But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s dainties, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now God made Daniel find kindness and compassion in the sight of the prince of the eunuchs. The prince of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink. For why should he see your faces worse looking than the youths who are of your own age? Then you would endanger my head with the king.”
Then Daniel said to the steward whom the prince of the eunuchs had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: “Test your servants, I beg you, ten days; and let them give us vegetables to eat, and water to drink. Then let our faces be examined before you, and the face of the youths who eat of the king’s dainties; and as you see, deal with your servants.” So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days.
At the end of ten days, their faces appeared fairer, and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youths who ate of the king’s dainties. So the steward took away their dainties, and the wine that they would drink, and gave them vegetables.
Now as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
At the end of the days which the king had appointed for bringing them in, the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them; and among them all was found no one like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore stood they before the king. In every matter of wisdom and understanding, concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters who were in all his realm.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18 Here Daniel shows his endurance of what he could…
Here Daniel shows his endurance of what he could neither cast off nor escape; but meanwhile he took care that he did not depart from the fear of God, nor become a stranger to his race, but he always retains the remembrance of his origin, and remains a pure, and unspotted, and sincere worshipper of God. He says, therefore, — he determined in his heart not to pollute himself with the kings food and drink, and that he asked the prefect, under whose charge he was, that he should not be driven to this necessity. It may be asked here, what there was of such importance in the diet to cause Daniel to avoid it? This seems to be a kind of superstition, or at least Daniel may have been too morose in rejecting the king’s diet. We know that to the pure all things are pure, and this rule applies to all ages. We read nothing of this kind concerning Joseph, and very likely Daniel used all food promiscuously, since he was treated by the king with great honor. This, then, was not perpetual with Daniel; for he might seem an inconsiderate zealot, or this might be ascribed, as we have said, to too much moresoness. If Daniel only for a time rejected the royal food, it was a mark of levity and inconsistency afterwards to allow himself that liberty from which he had for the time abstained. But if he did this with judgment and reason, why did he not persist in his purpose? I answer, — Daniel abstained at first from the luxuries of the court to escape being tampered with. It was lawful for him and his companions to feed on any kind of diet, but he perceived the king’s intention. We know how far enticements prevail to deceive us; especially when we are treated daintily; and experience shows us how difficult it is to be moderate when all is affluence around us, for luxury follows immediately on plenty. Such conduct is, indeed, too common, and the virtue of abstinence is rarely exercised when there is an abundance of provisions.
But this is not the whole reason which weighed with Daniel. Sobriety and abstinence are not simply praised here, since many twist this passage to the praise of fasting, and say Daniel’s chief virtue consisted in preferring pulse to the delicacies of a palace. For Daniel not only wished to guard himself against the delicacies of the table, since he perceived a positive danger of being eaten up by such enticements; hence he simply determined in his hem not to taste the diet of the court, desiring by his very food perpetually to recall the remembrance of his country. He wished so to live in Chaldea, as to consider himself an exile and a captive, sprung from the sacred family of Abraham. We see, then, the intention of Daniel. He desired to refrain from too great an abundance and delicacy of diet, simply to escape those snares of Satan, by which he saw himself surrounded. He was, doubtless, conscious of his own infirmity, and this also is to be reckoned to his praise, since; through distrust of himself he desired to escape from all allurements and temptations. As far as concerned the king intention, this was really a snare of the devil, as I have said. Daniel rejected it, and there is no doubt that God enlightened his mind by his Spirit as soon as he prayed to him. Hence he was unwilling to cast himself into the snares of the devil, while he voluntarily abstained from the royal diet. This is; the full meaning; of the passage.
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It may also be asked, Why does Daniel claim this praise, as His own, which was shared equally with his companions? for he was not the only one who rejected the royal diet. It is necessary to take notice, how from his childhood he was, governed by the Spirit of God, that the confidence and influence of his teaching might be the greater; hence he speaks peculiarly of himself, not for the sake of boasting, but to obtain confidence in his teaching, and to show himself to have been for a long period formed and polished by God for the prophetic office. We must also remember that he was the adviser of his companions; for this course might never have come into their minds, and they might have been corrupted, unless they had been admonished by Daniel. God, therefore, wished Daniel to be a leader and master to his companions, to induce them to adopt the same abstinence. Hence also we gather, that as each of us is endued more fruitfully with the grace of the Spirit, so should we feel bound to instruct others. It will not be sufficient for any one to restrain himself and thus to discharge his own duty, under the teaching of God’s Spirit, unless he also extend his hand to others, and endeavor to unite in an alliance of piety, and of the fear and worship of God. Such an example is here proposed to us in Daniel, who not only rejected the delicacies of the palace, by which he might be intoxicated and even poisoned; but he also advised and persuaded his companions to adopt the same course. This is the reason why he calls tasting the king’s food pollution or abomination, though, as I have said, there was nothing abominable in it of itself. Daniel was at liberty to eat and drink at the loyal table, but the abomination arose from the consequences. Before the time of these four persons living in Chaldea., they doubtless partook of ordinary food after the usual manner, and were permitted to eat whatever was offered to them. They did not ask for pulse when at an inn, or on their journey; but they began to desire it when the king wished to infect them with his delicacies, and to induce them if possible to prefer that condition to returning to their own friends. When they perceived the object of his snares, then it became both a pollution and abomination to feed on those dainties, and to eat, at the king’s table. Thus we may ascertain the reason why Daniel thought himself polluted if he fared sumptuously and partook of the royal diet; he was conscious, as we have already observed, of his own infirmities, and wished to take timely precautions, lest he should be enticed by such snares, and fall away from piety and the worship of God, and degenerate into the manners of the Chaldeans, as if he were one of their nation, and of their native princes. I must leave the rest till tomorrow.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv8, 10, 12, 15, 17, 18 Not that he thought any religion to be in…
Not that he thought any religion to be in the meat or drink, (for afterward he did eat) but because the king should not entice him by this sweet poison to forget his religion and accustomed sobriety, and that in his meat and drink he might daily remember of what people he was: and Daniel bringeth this in to show how God from the beginning assisted him with his Spirit, and at length called him to be a Prophet.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv8–20 Dan 1:8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that…
Dan 1:8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
Ver. 8. But Daniel purposed in his heart.] The change of his name, though he utterly disliked, yet he could not help; but to show that he was still of the same religion, though he were but a child of twelve years old, or thereabouts, yet he purposeth first, and then performeth it, to keep himself pure and free from heathenish defilements. What if the vessels of the temple - by being brought into the treasure house of Nebuchadnezzar’s god {Dan 1:2} - were defiled, yet these elect vessels would not. So the primitive Christians chose rather to be thrown to lions without than left to lusts within. {a} Yea, I had rather be cast pure and innocent into hell, saith an ancient, {b} than go to heaven being polluted with the filth of sin. Daniel’s greatest care is, ne contra legem Dei et conscientiam impuretur, he may not polute his conscience nor violate law of God, the lest he should be defiled in the least. Fall back, fall edge, as they say; he is fully resolved against that. So the Prince of Condi when, at the Parisian massacre, he was put to his choice by the French king, whether to go to mass, to suffer death, or to endure perpetual imprisonment, answered, As for the first, by the grace of God, I will never do it; and for the two last, I humbly submit to his majesty. Let him do with me what he pleaseth.
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That he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat.] That which Scaliger saith of Matthew Beroaldus, Vir doctus, et, quod familiam ducit, pius, that he was a learned man; but that which was his chief commendation, he was also a godly man, may be better said of the prophet Daniel. Godly he was early, and as a child, so was also his master Jeremiah, in whose works he was well read; {Dan 9:2} Samuel; Timothy; Athanasius; Beza, who, among many other things, blessed God chiefly for this in his last will and testament, that at the age of sixteen years he had called him to the knowledge of the truth. Daniel had this happiness at twelve or thirteen. Neither was he like early fruit, that are soon rotten - Hermogenes was old in his childhood, and a child in his old age - but although he lived one hundred and ten years, as Isidor {c} reckoneth, some say one hundred and thirty, yet he was best at last, and may very well pass for a martyr, though he came again safe out of the lions’ den, like as John the evangelist also did out of the cauldron of scalding oil, wherein he was cast by the command of Domitian, in contempt of Christianity. Daniel’s piety appeareth in this, that he maketh conscience of smaller evils also, such as most men in his case would never have boggled at. He would not "defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat." He scrupled the eating of it; and why? (1.) Because it was often such as was forbidden by the law of God. {Lev 11:13; Lev 11:29 Deu 14:3-8} (2.) Because it was so used as would defile him and his fellows against the word of God; for the heathens, to the shame of many Christians, had their grace before a meal, as it were, consecrating their dishes to their idols before they tasted of them {d} {Dan 5:4 1Co 8:10} (3.) They could not do it without offence to their weaker brethren, with whom they chose rather to sympathise in their adversity than to live in excess and fulness. {Amo 6:6} (4.) They well perceived that the king’s love and provisions were not single and sincere, but that he meant his own profit, to assure himself the better of the land of Judah, and that they might forget their religion. Lastly, They knew that intemperance was the mother of many mischiefs, as in Adam, Esau, the rich glutton, &c. That is a memorable story that is recorded by William Schiekard {e} concerning eleven Jewish doctors, whom the heathen king of Pirgandy having in his power, put them to this hard choice, either to eat swines’ flesh, or to drink wine that had been consecrated to idols, or to lie with certain harlots. They chose rather to drink the wine than to do either of the other two. But when they had drunk wine liberally, they were easily drawn to do the other two things also. Any one of these five reasons had been of force enough to prevail with Daniel, and the other three to forbear. They knew well that the least hair casteth its shadow. A barley corn laid on the sight of the eye will keep out the light of the sun, as well as a mountain. The eye of the soul that will "see God" must be kept very clear. {Mat 5:8-12}
Therefore he requested.] Modestly and prudently be propounded it, non convitiando, sed supplicando, and petitioneth for liberty of conscience, confessing his religion.
{a} Ad leonem potius quam lenonem. To a lion is more prefereable than to a brothel. - Tertul.
{b} Anselm.
{c} De Vita et Obitu Sanct.
{d} Ante cibum sua habebant prothymata, et laudabant deos suos. - Jun.
{e} Schickard, Jus. Reg. Hebr., cap. 5, p. 149.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 There may be several weighty reasons assigned why Daniel…
There may be several weighty reasons assigned why Daniel did this.
1. Because many of those meats provided for the king’s table were such as were forbidden by the Jews’ law, whereof Daniel made conscience,
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2. Daniel knew these delicacies would too much gratify and pamper the flesh, and therefore he would prevent the defilements which too often do arise from delicious fare, Deu 32:14,15; Eze 16:49; Hos 13:6; Rom 13:13; so that those who fare deliciously would practise this.
3. Daniel knew he should by this bait be taken with the hook which lay hid under it, and insensibly be drawn from the true to a false religion, by eating and drinking things consecrated to idols.
4. Daniel saw his people lie under God’s displeasure by their captivity, and therefore could not but be sensible how unsuitable a courtly life would be in him to the afflicted state of God’s people, Heb 11:24-26. Therefore Daniel was herein a rare pattern of avoiding all the occasions of evil, which he did with purpose of heart, Act 11:23; saith the text, he
purposed in his heart to abstain.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv8, 17 We observe here, very much to our satisfaction,
We observe here, very much to our satisfaction,
I. That Daniel was a favourite with the prince of the eunuchs (Dan 1:9), as Joseph was with the keeper of the prison; he had a tender love for him. No doubt Daniel deserved it, and recommended himself by his ingenuity and sweetness of temper (he was greatly beloved, Dan 9:23); and yet it is said here that it was God that brought him into favour with the prince of the eunuchs, for every one does not meet with acceptance according to his merits. Note, The interest which we think we make for ourselves we must acknowledge to be God's gift, and must ascribe to him the glory of it. Whoever are in favour, it is God that has brought them into favour; and it is by him that they find good understanding. Herein was again verified That work (Psa 106:46), He made them to be pitied of all those that carried them captives. Let young ones know that the way to be acceptable is to be tractable and dutiful.
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II. That Daniel was still firm to his religion. They had changed his name, but they could not change his nature. Whatever they pleased to call him, he still retained the spirit of an Israelite indeed. He would apply his mind as closely as any of them to his books, and took pains to make himself master of the learning and tongue of the Chaldeans, but he was resolved that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, he would not meddle with it, nor with the wine which he drank, Dan 1:8. And having communicated his purpose, with the reasons of it, to his fellows, they concurred in the same resolution, as appears, Dan 1:11. This was not out of sullenness, or peevishness, or a spirit of contradiction, but from a principle of conscience. Perhaps it was not in itself unlawful for them to eat of the king's meat or to drink of his wine. But, 1. They were scrupulous concerning the meat, lest it should be sinful. Sometimes such meat would be set before them as was expressly forbidden by their law, as swine's flesh; or they were afraid lest it should have been offered in sacrifice to an idol, or blessed in the name of an idol. The Jews were distinguished from other nations very much by their meats (Lev 11:45, Lev 11:46), and these pious young men, being in a strange country, thought themselves obliged to keep up the honour of their being a peculiar people. Though they could not keep up their dignity as princes, they would not lose it as Israelites; for on that they most valued themselves. Note, When God's people are in Babylon they have need to take special care that they partake not in her sins. Providence seemed to lay this meat before them; being captives they must eat what they could get and must not disoblige their masters; yet, if the command be against it, they must abide by that. Though Providence says, Kill and eat, conscience says, Not so, Lord, for nothing common or unclean has come into my mouth. 2. They were jealous over themselves, lest, though it should not be sinful in itself, it should be an occasion of sin to them, lest, by indulging their appetites with these dainties, they should grow sinful, voluptuous, and in love with the pleasures of Babylon. They had learned David's prayer, Let me not eat of their dainties (Psa 141:4), and Solomon's precept, Be not desirous of dainties, for they are deceitful meat (Pro 23:3), and accordingly they form their resolution. Note, It is very much the praise of all, and especially of young people, to be dead to the delights of sense, not to covet them, not to relish them, but to look upon them with indifference. Those that would excel in wisdom and piety must learn betimes to keep under the body and bring it into subjection. 3. However, they thought it unseasonable now, when Jerusalem was in distress, and they themselves were in captivity. They had no heart to drink wine in bowls, so much were they grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Though they had royal blood in their veins, yet they did not think it proper to have royal dainties in their mouths when they were thus brought low. Note, It becomes us to be humble under humbling providences. Call me not Naomi; call me Marah. See the benefit of affliction; by the account Jeremiah gives of the princes and great men now at Jerusalem it appears that they were very corrupt and wicked, and defiled themselves with things offered to idols, while these young gentlemen that were in captivity would not defile themselves, no, not with their portion of the king's meat. How much better is it with those that retain their integrity in the depths of affliction than with those that retain their iniquity in the heights of prosperity! Observe, The great thing that Daniel avoided was defiling himself with the pollutions of sin; that is the thing we should be more afraid of than of any outward trouble. Daniel, having taken up this resolution, requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself, not only that he might not be compelled to do it, but that he might not be tempted to do it, that the bait might not be laid before him, that he might not see the portion appointed him of the king's meat, nor look upon the wine when it was red. It will be easier to keep the temptation at a distance than to suffer it to come near and then be forced to put a knife to our throat. Note, We cannot better improve our interest in any with whom we have found favour than by making use of them to keep us from sin.
