Where Do You Get Your Values?

08/24/2020 Where Do You Get Your Values?

Series: Daniel - Influencing Culture  

https://vimeo.com/447843244

What Does The Bible Say?

Daniel 1

Where Do You Get Your Values?

A value is an enduring belief that a particular end or mean is more socially or individually preferable than another end or mean.

3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief of staff, to bring to the palace some of the young men of Judah’s royal family and other noble families, who had been brought to Babylon as captives.

6 Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were four of the young men chosen, all from the tribe of Judah. 

8 But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. He asked the chief of staff for permission not to eat these unacceptable foods. (Daniel 1:3; 6; 8 NLT)

Our values should be based on our underlying belief that God is always right and should be obeyed.

9 Now God had given the chief of staff both respect and affection for Daniel. 10 But he responded, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has ordered that you eat this food and wine. If you become pale and thin compared to the other youths your age, I am afraid the king will have me beheaded.” (Daniel 1:9–10 NLT)

Comparing yourself to others is always a problem.

15 At the end of the ten days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better nourished than the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king. 16 So after that, the attendant fed them only vegetables instead of the food and wine provided for the others. 17 God gave these four young men an unusual aptitude for understanding every aspect of literature and wisdom. And God gave Daniel the special ability to interpret the meanings of visions and dreams. 18 When the training period ordered by the king was completed, the chief of staff brought all the young men to King Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and no one impressed him as much as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they entered the royal service. 20 Whenever the king consulted them in any matter requiring wisdom and balanced judgment, he found them ten times more capable than any of the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom. (Daniel 1:15–20 NLT)

God can use us when we obey.

How Can You Obey?

10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. 11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. (Colossians 3:10–11 NLT)

17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. (Colossians 3:17 NLT)

Be a representative of God in this sinful culture.

Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. (Romans 13:1 NLT)

Obey your secular authority.

 28 “We gave you strict orders never again to teach in this man’s name!” he said. “Instead, you have filled all Jerusalem with your teaching about him, and you want to make us responsible for his death!” 29 But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. (Acts 5:27–29 NLT)

There are times when biblical obedience requires civil disobedience.

How do we balance secular and biblical authority?

Obey your highest authority.

Additional Notes:

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These were top-notch young men from the royal family and nobility in Israel. According to Jerome’s Commentary on Daniel, Rabbinic tradition holds that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were descendants of King Hezekiah, based on Isaiah 39:7. In that verse Isaiah speaks these words to King Hezekiah: “And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the King of Babylon.”

 Stortz, R., & Hughes, R. K. (2004). Daniel: the triumph of God’s kingdom (p. 16). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

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This is an important question because the answer helps inform how the community of Jesus’ followers should relate to those who are not able to have children.

The book of Daniel tells us that these young exiles were taken to Babylon and placed in the care of the “chief of the eunuchs” (ESV). The Hebrew word is saris, the specific word that was used to describe a man in the ancient world who had been emasculated in order to fill a religious or governmental role.

However, saris also came to have a more general meaning, “government official,” not implying emasculation, because those who were actually eunuchs eventually filled a variety of important positions, after first being used to guard royal harems. Potiphar in Genesis, for example, is called a saris even though he is married (the ESV calls him an “officer”). And according to Jeremiah, the Judean kings had officials known as sarisim (the plural) in their courts, even though emasculation was strictly forbidden in the law of Moses and, to discourage the practice, eunuchs were excluded from religious and civic life in ancient Israel. So these Judean officials were likely not emasculated, either.

So we see that the Hebrew word saris, used to describe Daniel and his friends, can mean either a literal eunuch, or more generally a government official. For this reason the NASB calls the Babylonian officer in charge of Daniel and his friends the “commander of the officials,” the NLT calls him the “chief of staff,” and the NIV the “chief official.”

So how can we tell whether saris in the story of Daniel and his friends is being used in the literal sense, meaning “eunuch,” or in the more general sense, simply meaning “government official”? We have two clues elsewhere in the Bible that suggest the literal meaning is actually in view.

