Daniel 1.5-Nebuchadnezzar Assigns Young Qualified Aristocratic Israelite Men A Daily Ration From His Food And Wine He Drank And Trained Them For Three Years
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday November 30, 2011
Daniel: Daniel 1:5-Nebuchadnezzar Assigns Young Qualified Aristocratic Israelite Men A Daily Ration From His Food And Wine And Trained Them For Three Years
Lesson # 10
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 1:1.
This evening we will study Daniel 1:5.
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. 5 The king appointed for them a daily ration from the king’s choice food and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be educated three years, at the end of which they were to enter the king’s personal service. (NASB95)
“The king appointed for them a daily ration from the king’s choice food” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), which is not translated and is followed by the third person masculine singular piel active imperfect form of the verb mā∙nā(h) (מָנָה) (maw-naw), “appointed” and then we have the preposition lĕ (לְ) (lamed), “of” and its object is the third person masculine singular pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) (־הֵמָה) (hey-maw), “them” and this is followed by the articular masculine singular form of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh-lek), “the king” and then we have masculine singular construct form of the noun dā∙ḇār (דָּבָר) (daw-bawr), “a ration” which is modified by the masculine singular form of the noun yôm (יוֹם) (yome), “daily” which is followed by the preposition bĕ (בְּ) (beth) and its object is the masculine singular construct form of the noun yôm (יוֹם) (yome) and then we have the third person masculine singular pronomial suffix –hû (־הוּ) (who) and this is followed by the preposition min (מִן) (min), “from” and its object is the masculine singular construct form of the noun pǎṯ-∙bǎḡ (פַּת־בַּג) (pathpag), “choice food” and lastly we have the articular masculine singular form of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh-lek), “the king’s.”
The conjunction wa marks the next sequential event that took place after Nebuchadnezzar commanded the chief of his court officials, Ashpenaz to deport to Babylon certain qualified young Israelite men who were of royal and noble descent in order to serve in his court.
The noun mě∙lěḵ means “king” and of course is used with reference to Nebuchadnezzar referring to the fact that he was governmental head of Babylon.
The verb mā∙nā(h) is in the piel stem and means “to assign” and is used with Nebuchadnezzar as its subject and a daily ration of the food Nebuchadnezzar ate as its object and the young, aristocratic Israelite men who met the qualifications listed in verse 4 as its indirect object.
The pronomial suffix hē∙mā(h) refers to the young Israelite men who were deported to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar and were of noble descent or from the royal family and who met the qualifications listed in verse 4.
This pronomial suffix is the object of the preposition lĕ, which functions as a marker of advantage meaning that the word marks out these young, aristocratic, Israelite men who met the qualifications listed in verse 4 as “benefitting” from receiving on a regular basis a daily portion of Nebuchadnezzar’s food.
In Daniel 1:5, the noun dā∙ḇār refers to a “ration” of food and is modified by the noun yôm, which means “daily” indicating that Nebuchadnezzar assigned to these young, aristocratic Israelite men who met the qualifications listed in verse 4 a ration of the food he ate on a “daily” basis.
The word yôm appears a second time and retains the same meaning but this time it is the object of the preposition bĕ, which functions as a marker of an extent of time.
These two words thus indicate that Nebuchadnezzar assigned to these young Israelite men a daily portion of the food he ate “during the course of the day.”
The noun pǎṯ-∙bǎḡ is probably a Persian loan word and means “a portion (of food)” which would be of excellent quality since it would be the food the king ate.
“And from the wine which he drank” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the preposition min (מִן) (min), “from” and its object is the masculine singular construct form of the noun yǎ∙yin (יַיִן) (yah-yin), “the wine” and then we have the masculine plural construct form of the noun miš∙tě(h) (מִשְׁתֶּה) (mish-teh), “drank” and this is followed by the third person masculine singular pronomial suffix –hû (־הוּ) (who), “he.”
The noun yǎ∙yin means “wine” which is the usual Hebrew word for a fermented grape and clearly refers to an intoxicating beverage when used in excess.
The noun yǎ∙yin is the object of the preposition min, which functions as a marker of source again indicating that this wine came “from” Nebuchadnezzar’s own stock.
This noun miš∙tě(h) refers to Nebuchadnezzar’s alcoholic beverages as opposed to the food he ate. It refers to his “private stock.”
