Book of Daniel - Chapter 1

[Lou Newton]

Daniel’s Training in Babylon

1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
2 And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.
3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility—
4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.
5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.
6 Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.
8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.
9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel,
10 but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”
11Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,
12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.
13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.”
14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
15At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.
16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
18 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.
19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service.
20In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.
21 And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.

Now here are some questions to ponder:

Is God perfect, or is He like men ? He is perfect of course and not like men. Men do not write with perfection unless they are being used by The Holy Spirit to write.

I often listen to men speak and we include things in our account that have no important part in the story.

BUT GOD IS PERFECT.

God does not include even one small detail that is not important. If God mentions something, it is important. God does not ramble on about unimportant things like men do.

Read the chapter above and see what God is speaking about. What details does He include, and even speak of many times ?

These are very important details.

What are your thoughts ?

What is the message that God has for us in this chapter?

Lou Newton

[Lou Newton]

Well, it seems no one is interested in the book of Daniel. Hardly anyone even read this post, let alone reply to it. Maybe someone will read it later, so I will continue for now.

What does the Lord mention over and over in this chapter ? The subject seems to be that the four, from Judah ,obeyed the Lord's food laws. They even risked their lives by not eating the food the King supplied.

The Lord certainly has a reason for mentioning this fact several times. Now I have heard vegans claim that Daniel only ate vegetables. We have no reason to believe that. Certainly clean animals were not forbidden in the food laws of God. The Lord Himself ate clean meat that Abraham cooked for him. It would seem that Daniel requested that they be given only vegetables because he knew that many of the meats were unclean and could not be sure what was clean and what was not. It would also be reasonable that the Babylonians did not feed the clean animals according to the laws of The Lord, and so even they were unclean, because of the way they were fed.

15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.
16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

But we can certainly see that the four were healthier from following the food laws of The Lord. Further it states that they were also smarter because of eating this way. But who can deny that The Lord blessed them with knowledge and understanding and wisdom because of their obedience. Further it states that God gave Daniel the gift of being able to understand dreams because of his obedience.

Luke 16 10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?
12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
13 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

If we do not obey The Lord in small things, how can He trust us with large things.

NOW DANIEL WAS NOT SAVED BY FOLLOWING THE LAW

Daniel was blessed by trusting in God. Daniel probably did not know why he should not eat unclean meat. But he trusted that whatever God asked him to do was for his good, and so therefore it was good for him to obey God in every detail.

But because Daniel obeyed God in this small thing, God trusted Daniel with larger tasks.

I have seen whole denominations call God a liar rather than confess that they are disobeying The Lord. Because of their lack of trusting God, they do not see healing or miracles, so they claim that healing and miracles no longer take place. Rather than admit that the fault lies with them, they claim the Lord is to blame.

Maybe others could find and post scriptures how we are saved by trusting in God.

Lou Newton

[Steve Hollander]

I'm interested. I trust God. I know there are many scriptures admonishing us to do so. I can't post them on my phone.

[Lou Newton]

I'm interested. I trust God. I know there are many scriptures admonishing us to do so. I can't post them on my phone.

Thanks for the reply Steve. It is hard to write when no one replies.

[Steve Hollander]

Well I know how you feel. Much input and very little return on investment. That's essentially been my entire life. I get a little tired of it sometimes, watching the ungodly prosper and grow exponentially as I shrink and suffer and feel destroyed. I feel for your efforts with the 0% interest rate on them Lou. I always read what you post but am not always able to reply. And very rarely do I have anything worthwhile to add other than thanks for sharing what you have been made aware of. I'm sorry for the lack of turnout here brother. I pray for the ministry everyday. My prayers mean little or nothing as far as I can see. I wish I had more effect. I will keep going and not give up. I'm sure you will do the same.

[Lou Newton]

Well I know how you feel. Much input and very little return on investment. That's essentially been my entire life. I get a little tired of it sometimes, watching the ungodly prosper and grow exponentially as I shrink and suffer and feel destroyed. I feel for your efforts with the 0% interest rate on them Lou. I always read what you post but am not always able to reply. And very rarely do I have anything worthwhile to add other than thanks for sharing what you have been made aware of. I'm sorry for the lack of turnout here brother. I pray for the ministry everyday. My prayers mean little or nothing as far as I can see. I wish I had more effect. I will keep going and not give up. I'm sure you will do the same.

