Exiled

The story so far

We’re working our way through the story of the Bible, and we’re up to the momentous events of Judah’s exile from their promised land. How did we get here?

Remember that we started with the first people, Adam and Eve, living in a perfect garden, Eden. But they wanted more, and their attempt to grab control from the rightful ruler of all, God, got them exiled from Eden.

Eventually the same fate befell their descendants, who insisted on rebelling and had their whole world destroyed by a great flood, with only Noah and his family making it through. God instructed the survivors to repopulate the earth.

But Noah’s descendants rebelled yet again, and gathered to build the tower of Babel. God exiled them from this unified city by confusing their languages, and they were scattered across the earth anyway, as God had intended.

Centuries later, God chose a man to build his own people: Abraham, and called him out of exile in the East to a promised land: Canaan. Over the centuries God protected this family until they grew into a kingdom that claimed Canaan, which became Israel. But like all before them, the Israelites struggled with constant rebellion against God and even against one another. The northern kingdom, Israel, split away from Judah in the south, and lived in constant rebellion against God until they were finally conquered and dispersed by Assyria. The southern kingdom of Judah didn’t learn too much from this lesson, and persisted in their own sporadic rebellion until at last God used Babylon to discipline them.

This didn’t happen all at once, but rather bit by bit, in the hope that Judah would turn from its rebellious ways. And that’s where we are up to.

Our Bible reading portrays the first lesson for Judah. To demonstrate the folly in trusting in human power, God hands Jehoiakim, a pro-Egyptian king, and all of Judah over to Nebuchadnezzar, who then takes some of the nobles into exile as hostages in Babylon. This is not usually counted as the beginning of the exile, since the rest of Judah remains untouched.

Daniel, the main character of the book of Daniel, is one of these nobles taken into early exile.

My exile to Japan

Before we get into Daniel’s story, let me share a part of my own. Many of you may already have heard some of this, so please excuse any repetition. One of the more significant events in my life was moving to Japan. I was 23, had lost my first job in Brisbane after a year, and was looking for something to get me out of the spiritual rut I felt I was in.

My first trip to Tokyo, for my interview, was both terrifying and fascinating. I found Japanese food mostly disgusting and weird, and the apartment I was shown was like someone had converted a single bedroom of an Australian flat into a whole apartment, and then plonked it four stories up right beside a high-rise freeway flyover. It was like something out of Blade Runner. Despite the complete and utter weirdness of Japan, I signed up for the job.

After a year there, I had discovered that Japanese food was actually pretty good; I had a nice, quiet, and still rather compact, single room apartment; and I was quickly learning the language. But I was still a foreigner in a strange land. I couldn’t speak with my neighbours, my co-workers all had their own lives in far-flung districts of Tokyo, and even the TV was mostly incomprehensible to me. I was very lonely.

And eventually, that got so bad that I finally gave up trying to do things on my own, let Jesus take over, and suddenly, and easily, fell into a genuine community of fellow exiles in Tokyo Baptist Church.

That community got me through the rest of my time in Japan, and it was, of course, where I met my wife to be.

To be a part of that community required some sacrifices on my part, though. For example, to go to my Thursday night small group, more than an hour away on the other side of Tokyo, I had to leave work around 5pm. Given that most people rarely left work before 7pm, that was a breathtakingly radical move. But I made up for it. Instead of working long hours, I was incredibly productive. My lifestyle, spending time with God and with the people of God, rather than just work, work, work, allowed me to bring a freshness to my work. And so I could do in a couple of hours what it would take many of the locals a week to do. (I know that sounds like an exaggeration, but IT is weird like that.) My distinctiveness actually made me more valuable.

Daniel seems to have had a similar experience in his exile, so let’s turn now to his story.

Daniel and co’s exile

I had three months to prepare for Japan, waiting for a work visa. And I agreed to go there. But Daniel wasn’t given that luxury—he was snatched from Jerusalem along with a bunch of the nobility. So Daniel went from being a teenager (probably about 15 years old) in the upper crust of Jerusalem to being a young hostage in a foreign king’s palace. You can see how helpless Daniel and his friends were by way the language works in this first part of the chapter: the people doing everything (the subjects of the verbs in the sentences) are God and the Babylonians. It’s like Daniel has been suddenly swept away from his life into chaos.

