Introduction:
In the last years of Judah, Jeremiah delivered messages from the Lord to Judah.
·
The Lord had determined to send Judah to exile for their
violation of the Law of Covenant
·
He told them to surrender to Babylon, specifically to King Nebu
for the Lord chose him as His servant (Jer 25:9).
·
If they submit themselves to the King of Babylon, they would be
considered as good fig and if not, they were bad fig. The Lord himself would
build them up (Jer. 24:5-6)
·
If they submit to the Lord’s call to go Babylon as captives,
then He would give them the heart to know the Lord. That is to say that God’s
ultimate purpose to send Judah to Babylon was for them to know the Lord (Jer
24:7)
·
The Lord would destroy them even if they ran away to Egypt to
avoid God’s discipline in Babylon (Jer 24:8)
·
he promised that he would bring them back to their land again after
paying for their sins for seventy years (25:12)
As the
first batch of the exile, Dan and his three friends were taken to Babylon. This
implicitly suggest that they were good a batch of people, obedient to God’s
call for submission to Babylon.
This
book is about God’s plan for His chosen people of Israel after they were taken
as exiles in foreign land, and there was no country of their own. This brings a few questions:
·
What will happen to the nation Israel? Will they recover their
country? If yes, then when?
·
What is the role of the people of Israel while they are in
exile?
·
How would God administer his plan for the world and her kingdoms?
These questions are answered through the book of Daniel.
Ch 1. Who would be the good batch of God’s chosen people to
serve the world while they were to live under the authorities of the kingdoms
of the world? What would be their mindset that pleases the Lord while they were
in exile?
Ch 2-7 how the good batch of Israel should serve the kingdoms of
the world or how God would use his chosen in and among the kingdoms of the
world. Here God answers to these questions:
·
How the people of Judah should serve the purpose of God in the
foreign land
·
What the God of the world expect from the kings of the world; or
what should be their relationship with God of the world.
·
What God will do if they do not comply with the rules that God
set for the kings of the world?
·
What would be the course of the world which will end when He
establish His kingdom on earth?
CH 8-12 When and how would God restore the kingdom of God:
·
What or which kingdoms will follow and what is nature or
characteristics of those kingdoms; how will the each of these kingdoms tribute
God’s plan for the kingdom of God
·
When and how the messiah, the king of God’s kingdom will come
and restore His kingdom?
·
What the people of Israel must go through to join in or enter
into the kingdom of God.
Daniel resolves not to defile himself
Daniel 1:1-21
Key verse 1:8
1. [1-2]
When did Nebuchadnezzar besiege Jerusalem? (1; cf. 2 Kings 24:1–4) What did God
deliver into his hand? (2a; ref. 2 Chr 36:5-6) Why
(Jer 25:8-12; 24:5-10)? What
did he do with the articles of the temple? (2b)
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.
This is
the first deportation of the people of Judah to Babylon in BC 605. The second one
was in March of 597 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and placed Zedekiah,
Jehoiachin’s uncle, in control. The third and last attack on Judah was in BC 586 when King Nebu came and destroyed Jerusalem along with its temple.
Regarding
the first exiles, God said this through Jeremiah:
Jer 24: 5
"This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Like these good figs, I
regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the
land of the Babylonians. 6 My eyes will watch over them
for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up
and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 I will
give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I
will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.
The
Lord will do three things for the first exiles to Babylon: a) God will regard
as good exile b) He will watch over them for their good c) He will build them
up d) He will give them a heart to know Him so that they would return to Him
with all their heart.
Then in
what respect, were they good figs? First, they knew that Judah had sinned
against the Lord and was worthy of God’s punishment (2 King 24:1-4). Second,
they were helpless in keeping up with the Lord by themselves and they needed a
help from the Lord. Third, they accepted God’s call to go to Babylon as an exile in
submission to His will by believing that God would take care of them there.
This was a willful rejection of the inclination of their heart toward Egypt,
which was thought to be a better place to live with less hardship or suffering.
2. [3-5]
Whom did Nebuchadnezzar order to bring to his service? (3) What qualification
was required? (4a) What privilege was to be given to them? (4b-5)
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 4a 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.
4bHe
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.
