Daniel 1.19-Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael And Azariah Enter Into The King's Service After A Successful Interview With Him
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday January 12, 2011
Daniel: Daniel 1:19-Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael And Azariah Enter Into The King’s Service After A Successful Interview With Him
Lesson # 22
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 1:18.
This evening we will study Daniel 1:19, which records that after completing the three year training program for dignitaries, Nebuchadnezzar interviewed Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
This verse tells the readers that the king found absolutely no one like them from among all the young Israelite men who completed the course.
Consequently these four served Nebuchadnezzar as dignitaries in his government.
Daniel 1:18 Then at the end of the days which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s personal service. (NASB95)
“The king talked with them” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), which is not translated and followed by the third person masculine singular piel active imperfect form of the verb dā∙ḇǎr (דָּבַר) (daw-bar), “talked” and then we have the preposition ʾēṯ (אֵת) (ayth), “with” and its object is the third person masculine plural pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) (־הֵמָה) (hay-maw), “them” which is followed by the articular masculine singular form of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh-lek), “the king.”
The conjunction wa is a temporal marker meaning that the word denotes that “when” Nebuchadnezzar interviewed Daniel and his three friends, he found them to be superior in every way to the other young Israelite men who underwent his three year training program.
The verb dā∙ḇǎr means “to interview” in the sense of having a formal consultation with an individual or individuals in order to obtain information from them so as to evaluate their qualifications for a prospective student, employee or some type of subordinate.
Here it denotes that Nebuchadnezzar interviewed Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah in the sense that he had a formal meeting or consultation with them in order to obtain information from them so as to evaluate their qualifications for being a dignitary in his government.
The piel stem of the verb dā∙ḇǎr is iterative indicating that Nebuchadnezzar interviewed Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah multiple times or on more than one occasion.
The third person masculine plural pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) means “them” referring to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
The pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) is the object of the preposition ʾēṯ, which is used in a reciprocal sense.
This means that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah performed a reciprocal activity with Nebuchadnezzar in the sense that they were acting upon each other with the king asking them questions and the four responding to these questions.
Also, they could have very well asked the king questions as well.
“And out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the negative particle lō(ʾ) (לֹא) (low), “not” which is negating the meaning of the third person masculine singular niphal passive perfect form of the verb mā∙ṣā(ʾ) (מָצָא) (maw-tsaw), “was found” which is followed by the preposition min (מִן) (min), “out of” and then we have the adjective kōl (כֹּל) (kole), “all” which is modifying the third person masculine plural pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) (־הֵמָה) (hay-maw), “them” and then we have the preposition k- (ךְּ־) (kee), “like” and this is followed by the masculine singular proper noun dā∙niy∙yē(ʾ)l (דָּנִיֵּאל) (daw-nee-yale), “Daniel” and the masculine singular form of the proper noun ḥǎnǎn∙yā(h) (חֲנַנְיָה) (khan-an-yaw), “Hananiah” and the masculine singular form of the proper noun mî∙šā∙ʾēl (מִישָׁאֵל) (mee-shaw-ale), “Mishael” which is followed by 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.”
This time the conjunction wa is emphatic meaning that it is emphasizing the clause it introduces, which states that Nebuchadnezzar found Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah superior to the rest of the young Israelite men who completed the three year program and were interviewed by him as well.
Daniel 1:17 tells the reader why there was such a great difference between Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah and the rest of the young Israelite men.
This verse tells us that God distinguished Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah as superior to the other young Israelite men who did not adhere to the dietary regulations of the Mosaic Law.
It marks them out as being blessed by God with superior abilities and gifts, which will distinguish them in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom.
In Daniel 1:19, the verb mā∙ṣā(ʾ) means “to find” in the sense of discovering something by the function of one’s intellect and its meaning is negated by the negative particle lō(ʾ), which functions as a marker of emphatic negation.
The subject of this verb is the young Israelite men who completed the three year training program along with Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah but did not keep themselves ceremonially clean by obeying the dietary regulations of the Mosaic Law like these four.