III. That God wonderfully owned him herein. When Daniel requested that he might have none of the king's meat or wine set before him the prince of the eunuchs objected that, if he and his fellows were not found in as good case as any of their companions, he should be in danger of having anger and of losing his head, Dan 1:10. Daniel, to satisfy him that there would be no danger of any bad consequence, desires the matter might be put to a trial. He applies himself further to the under-officer, Melzar, or the steward: "Prove us for ten days; during that time let us have nothing but pulse to eat, nothing but herbs and fruits, or parched peas or lentils, and nothing but water to drink, and see how we can live upon that, and proceed accordingly," Dan 1:13. People will not believe the benefit of abstemiousness and a spare diet, nor how much it contributes to the health of the body, unless they try it. Trial was accordingly made. Daniel and his fellows lived for ten days upon pulse and water, hard fare for young men of genteel extraction and education, and which one would rather expect they should have indented against than petitioned for; but at the end of the ten days they were compared with the other children, and were found fairer and fatter in flesh, of a more healthful look and better complexion, than all those who did eat the portion of the king's meat, Dan 1:15. This was in part a natural effect of their temperance, but it must be ascribed to the special blessing of God, which will make a little to go a great way, a dinner of herbs better than a stalled ox. By this it appears that man lives not by bread alone; pulse and water shall be the most nourishing food if God speak the word. See what it is to keep ourselves pure from the pollutions of sin; it is the way to have that comfort and satisfaction which will be health to the navel and marrow to the bones, while the pleasures of sin are rottenness to the bones.
IV. That his master countenanced him. The steward did not force them to eat against their consciences, but, as they desired, gave them pulse and water (Dan 1:16), the pleasures of which they enjoyed, and we have reason to think were not envied the enjoyment. Here is a great example of temperance and contentment with mean things; and (as Epicurus said) "he that lives according to nature will never be poor, but he that lives according to opinion will never be rich." This wonderful abstemiousness of these young men in the days of their youth contributed to the fitting of them, 1. For their eminent services. Hereby they kept their minds clear and unclouded, and fit for contemplation, and saved for the best employments a great deal both of time and thought; and thus they prevented those diseases which indispose men for the business of age that owe their rise to the intemperances of youth. 2. For their eminent sufferings. Those that had thus inured themselves to hardship, and lived a life of self-denial and mortification, could the more easily venture upon the fiery furnace and the den of lions, rather than sin against God.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 But Daniel purposed in his heart,.... It being proposed…
But Daniel purposed in his heart,.... It being proposed to him to be brought up in the manner before described, he revolved it in his mind; he well weighed it, and considered it with himself, and came to a resolution about it. This is to be understood of him, not to the exclusion of his three companions, who were of the same mind with him, as appears by what follows; but perhaps it was first thought of by him; at least he first moved it to them, to which they consented; and because he was the principal in this affair, it is ascribed to him as his purpose and resolution:
that he would not defile himself with the portion the king's meat; by eating of it; partly because it might consist of what was forbidden by the law of Moses, as the flesh of unclean creatures, particularly swine, and fat and blood, and so defile himself in a ceremonial sense; and partly because, though it might be food in itself lawful to be eaten, yet part of it being first offered to their idol "Bel", as was usual, and the whole blessed in his name, it would have been against his conscience, and a defiling of that, to eat of things offered to, or blessed in the name of, an idol:
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nor with the wine which he drank; which was as unlawful as his food; being a libation to his gods, as Aben Ezra observes; otherwise wine was not forbidden; nor was it disused by Daniel, when he could partake of it in his own way, Dan 10:3,
therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself; he did not, in a surly, still, and obstinate manner, refuse the meat and drink brought; but prudently made it a request, and modestly proposed it to the prince of the eunuchs, that had the care and charge of him and his companions; and who also joined with him in this humble suit, as appears by what follows.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv8, 15, 19, 20 But Daniel purposed - There may be several weighty…
But Daniel purposed - There may be several weighty reasons assigned why Daniel did this.
1. Because many of those meats provided for the king's table, were forbidden by the Jewish law.
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2. Daniel knew these delicates would too much gratify the flesh.
3. He did not dare to eat and drink things consecrated to idols.
4. He was sensible, how unsuitable delicate fare would be to the afflicted state of God's people. Therefore he was herein a rare pattern of avoiding all the occasions of evil.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv8, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20 Verse 8. But Daniel - would not defile himself]…
Verse 8. But Daniel - would not defile himself] I have spoken of this resolution in the introduction. The chief reasons why Daniel would not eat meat from the royal table were probably these three: -
1. Because they ate unclean beasts, which were forbidden by the Jewish law.
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2. Because they ate, as did the heathens in general, beasts which had been strangled, or not properly blooded.
3. Because the animals that were eaten were first offered as victims to their gods. It is on this account that Athenaeus calls the beasts which here served up at the tables of the Persian kings, ιερια, victims, lib. iv. c. 10, p. 145.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 17, 18 Dan 1:8. But Daniel purposed that he would not…
Dan 1:8. But Daniel purposed that he would not defile himself — The defilement here alluded to might arise either from the food being such as was prohibited in the law of Moses, or else what was offered to the idols of the Chaldees, or entreated to be blessed in their names: see 2Co 8:10; 2Co 8:20. With the portion of the king’s meat — It was the custom of most nations, before their meals, to make an oblation of some part of what they ate and drank to their gods, as a thankful acknowledgment that every thing which they enjoyed was their gift; so that every entertainment had something in it of the nature of a sacrifice. This practice, generally prevailing, might make Daniel and his friends look upon the provisions coming from the king’s table as no better than meats offered to idols, and therefore to be accounted unclean, or polluted: see the margin. Nor with the wine which he drank — Though wine was not prohibited in the Levitical law, yet Daniel might wish to abstain from it, chiefly from motives of temperance; or because it came from an entertainment wherein a libation was made of it to idols, he might think himself obliged to abstain from motives of conscience: see Wintle and Lowth.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv8–20 But Daniel purposed in his heart - Evidently in…
But Daniel purposed in his heart - Evidently in concurrence with the youths who had been selected with him. See Dan 1:11-13. Daniel, it seems, formed this as a “decided” purpose, and “meant” to carry it into effect, as a matter of principle, though he designed to secure his object, if possible, by making a request that he might be “allowed” to pursue that course Dan 1:12, and wished not to give offence, or to provoke opposition. What would have been the result if he had not obtained permission we know not; but the probability is, that he would have thrown himself upon the protection of God, as he afterward did Dan. 6, and would have done what he considered to be duty, regardless of consequences. The course which he took saved him from the trial, for the prince of the eunuchs was willing to allow him to make the experiment, Dan 1:14. It is always better, even where there is decided principle, and a settled purpose in a matter, to obtain an object by a peaceful request, than to attempt to secure it by violence.
That he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat - Notes, Dan 1:5. The word which is rendered “defile himself” - יתגאל yı̂thegâ'al from גאל gā'al - is commonly used in connection with “redemption,” its first and usual meaning being to redeem, to ransom. In later Hebrew, however, it means, to be defiled; to be polluted, to be unclean. The “connection” between these significations of the word is not apparent, unless, as redemption was accomplished with the shedding of blood, rendering the place where it was shed defiled, the idea came to be permanently attached to the word. The defilement here referred to in the case of Daniel probably was, that by partaking of this food he might, in some way, be regarded as countenancing idolatry, or as lending his sanction to a mode of living which was inconsistent with his principles, and which was perilous to his health and morals. The Syriac renders this simply, “that he would not eat,” without implying that there would be defilement.
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Nor with the wine which he drank - As being contrary to his principles, and perilous to his morals and happiness.
Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself - That he might be permitted to abstain from the luxuries set before him. It would seem from this, that he represented to the prince of the eunuchs the real danger which he apprehended, or the real cause why he wished to abstain - that he would regard the use of these viands as contrary to the habits which he had formed, as a violation of the principles of his religion; and as, in his circumstances, wrong as well as perilous. This he presented as a “request.” He asked it, therefore, as a favor, preferring to use mild and gentle means for securing the object, rather than to put himself in the attitude of open resistance to the wishes of the monarch. What “reasons” influenced him to choose this course, and to ask to be permitted to live on a more temperate and abstemious diet, we are not informed. Assuming, however, what is apparent from the whole narrative, that he had been educated in the doctrines of the true religion, and in the principles of temperance, it is not difficult to conceive what reasons “would” influence a virtuous youth in such circumstances, and we cannot be in much danger of error in suggesting the following:
(1) It is not improbable that the food which was offered him had been, in some way, connected with idolatry, and that his participation in it would be construed as countenancing the worship of idols. - Calvin. It is known that a part of the animals offered in sacrifice was sold in the market; and known, also, that splendid entertainments were often made in honor of particular idols, and on the sacrifices which had been offered to them. Compare 1Co 8:1-13. Doubtless, also, a considerable part of the food which was served up at the royal table consisted of articles which, by the Jewish law, were prohibited as unclean. It was represented by the prophets, as one part of the evils of a captivity in a foreign land, that the people would be under a necessity of eating what was regarded as unclean. Thus, in Eze 4:13 : “And the Lord said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.” Hos 9:3 : “they shall not dwell in the Lord’s land, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt; and shall eat unclean things in Assyria.” Rosenmuller remarks on this passage (“Alte u. neue Morgenland,” 1076), “It was customary among the ancients to bring a portion of what was eaten and drank as an offering to the gods, as a sign of thankful recognition that all which men enjoy is their gift. Among the Romans these gifts were called “libamina,” so that with each meal there was connected an act of offering. Hence Daniel and his friends regarded what was brought from the royal table as food which had been offered to the gods, and therefore as impure.”
(2) Daniel and his friends were, doubtless, restrained from partaking of the food and drink offered to them by a regard to the principles of temperance in which they had been educated, and by a fear of the consequences which would follow from indulgence. They had evidently been trained in the ways of strict temperance. But now new scenes opened to them, and new temptations were before them. They were among strangers. They were noticed and flattered. They had an opportunity of indulging in the pleasures of the table, such as captive youth rarely enjoyed. This opportunity, there can be no doubt, they regarded as a temptation to their virtue, and as in the highest degree perilous to their principles, and they, therefore, sought to resist the temptation. They were captives - exiles from their country - in circumstances of great depression and humiliation, and they did not wish to forget that circumstance. - Calvin. Their land was in ruins; the temple where they and their fathers had worshipped had been desecrated and plundered; their kindred and countrymen were pining in exile; everything called them to a mode of life which would be in accordance with these melancholy facts, and they, doubtless, felt that it would be in every way inappropriate for them to indulge in luxurious living, and revel in the pleasures of a banquet.
But they were also, doubtless, restrained from these indulgences by a reference to the dangers which would follow. It required not great penetration or experience, indeed, to perceive, that in their circumstances - young men as they were, suddenly noticed and honored - compliance would be perilous to their virtue; but it did require uncommon strength of principle to meet the temptation. Rare has been the stern virtue among young men which could resist so strong allurements; seldom, comparatively, have those who have been unexpectedly thrown, in the course of events, into the temptations of a great city in a foreign land, and flattered by the attention of those in the higher walks of life, been sufficiently firm in principle to assert the early principles of temperance and virtue in which they may have been trained. Rare has it been that a youth in such circumstances would form the steady purpose not to “defile himself” by the tempting allurements set before him, and that, at all hazards, he would adhere to the principles in which he had been educated.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv8, 11, 12, 17, 20 Daniel, as head and nearer the throne, gave good…
Daniel, as head and nearer the throne, gave good example to the rest. (Worthington) --- Defiled, either by eating meat forbidden by the law, or which had before been offered to idols. (Challoner) --- It was customary among the pagans to make an offering of some parts to their gods, or throw it into the fire. (Theodoret; Calmet) --- These reasons determined the pious youths, (Haydock) who desired also to keep free from gluttony and other vices. (Theodoret) (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20 Daniel . . . would not defile himself with…
Daniel . . . would not defile himself with . . . king's meat--Daniel is specified as being the leader in the "purpose" (the word implies a decided resolution) to abstain from defilement, thus manifesting a character already formed for prophetical functions. The other three youths, no doubt, shared in his purpose. It was the custom to throw a small part of the viands and wine upon the earth, as an initiatory offering to the gods, so as to consecrate to them the whole entertainment (compare Deu 32:38). To have partaken of such a feast would have been to sanction idolatry, and was forbidden even after the legal distinction of clean and unclean meats was done away (Co1 8:7, Co1 8:10; Co1 10:27-28). Thus the faith of these youths was made instrumental in overruling the evil foretold against the Jews (Eze 4:13; Hos 9:3), to the glory of God. Daniel and his three friends, says AUBERLEN, stand out like an oasis in the desert. Like Moses, Daniel "chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season" (Heb 11:25; see Dan. 9:3-19). He who is to interpret divine revelations must not feed on the dainties, nor drink from the intoxicating cup, of this world. This made him as dear a name to his countrymen as Noah and Job, who also stood alone in their piety among a perverse generation (Eze 14:14; Eze 28:3).
