Daniel 1.16-The Overseer Keeps Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael And Azariah On Vegetables And Water
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday January 5, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 1:16-The Overseer Keeps Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael And Azariah On Vegetables And Water
Lesson # 19
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 1:1.
Daniel 1:16 presents the result of the overseer observing after a ten day period that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were healthier eating only vegetables and drinking only water than those young Israelite men who adhered to the diet prescribed by Nebuchadnezzar.
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. 6 Now among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7 Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them; and to Daniel he assigned the name Belteshazzar, to Hananiah Shadrach, to Mishael Meshach and to Azariah Abed-nego. 8 But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself. 9 Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials. 10 and the commander of the officials said to Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink; for why should he see your faces looking more haggard than the youths who are your own age? Then you would make me forfeit my head to the king.” 11 But Daniel said to the overseer whom the commander of the officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then let our appearance be observed in your presence and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king’s choice food; and deal with your servants according to what you see.” 14 So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days. 15 At the end of ten days their appearance seemed better and they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king’s choice food. 16 So the overseer continued to withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink, and kept giving them vegetables. (NASB95)
“So the overseer continued to withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “so” and this is followed by the third person masculine singular qal active imperfect form of the verb hā∙yā(h) (הָיָה) (haw-yaw), “continued” and then we have the articular masculine singular form of the noun měl∙ṣǎr (מֶלְצַר) (mel-tsawr), “the overseer” and this is followed by the masculine singular qal active participle form of the verb nā∙śā(ʾ) (נָשָׂא) (naw-saw), “to withhold” and then we have the object marker ʾēṯ (אֵת) (ayth), which is not translated and this is followed by the masculine singular construct form of the noun pǎṯ-∙bǎḡ (פַּת־בַּג) (pathpag), “choice food” and then we have the third person masculine plural pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) (־הֵמָה) (hay-maw), “them” and the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” and this is followed by the masculine singular construct form of the noun yǎ∙yin (יַיִן) (yah-yin), “the wine” and then we have the masculine singular construct form of the noun miš∙tě(h) (מִשְׁתֶּה) (mish-teh), “to drink” which is followed by the third person masculine plural pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) (־הֵמָה) (hay-maw), “they.”
The conjunction wa is introducing a statement that presents the result of the statement in verse 15, which records that at the completion of the ten day trial period, the overseer compared the appearance of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah with those who adhered to the diet prescribed by Nebuchadnezzar.
The overseer observed that the appearance of Daniel and his three friends was better than those who ate the king’s food, specifically, their bodies were healthier.
The statement introduced by wa in verse 16 records that based upon this observation, the overseer decided to not put Daniel and his companions on the king’s diet and continued to keep them on the diet proposed by Daniel.
Therefore, wa in verse 16 is saying that “as a result of” the overseer’s observation that the health of Daniel and his companions was better than those on the king’s diet, he did not put Daniel and his friends on the king’s diet but kept them on the diet proposed by Daniel.
This noun měl∙ṣǎr means “overseer” and refers to an individual who was a subordinate of Ashpenaz.
The verb hā∙yā(h) is often used with a participle or infinitive to denote a repeated or continuous action.
Here this verb is used with the participle form of the verb nā∙śā(ʾ) and means “to continue.”
This construction is used to describe the circumstances of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
It denotes that the overseer “continued” to withhold the king’s fine food from the diet of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah as well as the king’s fine wine they were to drink.
It also denotes that he “continued” to keep Daniel and his three companions on a diet of vegetables and water.
The verb nā∙śā(ʾ) means “to remove” from their diet indicating that the overseer “removed” the portion of the king’s food from the diet of Daniel and his friends as well as their drinking wine.
The noun pǎṯ-∙bǎḡ means “a portion (of food)” referring to a “portion” of Nebuchadnezzar’s fine food.
This time the conjunction wa is adjunctive introducing an “additional” item that the overseer withheld from the diet of Daniel and his three companions.
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.
As we noted in Daniel 1:8, there were no prohibitions with regards to the drinking of wine in the Mosaic Law.
However, the problem was that the wine, as well as the meat, had been dedicated to idols as was customary in Babylon.
Thus, for Daniel or any Jew under the Law, to drink of this wine would be to recognize the Babylonian idols as deities.
This noun miš∙tě(h) means “drinking” and refers to the act of drinking Nebuchadnezzar’s wine.
It is also modified by the second person masculine plural pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h), which functions as a possessive pronoun and means “their” referring to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
Daniel 1:16 So the overseer continued to withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink, and kept giving them vegetables. (NASB95)
“And kept giving them vegetables” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the masculine singular qal active participle form of the verb nā∙ṯǎn (נָתַן) (naw-than), “kept giving” and then we have the preposition lĕ (לְ) (lamed) and its object third person masculine plural pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) (־הֵמָה) (hay-maw), “them” and this is followed by the masculine plural form of the noun zē∙reʿō∙nîm (זֵרְעֹנִים) (zay-raw-ohneem), “vegetables.”
This time the conjunction wa is adversative meaning that it is introducing a statement that presents a contrast with the overseer putting Daniel and his friends on the diet prescribed by the king.
The verb nā∙ṯǎn means “to provide, to give” indicating that the overseer continued to “provide” Daniel and his three friends vegetables to eat.
The third person masculine plural pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) means “them” referring to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
This pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) is the object of the preposition lĕ, which functions as a marker of advantage indicating that it was “for the benefit of” Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah that the overseer continued to provide them vegetables since this diet would enable them to be ceremonially pure according to the dietary regulations of the Mosaic Law.
The noun zē∙reʿō∙nîm means “vegetables” i.e. vegetation that is grown from seeds. This word refers to the product produced by plant life.
Daniel 1:16 is composed of two parts.
The first presents the result of the overseer observing that Daniel and his three companions were healthier in appearance than those young Israelite men who ate the king’s food.
This result clause teaches that based upon his observation the overseer removed from their diet their portion of fine food as well as their drinking wine.
The second part of the verse is an adversative clause which marks a contrast between Daniel and his friends eating and drinking from the king’s table and their eating vegetables instead.
This decision would benefit the overseer and Ashpenaz since they would receive praise from Nebuchadnezzar because he took good care of these young men.
This verse reveals that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah would no longer have to worry about staying ceremonially clean.
The Lord rewarded their faith in Him and their obedience to Him in spite of the fact that they were captives in Babylon under the most powerful man in the world at that time, Nebuchadnezzar.
Eating Nebuchadnezzar’s food and partaking of his wine would have caused 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).
Unlike church age believers, Daniel and his fellow Israelites in the sixth century B.C. were under the Mosaic Law, which governed their conduct.