Daniel
and his three friends, royal family or children of nobles, were taken to
Babylon. King Nebu chose some of these
young men from the countries that he conquered to serve him. According to (Jer
), all the countries of the region including Egypt would succumb to King Nebu
and he would establish the empire of the region for it was God’s will to set
him as the head of all kingdoms of the world for the Lord had chosen him as the
king of all kings (Dan 2; Jer 25:9) Among a number of young men came from various
countries, Daniel and his three friends entered into this pool of trainee. They
were trained for three years. To be chosen to serve the king, they were to demonstrate
impeccable traits and qualities physically, mentally, and intellectually.
The
standard of selection was set by a pagan king, who did not have any respect for
the law or God’s righteousness. Simply in ordinary and human perspective, they
were to be better than any others. Then how can godly men from Judah meet up to
the standard of the King Nebu?
3. [6-7]
Who was among the chosen? (6; cf. Jer 24:5-6) What names were given to
them? (7) What did their name changes mean?
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.
Daniel and his three friends were admitted to the
training. As they entered into this program, the chief official gave them new
names. The meanings of the Hebrew names are ‘God is my judge’ (Daniel), ‘Yahweh has been gracious’(Hananiah), ‘Who
is what God is? (Mishael)’, ‘Yahweh has helped’ (Azariah).
As we see in these names, their names
are all impregnated with a spirit of their relationship with their God. As they lived up to their names, they could
not separate themselves from their Lord, YHWH. But they were given new names: Belteshazzar,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were all related to the gods of Babylon. This
was to enforce the culture, spirit of Babylon on their lives. Simply they were
to conform their lives to fit all the customs, and beliefs of Babylon.
When we
enter into a new country, invariably we are to conform to the rules and beliefs
of the country. Esp. this becomes a very serious issue when one has formed his
or her belief already before moving into the new world. When I came to the USA, I
came to realized that many of the things that I used to do in Korea were wrong
and even shameful to the culture and eyes of this society. The most prominent
thing that I notice in me was that I was not as much a law-abiding citizen as
the people in this land. I can cheat and bypass all the regulations if no one
sees or I can get by without being caught. Simply I lived self-oriented life. It was for
my convenience and my benefit or for the easiness of my life. It was hard for me to
change from such a self-oriented way of thinking to the mindset to honor the
common good for society or others. Fortunately, the belief in Christ was
the foundation of such a culture for which I had ascribed myself with a willing
heart because of my faith in Christ.
In Japan,
Koreans are welcomed to live and to become her citizens. Actually, in the past
history, many Koreans went to Japan and they became an important fabric of that
society. This was done by full conformation to that culture. The important sign
of such conformation was and still is changing of their name into Japanese
name. If they do not change their names to
Japanese name, they would not be accepted as her citizen and remain as aliens
even after many generations.
But
Daniel and his friends were to adopt all the manners, customs, and languages of
Babylon. As God’s chosen people, how fare they should go to follow the culture and customs of that society?
Paul said
to the believers in Rome this:
2 Do
not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his
good, pleasing, and perfect will. (Rom 12:2 NIV)
To the
believers, there are only two cultures or patterns of life; one from what God
conveyed through Christ and the other, the pattern of this world. For these four
young men, what should be the culture or life-style or belief that they must
conform to? This question seems to be too obvious, God’s. Nevertheless, I
consider it important to delve into it in the depth of it to discern the essentials
from non-essentials. Assimilation to
that culture was inevitable and there was no way to get around it or they could not live as they had lived in
their homeland.
Then
how far or on what did they have to assimilate to that culture?
4. [8-10]
What did Daniel resolve to do? (8) Why? What was the significance of this? How
did God help him? (9) What was the official’s fear in helping Daniel? (10)
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.
To ‘defile’
oneself is to make himself unclean. Daniel set his heart on the law of God,
esp. Leviticus. The law was described in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Leviticus
describes far more details of social life as God’s chosen. This includes food,
human relationship, handling of possessions, and so on. They decided to abide by
the Law. This was a remarkable decision of faith because just before their
exile to this land, they witnessed how far their people lived a compromised life;
worshiping pagan gods in many high places and the adoption of pagan rituals into
the temple. While they were living in such milieu, these young men kept themselves
pure and even now in the foreign land where paganism was the norm, decided to
keep the law of Moses.
