Daniel 1.4-Nebuchadnezzar Deports Israelite Royalty and Nobles With Certain Qualifications To Train Them To Serve In His Government
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday November 29, 2011
Daniel: Daniel 1:4-Nebuchadnezzar Deports Israelite Royalty and Nobles With Certain Qualifications To Train Them To Serve In His Government
Lesson # 9
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 1:1.
Daniel 1:4 presents the qualifications that must be met by members of the royal family and certain nobles in order for them to be trained to serve in Nebuchadnezzar’s 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)
“Youths in whom was no defect” is composed of the masculine plural form of the noun yě∙lěḏ (יֶלֶד) (yeh-led), “youths” and this is followed by the relative pronoun ʾǎšěr (אֲשֶׁר) (ash-er), “whom” and then we have the singular construct form of the negative adverb ʾǎ∙yin (אַיִן) (ah-yin), “was no” and this is followed by the preposition bĕ (בְּ) (beth), “in” and its object is the third person masculine plural pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) (־הֵמָה) (hey-maw), “whom” and then we have the singular construct form of the adjective kōl (כֹּל) (kole), which is not translated and this is followed by the masculine singular form of the noun mûm (מוּם) (moom), “defect.”
Yě∙lěḏ is in the masculine gender and is plural in number and means “young men” referring to adult males who were of royal descent and from Jewish nobility who were between their late teens and early twenties.
They would not be boys or even in their early teens since it is highly unlikely that Nebuchadnezzar would entrust boys or young teenagers with such responsibility to serve in his government.
The noun mûm refers to a physical defect in the sense of a physical or bodily imperfection in the bodies of these young Israelite men who were deported to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.
This would indicate that unlike Ashpenaz and those who served in Nebuchadnezzar’s residence who were eunuchs, i.e. castrated, Daniel and his fellow Israelite deportees were not castrated since to have been castrated would have constituted a major physical defect.
The adjective kōl is used in a distributive sense meaning “any kind” indicating that Nebuchadnezzar ordered Ashpenaz to select young Israelite men from the nobles and royal family who had no physical defect “of any kind.”
“Who were good-looking” describes the physical appearance of these young Israelite men as being pleasing to the eye and denotes a pleasing and usually impressive or dignified appearance.
“Showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), which is not translated and this is followed by the masculine plural hiphil active participle form of the verb śā∙ḵǎl (שָׂכַל) (saw-kal), “showing intelligence” and then we have the preposition bĕ (בְּ) (beth), “in” and its object is the feminine singular form of the noun ḥā∙ḵemā(h) (חָכְמָה) (khok-maw), “wisdom” which is modified by the feminine singular form of the adjective kōl (כֹּל) (kole), “every.”
In Daniel 1:4, the verb śā∙ḵǎl means “to possess skill” since it denotes a person who is skillful in applying various areas or fields of knowledge or learning as a result of superior education.
These various fields would involve science, math, agriculture, philosophy, languages, military, medicine, history and government.
Thus, the word denotes that Nebuchadnezzar wanted selected intellectually superior young Israelite men.
The noun ḥā∙ḵemā(h) means “branch of wisdom” indicating that Nebuchadnezzar wanted young Israelite men who possessed skill in every “branch of wisdom.”
These would include math, medicine, science, agriculture, philosophy, languages, military, history and government.
The adjective kōl is used in a distributive sense meaning “each and every” indicating that Nebuchadnezzar wanted Ashpenaz to select only young Israelite men who possessed wisdom in “each and every” branch of wisdom or learning.
“Endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), which is not translated and this is followed masculine plural qal active participle form of the verb yā∙ḏǎʿ (יָדַע) (yaw-dah), “endowed with” and this is followed by the feminine singular form of the noun dǎ∙ʿǎṯ (דַּעַת) (dah-ath), “knowledge” and then we have the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the masculine plural hiphil active participle form of the verb bîn (בִּין) (bene), “understanding” and then we have the masculine singular form of the noun mǎd∙dāʿ (מַדָּע) (mad-daw), “discerning knowledge.”
The verb yā∙ḏǎʿ means “to know experientially” and is used with the noun dǎ∙ʿǎṯ, which means “knowledge,” thus the two literally mean “to know knowledge experientially” and contains the idea of being well educated.
