Daniel 1.3-Nebuchadnezzar Commands Ashpenaz, His Chief Official To Choose Certain Israelites of Royal and Noble Descent For Governmental Service
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday November 23, 2011
Daniel: Daniel 1:3-Nebuchadnezzar Commands Ashpenaz, His Chief Official To Choose Certain Israelites of Royal and Noble Descent For Governmental Service
Lesson # 8
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 1:1.
In Daniel 1:3, we have the record of Nebuchadnezzar commanding his chief official Ashpenaz to select certain Israelites of royal and noble descent in order to serve in his government.
Daniel 1:1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god. 3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and of the nobles, 4 youths in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for serving in the king’s court; and he ordered him to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. (NASB95)
“Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the third person masculine singular qal imperfect form of the verb ʾā∙mǎr (אָמַר) (aw-mar), “ordered” and this is followed by the articular masculine singular form of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh-lek), “king” and then we have the preposition lĕ (לְ) (lamed), “of” and its object is the masculine singular form of the proper noun ʾǎš∙penǎz (אַשְׁפְּנַז) (ash-pen-az), “Ashpenaz” and this is followed by the masculine singular construct form of the noun rǎḇ (רַב) (rab), “the chief of” and then we have the masculine plural construct form of the noun sā∙rîs (סָרִיס) (saw-reece), “officials” and then lastly we have third person masculine singular pronomial suffix –hû (־הוּ) (who), “his.”
The conjunction wa is a marker of a sequence of closely related events meaning that it is introducing a clause that marks the next sequential event that took place after Nebuchadnezzar stored some of the articles of Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem to be stored in the temple treasury of his god, Marduk.
In Daniel 1:3, the noun mě∙lěḵ means “king” and is used with reference to Nebuchadnezzar referring to the fact that he was governmental head of Babylon.
The verb ʾā∙mǎr means “to command” since the statement to follow records Nebuchadnezzar ordering the chief of his court officials, Ashpenaz to bring in certain Israelites who were of noble and royal descent in order to train them to serve in his royal court.
As part of the tribute that Nebuchadnezzar would require of Jehoiakim, would be to provide him Israelite nobles and those of royal descent to serve in his government.
The king of Babylon would enlist handsome, young, well-educated young princes from a conquered country like Israel and train them in the Babylonian language and literature.
This included the ancient Sumerian and Akkadian syllabic cuneiform as well as the Aramaic alphabetic system that was used in international communication.
The etymology and meaning of the proper noun Ashpenaz is uncertain.
We do not know for sure the background of the chief of Nebuchadnezzar’s court officials.
This individual is identified by Daniel as the chief of Nebuchadnezzar’s court officials and he is mentioned in Daniel 1:7-11 and 18 but not by name.
These passages indicate that this man had compassion toward Daniel and his friends and permitted them to abstain from the king’s food and wine and eat vegetables and drink water in order to observe the dietary restrictions of the Mosaic Law.
The noun rǎḇ is correctly translated as “chief” since it functions as a noun and refers to the individual who is the supreme authority over Nebuchadnezzar’s officials.
The noun sā∙rîs appears 42 times in the Hebrew Bible and can refer either to a court official or to literal eunuchs.
The word is regarded as a loanword from Akkadian referring to a high ranking court official.
In early biblical literature, this usually seems to be the meaning.
However, in later times, the Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians adopted the practice of castrating those who served in the royal palace and the harems.
Consequently the term came to mean “eunuch” that is, a castrated male, thus one who is sexually impotent.
Kings did not wish to risk a son of a servant being an heir to the throne.
Now, Potiphar was a court official who had a wife, thus it is clear that he was not a eunuch (Genesis 37:36; 39:1).
More than likely, the word sā∙rîs in Daniel 1:3 is in the plural and means “officials” but since the Babylonians adopted the practice of castrating those who served in the royal palace and the harems, Ashpenaz would have been a eunuch himself, that is, a castrated male, thus one who is sexually impotent.