requested--While decided in principle, we ought to seek our object by gentleness, rather than by an ostentatious testimony, which, under the plea of faithfulness, courts opposition.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 17, 18 8. Wesley suggests as reasons for Daniel’s action that…
8. Wesley suggests as reasons for Daniel’s action that many meats were forbidden by Jewish law: the meats of the royal table had been probably consecrated to idols; at any rate they would too greatly gratify the flesh and were unsuitable to the afflicted state of God’s people. The Talmud declares that after the destruction of the second temple many Israelites would not eat meat, since it could no longer be offered on the altar according to the law; but in Dan_9:3, and Dan_10:3, the “fasting” is a preparation for expected revelations (as Exo_34:28). Jephet Ibu (eleventh century) represents the spirit of the second century B.C., and perhaps earlier, when he explains, “They would not defile themselves with food prepared by Gentiles.” Behrmann points out, however, that there is no indication that the vegetable food they did eat was prepared by their own hands.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv8–20 8–10. Daniel and his companions crave to be allowed…
8–10. Daniel and his companions crave to be allowed not to use the provision supplied from the royal table. The meat might be that of animals not slaughtered in the proper manner (Deu_12:23-24), or of animals prohibited to the Jews as food (Lev_11:4-7; Lev_11:10-12; Leviticus 13-19, 20); while both the meat and the wine might have been consecrated to the Babylonian gods by portions having been offered to them in sacrifice, so that to partake of either would be tantamount to the recognition of a heathen deity (cf. 1Co_10:20; 1Co_10:27-29). The Jews, especially in later times, attached great importance to the dietary laws, and were also very scrupulous in avoiding acts which, even indirectly, might seem to imply the recognition of a heathen deity. Antiochus Epiphanes, in his endeavour (b.c. 168) to Hellenize the Jews, sought to compel them both to sacrifice to heathen deities and to partake of unclean food; and resistance to his edict was a point on which the utmost stress was laid by the loyal Jews (1Ma_1:47-48; 1Ma_1:62-63; cf. 2Ma_6:18 ff; 2Ma_7:1). Comp. also 2Ma_5:27; Add. to Esther 14:17; Jdt_12:1-2 (see Dan_10:5); Tob_1:10-11 (where Tobit says that when he and his companions were taken captive to Nineveh, ‘all my brethren and those that were of my kindred did eat of the bread of the Gentiles, but I kept myself from eating’). Josephus (Vita 3) speaks of certain priests who, being sent to Rome, partook on religious grounds of nothing but figs and nuts. For the abrogation of the principle, in the new dispensation, see Mar_7:19 (R.V.), Act_10:9-16,—comparing, however, also, 1Co_8:4-13.
with the king’s delicacies] as Dan_1:5.
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purposed in his heart] lit. laid (it) on his heart, i.e. gave heed (Isa_47:7; Isa_57:11, Mal_2:2). ‘Purposed’ is too strong.
8–16. The loyalty to their faith shewn by the four Jewish youths.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 17, 18 (8) Daniel purposed in his heart.—He was cautious from…
(8) Daniel purposed in his heart.—He was cautious from the first. He feared that he might eat something that had been consecrated to idols. (See 1 Corinthians 8)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv8–20 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would…
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king"s meat, nor with the wins which he drank, therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. The Septuagint renders the first clause somewhat paraphrastically, "Daniel desired in his heart," led possibly to this by the more limited meaning assigned to "heart" in the psychology of ordinary Greek speech. Theodotion is, as usual, in close harmony with the Massoretic text. The Peshitta, instead of "heart," has r"ina, "mind." As before noticed, the G reek versions here render gbAtP by deipnon. Jerome renders it mensa In the Syriac the word is present, as we before said. We have above indicated that it is possible that the original word was not path-bag, but pathura. In regard to the Massoretic text as compared with the Greek and Latin versions, it seems certain that path-bag, if belonging to the text, was only understood in the East a phenomenon that would be intelligible if this chapter be a condensation and translation of an original Aramaic text, especially if the Aramaic were Eastern, not Western. An ancient feast had always the nature of a sacrifice. It was the case with the Jews: thus in Deu_12:11, Deu_12:12, directions are given for sacrificing in the place which the Lord should choose, and they and all their household rejoicing. But if the place chosen were too far, then permission was given them to eat flesh, only they were to be careful not to eat with the blood. It was the characteristic of the classic nations all through their whole history, that the feast should be consecrated by the offering of something of it to the Deity. The immense probability was that this was the case also among the Babylonians. It may be that this consecration of the feast arose from the same justifiable religious feeling which leads us to ask a blessing on our meals. The habit of the African Church to celebrate the Lord"s Supper at every supper, was probably connected with this offering to God of what the guests were about to partake. This fact, that every feast had the character of a sacrifice, might easily make these Hebrew youths refuse the royal dainties. So far as animal food was concerned, the careful directions as to not eating with blood made partaking of the feasts of the Babylonian monarch peculiarly liable to bring on them defilement. The fact that Evil-Merodach provided Jeconiah with a portion from his table, and that Jeconiah did not refuse it, does not necessarily militate against the early date of Daniel. Jeconiah probably was not as conscientious as those youths, and, on the other hand, Daniel"s influence by this time may have arranged some consideration for Jewish scruples. It is certain that in RAPC 2Ma 5:27 Judas and his brethren are represented as living in the mountains on herbs, after the manner of beasts, that they might not be defiled; but as there is nothing parallel to this in 1 Maccabees, we may dismiss the statement as probably untrue. So the whole idea of this action on the part of Judas and his nine companions may have arisen from the case recorded before us. It has all the look of a rhetorical addition to the narrative, and the differences of the circumstances were not such as would strike a rhetorical scribe; but as this abstinence appeared to add to the sanctity of these four Hebrew youths, would it not add to the sanctity of Judas also? "In the Assyrian feasts the guests do not seem to have sat at one long table or several long tables, as is usual with us. The guests were divided into sets of four, and had provisions served to them, and it is to be observed that the youths before us would have exactly occupied one of those tables. The word used for "defile" (ga"al) occurs in Isaiah, Lamentations, Zephaniah, Malachi, Ezra, and Nehemiah. It is an Exilic and post-Exilic word mainly; the old priestly word lama had not disappeared it is used in Haggai. It is to be observed that there is nothing about defilement in the Peshitta; it is not impossible that the word is a later addition, only its presence both in Theodotion and the Septuagint renders the omission improbable. There is nothing in the passage here which makes it necessary for us to maintain that the principle of action followed by those youths was one which was generally acknowledged to be incumbent on all Jews. It may simply have been that, feeling the critical condition in which they were placed, it was well for them to erect a hedge about the Law. There may even have been an excess of scrupulosity which is in perfect dramatic suitability to the age of the youths. Such abstinence may well have occasioned the regular abstinence of the Essenes, but this state-merit concerning Daniel and his friends can scarcely have originated from the Essene dietary. It has been noted, as a proof of Daniel"s courtesy and docility, that he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. But to have refused the food provided by the king might have been construed as an insult to the king, and anything of that sort had swift and severe punishment meted out to it. Daniel"s request was simply due to the necessities of the situation.
A noble purpose the root of true renown.
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All real dignity has its beginning, not in ancestral fortune, but in righteous purpose. The heart is the seed-plot of all noble deeds. "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.
I THE COMMONEST MEAL FURNISHES AN OCCASION ON WHICH TO DEFILE OR DIGNIFY THE MAN. Then character is discovered. Then we see, as in a mirror, whether the higher nature or the lower is dominant. Some men live only to eat; some eat only that they may live. Daniel desired to shun this sudden extreme of good fortune. "It is better to go to the house of mourning than into the house of feasting." Moreover, this participation in royal dainties would be a connivance with idolatry. "Whether therefore ye eat or drink do all to the glory of God.
II SELF-PURIFICATION IS THE SETTLED PURPOSE OF A RENEWED HEART. What grimy dirt is to the fair countenance, what rust is on virgin gold, what soot is on crystal snow, such is sin on the human soul. Wickedness is defilement, disease, curse, rottenness. If self-preservation be a primary instinct of man as a member of the animal race, the maintenance of purity was originally an instinct of the soul. If we cannot wash out old stains, we can, by Divine help, avoid further contamination. To be pure is to be manly God-like.
III HUMAN OPPOSITION MAY USUALLY BE DISARMED BY KINDLY SOLICITATION. Love wields a magic sceptre, and kindness is practical love. If the highest end we seek cannot be gained at a single stride, we may gain a step at a time. The Christian pilgrim does not walk in five-leagued boots. Daniel "requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself." A request so reasonable, so innocent, commended itself to the judgment of the man. D.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v8 But Daniel purposed in his heart.
Dan_1:8
But Daniel purposed in his heart.
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A Sermon to Young Men
The scene of this heroic resolution was Babylon. The circumstances add lustre to the moral grandeur of the brave purpose. To appreciate the splendid courage of this purpose, you must imagine yourself placed in Daniels position. A captive boy, selected by command of the King, for special supervision in mental, physical, and social discipline, he suddenly found himself in the line of such promotion as might well fire the ambition and dazzle the imagination of a less ardent nature. But an inconvenient difficulty looms up at the very threshold of this brilliant career. The thing we call conscience whispered, You cannot, you must not! and the hero within answered I will not! Can you find a grander, exhibition of moral courage in all history? Shall he do it? that is the question. And he purposed in his heart that he would not. They tell us that Babylon, with walls, palaces, temples, hanging gardens, wonderful commerce, mighty Euphrates, marvellous culture, and boundless wealth--that Babylon was great; they tell us that the genius of the mighty king was greater still; but I tell you that greater than Nebuchadnezzar, greater than Babylon, or aught that Babylon afforded, was that young, heroic nature, when, planted upon the eternal adamant of moral integrity, and breasting appalling odds, he calmly resolved, I will not! Such s purpose, under such circumstances, would deserve to be pronounced the rashness of a madman, were it not for one fact. A fact which, alas! does not always enter into our disposition of lifes great emergencies--a fact in comparison with which all other facts are trivial--the central sun in the system of facts! I mean that stupendous, supreme fact there is a God! Better be on Gods side than on the side of Babylon and the king. Believe me, it is the highest wisdom, the noblest policy. The sequel shows that young Daniel did the best thing for himself when he purposed in his heart that he would not. And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the kings meat. Natural law, somebody whispers. Yes, but read further in the record: God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Daniel and the magicians! He was master of the situation, because the present lays hold upon the past. The life, whose foundation was laid in the heroic resolution of the boy, grew up into secret sympathy with God, and in the help of the Divine found the hidings of its power. I repeat, better be on Gods side! But God is immaterial, impalpable--who ever saw God?--and Babylon is so splendidly present to the senses! God is abstract, and Babylon so gloriously concrete. But the spiritual is greater than the material, and the abstract imparts beauty and value to the concrete. (H. W. Battle D.D.)
Dare to be a Daniel
Very much of our future life will depend upon our earliest days. I like a remark of Mr. Ruskins. He says, People often say, We excuse the thoughtlessness of youth, but he says No it never ought to be excused,! had far rather hear of thoughtless old age, when a man has done his work but what excuse can be found for a thoughtless youth? The time for thought is at the beginning of life, and there is no period which so much demands, or so much necessitate, thoughtfulness as our early days. I would that all young men would think so. If there is any time when the farmer should think, it is surely in the early stages of the ploughing and the sowing. If he does not think then, it will be of small avail for him to think afterwards. Daniel was a young man, and he did think. It was his glory that he so thought that he came to a purpose, and he purposed, not with a kind of superficial I will, but he purposed in his heart, and gave his whole self to a certain definite purpose which he deliberately formed. But, though they might change Daniels name, they could not change his nature, nor would he give up anything that he believed to be right. Captive as he was, he had a right royal soul; and he was as free in Babylon as he had been at Jerusalem, and he determined to keep himself so, for he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the kings meat, nor with the wine which he drank. Now, it was because Daniel, while yet a youth, a captive, a student, was so decided in what he did, that his afterlife became so bright. God help you, who are beginning life; for, if God begins with you, and you begin with God, your life will be one of happy usefulness, which will have a truly blessed end!
I. THERE ARE TEMPTATIONS TO BE RESISTED.
There never was a man yet who had faith, and who had not trials. Wherever there is faith in God, it will be tested at some time or other; it must be so. It cannot be that the house shall be builded, even on the rock, without the rains descending, and the floods coming, and the winds beating upon that house. Now, first, look at Daniels temptations.
(1) In his case, the temptation was very specious. He was bidden to eat the portion of food that, every day, came from the kings table. Could he want any better? He might have fared like a prince. Could he have any objection to that? He had no objection except this, that it would defile him. There were certain foods used by the Babylonians, such as the flesh of swine, the flesh of the hare, and of certain fish, that were unclean, and when these came from the kings table, if Daniel ate them, he would be breaking the law of Moses given in the Book of Leviticus, and thus he would be defiled. Remember that the food which was allowed to Israel was to be killed in a certain way. The blood must be effectually drained from the flesh, for he that ate the blood defiled himself thereby. Now, the Babylonians did not kill their beasts in that way, and the eating of flesh which had not been killed according to the law would have defiled Daniel. More than that, usually such a king as Nebuchadnezzar, before he ate food, dedicated it to his god. Bel-Merodach was greatly venerated by Nebuchadnezzar as god, so that a libation of wine was poured out to Merodach, and a certain portion of food was put aside, so that, in fact, it was offered to idols; and Daniel felt that he would be defiled if he ate of meat which might be unclean, and which was certain to be offered to idols; it would be breaking the law of God, so Daniel would not eat it. But the temptation to do so must have been very strong, for somebody would say, Why, what difference can it make what you eat, or what you drink? Others would say, Why is Daniel so particular? There have been other Jews here who have unhesitatingly eaten the kings meat.