He didn’t even get to keep his name! (I can sympathise with that, a bit — Japanese can’t pronounce Malcolm, so I became Marukomu.)

But for Daniel and his friends, the foreignness was far worse. Think about their names. Daniel means “God is my judge,” (El is the generic Hebrew word for God), while Beltashazzar, his new name, means “Bel [the chief God of Babylon] protect him.” And it wasn’t just Daniel, here are the four of them:

CSB Study Bible: Notes Chapter 1

Daniel (“God is My Judge”) became Belteshazzar (“Bel Protect Him”); Hananiah (“God Has Been Gracious”) became Shadrach (“The Command of Akku”); Mishael (“Who Is What God Is?”) became Meshach (“Who Is What Aku Is?”); Azariah (“The Lord Has Helped”) became Abednego (“Servant of Nebo”).

Furthermore, Daniel and his friends were destined to be “educated” in Babylonian wisdom for three years. Babylon was a great centre of learning. In fact, our measure of time, with 60 seconds in 60 minutes of an hour, comes directly from Babylon’s base 60 numeric system (our system is base 10). Babylonian learning, though, had radically different foundations to Jewish learning, and the prospect of being, effectively, “brain washed” for three years was daunting.

It’s hard for those of us who have chosen when and where we will live to sympathise with the plight of displaced people or refugees, but this is a big deal, and it shakes up everything you think you know about the world. It’s very common for people in this situation to just give up.

Daniel’s reaction

So how did Daniel react?

In verse 8, for the first time, we see someone other than Babylonians or God take the initiative: Daniel decided to act.

Daniel 1:8 ESV

8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.

Daniel wanted to avoid “defilement,” so he asked for a special diet. “Defilement” is essentially a religious act, not a physical one. You can’t be defiled by eating something unhealthy, but you can be defiled (in Jewish law) by eating something unholy. It is often said that Daniel rejected the king’s food and wine because they would have been offered to idols, thus defiling him. However, the vegetables that they settled on would have been just as likely to have been offered to idols. Other explanations for refusing the king’s food don’t account for Daniel’s concern about “defiling” himself.

How do we understand Daniel’s refusal to defile himself, then? It seems most likely that defilement here is referring to the lack of religious distinction that Daniel would have faced by sharing in the king’s food and wine. Daniel drew a line between the exiled Israelites and their host culture at the king’s food and wine, and so he distinguished himself from the gentile Babylonians.

This seems rather petty, doesn’t it? But Daniel was not merely distinguishing himself by what he ate, as you will know if you recall the Sunday School stories of the fall of Babylon, or Daniel and lion’s den. Daniel’s heart remained committed to his God. In his core, the very foundations of his character, he remained a faithful Jew. He did not allow the three years of brainwashing to wash away his Judaism. And it is from this faithful, Jewish understanding of the world that Daniel’s success later sprang.

The results

We see in verse 17, the way that God grew these young men through their training.

Daniel 1:17 ESV

17 As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

They didn’t reject the learning of the Babylonians, rather they fit it into their broader view of reality, grounded on their knowledge of the One who created it all. This broader understanding of the universe, which included Babylonian knowledge, but enriched it with the Jewish understanding of reality, enabled Daniel and his friend to be “ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all Nebechadnezzar’s kingdom.”

What an achievement, eh? That’s something that would certainly be a worthwhile goal for us as Christians, to be ten times better than all the experts in the world, right?

How they managed it

So how did Daniel and co manage it? Was it just the trick of going vegetarian? Did they clear all the toxins from their brains through their genius vegetarian, non-alcoholic diet?

Wouldn’t it be great if it were that simple! Of course, if it were that simple, we’d probably be ruled over by vegans. Unfortunately, it isn’t that simple. While a vegetarian diet may have certain benefits, and avoiding alcohol is not a bad idea, neither behaviour was behind Daniel’s success.

Rather, these two external behaviours were, as we’ve already alluded, merely external signs of an internal religious distinction. The choice of vegetarianism and freedom from alcohol were relevant signs, for Daniel and co, but they may not be relevant to the situations we find ourselves in.

But there are also two other key strategies that Daniel engaged in:

First, he did not reject Babylonian knowledge, but rather integrated it into the framework of wisdom he already had. (Remember in v. 4 we encountered Daniel as one of the youths who was already educated).

Daniel 1:4 ESV

4 youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.

