Daniel 1
AS the Book of Daniel opens, we find Nebuchadnezzar taking Daniel and his three Jewish friends from Jerusalem to Babylon. The world's richest city then, Babylon was worldly, filled with pride, and full of temptations, lust and sin.
Nebuchadnezzar appointed Ashpenaz, the master of the king's eunuchs, to teach these young men the Babylonian language and literature and to train them so that after three years they would be qualified to serve in the king's palace. As an enticement, they were given special food and wine from the king's table.
Nebuchadnezzar was aiming at spoiling them into forgetting their past, including the God of Israel, and gaining allegiance to himself. The situation is not much different today. Believers have to live in a world that offers all kinds of temptations, to which many professed Christians have succumbed.
By grace, however, Daniel would not compromise. The fear of God was so planted in his young heart that he dare to say "No". And from his example there is much that we can learn.
I. How Daniel resists temptation
We read in the first part of verse 8:
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank.
Here lies the first secret: "Daniel purposed in his heart." He refuses not because of pressure from parents, friends or peers, but because it is the desire of his heart. It is not legalism. It is not the fear of God's punishment. Rather, it is out of his love for the Lord that Daniel says "no" to the world.
Jealousy. There is yet another reason, I believe, that Daniel desires not to defile himself, and it is jealousy, in the good sense of the word. He is jealous for the Lord's name. He does not want to eat what which has been offered in the name of other gods. This is love, God-given love, returning to the God who has first loved him.
But Daniel is also jealous over his own heart. He knows the power of temptation of the world, and that of Satan. He knows how quickly his conscience can be dulled, how soon secret prayer can suffer, and how quickly communion with God can be broken. By grace, Daniel is more afraid of the snares of the devil and the pollutions of sin than of losing his own life. He would rather die than sin.
II. How Daniel remains steadfast
With Daniel's laudable, God-glorifying motives, we would think that everything will now go easy for him. But no. The test is yet to come. Note that Daniel, having purposed in his heart not to eat the food and wine from the king's table, does not just sit back and wait for the Lord to separate him from the rest of the trainees. Rather, he takes a step. We read in the second half of verse 8:
therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
Daniel dares to go to his superior to request that which he has purposed in his heart. He is not ashamed to confess his belief, not even to his boss. Can that also be said of us? Dare we say "no" to worldliness in front of our employer and fellow employees?
Blessing ahead. Noteworthy is what verse 9 reveals:
Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs.
We see here that God has already gone before him. He has paved the way for Daniel to live out his convictions. He has caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel. Even so, the test is yet ahead. Verse 10 reads:
And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort? then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king.
Disappointment. This answer is disappointing to Daniel. Has his request not been a matter of prayer? Has it not been motivated by an earnest desire to please God? Has God Himself not encouraged Daniel pointedly by bringing him into favor with Ashpenaz? And now the answer is "No"!
What now? Should he give up? His fleshly nature would be prone to tell him: Daniel, you are in Babylon now. You must compromise with the customs here. You have been too strict, too religious, too narrow-minded, and too intolerant. Why don't you just go ahead and enjoy all the luxuries?
You and I are acquainted with such inner wrestling of soul. We know the times when God's mysterious providence and afflictions sweep over us such that our soul cries out: "Lord, please show me Thy will before I succumb to the snares of temptations."
Perseverance. Evidently, Daniel is brought back to prayer through such a disappointment! And there on his knees, looking and praying toward Jerusalem, he receives insight from the Lord. He is led to go to the prince's subordinate, Melzar. Verses 11-13:
Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse (beans) to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.
From the Lord, Daniel has received courage to ask for a miraculous ten-day plan in which his life could be at stake. If a difference were not to be seen on these four young men after ten days of eating vegetables and drinking water, he says, "deal with thy servants." Do whatever you want with us.
In verse 14, we see that the Lord caused Melzar to approve Daniel's proposed plan.
Trials of waiting. Now the test begins in earnest. It is a ten-day, waiting trial. Ten is often used in Scripture as the number of perfection. Only after they have served God's plan perfectly are the trials in God's people taken away, not before! Sometimes that "ten days" lasts only minutes or hours; but some other times, it goes on for years or even for the rest of their life.
