Daniel Diet: Cool, Quirky and Different
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Barefoot Dusty
Barefoot Dusty
It started as a simple thing. I think I was 16 years old. I was the “kid from California. Running around barefoot like a surfer or something. Cool, right?
Then people started being surprised I could walk on things without hurting my foot. Like hot pavement. It did hurt my foot, but I couldn’t show that.
Pretty soon, going barefoot became “my thing.” And I started going barefoot more and more often… until it was barefoot everywhere.
And then at college… and church… I was barefoot guy. At restaurants… at public restrooms...
It’s getting gross, isn’t it. But how do you stop if it’s part of your identity. That’s who I am! I’m barefoot guy.
Cool, quirky and different.
(Arabelle said she should preach this sermon because she’s “not like other girls”).
This is a meme
Only a boy named Daniel
Only a boy named Daniel
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, 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 placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.
Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility,
youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.
So what’s the purpose here? To indoctrinate the kids.
They are “youths” and it isn’t super specific how old they are. Scholars usually estimate 17 or 18 years old.
They miraculously found some teenage boys without acne, “without blemish”, and the smartest, most skillful around. To be servants, slaves. Honored slaves… but slaves.
They were to be “educated in the Chaldean way.” Learn how we learn, speak how we speak… eat like we eat.
The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king.
This is the “undergraduate” degree, get your Babylonian Bachelors Degree… just 3 years and you can be a slave to the king.
And among these smart, skillful, beautiful Israelite boys...
Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.
And the indoctrination / re-education starts right away:
And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.
The boys are renamed to honor Babylonian gods instead of YHWH.
Daniel (God is my judge) - Belteshazzar (a servant of Bel)
Hananiah (the Lord is gracious) - Shadrach (inspired by the sun god)
Mishael (who is what God is?) - Meshach (who is what the moon god is?)
Azariah (the Lord helps) - Abed-Nego (servant of Nebo)
What a powerful way to disconnect them from worship of YHWH, from family and home. Give them new names!
But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.
The Daniel Diet
The Daniel Diet
The Daniel Diet or “Fast” involves an entirely plant-based diet that incorporates vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, beans, and lentils.
You give up all the heavy meats and dairy and alcohol and eat plants.
Or, as KK calls it, “life”.
What was it about the food that “defiled”?
“Defile” is a strong word, isn’t it?
I don’t “defile” myself by eating something “icky”. This is pollution, desecration, staining myself.
The Bible uses this word when people get covered in blood...
But it doesn’t say why the food would “defile” Daniel.
It could be “unclean” meats, like pork.
It could be food sacrificed to idols.
It could be the symbolism: this is the king’s food. This is a supreme honor the king is bestoying on these young men… a portion of his food, of his wine.
Why is it the food?
Why is it the food?
There are a LOT of other things Daniel could or maybe should be upset about.
Captivity
Captivity
Daniel and his posse are captured in the first seige and attack on Jerusalem. Not the one we have been mostly focused on with Jeremiah and the author of Lamentations. That is going to come almost 20 years later, in 586 BC. This is 605 BC, which means Daniel is in the kings court for almost 20 years by the time that happens.
How about making a stand for “Hey King, stop attacking my home country!!!”
Or… you know, free me and my friends! We aren’t your slaves or your servants!
The Names
The Names
They are in the process of rewriting Daniel’s identity. In fact, what are the names of Daniel’s friends? Anyone remember? Maybe a little jingle?
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
We remember their Babylonian names! Isn’t that weird???!
Belteshazzar doesn’t roll of the tongue as well. We remember “Daniel.”
The names are a big deal, why isn’t Daniel fighting about the names!
Daniel 1:8 (ESV)
But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.
I think it’s this. Daniel is a stranger living in a strange land. And of all the things and places, God gives him this conviction.
He is a holy vessel. Of all the things the King stole from the temple… it is the people of God that are the most precious. Containers of His Holy Spirit, they are His people.
They are holy vessels, set apart for the purpose of the Lord.
So what would defile God’s purpose, God’s calling, their “set apart-ness?” I don’t know why it’s the food, but I believe God gave Daniel that conviction.
So he and his friends draw a line. This is a line I’m not willing to cross, a God-given limit, and I’m going to honor God, I’m going to honor the way He has called me to be holy over the commands of the king.
How Daniel does it.
Respectfully. As respectful as he can be. Just arguing for a chance.
He trusts God to prove it.
And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs,
and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king.”
Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
“Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.
Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.”
So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days.
How long does your diet take to take effect? 10 days??? Nope!
This is a miracle that there would be ANY visible effect after 10 days!
At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food.
(This is a funny piece when folks do the “Daniel Diet”. I don’t think this result is what they’re going for. “You look fatter in flesh than all the other youths!!!”)
So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.
This is just the start of Daniel and his posse’s story.
As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.
And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king.
And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom.
God gives them favor, all these gifts… and all of it is in the midst of exile. 20 years in, Jerusalem is burned and the temple destroyed. Daniel still doesn’t get to go home. In fact.
And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.
From 605 BC to 539 BC. 70 years, and Daniel is still active in the court of King Cyrus.
Strangers in a Strange Land
Strangers in a Strange Land
We are Christians and strangers on this earth. Let none of us be frightened; our native land is not this world.
Augustine of Hippo
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
We should not be surprised when “America isn’t a Christian nation” anymore.
It never was. It was a and is a nation of men, broken sinners, and if it is ruled by anyone it is the Prince of this world… who LOVES to dress up in “Jesus” clothes wherever he can.
That’s what “anti-Christ’s” are in the Bible.
And “the school’s are indoctrinating our kids!” Yes. They always have. That is what every culture in every age in every nation in all of history has done, to different degrees of success.
And the people doing so are usually well-meaning. Let’s teach them our amazing ways, the “ways of the Chaldeans.” And much of what they teach is going to be awesome.
The Babylonians were incredibly advanced.
Do you know why we have 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour? Because the Babylonians had this awesome base 60 math system. Its some of the oldest math we know.
So they were teaching Daniel and friends algebra and fractions and Pythagorean theorem… calculating the square root of 2 on clay tablets!!!
There is good and true in there… and mixed in with idolatry and paganism and darkness.
How do we live as strangers in a strange land?
Holy vessels for the presence and purpose of YHWH.
Daniel sets a beautiful pattern for us.
As respectful as he possibly can be....
he carefully considers...
and (I believe) by the conviction of the Holy Spirit
He draws a line. This. This is a marker of being set apart. “Holy.”
And I will not “defile myself” but will be set apart for God.
And consistent through all the rest of Daniel: God gets the glory.
Daniel isn’t being different to be different. Or to get attention. He isn’t “Cool, Quirky and Different.” In all ways that he can, he serves the king as best he can, as best he knows how. A king who is his present and ongoing enemy, enemy of his people.
Daniel is respectful, clear and bold to stand on his convictions… and trusts God with the consequences.
Holy - Set Apart
Holy - Set Apart
Kids at school. What does that look like?
At your job. “What are they going to do, fire me?” Okay!
In small ways, in large ways, in bold ways, we are to be set apart for His purpose, for His glory.
And then, God’s going to bless through you. God’s going to work in you. Maybe He gives you favor before men, like Daniel, and maybe you get the greater honor of walking in the footsteps of Jesus… but He will use you.