Daniel 1:1-21

The Men who were Loyal to God

Daniel

Robert Bryce

About this book

The events in the first chapter of this book happened about 605 years before Christ was born. God had told the *Jews that they must obey him. God gave his people a long time to say sorry to him and to obey him. But they did more and more evil things and they gave honour to false gods. So God used a foreign king, Nebuchadnezzar, to punish the *Jews. Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar took them away from the country that God had given them. Nebuchadnezzar did not give honour to the real God. He gave honour to false gods. But God still used him to punish the *Jews. In Jeremiah 25:9; Jeremiah 25:12, God said that Nebuchadnezzar was his servant. But Nebuchadnezzar did not know that. God also said that he would punish the people in Babylon 70 years later. This was because they were wicked too (see Daniel chapter 5). God is in control. He can even use people who do not know him.

The Book of Daniel is in two parts. In the first 6 Chapter s, we read about Daniel and his friends. They were loyal to God. In the other 6 Chapter s, we read about Daniel’s dreams. God sent him messages in dreams. God told Daniel what would happen in the future.

Chapter s 1-6

This is the first part of the book of Daniel. Here we read about Daniel and his friends. Important people ordered them to do things. Daniel and his friends knew that these things would not please God. They were in danger because they refused. But God looked after them, because they were loyal to him.

Chapter 1

v1 Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon. He came to Jerusalem with his army. Then he ordered his army to surround the city. This happened when Jehoiakim had been king of Judah for over two years. v2 God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to arrest Jehoiakim, king of Judah. God also allowed Nebuchadnezzar to *seize some holy objects from God’s house there. Nebuchadnezzar took those things back to Babylon. He put them among the valuable objects in the house of his own god.

Verses 1-2 God’s people, the *Jews, did not obey him. They did evil things and they gave honour to false gods. So God used a foreign king, Nebuchadnezzar, to punish them.

So, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, which was in Judah. And he surrounded it. Judah was the country that God had given to the *Jews. Nebuchadnezzar took many of the *Jewish people back to Babylon.

The *Jews had God’s special house in Jerusalem. So they thought that they were safe. But God even allowed Nebuchadnezzar to take holy things from his house and to give them to a false god.

v3 Nebuchadnezzar ordered Ashpenaz, his chief royal official, to bring some of the *Jews from Israel to him. He selected young men from the royal family and from the important families. v4-5 He wanted young men who were healthy and handsome. The young men must be wise. And they must be able to learn and to understand quickly. These young men would be able to serve in the king’s palace. They must learn the language of Babylon and they must learn from the country’s books. The king also allowed them a daily share of the same food and wine as he had. After three years, they would then be ready to serve the king.

Verses 3-5 Although Nebuchadnezzar was wicked, he was also wise. He chose the best of the young men from the people that he had defeated. These young men learned about the things of Babylon. Then they could serve the king. Later they would probably rule over their own people. The people would probably not oppose their own young men.

The young men got the best education that the king could give them. They did not even have to worry about preparing meals. They got the same food and wine that the king had.

v6 Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, who were from Judah, were among these young men. v7 The chief official gave them new names. He gave the name Belteshazzar to Daniel and he called Hananiah, Shadrach. He gave the name Meshach to Mishael and he called Azariah, Abednego.

Verses 6-7 The Bible introduces us to four of these young men from Judah. They are the most important people in the book. They all had *Jewish names that gave honour to the real God. But the king’s official gave them *Babylonian names. These names contain part of the names of Babylon’s false gods. The official was trying to make them forget the real God.

Nebuchadnezzar had plans for these young men, but God had his plans too.

v8 But Daniel decided that he should not eat the royal food and wine, because of God’s law. So, he asked the chief official to allow him not to have it. v9 God had caused the chief official to like Daniel and to sympathise with him. v10 But the chief official spoke to Daniel. ‘I am afraid of the king, who is giving your food and drink to you’, he said. ‘He might see that you are not as healthy as the other young men. And then he will kill me.’

v11 The chief official had ordered a guard to look after Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. So Daniel spoke to this guard. v12 ‘We are your servants. Please test us for 10 days. Give us only vegetables to eat and water to drink. v13 Then see whether we seem healthy. Compare us with the young men who eat the royal food. Then decide how to deal with us, your servants.’ v14 So he agreed and he tested them for 10 days. v15 And after 10 days, their faces and bodies seemed more healthy than the young men who ate the royal food. v16 So the guard took away the royal food and wine and he gave them only vegetables.

Verses 8-16 We do not know why Daniel did not want to take the royal food and wine. In Babylon, people offered food to false gods before they ate it. Perhaps people would think that Daniel gave honour to those gods too. Daniel believed that it was wrong to eat the food. That is the important thing. (We may not be sure if something is wrong. But if we are not sure, then it is better not to do it.) So, Daniel asked if he could have vegetables and water instead.

It seems that Daniel was a good and pleasant person. So the king’s official liked him. God made Daniel like that. But the official was afraid of the king. The king might kill him if he did not obey the king’s command. The official wanted Daniel to eat the royal food. He thought that it would make Daniel seem healthier. Maybe this gave Daniel an idea. He asked the guard to give him and his friends vegetables and water for 10 days. Then the guard could see which of the young men were healthier. After 10 days, Daniel and his friends seemed healthier than the young men who ate the royal food. So, the guard agreed to give them vegetables and water.

v17 God gave these four young men knowledge. As they studied, he gave them skill in books and wisdom. And Daniel could also understand all kinds of dreams.

Verse 17 It was not easy to obey the real God in Babylon. But God helped these young men to obey him. He also made them very wise. God gave Daniel a special gift so that Daniel could understand all kinds of dreams.

v18 The time that the king had ordered finished. Then the chief official brought the young men to Nebuchadnezzar. v19 The king talked with them. He discovered that there was nobody else like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. So they began to serve the king. v20 The king continued to ask them for wisdom and knowledge about everything. The king’s other wise men used every kind of magic to advise him. These other men came from every country that Nebuchadnezzar ruled. But the answers that Daniel and his friends gave seemed 10 times better than the other men’s advice.

Verses 18-20 It seems that Nebuchadnezzar was very clever too. He was able to ask the young men questions to see how wise they were.

God had made them so wise that they were better than the other young men. They were even much better than all the other wise men.

God made them very important people in a foreign country, where people gave honour to false gods. But Daniel and his friends remained loyal to the real God.

God knew that they would stay loyal to him. They would stay loyal to him, even if he asked them to do harder things.

v21 And Daniel stayed there until the year when Cyrus became king.

Verse 21 Almost 70 years later, other nations called the *Medes and *Persians joined up to defeat the *Babylonians (Daniel 5:30). King Cyrus was the king of a country called Persia. See Daniel 6:28. He ruled from the time 539 years before Christ was born. So Daniel stayed in Babylon for many years. He served the *Babylonian kings and also the kings of Persia.

Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; a person who believes what Jews believe. It is also a name for people from Judah and Israel.
seize ~ to take objects away after a battle; to overcome a city or a country.
Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything that belongs to a Jew.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; a person who believes what Jews believe. It is also a name for people from Judah and Israel.
Babylonian ~ someone or something from a place called Babylon.
Mede ~ a person from Media, a nation at the time of Daniel.
Persian ~ someone or something from a country called Persia in Daniel’s time; it is called Iran today.