“To bring in some of the sons of Israel” is composed of the preposition lĕ (לְ) (lamed), “to” and its object is the hiphil infinitive construct form of the verb bôʾ (בּוֹא) (bow), “bring in” and this is followed by the preposition min (מִן) (min), “some of” and its object is the masculine singular construct form of the noun bēn (בֵּן) (bane), “the sons of” and then we have the masculine singular form of the proper noun yiś∙rā∙ʾēl (יִשְׂרָאֵל) (yis-raw-ale), “Israel.”
The verb bôʾ is in the hiphil stem and means “to transport” indicating that Nebuchadnezzar commanded Ashpenaz to “cause” certain Israelites of noble and royal descent “to be transported” to Babylon.
The word denotes deporting these Israelites to Babylon.
The noun bēn means “sons” and not only designates people who are descended racially or biologically from Israel, aka, Jacob but also emphasizes their national identity.
The preposition min is used in a partitive sense to denote the whole from which a part is taken, thus, these two words denote that Nebuchadnezzar ordered Ashpenaz to select only a part or a portion of the Israelites to be trained to serve in his government.
The proper noun yiś∙rā∙ʾēl (יִשְׂרָאֵל) (yis-raw-ale) means, “one who fights and overcomes with the power of God” since according to Genesis 32:28 the Lord gave Jacob this name because he fought with both God and men and prevailed.
This name was bestowed upon Jacob and constituted the essence of the blessing that he requested from the Lord recorded in Genesis 32:26.
The expression “sons of Israel” was first used in the Hebrew Bible in Genesis 32:32.
Most of the time in the Old Testament, the designation “the sons of Israel” emphasizes the Jewish people’s national identity of Israel/Jacob’s sons or descendants.
This designation speaks of the fact that the Jew is a member of a theocracy and is the heir of the promises given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob whose name was later changed by the Lord to “Israel.”
It expresses the dignity and glory of a member of the theocratic nation in a unique covenant relation with God and was the Jew’s special badge and title of honor.
The term “Israelites,” as well as its cognate noun “Israel” denotes the Jews theocratic privileges and glorious vocation.
So in Daniel 1:3, the name “Israel” speaks of the fact that the Jew is a member of a theocracy.
It identifies them as members of a unique, privileged covenant people of God, heir of the promises given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob whose name was later changed by the Lord to “Israel.”
“Including some of the royal family and of the nobles” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “including” and this is followed by the preposition min (מִן) (min), “some of” and its object is the masculine singular construct form of the noun zě∙rǎʿ (זֶרַע) (zeh-rah), “family” which is modifying the articular feminine singular form of the noun melû∙ḵā(h) (מְלוּכָה) (mel-oo-kaw), “the royal” and then we have the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” and this is followed by the preposition min (מִן) (min), “some of” and its object is the articular masculine plural form of the noun pǎr∙temîm (פַּרְתְּמִים) (par-tam), “the nobles.”
The conjunction wa is used in an explicative sense meaning that the clause it is introducing a statement which clarifies or specifies which members of the sons of Israel that Nebuchadnezzar ordered his officials’ chief to transport to Babylon to be trained to serve in a governmental capacity.
The noun zě∙rǎʿ means “family” referring to an extended family based on a common ancestor.
Here it refers to those Israelites who were descendants of the kings of Israel and Judah.
This noun melû∙ḵā(h) means “royal” and is modifying the noun zě∙rǎʿ which is in the construct form and together, they mean “royal family.”
The noun pǎr∙temîm is a Persian loan word which means “nobles” since it refers to persons in Israel who were associated with the ruling class or royal family.
The fact that this is a Persian loan word is not evidence for a late date for the book of Daniel since Daniel lived at the end of his life under the Persian government as a high ranking government official.
Daniel 1:4 makes clear that Nebuchadnezzar’s purpose in deporting some of the royal family and nobles of Judah was to train them to serve in an administrative capacity in his government.
The fact that Nebuchadnezzar deported some of the nobles and members of the royal family to Babylon was a fulfillment of prophecy since Isaiah predicted to King Hezekiah that this would happen to his descendants in the future (see 2 Kings 20;16-18; Isaiah 39:5-7).