Second,
he decided not to allow himself defiled. These five Jews were an extreme minority
among Babylonians. He would not or could not insist to uphold what the law of
God says upon the land of many gods just because it was the right thing to do for
all human beings. Instead, he put this law in his personal life absolutely and uncompromisingly.
The power of God begins when one decides
to follow God within oneself.
Nevertheless,
how could they keep the law, when their lives were totally under the control of
King Nebu? Daniel pleaded with the official for a favor. He asked the official
to give them vegetables only. The official’s concern was genuine and serious. To
make these young men looking better and strong was his responsibility. If any neglection
or delinquency in caring for these young men would incur a serious punishment
from the king. He would not do anything that would jeopardize his job. But at
this time, God intervened
9 Now
God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel,
By God’s
grace, Daniel received favor to eat only vegetables as a test to see if they
would be as good as other young men.
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.”
5. [11-16]
What was Daniel’s suggestion? (11-13) What was the result? (14-16) Discuss
the faith of Daniel in this foreign land under ungodly King with absolute
authority.
The result
was outstanding.
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.
What
does this tell us? When they entrusted their lives on God’s hand in fear of the
Lord, even in the matter of food, they were looking far better than those who
ate so much and so rich food. It became obvious that God took care of their physical
health. This is one of the fundamentals of our life of faith. It is not solely about
what food we eat but how much we keep up with God’s holiness even in the matter
of eating. The most common failure comes from our desires to quench our appetite. Jesus
said that food does not make one unclean. Nevertheless, we know all too well that
certain food in excess invariably causes harm to our body. Our body demands tasty and nutrient-rich food. But when one’s heart is well set to the desire to be
holy as the Lord is holy, this invariably includes our way and attitude of eating.
Curving our desire begins with our control of what we eat. When we cannot
control what we eat, then what else of our heart can we control? It is not just
a matter of complying with the food code of the Law but a matter of one’s will to
keep oneself pure in the eyes of the Lord.
In this way, Daniel and his friends were
tested and found to be better than the others. It was not the royal food but
the spirit in them or God’s favor in them that made them look better in health
and in wisdom. The King had absolute power over them and they could be
removed or executed any time by the King’s order. To the king, they must be
looking good! Though the King was the absolute authority over them, Daniel did
not fail to recognize the God of Israel was above the King and he decided not
to put the King above the God of Israel in this foreign land, where fear of the
Lord was unknown and the King was totally oblivious to the God of Israel. Can
the Lord count me or protect me in this unknown and hostile environment? Daniel
trusted the Lord absolutely.
6. [17-21]
How did God bless Daniel and his three friends? (17-20) How long did Daniel
serve? (21; cf. 6:28) Discuss God’s purpose in helping Daniel and his three
friends to become the members of King’s service (.
These
young men ate vegetables only for three years while they were trained to enter
the service of the king. The result was remarkable.
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.
God
gave them knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature. The whole
world was created by Him and has all understanding of the world that he
created. This includes human mind and all the knowledge that this world
entails. When this God is with them and for them and gives them these knowledges,
no one can come close to their wisdom and knowledge. In them, we see a glimpse of
what God did for Solomon. To know him and to fear the Lord is the beginning of
all wisdom.
In addition,
God did this for them as he promised through Jeremiah: “My eyes will watch
over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build
them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.”(Jer
24:6)
This
chapter makes an introductory period for the service of these young men in the
kingdom Babylon, the head of all kingdoms of the world. In this period, God
used a few young men who were committed to putting their trust in the Lord. Here, we
are to note two things; first, these young men made a resolution to follow the
Law of God in fear of their Lord and by faith. Second, God supported their
faith to let them prosper and to excel in this foreign land. In this reciprocation
from the Lord, he set the firm relationship in trust as their Lord and them as
their chosen. This relationship was so firm and so solidified to the extent
that nothing could separate these young men from the Lord even by the threat of
death.
How can
we believers establish such a concrete relationship with the Lord? For us, Jesus
is the Law and the source of wisdom and knowledge. By
faith in Him, our relationship with the Lord of all creation has been and is
solidified. The current culture in the USA
is changing as the liberals make a powerful inroads to the mainstream of our
society. Human goodness is upheld high above God’s law and his justice. Suddenly we found ourselves becoming alien in
this society as we believers become minority.
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