(2) Then, the temptation seemed the road to honour. They would say to Daniel, Surely, if you begin by objecting to what the monarch sends you from his table, you will never get on at Court. People with a conscience should not go to Court. Somebody would whisper in Daniels ear, It is the law of the land. Yes, but whatever the law may be, and whatever custom may be, the servants of God serve a higher King, and they have but one rule, and one custom, We ought to obey God rather than man. In Daniels case, if he had done what it was proposed to him to do, it would have been giving up the separated life. This is the temptation of the present day. Profess to be a Christian, but float along the common current of the world. Take the name of a Christian, and go to your place of worship, and go through your ceremonies; but do not bring your religion into your business. Act as other people do. This is the temptation of the time. Now, in our own case, what are the particular temptations to which we, as believing men and believing women, are exposed? I cannot go into the question of individuals; but I can imagine some one here who is in a position where he is asked to do what it is not right for him to do. But he says, I shall be discharged if I refuse to do it. I know others do it, and I must do it. My dear young fellow, allow me to put before you Daniel, who purposed in his heart that he would not eat the kings meat. Sometimes you will find that to be out and out for the right will be the making of you. Any man who speaks the truth will find it the best thing in the long run. So to-day, again, there is the temptation of love for intellectual novelty. And, besides this, we have, nowadays, the temptation to general laxity. People do, even Christian people do, what Christian people should not do; and they excuse themselves by quoting the example of other Christians, or by saying, We are not so precise as our fathers were. Has God changed? Christians have meat to eat of which the world knoweth not.
II. THERE ARE RIGHT METHODS OF RESISTING TEMPTATION.
1. And the first is that the heart must be set. Daniel purposed in his heart. He looked the matter up and down, and he settled it in his heart. Before he asked Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego anything about it, he had made up his own mind. Oh, for a made-up mind! Oh, for the man who knows how to look at his compass, and to steer his vessel whither he ought to go! The grace of God is a great heart-settler.
2. The next thing is, that the life must be winning. Daniel was helped in carrying out his resolution by his own permortal character. God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. Whenever a man is brought into favour and tender love, and is a good man, there is something about him that has commended itself. There are some who have carried firmness into obstinacy, and determination into bigotry, which is a thing to be shunned. Yield everything that may be yielded; give up mere personal whims and oddities; but as for the things of God, stand as firm as a rock about them.
3. Then observe that the protest must be courteously borne. While Daniel was very decided, he was very courteous in his protests. Firmness of purpose should be adorned with gentleness of manner in carrying it out.
4. Next to that, self-denial must be sought. If you will be out and out for God, you must expect self-denial, and you will have to habituate yourself to it. Be ready for a bad name; be willing to be called a bigot; be prepared for loss of friendships.
5. And then the test must be boldly put. Daniel showed his faith when he said to Melzar, Feed me and my three companions on this common fare; give us nothing else. I think that a Christian man should be willing to be tried; he should be pleased to let his religion be put to the test.
III. THERE ARE CERTAIN POINTS WHICH WILL HAVE TO BE PROVED BY EXPERIENCE. I speak now to you Christian people who hold fast by the old doctrines of the gospel, and will not be, led astray by modern temptations. Now what have you to prove?
1. Well, I think that you have to prove that the old faith gives you a bright and cheerful spirit.
2. Another point that we shall have to prove, is that the old faith promotes holiness of life. There are some who say, Those people cry down good works. Do we? If you bring them as a price to purchase salvation, we do cry them down. God help us to prove that we are more truthful and more godly than those who have not like precious faith!
3. The next thing is that we must prove that the old faith produces much love of our fellow-men.
4. And then let us prove that the old faith enables us to have great patience in trial. He who believes the doctrines of grace is the man who can suffer.
5. What is wanted is that we who hold the old faith should be in a better state of spiritual health. May every grace be developed. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Daniel and his Companions
Daniel, even though he was in Babylon during the captivity of his people, was not a part of them, but was a great and high officer in the government of the king of Babylon. In this respect he differed in position from Ezekiel, who was the resident prophet of Israel while in captivity, a captive with them. Ezekiel was much older than Daniel, and, humanly speaking, might have been jealous of Daniels position as a high and favourite official with the king, whose captives were the older prophet and all his people. Besides, he might have accused Daniel of fawning on the enemies of his people and being undue to them, in that he took place and emoluments from their enemies while his brethren were suffering a bondage little better than that of Egypt. Yet he never did so reproach Daniel. On the other hand, he twice distinguishes Daniel as one of the greatest of men, classifying him with Noah and Job. (Eze_14:14; Eze_14:20.) This should teach us a lesson to the effect that we cannot always judge of one mans actions by that of another. Nor, on the contrary, with the examples of Joseph and Daniel, occupying similar positions in Egypt and Babylon, must we be hasty in judging the possible rightness of taking and continuing in the employment of the enemies of God. The question really is not in whose employ we are engaged, but whether in that employment we are keeping a conscience void of offence, and are using our place, while faithful to our employer, for the glory of God. This certainly did both Daniel and Joseph. There is a striking comparison between the history of Daniel and Joseph. Joseph was the first distinguished man of his house, and we may say that Daniel was the last man of great eminence. In their youth they were both captives, and both true to God and their consciences in circumstances that were very trying. Both obtained favour with their kings, and reached places of great honour and power in the kingdom whither in the providence of God they had been sent as prisoners. It is surprising to note how often young men have played great parts in the worlds history; and this is especially true of the history of Gods kingdom on the earth. Moses and Joshua were comparatively young men for the age in which they lived; David and Solomon were young men when they were called to assume the greatest responsibilities. John the Baptist and Jesus were young men when they began their ministry, Jesus himself being a mere child of twelve years when he first undertook his Fathers business. Saul of Tarsus was a young man when Jesus met, converted, and commissioned him to be the great apostle to the Gentries. Timothy was a mere lad when Paul chose him for his companion, and adopted him as his son. What encouragement is here for young men, and even lads, to enter at once on the work and into the personal service of God!
I. DANIEL UNDER TEMPTATION.--Whether it was a part of the deliberate policy of the king of Babylon to corrupt these young men by feeding them from his own table with the meat and drink which had been offered to idols, and so to wean them away from the religion of their fathers, or whether this circumstance was the providential occasion of developing the faith and character of Daniel and his friends is not a question of great moment. Daniel was, from the very beginning of his career, a true witness for the truth. His temptation was all the more severe from the following circumstances;
1. Because of his youth.--It would not have been so remarkable that he declined to compromise his conscience, had he been a full-grown man, with religious principles and character strong by reason of maturity and long habit of righteousness. Youth is, indeed, purer than manhood, but then, as a rule, it is weaker and more easily led by those under whose power and influence it was brought. Had Daniel yielded here to the first temptation, he would hardly have recovered his faith at a later time. If we win in the first fight with the tempter, we may assure ourselves of victory all through life.
2. Because he was away from home.--One of the worst situations for a young man to find himself in, is to be away from home and home influences, in a strange city, especially when surrounded by those who have no sympathy with the religious training and principles of his home life. In this situation Daniel was placed. What had become of his father and mother, his brethren and kindred, we are not told. Possibly they had been killed in the siege or carried away captive to some other province.
3. Because of his helplessness.--He was not only in a strange land and among strangers, but he was a captive, and wholly at the mercy of the king and his servants. He might have said to himself, and not without some show of reason: I am not responsible for the things which I do under the command of the king, whose prisoner I am. We have heard young men, who justified themselves for wrong-doing because they were only carrying out the orders of their employers.
4. Because of the subtlety of the temptation--It was a matter of great self-gratulation to Daniel that he has been selected to fill a high place in the service of the king, and that the king had complimented him by directing that he should be fed with meat and drink from his own table. This high distinction would be recognised both by the other prisoners and by the kings officers themselves. To refuse this peculiar mark of the kings favour would have been both ungracious and impertinent on Daniels part.
There is no surer approach to the citadel of mans moral nature than by the gateway of vanity and with the instruments of flattery, especially of the agents be the rich and great. What we might refuse from our inferiors, or even our equals, is not so easily declined if it is offered by our betters.
5. Because of the peril of his position.--Sometimes we can brave the sneer of the ungodly and the arched eyebrows of the less conscientious, where we should not be willing to stand up under peril of life itself. Yet this was Daniels danger. The favour of God was more to him than life. We do not wonder after this, that, at a later period of his life, he calmly went on-praying with his face towards Jerusalem, even though the den of lions was to be his portion for so doing.
II. STANDING BY A PURPOSE TRUE.
1. He was true to a godly education.--Perhaps the low state of religion in his own land had served to increase in him the sense of responsibility for an absolutely true course in the matter now before him. No lad would have stood this test if he had not been thoroughly well taught; not in the external virtues of religion, but in its very essence and power. If we parents wish to be absolutely sure of the course our sons will take, when the time comes to send them forth into the world to fight lifes battle for themselves, let us be sure that they go out from us rooted and grounded in the truth, and established in the faith of God and his Christ.
2. He was true to his conscience.--It was not only loyalty to home-training, but loyalty to conscience, that stood Daniel in good stead in the hour of trial. In leaving home we leave home influences, but if we have a conscience that has been trained in the fear of God, we shall always take that with us. Home-training will keep us a little while, but a sensitive conscience is a never-failing guide. He is a happy boy or man, whether rich or poor, prince or peasant, who has a conscience like Daniels. It will stand by and strengthen him in many an hour of trial.
3. He was true to the word of God.--By taking heed to the word of God, a young man will not only cleanse himself from evil ways, but will be able to do something better: even to keep himself safe from being defiled.
4. He was true to his brethren.--Daniel seems to have been the spokesman for the other three young princes, as he was undoubtedly by nature, and perhaps by rank, their leader. Should he give way, his brethren would hardly stand, and so they would be defiled. If he stood fast, they, encouraged by his example, would stand by his side. Daniel was therefore jealous of his influence as of his own souls peace. He must be a true witness for the sake of others.
5. He was true to God.--A true Christian may always appeal to the results of a Christian walk for its justification. Daniel only asked a trial of ten days. He believed that God would vindicate his course, and show to the eunuch that in every way it was better to serve God than worship or be compromised with the worship of idols, We may always be sure that God will in the end honour those who honour him.
III. DANIEL VINDICATED AND REWARDED.--God stood by Daniel, his young servant, in this matter, as he had stood by Joseph in Egypt, and even more promptly vindicated his faith. Gods favour was shown in three things.
1. In the favour be gave Daniel with the eunuch.--He had already brought him into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. God does not wait till the end of our faith to come to our help, but even if there be a purpose in our hearts to be true to him, he gives us preliminary vindication. The early Christians being true to God, won for themselves favour with the people.
2. By giving them greater physical beauty.--At the end of the ten days trial, their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the kings meat. In the long run, the man who lives on simple fare will show more physical beauty that he who fares sumptuously every day on dainty food. Chrysostom says of these four young men who stood to their purpose, that they had better health for their spare diet; and their good conscience and merry heart was a continual feast unto them. They had also Gods blessing on their coarser fare, which was the main matter that made the difference.
3. By their superior intellectual ability.--At the end of the three years which had been assigned for their special education, they were brought before the king, and he found them ten times better in all matters of wisdom and understanding than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. There is hardly a doubt that, if the facts were known.and could be tabulated, it would appear that the intellectual life of Christian people is far in advance of those men of the world who reject God and his counsels, both as to the spiritual life and the general state of the body, promoted by a temperate use of the good things of life. Certainly a wide generalization shows marked superiority in favour of those nations commonly known as Christian, over those which are guided by the superstitions and excesses of heathenism. The general and well-known superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race is due most of all, and first of all, to the influence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God has trained that race for the civilization and the evangelization of the whole world. (G. F. Pentecost.)
A stand for temperance
We have here a picture of a youth of fourteen making a stand for temperance and piety against temptations and inducements which might well shake the purpose of strong men. The lad did not parley with his resolution, making it contingent upon the success or failure of a first trial. There was no contingency about it; he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the Kings meat or drink. It might cost him, not only serious inconvenience and additional reproach, but even his life, He considered these possibilities, and resolved at all hazards to obey first his conscience and his God, and then to regard that only as his duty which happened to agree with this obedience But Daniel was not only a captive accessible to motives of fear, but he was a youth accessible to the invitations of sin. The obscurity that invests his childhood prevents us from learning how his first years were passed. Although it was at a time when the morals of the Jews were depressed to the brink of national apostasy, when Jerusalem was as ungodly and impure as Babylon herself, Daniel was probably educated with a careful discipline, and his heart had been the early possession of the Great Spirit, who enters the tiny soul of a child, and, as it were, makes Himself another child to accommodate His presence to the undeveloped faculties and free fancies of childhood. Yet he was not insensible to the temptations incident to boyish life. He was born a prince and had tasted the luxuries of rank before his captivity; and in the presence of the dainty viands of the kings table, to school his inclinations into submission, to make the flesh bend to the authority of the spirit, discovered singular ripeness of virtue in one whose years had scarcely surpassed boyhood.