Thus Nebuchadnezzar gave these young Israelite men the wine from his own “private stock.”
These beverages were not given to these young Israelite men in order that they may indulge in drinking parties but rather was given to them for health reasons.
The first statement in Daniel 1:5 indicates that Nebuchadnezzar was seeking to not only Babylonianize them but also to promote good health among these deportees.
However, eating Nebuchadnezzar’s food and partaking of his wine would cause these young deportees to violate the dietary regulations of the Mosaic Law.
These regulations prohibited Israelites from eating “unclean” animals (Leviticus 11; 20:15; Deuteronomy 14:3-21; cf. Leviticus 17:10-16; 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:15-25).
“And appointed that they should be educated three years” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the preposition lĕ (לְ) (lamed), “that” and its object is the piel active infinitive construct form of the verb gā∙ḏǎl (גָּדַל) (gaw-dal), “be educated” and then we have the third person masculine plural pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) (־הֵמָה) (hay-maw), “they” and this is followed by the feminine plural form of the noun šā∙nā(h) (שָׁנָה) (shaw-neh), “years” which is modified by the masculine singular form of the noun šā∙lîš (שָׁלִישׁ) (shaw-leesh), “three.”
The preposition lĕ is prefixed to the infinitive construct form of the verb gā∙ḏǎl and functions as a marker of advantage meaning that the word marks out these young, aristocratic, Israelite men who met the qualifications listed in verse 4 as “benefitting” from receiving a Babylonian education.
Of course, this is from the Babylonian perspective and not the Israelite perspective.
The verb gā∙ḏǎl is in the piel stem and means “to formerly train” indicating that Nebuchadnezzar ordered Ashpenaz to provide these young, aristocratic Israelite men a “formal education.”
The noun šā∙nā(h) is in the plural and means “years” since it denotes a unit of time, involving a complete cycle of all four seasons and is modified by the ordinal number šā∙lîš which means “three.”
This indicates that Nebuchadnezzar ordered that these young Israelite aristocrats were to receive a formal Babylonian education for three years.
This three year Babylonian education resembled a modern graduate school training, which further indicates that these young Israelites were not young teenagers.
This education would include training in Babylonian culture, mathematics, astrology, astronomy, science, agriculture, philosophy, medicine, military history and tactics, Babylonian history as well as training in Babylonian government and law.
Daniel 1:5 reveals that this would be a three year training program.
Daniel 1:5 The king appointed for them a daily ration from the king’s choice food and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be educated three years, at the end of which they were to enter the king’s personal service. (NASB95)
“At the end of which they were to enter the king’s personal service” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is not translated and is followed by the preposition min (מִן) (min), “at” and its object is the feminine singular form of the noun qeṣāṯ (קְצָת) (kets-awth), “the end of” and this is followed by the third person masculine plural pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) (־הֵמָה) (hay-maw), “they” and then we have the third person masculine plural qal active imperfect form of the verb ʿā∙mǎḏ (עָמַד) (aw-mad), “enter service” and this is followed by the preposition lĕ (לְ) (lamed) and its object is the masculine plural construct form of the noun pā∙ně(h) (פָּנֶה) (paw-neh), “personal” and lastly we have the articular masculine singular form of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh-lek), “the king’s.”
The noun qeṣāṯ means “end” or “completion” referring to the end of an extent of time indicating that at “the end” of their three year formal Babylonian education, these young, aristocratic Israelite men would enter into service for Nebuchadnezzar.
The word ʿā∙mǎḏ means “to serve in the capacity as a dignitary” for Nebuchadnezzar.
The noun pā∙ně(h) means “presence” and is employed with the preposition lĕ, which is marker of location.
Together they mean “in the presence of” indicating that after the three year formal Babylonian education the young aristocratic Israelite men like Daniel would serve in the capacity of a dignitary “in the presence of” Nebuchadnezzar.
The third and final statement in Daniel 1:5 reveals an attempt to Babylonianize these young Israelite men and of course the Babylonians were a heathen people who were like the Israelite enslaved to sin and Satan.
However, unlike the Israelites they did not worship the Creator and true and living God, Jesus Christ.
These young Israelite men were being indoctrinated to not only the Babylonian way of life but also to the cosmic system of Satan.
Thus, it is extremely important that the Christian learns from Daniel and his three friends as to how to conduct oneself properly in the devil’s world and among ungodly people with ungodly attitudes and ideas.