Steve your replies are very important. Any reply keeps me going. I just need to know that someone is reading.

What preacher could go into a deserted place and preach for years everyday, with not one soul in sight.

Although I have preached many sermons in my house while the only one there was me and The Lord. I should say he was preaching to me, for it was Him speaking through me. I learned a lot during these times. His sermons to me were always very encouraging and gave me life.

BTW, I was helping Brant today to load his moving Pods. We put a beg bug spray bomb in both Pods and shut the doors. Then we moved some of the bedroom furniture down to the garage.

His gun fire safe weighs 400# empty. So I wanted to see if the door would come off of it. I got it off and that door weighs about 150# so it will make moving the safe much easier. It is a lot easier to move 250# than 400#.

Isaac called and his car parts came in, so I walked him through replacing the coil on his car. He said it sounded like it was running fine and I told him to take it for a test ride to check it out.

[Lou Newton]

Daniel’s Training in Babylon

1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
2 And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.
3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility—
4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.
5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service.
6 Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.
8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.
9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel,
10 but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”
11Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,
12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.
13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.”
14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
15At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.
16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
18 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.
19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service.
20In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.
21 And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.

Now here are some questions to ponder:

Is God perfect, or is He like men ? He is perfect of course and not like men. Men do not write with perfection unless they are being used by The Holy Spirit to write.

I often listen to men speak and we include things in our account that have no important part in the story.

BUT GOD IS PERFECT.

God does not include even one small detail that is not important. If God mentions something, it is important. God does not ramble on about unimportant things like men do.

Read the chapter above and see what God is speaking about. What details does He include, and even speak of many times ?

These are very important details.

What are your thoughts ?

What is the message that God has for us in this chapter?

Lou Newton

Another thing to think about is this:

Daniel grew up and lived in Judah at a time when it was so evil that God sent Babylon to destroy it.

2 Chronicles 36
1 And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.
Jehoahaz King of Judah

2 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months.
3 The king of Egypt dethroned him in Jerusalem and imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
4 The king of Egypt made Eliakim, a brother of Jehoahaz, king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Necho took Eliakim’s brother Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt.
Jehoiakim King of Judah

5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD his God.
6Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked him and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.
7 Nebuchadnezzar also took to Babylon articles from the temple of the LORD and put them in his temple there.
8 The other events of Jehoiakim’s reign, the detestable things he did and all that was found against him, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son succeeded him as king.
Jehoiachin King of Judah

9 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD.
10 In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and brought him to Babylon, together with articles of value from the temple of the LORD, and he made Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, king over Judah and Jerusalem.
Zedekiah King of Judah

11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years.
12 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the word of the LORD.
13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take an oath in God’s name. He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to the LORD, the God of Israel.
14 Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the LORD, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

With these kind of evil Kings, how evil do you think the people of Judah had become ?

After all, God makes this promise:

2 Chronicles 7
13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people,
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

The people of Judah even made slaves of their fellow Israelites.

2 Chronicles 33
Manasseh King of Judah

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years.
2 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had demolished; he also erected altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them.
4 He built altars in the temple of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever.”
5 In both courts of the temple of the LORD, he built altars to all the starry hosts.
6 He sacrificed his children in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced divination and witchcraft, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, arousing his anger.
7 He took the image he had made and put it in God’s temple, of which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever.
8 I will not again make the feet of the Israelites leave the land I assigned to your ancestors, if only they will be careful to do everything I commanded them concerning all the laws, decrees and regulations given through Moses.”
9 But Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.

Does this remind you of our nation and Obama ?

Daniel grew up in a nation that had abandoned The Truth and instead worshiped god's of their choosing, instead of humbling themselves before God and asking Him to reveal Himself to them.

Daniel had to swim against the current and was one of very few who sought The Lord of Truth.

[Baruch]

Reading all this from 2 Chronicles, I could not help but be reminded of our nation, Lou.

Daniel 1 made me think of the positive half of the principle:

Luk 16:10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

We also see the negative half of the principle at work in 2 Chronicles.

