Daniel 6

Wish-Bones Or Back-Bones?

Then this Daniel was distinguished above the presidents and the satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. Daniel 6:3.

Once a printer made a funny mistake when he was copying this verse. Instead of printing “an excellent spirit” he put “an excellent spine”; and so the verse read that Daniel was distinguished above the presidents and the satraps, “because an excellent spine was in him”!

But don't you think that that was a very good description of this brave wise man of old? Once a famous preacher (Mr. Spurgeon) was talking to some young people, and he asked them, “Why did the lions not eat Daniel?” He had some quite clever answers, and then he gave his own “Because he was almost all of him back-home, and what was left of him was grit.” Yes, that was just Daniel's outstanding characteristic “he was almost all of him back-bone.” But his back-bone didn't begin to grow just when he was thrown into the lions' den. He cultivated it long years before when, as a boy of fourteen, he was taken captive and brought into a strange heathen land. And that was why it stood him in such good stead when he was over eighty.

We are so accustomed to associate Daniel with the lions' den that I think we are a little apt to overlook that other splendid story which is told of him in the first chapter of this book.

About six hundred years before Christ, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, laid siege to Jerusalem and carried away captive certain lads of the royal house of Judah. These boys were taken to be educated in the royal college at Babylon so that they might afterwards enter the king's service. Their course was to extend over three years, and they were to be instructed in all the learning and wisdom of the Chaldeans.

Now among these lads were Daniel and three friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego whom we know later as the heroes of the fiery furnace. Daniel must have been just about fourteen at the time, because seventeen was the age at which youths were admitted into the kings service. He had not been long at college before a big temptation met him. The governor who had been placed in charge of the boys had been instructed that they were to be fed with meats and dainties from the king's table, but Daniel determined that he would not partake of this food, and he asked that he might be excused.

Now, at first sight, it seems to us that Daniel was making a fuss about small things. The food was good and well-cooked. It was no doubt the richest and best that could be procured, and Daniel was a boy with a boy's appetite and a boy's love of nice things to eat. Why then did he refuse to eat from the king's table?

Well, there was a deeper reason than at first appears and one that is a little difficult for us to understand. Daniel was a Jew, and for a Jew it was wrong to eat certain kinds of meat, because these meats were offered to idols. To partake of them meant that you were associating yourself with heathen customs and beliefs. If Daniel had eaten that food it would have been equal to denying his God. And Daniel meant to be true to God even though he was a lonely captive in a heathen land, and though his loyalty might cost him his head. I daresay some of the other boys who weren't so loyal and brave laughed at him and called him a fool for his pains, but Daniel had resolved to do the right thing, no matter what happened.

So he refused. But you will notice he didn't do it rudely or aggressively. Very quietly and firmly and politely he asked to be excused. Now, the governor liked Daniel; he had a great opinion of him, and he would willingly have granted his request, but, unfortunately, king's orders were king's orders, and to disobey the orders of an Eastern monarch generally meant losing your head. Much as he liked Daniel, the governor was not willing to go so far for him. He was responsible for the boys, and what if they got thin and weak on the plain vegetable diet Daniel asked for? Then the king would demand the reason, and he (the governor) would have to pay the consequences. No, no, he was very sorry but he could not grant Daniel's request.

Well, Daniel was a gentleman as well as a hero.

He was quite ready to run risks for himself, but he didn't want another to have his head chopped off on his account, so he turned to someone else for assistance.

This other person was the steward whom the governor had appointed to look after Daniel and his friends. Daniel suggested to him that he and his three companions should be fed for ten days on the plain vegetable food, and if at the end of that time they looked leaner or paler or less strong than the rest of the boys, then he might deal with them as he would.

The steward was a good-natured man and he consented to Daniel's proposal. No great harm could be done in ten days, surely. So the boys ate their plain food, and at the end of the time they were fatter and rosier than any of the others. And the result was that the steward agreed that the rich diet should be removed, and that they should have the simple fare they wished during the rest of their college career.

When their time of training was over they were brought before the king, and among all the students there was not one to compare with Daniel and his three friends. In wisdom and understanding they were found ten times better than all the astrologers and magicians in the kingdom. Moreover, out of all the captives these four boys were chosen to attend in person on the king, and that was the highest possible honor.

What is the lesson of Daniel? It is the lesson of the back-bone. Listen to this little rhyme which I came across the other day

There's a charming little motto

Which a kind friend gave to me,

And it runs, “Don't wear your wish-bone,

Where your back-bone ought to be.”

That is the trouble with so many of us. We wear our wish-bone where our back-bone ought to be. We wish to do the right thing and the straight thing, but we don't put our lack into it. We are afraid of what others will say. We are afraid that others may laugh. We are afraid of the consequences. But wish-bones won't do instead of back-bones. We shall never be heroes or even men at that rate.

How are we to get our back-bone where our back-bone ought to be? I know of one way only. It is to follow steadfastly in the steps of a greater Hero than Daniel, to ask His help and to count on it. He never faltered in duty, never flinched in danger, and He can put some of His own strong spirit within us and make heroes of cowards.