Daniel 1

Daniel 1:1–7 (ESV)

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. 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. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. 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.

Against the Flow

How do we live as disciples of Jesus in an ever increasing pressure of competing political and religious claims?

Remember that God is sovereign.

How did this four young men live successfully in the pagan court without being stained by that same court?

Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 30: Daniel Setting

they proved that holiness was the source of health, and that God was the source of wisdom and the power behind history.

Daniel 1:1–7 (ESV)

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.

Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 605–562 B.C.) was the second ruler of the Chaldean kingdom centered at Babylon that ruled the ancient Near East for nearly a century. He was the son of Nabopolassar, a Chaldean who declared independence from Assyria in 626 B.C. In his forty-three-year reign, Nebuchadnezzar pacified Egypt (though he was unsuccessful in conquering it) and literally rebuilt Babylon. In fact, most of the city of Babylon that has been uncovered by modern excavators dates from Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. Thus the Chaldean kingdom was primarily his creation, and it crumbled only a generation after his death

Jeremiah had predicted that Judah would be conquered like Israel before them. The people of Judah were not living according to the covenant and Law of the Lord. They had forsaken God and went after other gods.

God used Nebuchadnezzar to bring about his judgment and punish Judah taking them into captivity. In 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem and the kingdom becomes a vassal state of Babylon. Jerusalem survives until 586 BC when Nebuchadnezzar has it destroyed.

Old Testament (1:1-21: Daniel and His Friends Arrive at Nebuchadnezzar’s Court)

1:1–2. chronology. The third year of Jehoiakim was 606–605 B.C. (calculating on a Tishri calendar, see comment on Jer 32:1, and an accession year system, see comment on 2:1). At this point Nebuchadnezzar is still crown prince conducting campaigns for his father, Nabopolassar, who dies in mid-August this same year. Early in the summer of 605, Nebuchadnezzar, along with his allies, the Medes, conquered the last bastion of Assyrian strength at Carchemish.

Old Testament (1:1-21: Daniel and His Friends Arrive at Nebuchadnezzar’s Court)

Jehoiakim was a son of Josiah who was put on the throne by the Egyptian pharaoh, Necho, as he attempted to exercise control over Syria-Palestine. When Josiah was killed in battle, the people had enthroned his son, Jehoahaz, who represented an anti-Egyptian faction.

Daniel 1:2. 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.

The land of Shinar is a deliberate archaism, ‘corrected’ in the Greek to ‘Babylon’. Shinar, site of the tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1–9; cf. 10:10), was synonymous with opposition to God; it was the place where wickedness was at home (Zech. 5:11) and uprightness could expect opposition.

Old Testament (1:1-21: Daniel and His Friends Arrive at Nebuchadnezzar’s Court)

Jehoiakim played the role of reluctant Babylonian vassal for several years, but after Nebuchadnezzar’s failure to invade Egypt in 601, he again broke with Babylon and sought the support of Egypt in his rebellion. This disloyalty eventually proved fatal and led to the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 597.

Old Testament (1:1-21: Daniel and His Friends Arrive at Nebuchadnezzar’s Court)

1:2. articles from the temple. These articles would have been attractive booty not only because they were made of precious metals, but because they had been dedicated to the God Yahweh for use in the rituals of the temple. Power was demonstrated over the deity by taking those things that were most significant to him. For descriptions of some of these articles see comments in 2 Chronicles 4.

Old Testament (1:1-21: Daniel and His Friends Arrive at Nebuchadnezzar’s Court)

1:2. carried off to temple. As we know from references in the Mari texts as well as the Cyrus Cylinder, sacred objects, including idols and the many types of vessels used in worship, were taken hostage when a people was conquered. A way of demonstrating the power of one’s own god over the gods of conquered peoples was to desecrate their sacred objects or place them in a position of submission.

Old Testament 1:1-21: Daniel and His Friends Arrive at Nebuchadnezzar’s Court

1:2. his god. Marduk was the chief god of Babylon, its patron deity and the head of the pantheon. The Babylonian creation epic, Enuma Elish, is actually a myth recounting his elevation to that position, believed to have taken place at the end of the second millennium. He was considered to be the son of one of the members of the most august ancient triad, Enki, the patron of Eridu. Though we often see Baal in the Bible as the principal rival of Yahweh, no deity in the first millennium had the political clout that was connected to Marduk. His renowned temple, Esagila, along with its ziggurat, Etemenanki, were the most dominant buildings in the beautiful city of Babylon.