1. Daniels act was an indirect avowal of his Hebrew faith. That faith forbade him to eat the food of the Gentiles. But this law was not mainly on account of the food itself. If the bread and wine of Babylon had been as simple in their preparation as the temperate provisions of a pious Jewish home, the Jew might not teach them. It was idolatry that brought a taint upon Gentile food. The blessing of wicked deities, lying vanities, was invoked upon the grain and the grape which the bounty of God had ripened; and to partake of food so contaminated was to the Jew like eating and drinking a lie and a curse. In primitive times eating and drinking represented a mans religion. He ate and drank to the praise of the deity whose providence was supposed to have furnished his table; and all who ate with him were partakers alike of his food and his faith. In refusing the kings meat, Daniel proclaimed himself the follower of another religion. Nebuchadnezzar imagined that a slave had no mind of his own; that his will, his conscience, his person, belonging to his Master and Owner, he must follow whatever religion that Master chose to impose. The poor lad could not resist his exile; he had no power over his own person; but young as he was, no one could touch his will, and no one should force him to violate his conscience. Such is the inalienable prerogative of the mind even of a child. But this law of the Hebrews which forbade them the hospitality of other nations was not a matter of faith only, but of morality. Although many Gentiles were distinguished for the severity of their virtues, yet as nations they were profoundly corrupt. They conceived that the gods who gave them food were exalted by the licence of appetite. The worship of some of these idols consisted in gluttony and drunkenness, of others in the gratification of more shameful lusts. Idolatry is, in its effects, the elevation of the animal in man, and the depression of the intellectual. In avowing his faith to the God of Israel, Daniel upheld in his own conduct the morality of that faith. Not in abstinence only, but in all his conduct he was pure; and the effect of his behaviour upon the distinguished men who were placed over him was a beautiful illustration of our Lords lesson, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven. (Mat_5:16). Ashpenaz was a man of high rank in Babylon; his position implied culture, wealth, and authority; his eye fell upon the young captive; his shrewd penetration discerned at once a mind and character of singular originality; and, judging by one expression in the history, he must have been charmed even to fascination by the endowments, the grace, and the beauty of Daniels spirit. Here was a godly youth in the presence of an eminent statesman--a man whose opportunities commanded a wide field in the study of character, who had been mixed up with the splendid licentiousness of a court, with the intrigues of a State, and with the subtle involutions of priestly sorcery, and this veteran of the world was awed by the purity and courage of a youth and a foreigner. The Scriptures attribute this impression to the grace of God: God brought Daniel into tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. The same is affirmed of the influence of Joseph over Potiphar and Pharaoh. And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and his Master saw that the Lord was with him; and the Lord blessed the Egyptians house for Josephs sake; and again, Pharaoh said unto his courtiers, Can we find such an one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? Both Joseph and Daniel were beautiful in person and character, and gifted in mind; but these in themselves do not necessarily conciliate and charm observers. I have known persons who possessed them and yet were unable to gain the love and confidence of others; not because they wanted piety and integrity, but for the lack of graciousness, courtesy, gentleness; in one word, sympathy with those with whom they had intercourse. It is not enough to be good in principle if we are harsh, uncouth, and unlovely in the expression of it, Some people seem proud of the tartness of their manners; they will never be proud of the number or quality of their friends. We must have our medium from God as well as our light; and the medium of a kindly and sympathetic manner is the best reflector for giving a mild and grateful lustre to the light of truth. Even so lot your light shine before men.
2. Daniels act was a practical affirmation of the benefits and blessings of Temperance. Some of Daniels fellow captives, students in the Eunuch's College, ate of the kings meat and drank of the kings wine. It was, and is still, the custom of Oriental courts to pamper young men of this class, to provide their mess with such food as is supposed likely to bring out the ruddiness and beauty of their complexions and to sharpen their minds. There are two things which all monarchs like in their immediate attendants--beauty and intelligence. The education intended to draw out the formeris curiously elaborate in Asiatic courts. You will see that this kind of preparation may make a court exquisite, but can never make a man. It is true that the understanding is not neglected: sumptuous dining is considered to be compatible with the most strenuous intellectual exertions. But in the end, when the boys become men and the motives of competition cease to be the spur of study, indolent and luxurious habits generally take possession of the character, and like the thorns of the parable, they strangle the natural growth of the man. But more than this: the youths trained for the service of Nebuchadnezzar were not intended to be mere court favourites, but wise men; in other words, Magi, a comprehensive appellation including statesmen, councillors, astrologers, and soothsayers: men appointed at the monarchs call to interpret a dream, to construe an omen, to read a sign, to register events and observations, to negotiate treaties, to plan festivals, and to direct enchantments. Let me say that stimulants are the snare and not the friends of the intellect. Our greatest works were written by temperate men, or by men in their temperate days. Some of the brightest lights of genius and learning were quenched in intemperance that covered them like the shadows of death. I lift up before you, young people, the example of Daniel; for the hope of the country rests upon you. (E. E. Jenkins, M.A.)
The Young Hebrews an Example
What, then, did they do which you may imitate?
1. They scrupulously maintained the moral and religious principles that had been imparted to them in their earlier education. They made a supreme regard for the will of God their rule of conduct, even in little things. But when tried, they were found to be pure gold; and their triumph proves that a pious education is one of the greatest blessings that can be bestowed upon youth. If you, young men, have received such an education, be profoundly thankful for it. Nor were they over righteous in this firm but courteous refusal. Nor were they narrow and bigoted sectarians. They were liberal Christians, but not latitudinarians. The Bible and the very nature of the human mind command us to be liberal, but forbid us to be latitudinarian. True liberality of sentiment and largeness of soul are the attributes of strength and conviction of ones own mind. But latitudinarianism gives up essential foundation principles, and says there is no difference between right and wrong--that it is equally a matter of indifference what a man believes, or whether he believes anything at all. Duty is not a thing of latitude and longitude. It is the same thing everywhere. Conscience and God are the same in Paris or Constantinople, as in your New England or Scottish homes. Polar snows or tropical flowers cannot change the eternal principles of rectitude. Gods laws, the will of the Supreme Creator, is the only standard of duty. It was not the mere concession of a prejudice, not the mere giving up of some little matters of denominational detail, but the surrender of principle, compromise of truth, apostacy from the true religion, that they were required to submit to. And the lesson taught us is of vast importance. It is that we must not sacrifice conscience, with its awful requirements, to any temporary or worldly convenience. It is better to die of starvation than gain a valuable living by the sacrifice of the soul. Without stern integrity in little things, there is a want of confidence which is fatal to success. A most pernicious delusion prevails with many good people. They are waiting until they can do some great thing, and think that if a great crisis were to come, they would then have nerve to meet it, and do something triumphant. They cannot find, at present, a place large enough for the discharge of their duties. Instead of quietly laying one brick upon the earth, they are constantly building castles in the air; instead of discharging the plain everyday duty which they owe to God and their fellow men, they pass life in looking for some grand occasion for the display of their virtues. The little things that are usually the turning-points of character, they have not apprehended. They have not learned that events which seem at first frivolous and unimportant, may become the Thermopylae of a Christians conflict, the Marathon of a nations being, or the turning-point of everlasting life or of everlasting death. The point with Daniel was to follow his conscience or his appetite; to cease to be an Israelite, or cease to be a favourite of the great King of Babylon. And his determination was soon made to make everything give way to his religion. He would not let his religion bow to the world, but made the world bow to his religion.
2. The next lesson which the Euphrates sends to the Mississippi, and reads to us from the early life of Babylons vizier or prime minister and his friends is, that a man is no loser for maintaining right principles. The examination of the four Hebrews presents a noble example of the success of prudence, temperance, and a steady regard to religion. These young men did not think, because they were well born and liberally educated, that they might therefore indulge their appetites without control. On the contrary, with heroic steadfastness they made the will of God, even in little things, their rule of conduct. And what was the result? Did Daniel lose any good thing by his firm adherence to principle? Not at all. The very reverse was the result. Daniels faithfulness to his conscience, his allegiance to his God, his courteous but firm refusal to do what was sinful, was turned to his advantage, even in this world. Them that honour God, He honours. The result of their faithfulness to God was their promotion in the palace, and the favour of the king. What, then, is the true principle of expediency for young men? We answer, True principle is true expediency. Duty is the way of peace and promotion. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other things will be added unto you. It is reasonable for young men to ask God for help in mental as well as in spiritual efforts. He is the father of the spirit as well as the maker of the body. In the toil and business of life, and amid all its perplexing difficulties, cast yourself, therefore, upon the Lords protection, and look to Him for counsel and guidance. It is easy for Him to illumine what in yon is dark. It is an old saying, that to pray earnestly is to study well. (W. A. Scott, D.D.)
Daniel
There are some names, let us thank God not a few, that the world will not willingly let die, and that live on for ever in the charmed memory of mankind--names that have been identified with some noble thought, with some lofty purpose, or with some great and glorious deed; names of men who have struck a blow for freedom or who have helped forward the great chariot of human progress, or of men who in their own person have stemmed the inrushing tide of falsehood and of error. The name of freedom, the struggle for liberty, stands in this land for ever identified with our great national heroes, the heroes of our history of independence; and the names of William Wallace and Robert Bruce live on. And with them, in the minds of the world, are associated such names as William Tell, of Switzerland, and George Washington, of America. Martin Luther and John Knox are names which stand for ever identified with glorious struggles for the right. And just one more illustration; wherever the thought of self-sacrificing labour and toil for the sake of ethers, for the sick and the dying and the wounded--wherever that idea is felt to be a power to quicken the pulses and stir the generous emotions of mankind, there the name of Florence Nightingale will be tenderly enshrined. Now I wish to speak for a little on one of those imperishable names, the name of one who is still remembered and still spoken of when children, older and younger, are inspired to deeds of noble daring.
I. The first thing I wish you to notice--is THE ASPECT IN WHICH DANIEL THINKS AND SPEAKS OF WRONG-DOING, OF WHAT TO HIM AND HIS CONSCIENCE WOULD BE SIN. He does not speak of it as disobedience to God, though he felt it to be that. He does not speak of it as disobedience to his parents, as breaking away from the traditions of his fathers and going over to the customs and religion of another country and people; but he speaks of it as defiling himself. He would not defile himself. And I would like to ask you this: do you realise that every wrong thought, every wrong feeling, every wrong word, every wrong deed is not only wrong because it displeases God, but it is a wrong against your own nature, it is inflicting a mischief upon yourself, upon your own being? A stain we plant there which no human alchemy can remove. I have seen in our police-courts, and I have seen on the streets of the city, the forms and features of men so bruised and blackened and bloated that their very personality seemed to be obscured. One almost imagines that their every feature tells a tale of sin and suffering, and the hardship which sin inevitably brings. Slowly, slowly through the long years have those features been changing from the sweet, pure, clean, healthy flesh of a little child; but the strong years have done it, the strong years passed in the practice of sin, in the act and life and thought and feeling. And what is written on the outward features of men and women who have thus indulged in sin is written as indelibly, though you cannot see it, on the inner nature, the soul and spirit. The German poet Goethe sings of spirit ears, and he speaks of these ears hearing the thunder of the sunrise, as if the sun rose with a great crash, which the ears of the spirit could hear; but if we had spirit eyes which could see what is going on in the spirit world, and see our own veritable being as God sees it, then we would recognise how all those unhallowed indulgences in thought and feeling and desire, not to speak even of word and act, how all this illicit thought and feeling has written upon our inner nature its own dread and direful mark, and put a stain there which can only be washed out in the Fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuels veins, and we thank God that Sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. Sin indulged in, even though it be in secret, even though it be only in thought and feeling, sin thus works its inevitable and irretrievable work, and brings about that frightful change which produces such repulsiveness.
II. HOW WAS IT THAT DANIEL ACCOMPLISHED HIS SUCCESS, OVERCAME HIS TEMPTATION, mastered it and trampled it under foot? Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself, that he would not weave across his vision that web which would hide from himself the joy, the peace, the holiness, the triumph, and success which come from communion with the unseen, but really present Jehovah. Daniel purposed in his heart. The greatest danger to which, in my mind, the young men of to-day are exposed, is not that they deliberately walk into temptation or into sin; but because they do not deliberately determine not to do it. It is because they begin their life without any purpose at all, but drift, drift, drift without rudder or compass, without any strong, resolute determination which they have made as in the sight of God, and which they have resolved by Gods help to keep, that whatever others do, for them they will not defile themselves. There is no sadder sight to be seen than the number of young men and women who, without any intention or idea that they are going wrong, in their simplicity, which, however, is not guileless simplicity, for they might and ought to know better, but who in their criminal simplicity permit themselves to be ensnared and led into company where they know their ears and eyes and their whole nature will be assailed with that which will defile. It is too late to purpose in your heart not to do it after it is done. It is too late to make a good resolution not to fall after you have fallen, The time to purpose in ones heart not to defile oneself is before the defilement has been produced; when you are sitting at your own fireside in your own room, or on your knees, there and then is the time. It is too late to deliberate when you are face to face with temptation: the excitement is too strong, the power of companionship is too great. One word more: there is no use making a resolution unless it is to be kept. The greatest loss that I can think of in this city, is not the less of money which men spend on that which is not bread, not the loss of labour spent on that which satisfieth not; it is not the loss of life, even, that might be saved if only men and women would act aright--the greatest loss in this city is the loss of mental and spiritual force which is allowed to degenerate into mere drivel, by yielding to the temptations which sap all the mental, intellectual and moral stamina out of the character of our youth. Oh, to see the bright young fellows, the pride of their father, the joy and hope of their mother, who go and throw away the talents God has given them, throw away the noble aspirations of youth, by entangling themselves in scenes and circumstances and aspirations which drag them down; and they become altogether incapable of realising their own aspirations, their own possibilities, because they have allowed themselves to be defiled. This resolution of which I speak must be followed out to be of any service. It is not in resolutions repeated, repeated only to be broken, that you build up a character of force, and strength and power; but it is in solemnly looking at the problems of life, solemnly looking at the circumstances and situations in which you are placed, solemnly confronting the possibilities and temptations that lie before you, and deliberately retaking up your mind, as in Gods sight, as to what your duty is, and then purposing, determining, resolving in your heart that you will not be defiled. You will find in that resolution a strength, a help in the hour of temptation. (Sir Samuel Chisholm.)