The verb bîn means “to discern” in the sense of having the power of judgment and perceptive insight as demonstrated in the use of knowledge rather than knowing by experience.
It is employed with the noun mǎd∙dāʿ, which denotes something done in secret and thus means “secret knowledge” thus, the two words literally mean “to discern secret knowledge.”
This qualification is probably tied to revealing Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams.
“And who had ability for serving in the king’s court” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the relative pronoun ʾǎšěr (אֲשֶׁר) (ash-er), “who” and this is followed by the masculine singular form of the noun kōaḥ (כֹּחַ) (ko-akh), “ability” and then we have the preposition bĕ (בְּ) (beth), which is not translated and its object is the third person masculine plural pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) (־הֵמָה) (hey-maw) and this is followed by the preposition lĕ (לְ) (lamed), “of” and its object is the qal active infinitive construct form of the verb ʿā∙mǎḏ (עָמַד) (aw-mad), “serving” and then we have the preposition bĕ (בְּ) (beth), “in” and its object is the masculine singular construct form of the noun hê∙ḵāl (הֵיכָל) (hay-kawl), “court” and this is followed by the articular masculine singular form of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh-lek), “king.”
This time the conjunction wa is a marker result meaning that it is introducing a statement that expresses the result of young Israelite men possessing the previous five qualifications.
Therefore, it indicates “as a result of” a young Israelite man possessing no physical defect, and being handsome, possessing skill in each and every branch of wisdom, being well-educated and possessing the ability to discern secret knowledge, he would have the capacity or ability to serve in Nebuchadnezzar’s court.
The noun kōaḥ means “capacity” referring to the capability to serve in Nebuchadnezzar’s government.
A young Israelite man who possessed no physical defect, and was handsome, possessing skill in each and every branch of wisdom, and was well-educated, possessing the ability to discern secret knowledge, would have the “capacity” to serve in Nebuchadnezzar’s court.
The word ʿā∙mǎḏ means “to serve in the capacity as a dignitary” for Nebuchadnezzar.
In Daniel 1:4, it denotes that those young Israelite men who met the five qualifications in this verse would be in a position of obedience, respect, and readiness to serve Nebuchadnezzar.
The noun hê∙ḵāl denotes Nebuchadnezzar’s palace where he conducted his government and refers to the residence and building complex of Nebuchadnezzar and his cabinet.
The noun hê∙ḵāl means “court” referring to the establishment or residence of a sovereign and his councilors who govern a country.
“And he ordered him to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the preposition lĕ (לְ) (lamed), “to” and its object is the piel active infinitive construct form of the verb lā∙mǎḏ (לָמַד) (law-mad), “teach” and then we have the third person masculine plural pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) (־הֵמָה) (hey-maw), “them” which is followed by the masculine singular construct form of the noun sē∙p̄ěr (סֵפֶר) (say-fer), “the literature” and then we have the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the masculine singular construct form of the noun lā∙šôn (לָשֹׁון) (law-shone), “language of” and then lastly we have the masculine plural form of the proper noun kǎś∙dîm (כַּשְׂדִּים) (kas-deem), “the Chaldeans.”
The verb lā∙mǎḏ means “to instruct, train” in the sense of imparting information in a formal setting with emphasis that the information will be responded to.
Here it denotes Ashpenaz “training” those young Israelite men who met Nebuchadnezzar’s five qualifications in the language and literature of the Chaldeans, i.e. the Babylonians.
The infinitive construct form of the word is an infinitive construct of result indicating an additional “consequence” or “result” of young Israelite men meeting Nebuchadnezzar’s five qualifications for serving in his court.
The piel stem is customary meaning that Nebuchadnezzar wanted qualified young Israelite men to be trained “habitually” in the language and literature of the Babylonians.
The noun sē∙p̄ěr means “literature” referring to the books or writings of the Babylonians, which reflect or represent their culture, religion, philosophy and values.
The noun lā∙šôn means “language” since it denotes a distinct form and function of communication using verbal code.
The proper noun kǎś∙dîm refers to the Chaldeans as a people and is a synonym for the Babylonians.
The ancestor of the Chaldeans was Chesed, the nephew of Abraham through his brother Nahor (Gen. 11:28, 31; 15:7; Neh. 9:7).