Thus, God's people often experience "waiting trials". Waiting times can become doubly trying when a yet-to-be-fulfilled promise of God is involved. When God's promises are first received by faith, they are unspeakably precious. But after a long waiting period, they can be a source of more burden than joy.
In these trials, Daniel and all of God's people must be brought to that blessed place where they die to themselves; they must come to that place where the Lord would be righteous and just even if there would be no difference after "ten days". At that place we confess, "Oh Lord, I am unworthy that Thou shouldest make a difference where there is no difference between myself and the worst of all the Babylonians in Satan's service!"
God' faithfulness. In a sense, the Lord Himself is the One being tried, for Daniel is His child and belonged to His family. The Lord has promised that He shall never leave nor forsake His people. The Lord always does make the difference. We thus read in verses 15,16:
And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat. Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse.
The Lord is faithful! Miraculously, by means of His special providence He has effected a clear distinction in the physical beauty and strength of Daniel and his three friends.
Spiritually, matters are no different. God's people have food to eat of which worldly people do not know or understand. The Lord is the One who gives us strength to walk in faith and fulfills His own promise in I John 5:4, "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."
The victory. The closing verse of Daniel 1 reads: "And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus."
The first year of King Cyrus was 539 B.C., nearly 70 years after Daniel had first been taken captive. For 70 years Daniel continued to live separately from Babylon's worldliness. Amid all the honor of his exalted position as the king's counselor, Daniel continued. In spite of all the jealousy toward a foreign captive in a coveted office, Daniel continued. Through the insanity of one king and the murder of three of his successors, Daniel continued.
For 70 long years Daniel walked by faith in a foreign land, placed only below the king in authority. Through four earthly kings he continued to trust the King of kings, believing, obeying, and knowing that He who gave the commandment to remain separate would also supply the grace, and who has promised, "he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved" (Psalm 55:22b).
III. What we can learn from him
Have you ever read once in the Book of Daniel that this great prophet, who dared to stand alone, regretted his separate lifestyle? Of course not. But the more important question must then be asked: Are you, my friend, following his example by grace?
Sometimes when a person lives to be very old, we read in the newspaper, he is asked the secret of reaching such an age. Most of the time a foolish, humanistic answer is given. But if we could ask Daniel what the secret was of his becoming nearly ninety years old while still walking a God-fearing life in the midst of a heathen country, he would probably say: "Grace. Free, sovereign grace."
You can read this answer between the lines in Daniel 9, where this elderly man confesses in his prayer his sins and unworthiness more than fifteen times. That Daniel continued a lifestyle that was separate from the world was entirely due to God's grace, the unmerited favor given to unworthy sinners and granted strictly for Christ's sake.
Sufficient grace. Grace is Daniel's secret from beginning to end. He is granted preventing grace that keeps him from falling into temptations, accompanying grace that brings him safely through trials, and following grace that pursues him all the days of his life (Psalm 23:6). For more than 70 years Daniel experienced God's comforting declaration to His children: "My grace is sufficient for thee" (II Cor. 12:9).
The gracious, eternal love of a Triune God, that was everything for Daniel. He tasted the drawing love of the Father who chose him from eternity. This is the eternal love that enabled Jesus to say: "No one shall pluck them out of My Father's hand." But Daniel also experienced the sustaining love of the Son, who "ever liveth to make intercession for" His people (Heb. 7:25). And he was intimately acquainted with the applying love of the eternal Spirit.
Holy Trinity. "And Daniel continued", solely because of the Triune Jehovah. He is the great "I AM THAT I AM," who abides eternally the same. Therefore the burning bush which Moses saw was burned with fire but not consumed.
As Father, the unchangeable Jehovah lit the burning bush of salvation already from eternity in the Counsel of Peace.
The Son fulfilled all the requirements of salvation for the hell-worthy in time by obeying the law perfectly and by enduring the agonies of death, all the while burning with love for His Father and His people.
And the Holy Spirit works savingly in the Elect, thereby guaranteeing that there shall be a living, burning, but not consumed body of believers even until the end of the world.