Daniel 1:3. 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,

Old Testament 1:1-21: Daniel and His Friends Arrive at Nebuchadnezzar’s Court

1:3. Ashpenaz’s office. The title translated “chief of the court officials” is also assigned to one of the three representatives of Sennacherib who are sent to confront Hezekiah (see comment on 2 Kings 18:17). The Hebrew term translated “court official” sometimes refers to eunuchs (see comment on Is 56:4–5), though it is difficult to tell when it is that specific.

Daniel 1:4. 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.

Old Testament (1:1-21: Daniel and His Friends Arrive at Nebuchadnezzar’s Court)

1:4–5. serving in king’s palace. The training the young men were scheduled to receive was intended to prepare them for royal service. As courtiers, they might serve as scribes, advisors, sages, diplomats, provincial governors or attendants to members of the royal household. In seventh-century letters to Assyrian kings the five principal classes of scholarly experts serving the king are mentioned as being astrologer/scribe, diviner, exorcist (this term is used to describe those compared to Daniel and his friends in v. 20), physician and chanter of lamentations. It would not be unusual for an individual to be trained in a number of these disciplines. Training foreigners for these positions was expected to result in the assimilation of the best and brightest of the next generation. Their skills would then benefit the Babylonians rather than their enemies.

Old Testament 1:1-21: Daniel and His Friends Arrive at Nebuchadnezzar’s Court

1:4. language of Babylonians (Chaldeans). The traditional language of Babylon was Akkadian, a complex and ancient language written by means of a cuneiform script (using a stylus to make wedge-shaped characters), in which each symbol represented a syllable

Old Testament 1:1-21: Daniel and His Friends Arrive at Nebuchadnezzar’s Court

1:4. literature of Babylonians (Chaldeans). It is difficult to be certain whether the training involved a wide range of literature, as scribal training and general education would, or whether the training focused on the specialized literature used by the diviners. The diviners’ principal literature was embodied in the omen texts.

Daniel 1:5. 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.

Old Testament (1:1-21: Daniel and His Friends Arrive at Nebuchadnezzar’s Court)

1:5. rations from king’s table. There were many individuals who were given the right to receive rations from the king’s table. The classification does not suggest enjoying the privilege of cozy, intimate soirees with the king, but simply that they were made dependents of the state.

Old Testament 1:1-21: Daniel and His Friends Arrive at Nebuchadnezzar’s Court

1:5. three-year training. The normal training period for a scribe was three years. In the literature available from the Old Babylonian period, training included the language and literature areas mentioned above as well as mathematics and music. It is probable that the training period for a diviner was longer, but precise indications in the literature are lacking.

Daniel 1:6. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.

Daniel 1:7. 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.

Old Testament 1:1-21: Daniel and His Friends Arrive at Nebuchadnezzar’s Court

1:7. new names. To change someone’s name is to exercise authority over them and their destiny. Foreign rulers showed this propensity throughout the biblical period. Since assimilation was ostensibly one of the objectives of the whole procedure in which Daniel was involved, a Babylonian name would be appropriate. Likewise, since names often made statements about deity, Babylonian names would impose at least a subtle level of acknowledgment of the Babylonian gods on the young men.

The ESV Study Bible Chapter 1

For this reason, the exiles were given names linked with Babylonian deities in place of Israelite names linked with their God. Daniel (“God is my Judge”), Hananiah (“Yahweh is gracious”), Mishael (“Who is what God is?”), and Azariah (“Yahweh is a helper”) became names that invoked the help of the Babylonian gods Marduk, Bel, and Nebo: Belteshazzar (“O Lady [wife of the god Bel], protect the king!”), Shadrach (“I am very fearful [of God]” or “command of Aku [the moon god]”), Meshach (“I am of little account” or “Who is like Aku?”), and Abednego (“servant of the shining one [Nebo]”).

The ESV Study Bible Chapter 1

1:5–7 Nebuchadnezzar sought to assimilate the exiles into Babylonian culture by obliterating their religious and cultural identity and creating dependence upon the royal court

Daniel 1:8–16 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. 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. 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. So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.

Daniel 1:8–16 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. 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. 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. So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.