Daniel 1:1-7--Daniel Taken to Babylon

Daniel 1:1-7
English Standard Version

Daniel Taken to 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 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. 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, 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. 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. 6 Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. 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.

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The book of Daniel mixes a couple of different kinds of genres.  First, it starts off with a section of historical narrative, and this first section gives us the setting and the main characters.  This book, unlike almost all the others in the Old Testament, seems to be written with an audience of all of the nations of the world in mind.  We'll see that in several places where messages are directed to all peoples and nations of the world.

The story starts by telling us that it is the third year of king Jehoiakim when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, attacks Jerusalem and besieges it.  Nebuchadnezzar robs the Temple of its holy vessels and brings them into the temples of his god in the land of Shinar (this name should invoke memories from the book of Genesis as the Tower of Babel was in the plains of Shinar and this people and kingdom were of that same wicked rebellion that occurred there and then).  Not only did Nebuchadnezzar take the sacred objects from the Temple and destroy the Temple, but he also commanded that the young men, especially those of the royal family, be brought back to Babylon and put under the tutelage and care of the chief eunuch.

The purpose of this was to indoctrinate these young men and make teach them the Babylonian worldview while they were still young.  Nebuchadnezzar understood at that time what many today are unwilling to admit--that education doesn't just teach facts, but it teaches a way of thinking that helps to assimilate someone into a particular culture.  If these young men had parents who had not done their duty in teaching them the Law and their history and culture, then it would be easy to turn their hearts to become Babylonians.  However, if they already knew who they were, who God is and the answers to the big questions of origins, meaning, morality, destiny, and identity, then it would be much harder for the Babylonians to erase that worldview and replace it with their own.

We will follow the story of four Jewish boys (one in particular who the book is named after) who would not be reprogrammed.  They were offered a life of ease and comfort if they would simply ignore the LORD's commandments and defile themselves by eating food and drinking wine that had been sacrificed to idols.  I(We'll see this in the next part of the narrative).  They would be subjected to Babylonian education (indoctrination) all day, every day for three years and would live in the king's palace and would be given the king's food to eat and they would live like Babylonian royalty (remember most of the were from the royal family--of David's line).  All they were asked to do is to change their names and put off their old identity.  It doesn't appear that they were directly asked to worship idols right away because the Babylonians knew that was detestable to them and the people knew that's what just got them sent into Exile,, but the Babylonians asked them to compromise over and over again until one day when they would ask the Jews to bow down to an idol it would be just another compromise to go along to get along.  We will follow the story of Daniel and his three friends and they teach us much about being God's people in a culture that is opposed to Him, being salt and light wherever we are planted, and how we can even work for the very powers that are opposed to God for the good of the kingdom of God by being in the world, but not of the world (they all end up working as high-ranking members of the Babylonian government, and Daniel continues to work for the Medo-Persian government as well, serving at least three different kings during his time in office).  This speaks volumes to me specifically as I am currently a government employee who has to deal with the hearts of the people and the government leaders not usually being aligned with the kingdom of God, but there is still a way to be faithful to God in all this and to serve while in exile in a way that brings glory to God.  The apostle Peter will say much about this later in His epistles and will draw a straight line from this Babylonian exile to how the early Christians under the persecution of the Romans.  I hope you see the connection to how this tells us how we can live as Christians in the world today.  The kingdoms of men think they are eternal, but they are fleeting, but the kingdom of God will stand forever and will be the only kingdom left standing in the end.  With this in mind, we can remain faithful to the end.