After Hezekiah shows the Babylonian envoys all the treasures of the kingdom of Judea, the prophet Isaiah warns him, “All that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. . . . And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs [sarisim] in the palace of the king of Babylon.” If this simply meant “leading officials,” it would not be an ominous warning of judgment. But if it meant “eunuchs,” then it would be as dreaded an outcome as the plundering of the entire royal treasury, because (in addition to the dishonor already associated with being a eunuch) it would represent the destruction of the kingdom’s future hope in addition to its past heritage. So this is likely a prediction that some Judean exiles of royal blood, such as Daniel and his friends, would be made eunuchs by the Babylonians.

The other clue comes after the time of exile. The book of Isaiah addresses two groups of people who would have come back to Judea with the returning exiles but who would have wondered whether they had any place in the restored community. The response to them is a splendid passage that is worth quoting in its entirety:

Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,

    “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”;

and let not the eunuch say,

    “Behold, I am a dry tree.”

For thus says the Lord:

“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,

    who choose the things that please me

    and hold fast my covenant,

I will give in my house and within my walls

    a monument and a name

    better than sons and daughters;

I will give them an everlasting name

    that shall not be cut off.

And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,

    to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,

    and to be his servants,

everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,

    and holds fast my covenant—

these I will bring to my holy mountain,

    and make them joyful in my house of prayer;

their burnt offerings and their sacrifices

    will be accepted on my altar;

for my house shall be called a house of prayer

    for all peoples.”

The basis of inclusion in the community is now simply faithful covenant-keeping. The former restrictions against eunuchs and foreigners, which had the original important intention of protecting the community from pagan religious influences and practices, are now superseded by a more vital consideration in these post-exilic circumstances.

But more specifically to our point here, it appears that some Judeans had indeed been made eunuchs in the exile, and that is why they were wondering what their place was in the restored community. In light of these two clues it does seem likely, although not altogether certain, that Daniel and his friends were made eunuchs by the Babylonians.

And yet Daniel is one of the most honored and respected figures in the rest of the Bible. God tells Ezekiel, for example, “When a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it . . .even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness.” That’s pretty good company for Daniel to be in. And Jesus himself honored Daniel as a prophet and spoke of his visions being fulfilled.

So while we should grieve at the cruelty that Daniel and his friends suffered at the hands of the Babylonians, we should also recognize that if a person is not able to have children, for whatever reason, this does not mean that they should be treated as a second-class citizen (or even worse, as unwelcome) in the community of Jesus’ followers. Instead, they should be seen as someone potentially with faith and gifts as great as Daniel’s. The community should provide encouragement and opportunities for every such person to serve and share fully in its life, so that they may have “a monument and a name better than sons and daughters in God’s house and within His walls.” 

Christopher R Smith https://goodquestionblog.com/2014/05/28/were-daniel-and-his-friends-eunuchs/

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God would have been untrue to His Word had He not delivered His people into exile: He had told them what would happen if they turned away. Pas- sages such as 2 Kings 24-25 and 2 Chronicles 36 describe the sad defeat. Leviticus 26:33-39 and Deuteronomy 4:27 and 28:64, among others, made it clear what Israel could expect if they abandoned God. Three waves of invasion and defeat overwhelmed Judah (note that some sources will move the invasion dates by a year in one direction or another, depending on the dating of other historical events): 

606 or 605 B.C. - Babylon took much treasure and the first group of exiles, including Daniel and his companions. 

597 B.C. - Babylon took King Jehoiachin prisoner, as well as more treasure and exiles. 

586 B.C. - Babylon took King Zedekiah and still more treasure and exiles. They destroyed the Temple, tore down the walls, and burned Jerusalem.

Daniel 1:1 places the invasion in the third year of Judah’s King Jehoiakim, but Jeremiah refers to the fourth year (Jeremiah 25:1). Is this an error or a contradiction, as some critics have claimed? Not at all! Both are correct, but they use two different means of counting the years of a king’s reign. The Jews counted the part of the year leading up to a king’s ascension to power, but the Babylonians counted the king’s years in power starting after his ascension. Therefore, the Jewish system (naturally used by Jeremiah) puts the same event in Jehoiakim’s fourth year, but the Babylonian system (used by Daniel, working within the new system) defines it as the third year. 

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What was the problem with simply taking the food that Babylon provided Daniel and his friends? Some scholars consider that the meat and wine especially were not acceptable as kosher according to the Law God gave to Moses. Others believe that the wine and meat were first offered to idols—a precursor to problems the New Testament church would face hundreds of years later. Perhaps both explanations apply somewhat. 

