Daniel 1 & 2 - Godly Captives

by Katrina

LINK: Daniel 1 and Daniel 2

BACKGROUND

Historical Context
In the year 605 B.C., Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, sent his son Nebuchadnezzar to fight the Egyptian army at Carchemish. Nebuchadnezzar completely defeated the Egyptians, giving Babylon control over a large area including Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and captured King Jehoiakim. While he was there, he received word of his father's death and returned to Babylon to claim the throne. Jehoiakim was bound and carried off to Babylon, and this is also when Daniel and his friends were deported to Babylon. Thus we begin the book of Daniel.

Comments on Chapter 1
Nebuchadnezzar brought with him, not only captives from Jerusalem, but also whatever valuables he could find. Mostly, those were articles from the temple. By taking those articles and placing them in the temple of his god, Nebuchadnezzar was making the statement that his god was greater than Judah's. This little detail will be significant a few chapters into the story, so tuck it in the back of your mind.

Once he was king, Nebuchadnezzar had his officials select the cream of the captives to train for service. Daniel and his three friends were among those chosen. The first step of indoctrinating these young men (probably all teenagers) into Babylonian culture was to change their names. Their names all reflected Jehovah God and would be changed to names that honored Babylonian gods instead.

• Daniel - God is judge ==> Belteshazzar - may Bel (a major Babylonian god) protect his life
• Hananiah - Yahweh is gracious ==> Shadrach -  command of Aku (moon god)
• Mishael - who is what God is? ==> Meshach - who is what Aku is?
• Azariah - whom Yahweh helps ==> Abed-nego - servant of Nebo (another Babylonian god)

Next, these young men were given the best food and assigned a regiment of education for the next three years. Daniel and the other three clearly belonged to that "remnant" of faithful ones that God had told Jeremiah about. These guys knew the Law and were determined to obey God rather than man . . . even if that man was the most powerful man in the world!

What was Daniel's problem with the food? The problem was with the meat. The animals would not have been slain according to the method prescribed in the Law, and the mean was offered to idols before being brought to the king's table. This was the choice meat, but as far as these young Jews were concerned, it was defiled meat.

God blessed these young men for their determination to honor Him among the pagans in a foreign land. He gave them the ability to learn and then elevated them to high positions in the service of the king.

Comments on Chapter 2
Beginning in the middle of verse four, Daniel switches from Hebrew to Aramaic. The book continues in Aramaic through the end of chapter seven, when it switches back to Hebrew for the rest of the book. Aramaic was a common diplomatic and trade language of that day. By writing in Aramaic, this section could be understood by Gentiles as well as Jews. Here was a message God wanted to communicate to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews.

Here's an artist's idea of Nebuchadnezzar's vision.

The statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream was prophetic of world events to come. Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire was at their height of power. Babylon ruled most of the known world. An inferior empire would follow, represented by the chest and arms of silver. This was fulfilled with the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. Next was the belly and thighs of bronze. This would be the kingdom of Greece. The fourth and final kingdom was the legs and feet of iron, representing the Roman Empire. The mixture of clay with iron in the feet and toes is the division and crumbling of the Roman Empire. The Roman military would be strong like iron, but the empire would also be brittle like clay. Just as clay and iron don't adhere to one another, Rome would be characterized by division. Within the empire there would be various groups of people that would not adhere together.

The stone that struck the statute represented a fifth kingdom that would be different in nature (cut out of the mountain). This is the kingdom of God established by Jesus. I believe it refers to the future when Jesus will destroy the Gentile kingdoms and establish His millennial kingdom on earth.

REFLECTION/APPLICATION
Daniel is one of my favorite people in scripture. He was so strong in his faith and committed to the Lord, and he was also humble. He did not succumb to the tremendous pressure to conform and eat what was put in front of him. He was diplomatic in his approach to the official about not eating the food. He made it very clear that it was God who revealed Nebuchadnezzar's dream to him as well as its interpretation. He did not take any credit for himself but gave all the credit to God. And when he was promoted to a position of significant power, he remembered his friends and asked for positions for them as well. This is the kind of character I aspire to have. Whenever I read the stories of Daniel and his companions, I am reminded to keep pressing on.


PRAYER
Lord, give me confidence in You to make me strong in the face of opposition and bold in obedience to You. Let me not succumb to the pressure to conform to the world. Amen.