Daniel 1.6-Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah Were Among The Young Aristocratic Israelite Men Who Were Selected By Nebuchadnezzar
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday December 1, 2011
Daniel: Daniel 1:6-Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah Were Among The Young Aristocratic Israelite Men Who Were Selected By Nebuchadnezzar
Lesson # 11
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 1:1.
Daniel 1:1 records king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacking Jerusalem in the third year of the reign of king Jehoiakim of Judah.
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. (NASB95)
Daniel 1:2 records the Lord delivering Jehoiakim into Nebuchadnezzar’s power along with some of the articles of the temple.
Daniel 1:2 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. (NASB95)
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 1:3 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. (NASB95)
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 1:4 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)
Daniel 1:5 records Nebuchadnezzar assigning to these young, qualified, aristocratic Israelite men a daily ration from his food and wine he drank.
It also states that he trained these men in Chaldean literature and language for three years and upon finishing this course, they entered into service for him.
This passage reveals that these young men were not treated as ordinary captives but as princes since they ate the food of the king on a daily basis.
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)
Daniel 1:6 records that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were among the young, aristocratic Israelite men who were chosen by Nebuchadnezzar to serve in his government after a three year training program.
Daniel 1:6 Now among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. (NASB95)
Daniel 1:6 is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “now” and this is followed by the third person masculine singular qal active imperfect form of the verb hā∙yā(h) (הָיָה) (haw-yaw), “were” and then we have the preposition bĕ (בְּ) (beth), “among” and its object is the third person masculine plural form of the pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) (־הֵמָה) (hay-maw), “them” and this is followed by the preposition min (מִן) (min), “from” and its object is the masculine plural construct form of the noun bēn (בֵּן) (bane), “the sons of” and then we have the masculine singular form of the proper noun yehû∙ḏā(h) (יְהוּדָה) (yeh-hoo-daw), “Judah” and this is followed by the masculine singular proper noun dā∙niy∙yē(ʾ)l (דָּנִיֵּאל) (daw-nee-yale), “Daniel” and then we have the masculine singular form of the proper noun ḥǎnǎn∙yā(h) (חֲנַנְיָה) (khan-an-yaw), “Hananiah” and this is followed by the masculine singular form of the proper noun mî∙šā∙ʾēl (מִישָׁאֵל) (mee-shaw-ale), “Mishael” and then we have the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” and lastly we have the masculine singular form of the proper noun ʿǎzǎr∙yā(h) (עֲזַרְיָה) (az-ar-yaw), “Azariah.”
The conjunction wa is used in a transitional sense meaning that it is introducing a statement that marks a transition from describing the circumstances of unidentified members of Judah’s aristocracy during the reign of Jehoiakim to describing the circumstances of specific members who are identified.
The verb hā∙yā(h) means “to be present” indicating that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah “were present” among the group of individuals from the aristocracy of Judah who were deported to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar to serve him as dignitaries after a three year formal Babylonian education.
The word denotes that these four were living under the circumstances described in verses 1-5 and implies that they were selected to serve as a dignitary under Nebuchadnezzar after taking part in the three training program.
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.
The pronomial suffix hē∙mā(h) is the object of the preposition bĕ, which is a marker of a position within an area, defined by the objects around it.
This preposition is marking Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah as being “among” the young, aristocratic Israelite men who met the five qualifications listed in verse 5 and were entered in the three year training program.
The noun bēn means “sons” and not only designates people who are descended racially or biologically from Judah or Israel, aka, Jacob but also emphasizes their national identity.
The proper name yehû∙ḏā(h), “Judah” means “I will praise the Lord” and refers to the southern kingdom.
After the death of Solomon, the nation of Israel had a civil war and was divided into a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom and the latter took the name Judah.
The noun bēn is the object of the preposition min, which functions as a marker of source indicating that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were “from” the kingdom of Judah.
The proper noun dā∙niy∙yē(ʾ)l literally means “God is my judge.”
The book of Daniel itself testifies to the fact that he was a Jewish captive, of noble descent, who was carried off to Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar’s first conquest of Jerusalem in 605 B.C. which was the third year of Jehoiakim’s rule, after the Babylonians defeated the Egyptians.
The book of Daniel records events that extend from this date to 536 B.C. during the third year of Cyrus, which covers a period of approximately seventy years.
Daniel lived to approximately 530 B.C. and he probably completed the book during the last decade of his life.
He not only served in Babylon but also served the Medo-Persian Empire as well.
We do not know the date of his death but it may have been in 530 B.C., thus he may have completed this book when he was about ninety years of age.
Early on Daniel was recognized by the Babylonians as a man of great integrity.
He was famous not only among the Jews but also the Babylonians, Medes and Persians for his great wisdom and integrity (Ezekiel 14:14, 20; 28:3).
Daniel was loyal to God and obedient to the Law even to the point where it could cost him his life (Daniel 6).
He was used mightily by God as he served Nebuchadnezzar, Nabonidus and Cyrus of Persia since God gave him the ability to interpret the dreams of others (Daniel 2).
Also, Daniel chapter 9 makes clear that he was a prayer warrior, devoted to prayer and a student of the Scriptures.
In Ezekiel 14:14 and 20, he is mentioned along with Noah and Job because they possessed similar characteristics in that each was righteous who overcame adversity with the power of God.
Noah’s obedience to God saved his family and Daniel’s obedience saved his friends from death.
In Ezekiel 14:14 and 20, Ezekiel is teaching that even if these three men prayed together for mercy in a land under God’s judgment, their intercessory prayer in that case would not be answered and could only save themselves.
The proper noun ḥǎnǎn∙yā(h) means “Yahweh has been gracious” and is appropriate since the Lord was gracious to this young man as well as Daniel, Mishael and Azariah since they all were given positions of authority in Babylon despite the fact that they were captives.
The proper noun mî∙šā∙ʾēl means “who is like God?” and was appropriate for this young man since he like the other three could attest to the fact that there is no one like God who had delivered him and his three friends from death.
The proper noun ʿǎzǎr∙yā(h) means “Yahweh has helped,” which like the other three names is appropriate since the Lord helped all four of these young men throughout their lives as evidenced by the fact that the Lord had delivered them all from death and promoted them to positions of authority in Babylon.
The names of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were names that honored the God of Israel whereas the names they were given in Babylon honored the god Nebuchadnezzar worshipped, Marduk.
They were chosen by Nebuchadnezzar because of their overt appearance and intellectual ability rather than their godly character, which God valued over overt appearance and intellectual ability.
The criteria that Nebuchadnezzar used to select these four young men was based upon the standards of Satan’s cosmic system rather than based upon the standards of God’s Word.
Satan’s cosmic system values intellectual ability and overt appearance more than godly character.
What made Daniel and his three friends impressive was not their intellectual ability or overt appearance but rather their godly character, which they manifested under intense pressure and adversity.