The Power of Purpose
It may help us to appreciate Daniels purpose and the power it exercised over him if we remember first that he was living in bad times. He and his fellow countrymen were in captivity; they were the slaves of a heathen king. Their country had been laid waste, their holy city and the sacred temple in it reduced to a heap of blackened ruins. I mention this because such experiences often have the effect of breaking down a mans purpose and spirit. When blow after blow comes, when disappointment follows disappointment, when defeat succeeds defeat, hope is apt to be lost and purpose to give way. And, as a matter of fact, we know that captivity had this effect on many of the Jews; they lost their faith in Jehovah; they gave themselves up to sheer worldliness. But that was not the way with them all. Daniel was a brilliant exception. No longer able to worship Jehovah through the medium of the temple ordinances, nevertheless he did not abandon all worship as many of his countrymen did, but he rose instead to truer conceptions of what real worship meant. Though in Babylon he remained a good Jew, a diligent worshipper of the Lord God of his fathers, and observed all the forms he was able to observe in the circumstances. The bad times in which he lived only brought out more clearly the purpose in his heart not to forget his God. Evil days did not break his purpose; they only strengthened it. Another thing that may help us to appreciate his purpose is that he was living not only in bad times but in a bad place, Babylon was a city and centre of wickedness. It was the home of luxury and profligacy; it was the capital of one of those ancient empires that ate their hearts out by the wanton dissoluteness of their people. This, too, shows the power of Daniels purpose--that in the midst of evil he would not defile himself. It is easier for some than for others not to go astray. Some are better looked after than others; their lives are surrounded by good influences; they have every advantage on the side of good. But often bad surroundings ruin good men. What is the explanation? It is this: some are animated by a purpose in their hearts that they will not defile themselves, and some are not. It is not that these last are evilly inclined more than the others; it is not that they are worse or more tempted; but it is this--they have never put before themselves a solemn purpose; they have never thought out the question of what their aim and object in life should be; they have never made up their minds what thing it is in life which is worth living for and worth dying for; they have never said with Paul, One thing I do. There is another explanation which is sometimes given of how men go wrong, as we say, an explanation with which, I confess, I have little sympathy and which is, to my mind, as false as it is dangerous. It is said weakly that we are the creatures of circumstance, and that if a mans surroundings bring him daily, hourly, into contact with evil, the man himself is not so much to blame as his circumstances. The strength of his passions overcomes his will and so frees him from moral responsibility, it is urged. That is an excuse which Robert Burns gave, you remember, when he wrote the lines addressed to God:
Thou knowest that Thou hast formed me
With passions wild and strong;
And listning to their witching voice
Has often led me wrong.
That still expresses the mind of many, and one hears it frequently just now, all sorts of excuses being pleaded for sin. The scientist has no doubt truth on his side, but he has not all the truth. Heredity is not fate. What we have received from our parents does not weave around us a web from which we can never escape, through which we can never break. If it be true that we belong to God as well as to them, the sins of our fathers are only ours when we make them our own by our own will. The mistake of Burns and all who, like him, listen to the witching voice is in listening. He should have put his fingers in his ears. Some of you young men here to-night are, perhaps, in places of employment or in circumstances otherwise far from favourable to your leading godly lives. You are brought into contact with roughness, with profanity, with those who make light of Gods name and Christs religion. And I grant you at once that it is not easy to keep straight and do the right thing and bear the right testimony always in the right way. It needs Daniels purpose in your heart; it needs a heart set on the doing of Gods will; it needs the new heart and the right spirit; it needs the power of the grace of God that cometh down from above. We have seen, then, that Daniels purpose asserted itself over the crushing effects of misfortune and calamity, and over the subtle ensnaring power of evil surroundings. Let us now see, thirdly, how--and this was the greatest test of it--how it made itself felt in the very smallest details of his life. Now most men would have yielded, as most men in similar circumstances do yield, to the influences thus brought to bear on these four youths; they would have been so enamoured of the kings favour and the luxury of their new position that they would have been only too glad to have accepted it and thought themselves exceedingly well off. But now and again there would be found one of sterner stuff who would not be as mere wax in the conquerors hands. And such were found in Daniel and his three companions. Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the kings meat, nor with the wine which he drank. Daniel had religious scruples about his eating and drinking. And the meaning for us of the stand he made is this--that religious principle should regulate the smallest details of our life. It is not narrowness; it is not faddism; it is not over scrupulousness; but it is fidelity to the highest duty, it is fidelity to God, when you set down your foot about a small matter, as it may seem to others, and say, No, I dare not do it, little as it is and pleasant as it might be, because thereby I should be mixed up in a practical denial of God. So did not I because of the fear of God, is a motto which will require from many of you here abstinence from many things which it might be much easier to accept. It is the worst kind of weakness to sink below the level of what we know we ought to be. It invariably brings that loss which is the worst of all losses, the loss of respect for self. President Garfield once said, I do not think of what others may say or think about me; but there is one mans opinion about me which I very much value, and that is the opinion of James Garfield. Others I need not think about; I can get away from them; but I have to be with him all the time. Ha is with me when I rise up and when I lie down, when 1 go out and when I come in. It makes a great difference to me whether he thinks well of me or not. Some would have said Daniel should have been thankful for his mercies. But Daniel saw it in another light. He had to preserve his good opinion of himself, his self-respect, his fidelity to God, which he saw he would have destroyed had he used the food and wine. You see, then, what religious principle can do for a man. You see how it can preserve him, how it can make him bold as a lion, how it can steady his life and make it consistent all through, one great harmony. My brother, you are not right till you can reduce the whole of your life to this one principle of the fear of God, till you are able to bring every action to this great touchstone. Then your path becomes straight as an arrow, no longer wavering, crooked, trembling, zigzag, now this way now that, but straight. It is the man without purpose that goes on a different tack according as the wind blows from one quarter or another. He is a boat without a rudder, tossed about by the storm, buffeted, driven helplessly on to the rocks. He is a horseman without a bridle, carried by the animal in him whither it will. He is a wanderer over a tangled moorland, without a guide, where path crosses path and roads diverge in endless confusion, and yawning deep black ditches come at every step. One of the greatest discoveries of modern times is the reign of law. It has been found that in the world of Nature nothing happens by chance; everything obeys fixed laws, moves on under definite calculable arrangement. That is a great discovery. It enables us to reckon with Nature when we can place this thing and the next in their right places, and attribute each to its uniform cause. When everything is thus fixed by law it cannot be moved, nothing can go wrong, everything moves on towards its accomplishment, doing its work, filling its place, never losing its way. It is like a river bound for the ocean. That is a great discovery, and it is a parable of what every life should be. But what a contrast is presented when you think of the world of outside Nature and the world of human nature! On the one hand you have everything moving on, working in perfect harmony and in eloquent silence--never a jarring note heard, never a momentary pause in the ceaselessmovement: one great vast harmony in praise of the Creator. On the other hand, when you turn to human nature, what a contrast! What a jumbled, jarring, discordant, disjointed world God looks down upon in His human creatures! And yet we were made to be a harmony too, only giving back sweeter music to the Creator. My brother, if your life is to be a true harmony and no longer false, if it is to be conformed not to the law of sin and death but to the law of God, you must have such purpose in your heart as Daniels, and let it rule you. That is the greatest thing in the world--a heart that purposes always to serve God. That is the one thing needful. There is no other principle that takes account of all the facts. Some of them may be good enough for this world, but they are no use for that which is to come. The grand thing about Daniels principle is that it is profitable for the present and it is life eternal for the future. That it is profitable in the present is strikingly seen in the course of this history. Do not any of you be afraid of the consequences of being faithful to God. The last thing I shall ask you to notice in connection with this incident is the great influence which Daniel exerted. That is seen, first of all, in the influence which he exerted upon his superior officers. In accordance with the Old Testament way of putting things, that good influence is said to have been brought about in this way, that God gave Daniel great favour in the sight of the officers. That is only the Old Testament way of saying that Daniels consistent, godly, upright life proved a great power on those who were over him. But more than his influence on his officers was the influence on his companions. That is seen in the spell which his strong character cast over them so that they were ready to stand by him and to strengthen him. (D. Fairweather, M.A.)
The Judean Captives in the Court of the Babylonian King
We must now follow the fortunes of these noble youths, as in the retinue of the victorious monarch they are carried away captive to Babylon. Their young eyes look on new scenes. They pass through countries where the ruins of antiquity contrast strangely with present magnificence and splendour. They pass through Syria, the old hereditary enemy of Israel, but whose power is now broken as it had broken before the power of Israel. They pass through the fertile plains of the Euphrates, and doubtless, here and there, on their melancholy journey, they meet remnants of the lest tribes, scattered by former captivities. They pass on into the dread East, to the Jew almost a terra incognita, a land of which but little was known, save that out of it came forth the grim-visaged men of war whose coming brought terror and desolation to Judea. They pass on to Babylon, at that time the most splendid city of the world, with its palaces, and defences, and gardens, its luxuriance, and magnificence, and wealth. We may imagine these youths duly installed in the palace of the Chaldean priests, and engaged in that curriculum of study which was to result in making them wise and learned in all the arts and sciences then known and cultivated. How much to dazzle the imagination! What new philosophies! What wisdom! What new customs and habits of life! And we can well understand that they could not long remain in this altered condition of things before something would arise which would put their principles to the proof. Certainly we may expect that Babylonian customs will not long run smoothly with Jewish principles. He who has principles in this life has not long to wait before those principles will run counter to something, and put the man to the test, whether he will cleave to his principles or not.
I. THE FACTS GIVEN IN THE HISTORY.
II. THE TEMPTATION TO WHICH THEY WERE SUBJECTED. This temptation was manifold in its character.
1. There was the temptation of fear. We must suppose them courageous youths, indeed, if they were not accessible to the sentiment of fear. Their master was a tyrant and a despot, accustomed to have his slightest whim obeyed as law. He could ill brook conscientious scruples he could scarcely understand; and the slightest provocation would suffice to awaken in his bosom a wrath that knew no pity, and that delighted, when aroused, to trample upon human life. The prince of the eunuchs, although he was high in favour and authority, knew how to tremble before the wrath of his monarch, and expresses a just estimation of it when he answers Daniel, Ye make me endanger my head to the king.
2. There was the temptation of isolation. Hitherto they had been surrounded by restraints, which made it comparatively easy to be true to the law. Then all the external circumstances of their life fortified them in their religious observances. But now how changed is all this. Suddenly they find themselves standing alone. All the props upon which they had hitherto leaned are taken away. The assistances of virtue are removed. They have none to depend upon but themselves and their God. They have no trusted adviser, no learned and astute rabbi to whom they may apply for a solution of this ethical problem. They must take counsel of their own heart. Everybody else does it, is a formula of vindication sufficiently familiar.
3. There was the temptation of gratitude. It is true they were captives, but, barring this, a son could hardly have been more generously treated than were they. Food from the kings table was a distinguished mark of honour. No doubt everything was done that could mitigate the evils of captivity. Future distinction was to be conferred upon them. Present advantages were liberally bestowed. No prince of the realm could have had better opportunities for improvement and prospective advancement. It is a property of noble minds to yield to the suggestions of gratitude. When the world makes onslaught on our virtue there is an instinct of opposition in us that arouses us to fight; but when the world comes coaxing, and overwhelming us with kindness, we are cheated into thinking it base ingratitude not to yield to its suggestions.
4. There was the temptation that comes from conscious inferiority. We have the force of this temptation exemplified in the conduct of Cranmer. When we behold that good and great man (as he truly was, notwithstanding his sad fall) hesitating to commit that act of recantation, which is so dark a stain upon his character, the poet makes him exclaim: What am I, Cranmer, against whole ages? He is plied with countless authorities; his tempters make it appear that all the world is against him. Who am I, then, that I should oppose the world? marks the submission of an independent soul. Better had he learned with Luther, One with God is a majority. This temptation was also doubtless felt by Daniel. The wisdom, vast learning, and intellectual greatness of the sages of Chaldea must have made a deep impression on his young mind, and we can readily imagine him, Who am I, a beardless child, to oppose my convictions to the wisdom of all these? And how often in life do we find young men forsaking their religion and giving themselves to scepticism, because an honoured professor in their college is an unbeliever, or because some man whom they highly esteem for learning, or wisdom, or intellect, flouts the Bible!
5. There was the temptation of self-interest. Holy easy is it to stifle conscience with the sophistries of Satan! Assuredly, then, we can measure the dynamic force of this temptation to which Daniel was subjected by our observation of the conduct of men.
III. THEIR INCORRUPTIBILITY. It is a grand sight to see a man cleaving to principle, abiding by what he believes right, even though he should stand alone, when influences seductive and influences coercive bear strongly upon him. Fear strives to overmaster him, but he scorns fear and answers: I fear none but God. Temptation then comes in new guise, puts on softer attire, poses in the character of virtue, and urges the claims of gratitude; but his just spirit detects the false under the true, and replies: My God is first, Then the cloak of modesty is borrowed, and self-depreciation is lauded up, and the man is asked if he thinks himself greater than the great, wiser than the wise, more learned than the sages; but his answer is prompt, I am nothing: these principles are Gods, not mine. Then temptation identifies itself with self, and pleads the mans cause against himself, until the man begins to think he is arrayed not only against all others, but also against himself, his own being divided; but I say it is glorious when he can declare, I sacrifice myself; dearer to me are the laws of God than my own worldly interests. Such a spectacle of moral heroism does Daniel afford. Our admiration of his conduct is heightened by two considerations:
1. His youth. To find these qualities in a beardless boy is astonishing, and lends a heightened charm to the spectacle.
2. His moderation and temperate conduct. We hardly know which to admire most in his conduct, the fortiter in re, or the suaviter in modo. He purposed in his heart, but sought by winning persuasion to effect his purpose.
IV. SOME LESSONS. Among other things we may learn here:
1. The advantages of early training. We sometimes doubt its efficacy; but we see here that under Gods blessing a child may exhibit steadfast and notable piety.
2. The power of influence. Observe the effect of Daniels influence upon his three friends. It is a blessed thing when the influence of a youth among his comrades is thrown on the side of virtue.
3. That God blesses the faithful. (verse 17.) Fidelity to principle, or, what is the same thing, fidelity to the laws of God, may bring even temporal rewards.
4. The advantages of temperance. (verse 15.) Observe that the steward feared, lest a temperate diet would result in unhealthiness. How completely was he mistaken! Daniel and his friends thrive all the better for pulse and water. (The Southern Pulpit.)
