Daniel 1:1-2, Babylonian captivity
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 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.
Jehoiakim is delivered by God to Nebuchadnezzar, says the author. And Nebuchadnezzar even took the items from the Temple in Jerusalem to be placed in the temple to Nebuchadnezzar's favorite god (or gods) in Babylon. This is the first invasion from the east, occurring in 605 BC. Details are added in 2 Kings 24: 1-4 and Jeremiah 25: 1-14. (Jeremiah reports on this event as the fourth year of Jehoiakim; commentators point out that Babylon apparently counted the first year of a king's reign as the first full year, following an accession year while Israel probably counted the accession year as Year 1. We saw similar discrepancies in 1 & 2 Chronicles.)
Daniel 1: 3-7, Elite exiles
Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility 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. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. 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. Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.
At the time, Babylon was a culture powerhouse. It had some of the best science and mathematics of the world. (The Pythagorean Theorem and quadratic formula had been part of Babylonian mathematics for a millennia. The Babylonians divided the circle into 360 degrees, with subdivisions of 60 minutes and 60 seconds, practices that are globally accepted in the 21st century.)
Some of the elite men of Israel will be trained to serve Babylon. The requirements for these men were that they (1) were physically perfect, (2) quick to learn, (3) already well-informed and (4) "qualified to serve" in the palace. They were to be taught the language and culture of Babylon, trained across three years. With the exception of the physically perfect requirement, this has always reminded me of applications for graduate study. Indeed, long ago in Daniels Hall on the University of Illinois campus, some graduate students and I met together and studied the book of Daniel.
The names Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah mean (says Archer, p. 34) "My judge is God", "YHWH has shown grace", "Who is what God is" and "YHWH has helped" are transformed into Babylonian names, possibly "Nebo, protect his life", "The command of Aku", "Who is what Aku is", and "Servant of Nego." Israelite names that represented worship of YHWH were turned into Babylonian names that represented various Babylonian gods. The four youths do not seem to object to these names.
Archer says that the name Abednego shows up in the Elephantine papyri.
Daniel 1: 8-18, Conflict over food
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. Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, 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."
Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see."
So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days. At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. 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. At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.
Although Daniel and his friends are willing to take on Babylonian names and adapt to much of Babylonian culture, the men balk at the Babylonian diet. It is not clear if they are balking at eating non-kosher food or something else. Archer suggests that the food and wine were offered first to Babylonian gods. Regardless of the reasons, it is significant that Daniel and his friends have drawn a line. They will adapt to some Babylonian things but they are still followers of YHWH, as the book will soon attest.
Daniel has developed a good rapport with the king's representative, Ashpenaz, who agrees to a test. He allows the four men to each "vegetables" and drink water and when this works well, they are allowed to continue. (House says the Hebrew word, zeroa', translated "vegetables" would have included anything sown, such as grain and thus bread.)
Daniel's understanding of visions and dreams will be demonstrated in the next chapter.
Daniel 1: 19-21, Above all others
The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's service. 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.
And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.
The first year of Cyrus, says Archer, was about 539 BC, about 66 years after the first conquest. Some of the events towards the end of this book (says Archer) occur shortly after 539 BC, possibly as late as 536 BC. So Daniel serves Babylon for almost 70 years!
This book offers a bridge between the kingdom of Judah prior to the Babylonian captivity and the kingdom rebuilt under Ezra and Nehemiah when the exiles return. Daniel may have seen the first temple as a child and lives to see that exiles are returning home.
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