Daniel 1: Young, Smart, and in a Strange Land

Life was not easy, when Daniel was born in Judah, a small country that was under the power of the mighty Babylonian empire.  For a hundred years, Judah had been trying to fend off foreign invaders; their kings weren't much good and the King when Daniel was a young man was called Jehoiakim. He was a puppet – the emperor was pulling the strings.

Pic by Kencf0618, Creative Commons share alike license

Judah had to pay tribute to the empire.  The Babylonians had taken the gold and silver cups and plates from the Temple in Jerusalem; word came back that they had ended up in the temple of one of their gods.  It was like a sign of defeat.  Not only was the temple bare (and soon it would be destroyed) but the cups and plates were in an idol temple. It looked like the Lord wasn't as powerful as the gods of the Babylonian empire.   Why did God allow it?  The prophets had warned that God was more interested in people living right, than in the temple and sacrifices.  So telling the truth, treating each other fairly, avoiding false gods, and really loving the Lord, were more important than sacrifices.  You don't get to be a car by sleeping in a garage; you don't get to be a Christian by hanging around in church.

Eventually the emperor, Nebuchadnezzar, had ordered that the smart young guys from the nobility – people like Daniel, were to be carted off to Babylon.   Imagine it was you. What does it feel like?  What a wrench – to have to leave home,  your Mum and Dad  wondering if you were ever going to see them again. and travel several hundred miles, to start training for a new career. Lots of sadness, a bit of anxiety; and maybe a bit of excitement too.  After all, they had been picked out for special treatment and training. They got to hang with other smart young people; they didn't have to dig the fields or work on a building site; and the food was known to be good. They could have  a good career working for the empire.  Maybe things weren't so bad, after all...

And then when they came to Babylon and saw it....  They had been proud of Jerusalem, with its temple.  But Babylon was so much bigger and more splendid. It was the biggest city in the world at that time.   The River Euphrates ran through it.  It had sixteen splendid gates, decorated with shiny blue tiles; and images of lions, dragons and bulls. The royal palace had huge roof-gardens to keep the queen happy – she was born in the country.  Inside the city were hundreds of temples – and there were temples outside as well.  It was massive and overwhelming. Wow!  It must have Mae them feel like kids from some wee backwater.

And when the training started, it was quite intense.  It was three years – like going to university.  They would have to learn to speak the language of the Chaldeans – like a Babylonian, not with a foreign accent. 

They had their names changed. 
Daniel means “God is Judge” and he was renamed Belteshazzar – “ Bel protects his life”.
Hananiah –  “The Lord shows grace” – was renamed Shadrach – “Command of Aku”
Mishael – “Who is like God?” – became Meshach – “who is like Aku?”
Azariah – “The Lord helps” – became Abed-nego – “Servant of Nebo”
Just so you know, Bel, Aku and Nebo were Babylonian gods.

They were to eat the very best in the land – the same menu as the King, and the same wines.  But they had rules about what they could and could not eat. 

The point is that everything was new, and not just unfamiliar but a deliberate attempt to change them as people.  To make them into something other than what they were.  It was an assault on their nationality and their identity.  Their language, their names, their food laws, were tied up with their values, their worship, their identity.  The idea was that when they finished their three years training, they would think and feel like Babylonians.  They would be no different to the rest of the students.  How do they respond? 

• “Yesss!  I haven't got my mum breathing down my neck!  This is the good life!   Freedom, time to make my own mind up about things, and grab my own opportunities!”  or 
• “Oh dear, I can't hang around with these people.  They're all terrible pagans.  Must keep separate!”

Neither!    They show amazing wisdom, in finding their way around a strange land.  

They knew there are Blessings in Babylon. They were happy enough to learn the language and study the literature of Babylon.  That is a good thing.  They would be able to communicate with the people round about them in Babylon.  They would understand how these people thought.  What were the stories they shared? What were the things they believed?  What was important to them? Learning like that is a good thing.  They didn't have to agree with it all.  But it was important to know.  Guys, we need to understand how people think.  We need to know how to communicate with the people round about us.  There were good things in Babylon.   We need to learn and that is not a bad thing!  

Pic by Bernard Gagnon, creative commons share alike license

They were able to live with their new names.  They  didn't protest at being given Babylonian names, even names that spoke about the Babylonian gods.  But they didn't give up their old names, either. (See Daniel 2. 17, 26 and 4. 8, 19).  Even the King says “Daniel” occasionally!   Why was that?  They knew who they were.  And they knew who their God is.  Nebuchadnezzar could call them whatever he liked, and they would answer.  But they knew they were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.  Guys, to survive in our society, we need to know who we are, and who our God really is.  If we don’t; know who we are, then we become like shape-shifters,  like chameleons, always trying to blend (though Chameleons don't change to camouflage themselves but to reflect their mood!)   And in Christ, every one of us is a brand new creature.  We are all special and valuable. 

They were not, however, willing to eat the King's food or drink his wine.  What was that about?  In Daniels world, food and drink was closely connected with worship. There were rules about food that was clean or unclean. Food was used for sacrifice – and then some of the sacrifice was eaten. Wine was used in toasts to the Babylonian gods.  The Babylonians had taken the cups from the Temple in Jerusalem and later on they would be used in a drunken party.   So this was their cut-off point. Daniel “resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine”  He had fixed in his mind that he wasn’t going to go along with that. He could benefit from the learning, even learning about the gods of Babylon    He could live with being called Belteshazzar.  But he wouldn't toast the gods of Babylon or eat their food. He had the Lord. That was all he needed.  The gods of Babylon, Greece, Rome, and of secularist atheism, are all part of the natural world.  Daniel's God, our God, is not part of the natural world, but outside, before and beyond it.  So Daniel and his three friends protest.
Ashpenaz, the guy in charge of their well-being, is worried.  “Look, if you guys start to get plooks and runny noses, and they find out it's because you've not been eating the royal food, it's me who will get my had cut off!”   They do it gently, respectfully, carefully, understanding how Ashpenaz feels.  They make a deal, confident that God will look after them and keep them healthy: try us for just ten days.  Then see if we look OK.  In challenging what is wrong in our world, we need to do so with gentleness, compassion and understanding.

What made them able to do this?  I believe there were three things:
Commitment: they had drawn their line in the sand,  they were not going to cross it whatever it cost.
Confidence: they knew what they believed and why they believed it and expected God to be big enough to look after them.
Companionship: they were in this together; they supported one another, prayed for one another, talked things through with one another. 

And after ten days, they are looking healthier than those who have been guzzling the King's food and wine.  And after three years, they are top of the class. Straight A's. The combination of hard work, commitment and faith pays off. But it's more than that. .These four are “ten times better” than not just the other students but the experienced magicians and enchanters. This is a miracle. It's supernatural.  God has done it.  God doesn't guarantee that we will always prosper like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.  But he does promise that when we engage sensitively and wisely in our world, he will come through and work a miracle in our lives.

Finally, a word to those who are older.   The book we are studying is called “Daniel.”  Not “Belteshazzar”!  Although some of the action happened to a bunch of teenagers, Daniel survived into old age, and wrote his story down.  It is the testimony of a man who has proved God.  What an important place there is today, not just for the teenagers, not just for the young mums and dads.  But there is a vital role for the older people, the grannies and grandpas, who have proved God, and who can continue to say in a difficult and challenging world “Keep at it.  God is for real, and he does come through and answer our prayers.” 

© Gilmour Lilly 2016