Daniel 1:4

If the princes are so curious in their choice, no marvel that God was cautious in his, Leviticus 21:17 22:20-25. The reason why they were so delicately trained up was, that they being in the flower of their age should be allured with the delights of the court, and should: thereby be brought to forget their fathers house and their religion; this hath been the artifice of the Turk in taking Christians children, and making them Mamelukes and Janizaries, that thereby they may become, as renegades, the greatest champions for Mahomet, and enemies to the Christians. To stand in the king's palace: this notes men fit by their parts to give advice in arduous matters, 2 Chronicles 10:6: which shows that men only of promising abilities, and not incompetent, should be admitted to the presence of kings. The learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans: for this cause Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, Acts 7:22; yet it must be supposed that neither Moses nor Daniel learned any thing that was ungodly, but only to search nature, and that which was only moral; wherein both the Chaldeans and Egyptians were skilled above any other nations of the heathens. And although their magi or wise men did at last degenerate into curious and vain arts, yet Daniel had no further design to know their wisdom than to choose the good of it, and to shun and reject that which was unlawful. The Chaldean tongue differed from the Hebrew in dialect and in pronunciation, which they learned in the right tone and accent, that they might be the more acceptable to the king and court, by their conformity in garb, language, and manners; for which they had the space of three years allotted them.