It is important to learn from the land of your exile. To use a common phrase, we shouldn’t be so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly use.

And the second thing Daniel did was to ensure that he was deeply embedded in a community of like-minded exiles. In his case, there were four of them. It seems likely that there were other young Israelites, but they are not mentioned, presumably because they didn’t share Daniel and co’s commitments, and therefore their superb results.

So, to summarise, Daniel and co preserved their key religious distinctions from the host culture, but they nonetheless learnt deeply from that culture, and they maintained a community of like-minded exiles.

How can we do this?

Does this apply to us?

Well, yes of course it does! We, too are exiles, with deep religious differences from our host culture.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

In the first letter of Peter, the apostle uses language reminiscent of the Jewish exile, but he uses it to refer to Gentile Christians, those who “once were not a people.” He calls us “sojourners and exiles,” and insists that we be distinct from the “Gentiles.”

The rest of the New Testament insists on our distinction. We are the chosen people of God. We are sanctified, made holy, by the Holy Spirit.

Recognise our distinctions

So, we, too, must recognise and enforce our distinctions, just as Daniel did.

Ask: But what are these distinctions?

Going back to my time in Japan, I had experience with an external distinction which was a pointer to my internal distinction, just as Daniel did. In fact, it was quite similar to Daniel’s experience. In Japan, drinking is a national past time, just as it is in Australia. When you combine both cultures you get a pretty nasty binge-drinking culture. My Aussie expat co-workers too advantage of every opportunity to hit the numerous bars in Tokyo, unrestrained by the need to drive home, or any cultural inhibitions. I needed to decide: did I reject their company to avoid violating the Bible’s repeated warnings against drunkenness? Or did I join them and observe some strict limits on my drinking. I chose the latter, and, having no taste for alcohol and aware of how insidious it is, I chose to be a teatotaller. This was not the easiest thing to do in Japan, since bars didn’t even serve water, just alcohol or a truly disgusting form of orange juice. But God gave me strength.

In subsequent years, my co-workers marveled at my commitment and offered rare endorsements of my moral code and the underlying religious beliefs. My behaviour had convinced them that I was trustworthy and reliable in a way no words could have. And the fact that I had not rejected their company had built bridges that allowed us to continue to work together, even forming our own company.

That’s one tiny example of how these distinctions can work. But the key is to build protections into our behaviour that allows us to maintain our commitment to God while living in this corrupt and sinful world. Whether that involves not drinking, refusing to indulge in certain types of entertainment, watching our language carefully, having a strict code of intimacy, or whatever, the point is that the behaviour itself is not what protects us. It is the Holy Spirit dwelling in us that protects us. Whatever we do, however we behave, it should be with the idea of providing the most beautiful temple for the Holy Spirit.

Learn from our land of exile

And what about learning from our host culture? From the land of our exile?

Ask: What good things can we learn from Australian (and broader Western) culture?

I personally love TV drama. I love the power of story. I love Science Fiction and Fantasy books, too. They have so much to teach us about relationships, justice, and what really matters. Don’t be too quick to dismiss these things, or music, and so on.

Maintain a community of exiles

Which leaves the final strategy: maintaining a community of fellow exiles.

Ask: Who is our community of exiles? How do they support us to remain distinct, and increase our value even to the surrounding culture?

I think this is something that we constantly discuss and grow in at Renew. Graham’s sermon on church was precisely about this topic. The key, I think, is to remember what church really is: we really are a community of sojourners and exiles in a foreign land. We are not Australians in the sense that this nation encompasses everything about us. We are citizens of heaven. But while we are here on earth, yes, we’re Australians.

You know, this strange collision of cultures is not that uncommon in the modern world. There is even a term, Third Culture Kid, TCK, which refers to children who have grown up in more than one culture. It turns out that they are no longer really a part of either of the two cultures they come from, they are part of a Third Culture, a culture of kids who grew up in multiple cultures. It is very helpful for these kids to realise that, and to gain encouragement and support from other TCKs. We Christians are like that. We need to support and encourage each other as we manage the difficult and often conflicting demands of multiple cultures. That’s why we’re here today. And next week. And the week after.

So, as we finish our gathering, eat together, and we head home, I want us to start thinking about how we can express our distinction, learn from those around us, and maintain our community of exiles. If we do that, then we will make a huge difference in the world.

God bless you all.