[Steve Hollander]

There was a remnant. There's always a remnant for God. Although as Lou says,"We don't deserve to be God's people, but He deserves people to be His subjects as He is a very great King." Even if those subjects are not perfect, He still deserves followers no matter how it is the lesser of the two evils. I absolutely do not deserve to know or believe in Him, that is all Him.

[Lou Newton]

Reading all this from 2 Chronicles, I could not help but be reminded of our nation, Lou.

Daniel 1 made me think of the positive half of the principle:

Luk 16:10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

We also see the negative half of the principle at work in 2 Chronicles.

Amen Barry. I was sure reminded of our nation also.

God does not ask much of us.

Matthew 11 The Father Revealed in the Son

25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
27“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Jesus carries the heavy burden and only asks us to carry a very light burden. If we will only be faithful in these little things, The Lord will do great things through us, just as he did Daniel.

[Lou Newton]

There was a remnant. There's always a remnant for God. Although as Lou says,"We don't deserve to be God's people, but He deserves people to be His subjects as He is a very great King." Even if those subjects are not perfect, He still deserves followers no matter how it is the lesser of the two evils. I absolutely do not deserve to know or believe in Him, that is all Him.

Great comment Steve:

We do not deserve to be His servants, but He sure deserves to have servants.

If not you, who. If not us, who.

BTW, I just got back from helping Brant pack the stuff in his garage and storage shed. We also loaded some of it in the Pod unit. Then I exchanged all the LED light bulbs in the house for regular bulbs. One light fixture in the master bath had 14 bulbs in it and all of them special bulbs that cost $15 each. The whole house had hundreds of dollars of LED bulbs in it. I am really tired and thankful.

[Steve Hollander]

Hi Lou,
Please explain which "things" we need to be faithful in, in order to get the blessings? Thanks.

[Lou Newton]

Hi Lou,
Please explain which "things" we need to be faithful in, in order to get the blessings? Thanks.

Whatever small thing He asks you to do.

The Lord asks different people to do different things.

With me, He asked me to stop people in the store or walking down the sidewalk and preach the gospel to them. Or He would tell me to stop the car and run down the street after a stranger and ask them if they wanted me to pray for them. There was not even one of these things that He asked me to do that was done in vain, not one.

One time, He asked me to give this man in the store the $500 I had in my wallet. It was all the money I had to my name. I had no other money in the bank, at home etc. I was driving a really old car`that had large rust holes in the floor that a person could fall through. I had planned other uses for the money. It was not the easiest thing to do, but I did as He asked. This man later was very open to the gospel.

When I did as He asked, miracles would take place.

[Lou Newton]

Hi Lou,
Please explain which "things" we need to be faithful in, in order to get the blessings? Thanks.

I should also mention this for those who may not know. ( although I feel sure Steve is well aware of this):

We do not do these little things to get blessed. That would be the wrong motive and we would not get blessed. We do these little things because we want to obey The Lord for several reasons. We trust The Lord and know that everything He asks us to do is for our good, and so we fear that if we disobey in any little way, it will not bring good into our life. We also love Him and want to please Him and we do not want to bring and more grief in any way to the Man of Grief and Sorrows.

The Lord proved that He wants to help us by being born of a woman and shedding His blood on the cross for us. He proved He was able to help us by raising Himself from the dead. How should we act toward such a One as this.

[Lou Newton]

So what are some of the lessons of Daniel 1:

1 - Everything God mentions is important, AND when God mentions something over and over it is very important. The whole subject of Daniel 1 is the four from Judah went to great efforts to eat the food that The Lord had commanded them to eat.

2 - God blessed these four for trusting Him and eating the food He had commanded them to eat and not eat foods that He had commanded them not to eat.

3 - The Lord gives us light burdens and He carries the heavy burdens. The four did the easy task of making great effort to eat the food that God had commanded; God then did the impossible and had those who had authority over them to provide this clean food.

4 - Just consider how The Lord blessed them: Many died of starvation or disease during the siege, but they did not. Many were killed by the sword but they were not. Many were given cruel task masters, but they were not.

INSTEAD OF DEATH, THEY WERE MADE RULERS OF THE LAND OF BABYLON