Purpose
A magnificent man was Daniel. Among all the Old-Testament saints he towers colossal. Many of the foremost of them were guilty of sins which the Bible holds up to severest reprobation, but no such stain is on Daniels escutcheon. No doubt he had his faults, for he was only human, but in so far as the record goes he stands forth as one of the most superb specimens of manhood that the world has ever seen. Some men escape reproach because of the obscurity that envelops their lives. Daniel walked in the fierce white light that beats popular impression that a crop of wild oats is a proper preparation for a crop of wheat, upon a throne. Others continue comparatively pure because so situated that they are never specially exposed to the fiery ordeal of temptation. Daniel, however, walked upon the high places of the earth where the going is always perilous, and spent his life in the encompassment of the soft seductions and perilous intrigues of an Oriental court. He was a man of broadest culture, versed in all the learning of his times, and there was no small learning in his times, and yet he never lost his head nor allowed himself to be lured away from the simple faith of his pious fathers. He lived a hundred years, during seventy of which he overtopped all the men of his time. Such a record as was made by this man is perhaps without a parallel in all the history of the human race. His is one of the few, the immortal names, that were not born to die And how came it to pass that he distanced all competitors and forged to the front, and in spite of all the machinations of men and devils stayed there so long, governing governors and swaying a royal sceptre over mighty empires? One word tells the story, and that one word is: Purpose. It distinguished him in early youth, for at the time to which my text refers he was still so young as to be called a child. I would discourage no greybeard who, having long played the fool, resolves to lead a nobler life, but the time to begin is at the beginning. The idea that one can afford to give to inanities and frivolities and vices all ones earlier years before beginning to gird ones loins for lifes proper work, is a mischievous delusion of the devil. Far be it from me to inveigh against such innocent diversions as furnish recreation for both mind and body. God hath given us all things richly to enjoy, and amusement has its place and use. But amusement etymologically means turning away from the Muses, who were supposed to preside over lifes noblest intellectual pursuits; but what becomes of the Muses when a mans whole life is a turning away from them? Ay, and what becomes of the life itself? There may be generous aspirations, but they never eventuate in heroic action, for the lack of determined will and persistent purpose. Brains count for something, but most men fail, not for the want of brains, but for want of purpose. Opportunity counts for something, but it is the man with a purpose that sees and seizes the opportunity, and is the creator rather than the creation of his circumstances. Education counts for something, and any young man is a fool who in such an age as ours neglects to avail himself of the splendid equipment which may so easily be his. But education is not everything. How many college graduates are only genteel loafers--too genteel to soil their dainty hands with any sort of honest work. Patience, pluck, persistence, those are the things that win. A foolish thing it is for a man to curse his fate and blame his unlucky stars, or gnash his teeth and shake his fist behind the back or in the face of the hated plutocrat; to arraign the laws of the land, and, like Samson, in his blind fury, seek to tear down the pillars on which rests the whole fabric of society. Possibly there may be something the matter with society, but in all probability there is very much more the matter with him. Doubtless there are degenerates and incompetents who are lacking in ability to bring things to pass, but most men have facilities enough to win victories if only their faculties were brought into the field under the marshalship of a single, central, and imperial purpose. Hitherto I have spoken only of the material and intellectual achievements that relate to life upon this little planet. Yet this is not the whole of life, but only its beginning. How brief the glory of mere earthly triumphs! A mighty purpose nerved the arm and guided the destiny of the masterful man who wrote: I came, I saw, I conquered. Heres the splendid mansion of a multi-millionaire. He was born in the manger poverty, but he purposed to be rich. He girded his loins and set his teeth, and dug and delved and denied himself, and sacrificed everything, including, it may be, honour and lifes sweetest charities. It was gold that he was after, and he got it--heaps of it--and he died with his hands full of it, but death broke his grip, and he left it to his hungry heirs. A great thing is it to have an aim in life, but he aims too low who aims below the stars. But what a thing it is to have an aim above the stars! Such was Daniels. His eye was fixed upon the highest goal of being, and so beginning with his earliest youth and persevering to his latest breath he purposed that he would not defile himself. And no man can be a Christian without entering into sympathy with that heroic spirit. For, mark you, Christianity is not something just let down from Heaven, like the sheet which Peter saw in a vision. It is not a something with which the inert soul is mysteriously dowered. I grant that the grace of salvation is the gift of God, but no man ever yet was saved against his will or without his will being roused to supreme activity. The crisis of destiny was reached and passed by the prodigal son when he said, I will arise and go to my father. If there is anything on earth that requires heroic purpose it is to humiliate oneself by the acknowledgment of wrong-doing. To bow the knee and humbly cry Peccavi is the hardest thing that ever mortal undertook, and it requires the courage of a Daniel to do it. And to right about face in all lifes plans and pleasures and pursuits is not by any means an easy task. To become a Christian means something more than the acceptance of salvation at the hand of mercy--that is a cheap sort of salvation, that costs nothing, and is actually worth no more than it costs. To be a real Christian means the loyal and loving surrender of ones whole being for time and eternity into the hands of a gracious and Almighty Sovereign, not only for salvation, but for service. We have dwelt ordinarily quite too much upon the rest and too lithe on the yoke, and so we have belittled and belied religion and brought it into contempt by eliminating from it all that appeals to the heroic element in human nature. Let the truth be frankly and fearlessly told, and let all men know that while it is easy enough to be a mere professor of religion, yet to be a real Christian, to follow hard after the Captain of Salvation in the fight for the truth and the right, against the world, the flesh, and the devil, requires as sternly heroic a purpose as that which girded Paul and Daniel when they had to confront the lions. Think you that the lions are all dead, or that they have lost their teeth and claws? The devils minions are everywhere abroad, and he that would be a Christian must be willing to endure hardship as a good soldier, for from start to finish it is a fight with principalities and powers, and the rulers of this worlds darkness; and he who would wire the victory and be crowned with glory will need all that the grace of God can do for him and the girding of a high and holy religious purpose. Let all heroic souls who are willing to enlist upon such conditions fall into line beneath the banner of the cross. (P. S. Henson.)
Daniel in Babylon
The first chapter of Daniel is one of the very best sermons possible on the subject of temperance. It goes not merely to the question of the use of intoxicating drinks, but to the further question of unhealthy food. It covers not merely the matter of wine and beer and brandy, but also pastry and pound-cake and confections. In olden times victorious nations had three ways of dealing with those nations they had conquered. One was to carry the inhabitants out of the land, as the Jews were finally carried into Babylon. This was the severest mode, and was only adopted after repeated rebellions. Another was to take away all the leaders and skilled workmen, This crippled them in case they tried to throw off the yoke. This was also tried by Nebuchadnezzar in the second deportation, as will be seen in 2Ki_10:16. The other or mildest form had first been tried by the Babylonian king. This consisted in levying tribute. Very often certain choice young persons were selected and taken back by the victorious general as specimens of the people he had overthrown. Daniel and his three companions, who are mentioned in this and the third chapter, were on this principle taken back to Babylon. People often foolishly say in contempt of education that God does not need mans learning. But the intimation of the divine record confirms the famous reply, that Even if God does not need mans learning, still less does he need mans ignorance. When God was about to lead his enslaved people out of Egypt, by his providence he sent Moses into Pharaohs household to learn everything that Egypt knew. When the New-Testament Church was to be organized and spread all over the great empire, he sent Saul, a free-born Roman citizen, out of intelligent Tarsus up to Jerusalem, that at the feet of Gamaliel he might learn what he would need to know when he should be transformed into the apostle Paul. So here are these four taken to the Babylonian capital that they might have the best instruction the nation could afford. The Babylonian king compares wonderfully well with a vast number of modern parents and government officers. To him two things were needful to make up an acceptable civil officer--namely, a healthy body and an educated mind. He would furnish his own provisions and his own teachers, and then no boy could complain of bad food or poor opportunities. This was genuine civil-service reform. Was the ambition of these boys stirred by the chance thus given them? Where are the boys of fifteen whose hopes would not quicken them to do their very best in these circumstances? It must have been with some such thoughts as these that Daniel and his boyish companions first confronted the question of eating the kings meat and drinking the kings wine. The average boy would have gone ahead and never cared. The average man or woman would have said, What difference does it make? The average politician would have said, It will never do to offend the kings officer. But thoughtlessness is a sin. Boys and girls, as well as young gentlemen and ladies, are bound to think. As we shall see, success came of thinking. When a boy first tries to shoot birds on the wing he usually fires too quickly. He must learn to stop an instant and steady himself before he fires. So it is in all life, It may be but a moment for thought, but that moment of self-possessing, reassuring thought may be of infinite value. As for these four young men, they foresaw what was coming and made up their minds about it. Our hero seems to have been a born leader, and he led here. With him it was not an open question. He purposed in his heart--not with the stubbornness of self-will, but with the resolution of deep conviction. His three companions stood by him. Whether with God or not, certain it is that with man politeness pays. It gave this open-hearted boy the favour and tender love of Melzar, his present master. That same trait of character, coupled with his integrity and ability, held for him the confidence of King Nebuchadnezzar in after years when God made Daniel his mouthpiece to reprove the kings iniquities and pride. Iniquity and insolence may seem to prosper for a time, and the lions den open for Daniels feet; but at last the hungry lions make a meal of the good mans foes. When Daniel made up his mind not to defile himself with the kings meat, it was purely a question of principle. He did net then know that his course was wise. It seemed utterly foolish. King Nebuchadnezzar and Melzar both believed that the popular opinion of the day was all right in saying that wine and fat meat were necessary for a clear complexion and a quick brain. The same false notion is widely held now about lager beer and tonics. Is it true? Ask the health records. You will find cholera, yellow fever, diphtheria and the rest give explicit answer that they can much more easily carry off the tipplers and topers than those who have not burnt out their constitutions with these slow fires. The poor envy the rich the food on their table, and the rich envy the poor the food that is digested. Boys think it is big to smoke cigarettes, but the doctors say it stunts their growth and poisons their blood. You may not wish to obey Natures hearth laws, but you cannot defy them and escape. The health and brain-power of the Jews would teach the Gentiles a lesson if the Gentiles were not so heedless. Many will doubt this statement and stubbornly stick to Melzars notion, that if they restrict themselves to Daniels diet they will soon become worse-looking than others which are of their set. Well, why not take Daniels way of settling it? Just try it. But be sure and have Melzars honesty, and when the experiment proves you are mistaken give it up. I have a most profound respect for honest old Melzar. It is net an easy thing to give up to a boy when the boy is right and you are wrong. It was specially risky with Melzar, for if he blundered his head was the forfeit. No pride of his own opinion controlled him. We must not forget, however, in our enthusiasm over Daniels triumph in physical beauty and his splendid victory in intellectual learning, that he knew nothing of all this when he made his decision. With our knowledge of the outcome any of us could have the courage to insist on vegetables instead of the kings idol-polluted meat and wine. We must remember, however, that with this youth, of twelve to twenty at the outside, it was wholly a matter of duty. As no shame or pain is so deep as a mothers humiliation over wayward, wicked children, so no joy is sweeter than that which mothers feel when their children, on their own responsibility and out of their own force of character, choose the right and do it. Boys and girls, suppose your mothers knew you as well as you know yourselves, would they weep for joy, or shame? At last the day of decision came. It always does--a day of final judicial inspection, when the uses to which opportunities have been put are revealed, and the estimate is to be made up of all past conduct. Daniel was to stand before the king, and be not only inspected but examined by the king. These Hebrew young men, of now sixteen or twenty, mere found ten times better than their best. Here was the foreshadowing of what Daniel was hereafter to do. They had boasted of their soothsaying insight into dreams until Chaldean had become synonymous with wise man. When, then, the king, as is related in the next chapter and ninth verse, put to them a crucial test of their powers by which he could certainly know the value of their interpretation, they were all at fault. Their gods were proven utterly ignorant. Daniels humility is as beautiful as his faith and greatness. (G. P. Hays, D.D.)
Daniel an Example to Young Men
I. DANIELS PRINCIPLE. I am a child of God, and as such I belong to God in my entire being. (2Ti_2:21.) Such was Daniels principle--it was faith in the testimony of God; the certainty of being one of His children; and it was thereby he triumphed. And it is here, at the very commencement, that the religion of Daniel, of a soul sealed by the Holy Spirit, differs essentially from that of those fearful and double-minded disciples who, believing only part of the testimony of God, dare scarcely hope for salvation, and place the certainty of it only after a long course of labours and of sacrifices. How am I to believe, cries out such a disciple, that I am already in grace and that God has made me His child! Let me be purer, more cut off from the world, and then shall I be able to presume that I belong to Him, and believe in His grace. But that disciple, so far as he shall continue to hold to that course of human righteousness, will never be anything more than a slave of the law. Will you render to God those filial acts of obedience of which you speak if you are not first sealed with the Spirit of adoption which produces them? Must not the sap of the tree be celestial before the fruits of Heaven can be gathered on it? So also, St. John says, you will never render to God what love alone can render Him, so long as fear and its torments are found in you. (1Jn_4:18.) Raise them, to employ that figure still, raise the pyramid of your obedience on the broad and solid base of your adoption of Jesus. Such was the assurance of Daniel such was the principle of his obedience. Happy and holy liberty of grace, glorious privilege with which the Spirit of adoption enriches the believer, through communion with his Saviour! (Psa_119:32.) He will be called, perhaps, presumptuous; it will be said that he is wanting in sobriety, prudence, and the humble trust which every sinner ought to have, and he will be told again and again that he exposes himself to serious falls. Daniel and the other children of God will answer together and without fear: Ye err, not knowing what the grace of God is. (1Co_6:20.)