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We usually think of Daniel as the young man who turned down the king’s food, and that was an important episode of his life. Still, the book of Daniel is short, and skips over much of what was really a long life. Daniel 1:21 indicates that Daniel was there (serving Babylon, etc.) until the first year of King Cyrus (of the Medes and Persians), which included a total of eight rulers, spanning approximately 70 years. 

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Daniel is one of the Bible’s holiest and wisest men. He and his friends are Jews living in exile. As young men they are captured during an attack on Jerusalem and taken to live in Babylon. There they are educated in the pagan court of King Nebuchadnezzar, but refuse to compromise their Jewish faith.

This book tells how God protects Daniel and his friends in a series of desperate situations—including the fiery furnace and the den of lions. Just as Joseph became prime minister of Egypt, so Daniel becomes a leading figure in both the Babylonian and Persian empires.

The second part of the book describes Daniel’s strange visions. They depict the rise and fall of empires—and the ultimate victory of God.

Knowles, A. (2001). The Bible guide (1st Augsburg books ed., p. 343). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg.

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Today’s society is a good deal like the one Daniel lived in centuries ago. The world still wants God’s people to conform to its standards and follow its practices. “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold” is the way J.B. Phillips translates Romans 12:2, and Daniel and his friends obeyed that admonition. We should obey it today. We need Christians who have the faith and courage to be resolute—not odd, but resolute.

As we study the book Daniel wrote for us, we’ll meet Daniel’s God, the Sovereign Lord who rules in the kingdom of men (Dan. 4:32) and who confidently announces things to come. In Daniel’s life and ministry we will see how true believers live in the light of biblical prophecy—how they relate to the Sovereign Lord and accomplish His good, acceptable, and perfect will.

In a world in which people find it easy to do what is right in their own eyes, the Lord is searching for men and women who will do what’s right in His eyes and dare to be resolute. Will you be among them?

Wiersbe, W. W. (2000). Be resolute (pp. 6–7). Colorado Springs, CO: Victor.

Daniel

The Book of Visions

“ ‘In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure for ever.’ ” Daniel 2:44

Major Theme

When God’s people had little hope, Daniel provided encouragement by revealing God’s power and his plans for the future.

Background and Purpose

The book of Daniel records the experiences of Daniel and some of his fellow-exiles in Babylon and how their faith in God protected them. It has never been easy interpreting the visions about the rise and fall of several empires, in the second part of the book of Daniel. Jesus took seriously Daniel’s prophecies about Antiochus Epiphanes, who ruled most of Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine from 175 bc until 164 bc. See Matthew 24:15

One helpful way of interpreting these prophecies is to see that they may have more than one point of fulfilment:

• In the time of Antiochus

• When the city of Jerusalem fell again in ad 70

• At the final End Time.

Author

Daniel is stated as the author of this book (9:2). Jesus attributed the quotation from Daniel (9:27) to “the prophet Daniel” (Matthew 24:15). Certain scholars do not accept Daniel as the author, nor do they accept prophetic predictions. Thus they date the book as late as 160 bc, which of course eliminates all the prophetic element of the book.

Date

Daniel prophesied in Babylon and probably completed his book just after Babylon was captured by Cyrus in 539 BC.

Brief Outline

1. Daniel’s life at the Babylonian court 1:1–2:49

2. Daniel’s early visions in Babylon 3:1–6:28

3. Daniel’s visions of world empires 7:1–8:27

4.  Daniel’s prayer and vision of the 70 “sevens” 9:1–27

5. Daniel’s visions of Israel’s future 10:1–12:13

Important Events

• Daniel’s three friends survive being thrown into the fiery furnace

• Daniel in the lions’ den

Christ in Daniel

• The “Ancient of Days” is Jesus (7:13).

 Water, M. (2001). The Books of the Bible made easy (p. 27). Alresford, Hampshire: John Hunt Publishing.

Question 1 of 5

Why do some non-Christians claim that Christians are afraid of science?      

Question 2 of 5

Why does William Paley’s watch argument make so much sense about this world being created by an intelligent designer?    

Question 3 of 5

In what ways is our culture becoming more and more ungodly?   

Question 4 of 5

What are some examples of how we can choose what pleases God rather than following the ways of the lost world?  

Question 5 of 5

What does it look like to put God first in our lives?