Daniel Chapter 1

 

Daniel was a young man who lived in our history around 606 B.C, he lived in a time when loosing a battle meant the people were retained as slaves to the victorious and his life encourages several teachings and aspects that we can use in our daily life today. 

Let us learn how to be prosperous, dealing wisely with the world and gain good success as stated in;  

Joshua 1:8 ”Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” 

We are to read a chapter a week, praying and meditating on our reading and then share the revelation by replying with a comment on this post. 

Daniel Chapter 1 – Israel taken over, Daniel stands for his faith in God 

Verses 1 and 2: God gave Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar a Babylonian king. It may be because the king in Jerusalem called Jehoiakim did evil in the eyes of the Lord as the bible records in II Chronicles 36:5-7. Nebuchadnezzar took the children from the palace and house of God as slaves and also took gold as spoils from Jerusalem and he took it all into the temple of his own god (as it was written in 2nd King 20:16-21). 

Verses 3 and 4: Nebuchadnezzar told the master of his eunuchs (men castrated so they can concentrate on excellent service) to take some of the royal children and other attractive, clean, intelligent or special young people that were taken from Israel and train them in the way of the Chaldeans so they may be experts in them. 

Verse 5 should be stressed as the King’s request is to ensure these chosen ones where to be feed whatever the king eats or drinks. They were to be treated very special for a period of three years so that the king may look at them by himself and test them. 

Verse 6: Among these selections of youths from Israel were the children of Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. 

Verse 7: Their names were changed as below 

Daniel – Belteshazzar (the king’s attendant) 

Hananiah – Shadrach 

Mishael – Meshach 

Azariah – Abednego 

Verse 8: Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself by drinking & eating from the special treatment selection and he requested from the chief of the eunuchs to be exempted so that he may not defy his Nazarene covenant with God according to Numbers 6:1-4. 

Verses 9-10: Daniel found favor in the sight of the chief Eunuch who was scared that Daniel and his friends will look less healthy than others who are eating the king’s meal and this would mean his head would be cut off. 

Verses 11-16: Daniel pleaded that they should be given vegetable diet and simple food rather than the king’s diet. More so they should be watched if in ten days they don’t look better than those eating from the king’s diet then whatever become of them they will accept. It was agreed and after ten days Daniel and his friends looked better than those who were feeding from the king’s special meals. 

Verse 17: God gave Daniel and friends knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all kinds of visions and dreams. 

Verses 18-20: After the three year period of the king feeding and training the youth from Israel, he called Daniel’s team as well as others to converse with them as in a test and none were seen to be as brilliant as Daniel’s team and so they were assigned to the king.     

Life Line Lessons 

Daniel and his friends trusted God and refused to do things in the way the world did them no matter what it meant. When we trust God and refuse to compromise He will stand for us. 

Self sacrifice and dedication to the ways of the Lord was the motto of these guys. They seem to have made up their minds as they must have understood that seeking God first was priority, not fame, habits, world knowledge or any worldly desire would assist them shine like dedication to God would. 

I noticed that they would have been scholars of the Word of God otherwise there would be no foundation to take the steps they took. An example was the dedication of consecration like Samson’s parents started his life with. Only by knowledge of the Word would they have known something like that existed. Reading and meditating on the Word of God is therefore important because it forms our person. 

Most of what happened to Israel after the war was written due to one sin or another. We should be careful of the seed sin can sow, though Jesus has died for us, the seed of a sin can still grow to hurt. 

God can use an unbeliever to punish His people even though the unbeliever will not go unpunished also. It shows that God is a fair God hence Nebuchadnezzar was able to take the children of Israel as slaves.