Therefore, the verb mā∙ṣā(ʾ) and the negative particle lō(ʾ) indicate that out of all those who completed the three year training program, Nebuchadnezzar “found absolutely no one” like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
The third person masculine plural pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) means “them” referring to the young Israelite men who completed the three year training program along with Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
The pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) is modified by the adjective kōl which means “all” since it speaks of the young Israelite men who completed the three year training program along with Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah in their totality or as a whole.
The pronomial suffix -hē∙mā(h) is the object of the preposition min, which is a marker of source indicating Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah originated from this group of young unclean Israelite men.
The preposition k- means “like” since it is a marker of comparison marking a comparative contrast between Daniel and his three friends and those young Israelite men who did adhere to the diet prescribed by Nebuchadnezzar.
“So they entered the king’s personal service” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “so” and then we have the third person masculine plural qal active imperfect form of the verb ʿā∙mǎḏ (עָמַד) (aw-mad), “they entered” 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 conjunction wa is a marker of result meaning that it is introducing a statement that presents the result of the previous statement in verse 19 indicating that Daniel and his three companions entered into the king’s service “as a result of” being found by Nebuchadnezzar as superior to their fellow Israelites.
The verb ʿā∙mǎḏ means “to serve in the capacity as a dignitary” for Nebuchadnezzar and is used here in verse 19 for Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
Daniel 1:19 presents the result of God giving Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah what is stated in Daniel 1:17.
He gave them knowledge of things unknown to others accept by divine revelation as well as skill in every type of literature and branch of wisdom.
God gave them talents and abilities that were superior to the other young Israelite men who completed the three year training program because unlike the latter they were determined to keep themselves ceremonially pure by observing the dietary regulations of the Mosaic Law.
Nebuchadnezzar found Daniel and his three companions superior to the other young Israelite men who completed the three year training program.
They were superior in their knowledge of Babylonian culture, mathematics, astrology, astronomy, science, agriculture, philosophy, medicine, military history and tactics, Babylonian history, government and law.
The obedience of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah to the dietary regulations of the Mosaic Law demonstrated that these four were members of the believing or regenerate remnant in Israel.
In the Old Testament, in relation to the nation of Israel, a “remnant” referred to a small percentage of the population of the nation of Israel who survived divine judgment in the form of the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions and deportations.
The concept has its roots in Deuteronomy 4:27-31; 28:62-68; 30:1-10.
The prophet Jeremiah speaks of the remnant in his day (Jeremiah 40:11, 15; 41:10, 16; 42:2, 15, 19; 43:5; 44:7, 12, 14, 28; 44:28; 47:4, 5; 50:20) and Zechariah also speaks of a remnant of Israelites during the millennial reign of Christ (Zechariah 8:6, 11, 12).
The prophet Micah also speaks of a future remnant of Israelites during the millennium (Micah 2:12; 4:7; 5:7-8; 7:18) and so does Zephaniah (3:13).
The remnant doctrine appears in the writings of Isaiah (Isaiah 10:20-22; 11:11, 16; 15:9; 16:14; 17:3; 28:5; 37:4, 31, 32; 46:3) and is used in Nehemiah (1:3) and in the writings of Ezra of the returning Israelites from Babylon (Ezra 9:8, 13, 14, 15).
Haggai speaks of this remnant that returned from Babylon (1:12, 14; 2:2).
Paul first mentions this remnant doctrine in Romans 9:6 and then develops it further in Romans 9:27-29 and alludes to this remnant doctrine in Romans 10:16 as well as Romans 11:1-6.
The reason why there will always be a remnant of believers in Israel is the four unconditional covenants that God made with Israel.
The four unconditional covenants to Israel: (1) Abrahamic deals with the race of Israel (Gen. 12:1-3; 13:16; 22:15-18). (2) Palestinian is the promise of land to Israel (Gen. 13:15; Num. 34:1-12). (3) Davidic deals with the aristocracy of Israel (2 Sam. 7:8-17) (4) New deals with the future restoration of Israel during the millennium (Jer. 31:31-34).