends


Daniel 1:6-7

Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.  And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.


Please note that there were other Israelites in this group.  The author just wants to focus on these 4 people in the rest of the chapter.

First, let's take a look at their names.  

Their Hebrew names are meaningful to them for they represented God.  

• Elohim is God 
• Yahweh is God's Name.

You will see either 'el' or 'yah' attached to their names:

Daniel -      God is my Judge

Hananiah -  Beloved of Yahweh

Mishel -     Who is as God

Azariah -     Yahweh is My Help

Obviously these children had godly parents who gave them names reminding them of Yahweh Himself and His goodness.




Now, King Nebuchadnezzar changed their identities by giving them Chaldean names in order to assimilate them quickly to the Chaldean culture and their gods. 

Previously their names proclaimed their allegiance to God ( the "el" and the "iah" in their names).  Now, their new names identified them with the gods of the Chaldean .

In each instance of the Babylonian substituted names, they all exalted the heathen idols and names of Chaldean gods.  


With new identities, the king hope that these youths would forget about Yahweh God and wipe out their spiritual heritage back home in Jerusalem.  

With new names given, they would forget their roots and adopt to the new Chaldean philosophies and the paganistic idolatrous life-style.

King Nebuchadnezzar did all he could to "indoctrinate" these young captives to forget about their past and wipe out their memory of Jerusalem.  Daniel and his friends were to be 'Babylonianized' into the pagan culture.  Pressure was put upon them to totally conform and shape into the 'Babylonian' mold of life.

They were under a spiritual pressure cooker to worship the pagan gods.  They were pressured intellectually, psychologically and socially to compromise to go for the world.

:)

But Nebuchadnezzar failed!  


Daniel and his 3 friends were wise people and did not allow the bombarding of outward & environmental changes to stray their hearts from remaining loyal to God.  The Babylonians could change their names, education, diet, and homes, but  they could never change their hearts and devotion to God unless they allow it to happen. The world wants to 'conform' us.  God 'transforms' our hearts.   As the wisdom of Proverbs say, "Keep you heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life." Proverbs 4:23


:)

23. Daniel 1:5 King's Food & Wine

Time:  605 BC
Place:  King's palace in Babylon


Daniel 1:5

The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. 

The king truly well treated these young men by providing them 2 great benefits:

• 'the King's food and wine' everyday 

This was no cafeteria food that we ate in our college days.  They were given the opportunity to eat gourmet food every day!  The Hebrew captives would be physically well nurtured with the best Babylonian food and wine.  Not only was it just 'food and wine' but that they would learn the Chaldean social manners of eating and drinking in the king's court. This is the best way to assimilate them to the Chaldean paganistic culture.

• 3 years of  the 'best' education and 'it's free' 

They would be under a rigorous program of training in the Chaldean education which would have included science, mathematical astronomy, astrology, divination, magic and rituals of all kinds.  The best education was provided for them in the king's court.

The purpose of all this is to train up these young people  to serve in the king's court with all the other high ranking officers.

Wow!!  Isn't this the dream of  many young people?  Isn't this the dream of becoming successful in this world?  What great benefits!  Isn't this what many Christians look for in their jobs?

As you can see, all this presented both an opportunity and a spiritual challenge to Daniel and his friends.  

• The opportunity of working for the king and his government meant that they would be well provided for with good lives for all their years.

• They would be spared from slavery and hard labor.

• The spiritual challenge now is whether they are able to stand firm before Yahweh God and not compromise to worship the gods of the Chaldeans in the pagan world.  

Will they be able to stand up for their faith?  We will find out tomorrow.

If you were in their shoes, how would you handle such a situation?

Where are the people of God today who know how to act wisely to make the right decision that pleases God?  Are you one of them?

:)

21. Daniel 1:3-4 Young Exiles

Time:  605 BC
Place:  Babylon
People:  Daniel and his 3 friends; King Nebuchadnezzar; Ashphenaz


Daniel 1:3-4

Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.

This first group taken to Babylon were those in the kingly line descended from David. It is possible that Daniel had royal blood in him.  This was prophesied a hundred years ago by Isaiah to Hezekiah in Isaiah 39:1-8.

1.  The requirements for this 1st group of exiles:

• youths
• no blemish, ie. no physical defects
• well favored
• good looking
• skilfull in all wisdom and knowledge, ie. the top of their class
• competent to stand in the king's court

King Nebuchadnezzar was selective and chose the cream of the crop from Jerusalem to go for 3 years of training in the hope that they can serve him in his kingly court in Babylon.  These were children of captivity.  The anguish and grief of the youth separated from their homeland must have been indescribable.  They were not going for a 3 year holiday. It could be a permanent separation from their family and homeland forever. 

2.  Learn a new language - they were to learn the language of the Chaldeans and their literature.

"Chaldeans" is a term used interchangeably with "Babylonians".   As the Babylonian Empire grew, the Chaldean science and astrology dominated the Babylonian Empire. The Chaldeans had a powerful language in that day. They comprised of two dialects of Sumerian and Kassite which is similar to the Hittite language.

This was not easy at all for these young people. They had to begin all over again in a new school of Chaldean learning in this new environment.

As we study the Daniel Chapter 1, bear in mind that these young people did not have parents or pastors around to guide them in their growing up teen age years now.  They could be the most rebellious and unhappy teens to complain about their situation in a pagan world.  While they were well protected at home in Jerusalem with spiritual nurturing and guidance from spiritual elders, they are now put in an environment that is spiritually hostile to the Most High God, Yahweh.

Do you remember what it was like in your teens?

Or perhaps you are in your teens now, tell us what it is like growing up in this world?

When I grew up in my teens, I asked myself these searching questions:

• Who am I?
• What am I doing here?
• Who is God?
• What does God want me to do?
• What is the meaning of life?
• Why is life so tough as a teens?
• How do I make friends?
• Why do I want to be popular?
• How do I make the most of my life for God?
• What is God's will in my life and how do I participate?

The answers to these questions did not come right away. I went through long years of searching and questioning to finally experiencing God, letting go of my will and let God's will be done in my life.

There was a small book that had made a profound impact on me as a growing up teenager.  The book is called  "Bloom where you are planted." 

Often times, our ideals and thoughts carry us to faraway places and lands thinking that we are "better off" with "better education", "better opportunities", "better family background", "better friends", "better this" and "better that" etc.  It is all 'romantic' thinking.

I have long discovered that the 'better place" to be is to be content to 'bloom where God plants us' wherever and whenever. This is where God's will is manifested.

Daniel and his friends are embarking on this spiritual journey of 'blooming where God plants them' in Babylon.  Is Babylon a "better place" to grown up?  Is it going to be an easy road?  

We shall see that the road to eternal life is truly 'narrow' and 'hard'.  And Daniel proved faithful all the way through to the end when he was thrown into the 'lion's den' for his uncompromising faith to Yahweh God at an old age in his 80's.   

How urgent it is for us to study Daniel and follow his steps to love God with all our hearts to the end of our days.  "Bloom where you are planted by God."

:)