II. DANIELS COURAGE. There was fidelity, and there was the courage which it demanded of him. For let us not think that it was very easy for Daniel and his companions to make up their minds to what they resolved on. It may have been a comparatively trifling matter to renounce exquisite dishes and to choose the most simple ones; but it was not a trifling matter to them to free themselves from the order of a jealous king, whose slaves they were, seeing that by this course they endangered their lives. Of this they were not ignorant, for the chief of the eunuchs had made them aware of it (1:10). What the tower was to cost was therefore well calculated by them before they commenced to build; and they did not put their hands to the plough till they had well seen and well measured the length of the furrows in the field. (Luk_14:28; Luk_9:62.) How many times must they have spoken among themselves of their duty and of its consequences? How many times did not the excuses and the pretexts of the flesh, the weaknesses of their heart, the promises and the threatenings of the world, and the love of life come, either to obscure their minds or shake their constancy? How many times were they not wont mutually to exhort one another to be faithful. No, it was not inconsiderately that Daniel advanced to the combat, and it was no longer in his own strength. It was in his heart that he resolved on it, it was from the Word and Spirit of the Lord that he drew his courage and his perseverance. My son, give me thy heart, says eternal wisdom to him whom it teaches. (Pro_23:26.) Thou shalt serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, the Lord repeats to His children. (Deu_10:12.) (Psa_119:69.) (Deu_5:29.) (Psa_86:11.) Weigh then all your anchors, O disciples who wish to set sail! Detach your hearts from the impure shores of earth, and, if it is necessary, pluck them away, and that without delay and without pity; if it is true, at least, that you have resolved to surrender yourselves to the heavenly breezes, to the always equable and always favourable breath of the Holy Spirit. What do you fear? Is it not the wind of the grace of God which will never separate you from this world except to bring you near Heaven? Daniel resolved in his heart not to defile himself, and Daniel succeeded therein, because, having first given his heart to his God, it was also from his God that he drew his strength and his courage. With what? you perhaps ask. What are those dishes and that forbidden wine to us; or when indeed are we seen to take them? Ah, shall I answer you; it is not that the table of the prince of this world is unknown or poorly furnished! It is erected, it is uncovered before the eyes of the world and of all peoples, for all desires and for all lusts and hungerings, even the most irregular: meat and beverages are lavished there, to draw to it, to nourish and satiate at it, all passions and all inclinations. It is there that sensuality, voluptuousness, and luxury; it is there that drunkenness, gluttony, and dissoluteness; it is there that cupidity, avarice, and egotism; it is there that ambition, ostentation, pride, and arrogance; it is there that vanity, with its falsehoods, its ruses, and its hypocrisy; it is there, in a word, that the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are invited, in the name of pleasure and of glory, be gratify all their appetites, all their inclinations, all their folly!
III. ISSUE OF DANIELS FIDELITY. It did not result in shame, but in the favour and good pleasure of God--in the most confirmed prosperity. Oh! what perfect peace, what profound rest, what sweet and serene assurance, is shed abroad in the soul of the faithful, since he honours his God, by trusting in Him! There is the goodwill of the Lord to calm every trouble, to drive away and scatter every disquietude. There is the testimony and the seal of Thy Spirit, O mighty Saviour! who says to Thy child that Thou art with him and that Thou dost guard him! Such were the sentiments and such was the joy of Daniel and his brethren. They saw all their prayers heard, all their desires accomplished; but, above all, they saw the name of their God honoured and magnified in presence of His enemies. What, indeed, did these servants of the Most High seek? Certainly, it was not to gain their cause before unbelievers. What value could they have set on the esteem or admiration of those who did not fear the Lord! Neither was it of being virtuous before the world, and hence taking so much the more delight in themselves. Never did that impure thought enter hearts which the Holy Spirit ruled. But what concerned them was that their God, that good Father, was feared, was obeyed, was loved; it was that the homage of their faith should be ascribed to Him without reserve; it was that in the light of His truth, their filial love should render to Him the reverence due to His majesty, and the sacrifice of their entire being. Such an offering was pleasing to the Lord. Go then; shall I say to you, in the name of our Lord, go and do as Daniel did. Like him, you are hers below in a noviciate, in a time of probation, preparing to appear before the King of Zion. Let your principle also be faith, let your strength also be the Word and the Spirit of your God, let your expectation also be the deliverance of the Lord! Let your hand, therefore, go forth and overturn, as Daniels did, the cup which sin presents. No delay, friends of the Saviour! No concealed compounding with evil, no treachery, no duplicity of heart towards Him who loved you perfectly, who is perfectly holy, and who will have no offering but that which the freest will presents Him. Is not the thought of what He has done here below for your soul, and of all that He will yet do in eternity, enough to bind your whole heart and all your desires in obedience to Him? Will greater benefits be needed to gain for Him your affections, to make Him deserving of all your gratitude, and thereby of all your self-devotion? Had Daniel a God more beneficent, or a Saviour more worthy of being loved, than He whom you adore? I know well that, in the judgment of the flesh, these vegetables, with which Daniel was content, are a mean and contemptible food. What dishes were such herbs! What foolish abstinence was such a sobriety! What health, what strength can he pretend to have who condemns himself to them? So will the pulse of the Gospel ever be despised and dishonoured--that nourishment which grows in the garden of the Lord, and which His Spirit presents by His Word to the happy children of His house. But the result, O mocking world! If you do not know, I am going to tell you, and it will be by facts. See these faithful Hebrew youths, stronger and fresher than all the others. See also, now, those sincere Christians, those disciples whom the Lord Jesus calls His friends (Joh_15:14), because they do everything which He commandsthem, because they touch no dishes of the world, because they are content with the pulse of wisdom and of holiness, and judge of their state. Do they appear to you feeble, sad, unhappy? or rather, do they not in some sort publish by their peace, their joy, their habitual sweetness; by the equality of their character, the purity of their manners, and the sweetness of their deportment; by their sustained piety; by their charity unfeigned; by their firm and glorious hope; and their patience and their humility, that their souls are full of life, and that their vigour is certainly that which comes from God; whilst those of their brethren who eat at the table of the world, know neither the vigour of faith, nor the health of peace, nor the serenity of hope? It will not be long that you will have to renounce the dishes of the world and its beverages. Think, oh! think seriously, my brethren; think with affection, what will be those years of renunciation of the world, and of attachment to what the Holy Spirit points out and commands you, when you shall have no more time, no more years, nor days--when you shall have ended this short voyage, and eternity shall have conmenced to your soul? Yes, think of that, and see if it is not just to God, and good to yourselves, in every way, even for this world but especially for eternity, that, having to go before your Saviour and King, you should, while you are still here below, purpose in your heart not to defile yourselves with the meats nor with the wine of this world, and, like Daniel, honour your Lord, by being subject to him! (C. Malan.)
Daniel and his Companions
The scene is the city of Babylon, the most magnificent of all the cities of antiquity. Far as the horizon itself extended the circuit of the great capital of the then known world. It stretched out over an area of two hundred square reties, and the whole territory was enclosed within vast walls, one hundred feet higher than Bunker Hill Monument, and along their summit ran a vast terrace which admitted of the turning of chariots with four horses, and which may, therefore, well have been more than eighty feet broad. As one approached the city from a distance, these walls extended along the horizon like lines of towering hills. The space within the walls was divided off by streets or roads running at right angles. Forests, parks, gardens were intermingled with the houses so as to present the appearance of the suburbs of a great metropolis rather than the metropolis itself. The great palace of the kings was itself a city within a city--seven miles round, compared to which the Temple of Solomon was insignificant. The houses of the city were made of pale brown brick, and were set in gardens of luxuriant trees and flowering shrubs. A carpet of variegated and brilliant flowers covered the unoccupied spaces between the streets, producing an enchanting spectacle. Elegance and luxury characterized the habits of the people. Gorgeous splendour of dress and dwelling and equipage met the eye at every turn. Gold and silver and ivory adorned the houses, and everything was on a scale of Oriental magnificence. The people were given to a voluptuous life, and worldliness in its most attractive forms abounded on every side. Into these unusual surroundings four young lads from Judea were carried captive, and confined within the palace of the king. The contrast to their former manner of life was most marked, and it is easy to see that in mingling in the worldliness they have arrived at a most critical point in their lives. Their manner of meeting that test is very suggestive, and contains a striking lesson for the youth of modern times.
I. Daniel and his three friends illustrate the POWER OF PRINCIPLE. It would be safe to prophesy concerning these four lads that when they entered that heathen city they would soon fall into the ways of the people and yield to the circumstances, and become like their captors. For it was a kind of life that appealed to sensibilities of youth. Physical enjoyments of every kind presented themselves before these inexperienced young men. Moral restraints were absent. Public sentiment was against all such restraints, and they could indulge in whatever they desired without fear of offending social customs. We are agreeably disappointed, therefore, when Daniel and his friends take a decided stand on a matter of conscience. They refused to eat the meat and wine set before them by the eunuch having them in charge. They know that meat and wine were used in idol worship, and they had been brought to abhor idolatry. They knew also that the food of the kings table was not the most wholesome. In view of these two facts they agreed to refuse the kings food. It was a daring thing for them to make their stand against the rules of a kings palace, but principle was at stake, and they dared all for principle. Many may think it was a small matter upon which to raise an issue, but a great principle often lies concealed within a trifle. It is a comparatively insignificant thing for any one of us to stamp a piece of silver with the die of the United States, but it is an set involving the whole question of treason to ones government, and treason is no trifle. Daniel knew that if he quieted his conscience on this small matter he would yield all the way through. Principles are to be declared at once. It is sometimes half the battle. The young man just beginning his mercantile career had best let his scruples be known at once to his fellow clerks, and it will save him many temptations. They will not be likely to want him to become a companion in evil. The commentator tells us that Daniel was only fourteen years old when he was carried away to Babylon. If this is so, it only proves conscientiousness is not a matter of years. Parents may trust their children amid the most perilous influences, provided they have been thoroughly trained and are acquainted with moral distinctions. We can give our children no more valuable gift than correct principles. Money, education, social standing, are nothing in comparison with them.
II. We remark next this experience of Daniel is A PLEA FOR SIMPLICITY OF LIFE. Daniel was satisfied to eat the plain food to which he bad been accustomed at home. Rich and delicate viands were partaken of by all within the royal palace; he was content with a few plain vegetables. He was thus a constant rebuke to the gluttons and epicures who made a god of their food, for he proved that health and physical comfort did not depend on the variety and costliness of that which was eaten. We cannot estimate the value of his example in that luxurious, extravagant court. How it must have opened the eyes of the young courtiers whose lives were given over to the gratification of bodily desires! Daniel speaks no less forcibly to the young people of to-day, for they are in danger of spending too much thought and money on artificial wants. Too large a part of the earnings of our young men and women is spent upon non-essentials. Neither utility nor comfort demands them. It requires grit to live in an unostentatious manner, to cut down expenses, to cast aside the yoke of unnecessary wants; but it is a great relief when once the freedom has been gained.
III. This narrative also shows THAT YOUNG MEN CAN SERVE THEIR GOD BY SERVING THE STATE. Daniel consecrated his skill and ability to the securing of good laws and to the guidance of their administration. The making and administering of law is noble work, and when so much depends on legislation as in our country there is need that young men consecrate their powers to this important service. Politics must be rescued from the unworthy and self-seeking, and lifted to the high place where they belong. All of Gods early lawmakers and rulers were able and good men,--Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Daniel,--men of breadth of view, integrity, and faith. The idea that the conduct of government can best be served by selfish and cunning men is totally false. Men are beginning to realise the wide opportunity for serving God afforded by a political calling.
IV. This lesson also suggests the PRESERVING POWER OF RELIGION. Daniel carried his religion into all the departments of his life. He glorified God in his daily life and commended his religion to the heathen king by manliness and fidelity. He was a faithful servant of the king because of his religious belief. His religion gave him self-control and practical wisdom. Young men should not hesitate to subject their whole plan of life to Gods scrutiny--to ask His blessing on their business, their professional duty, and their social obligations. The professional, commercial, artistic, literary world needs men who know how to pray in connection with their work. May Daniel teach us how to do it! (E. S. Tead.)
Daniel in Babylon
A nations most splendid characters appear in its darkest hours. This is especially true of the chosen people with whom God made a covenant, and it made it certain that he would never leave them wholly in the power of their enemies. Hence we see, all along the Old Testament history, great deliverers raised up when all seemed lost. They purified religion. They broke the oppressors yoke. They told of the coming Saviour. A wonderful group of great men was seen during the very night of the nations history when for seventy years it was in captivity among a heathen people. During most of this time Jerusalem was a heap of ruins, and there was no altar of sacrifice. One of the greatest characters of human history arose like a star at this time in Daniel. Among the first captives Nebuchadnezzar carried over to Babylon, there was a company of royal children who were exceptionally attractive, educated and fit for public service. The conqueror determined to use their abilities for his own profit. We should remember that Daniel began life with high natural qualifications for his great work, and that he was attractive and beautiful, and capable to wield great affairs. So God uses natural abilities for his service. Great goodness requires great ability. At this time Daniel was about fourteen years old. He and the company with him had rich food and wine furnished them from the royal tables. How wonderful that a boy of that age, when one is usually so heedless and self-indulgent, should put himself upon a course of simple diet and abstinence from wine! Observe it was not a question with the boy Daniel whether meat itself was suitable human food, but whether meat defiled in heathenish modes of preparation was fit for a servant of God. It was a religious as well as a sanitary measure which he undertook when he respectfully requested his master to allow him a plain vegetable diet. It was an act of faith. But, besides this, he rejected wine, which was not forbidden by the law. Priests at certain times, and those under Nazarite vows, drank no wine; but the mere drinking of wine in itself was not looked upon in the law with favour or disfavour. It did not ceremonially defile one to drink, as it did to eat meat that had been killed in the heathen way, and served up with offerings to the false gods. The wine was unnecessary and tempting. Both were rejected by one who had in him the stirrings of the prophetic instinct, and who felt called of God to a spiritual service. Now, the greatness of Daniel, shown at this early date, was the cause of his vows of abstinence. These vows were not the cause of his greatness. Others, and tens of thousands of our youth, grow up strangers to wine and to kings meat, without becoming famous leaders of Gods people. High spiritual aims, communion with God, capacity to understand mysteries and discern the signs of the times, seem naturally to call for a plain and severe sort of living. We think of the Nazarites, like Samuel, who never touched wine. Elijah lived roughly. John the Baptist had locusts and wild honey for his food when he prepared the way of the Lord; and, while Jesus came eating and drinking, we must remember that his ineffable purity left him free to use what we easily abuse. If the pure in heart see God, surely the pure in body are fitted to be the organs of the Spirit, are free to obey his voice, and more quick to hear what he says. We should remember, too, that this course was adopted on religious grounds. We must also believe that it was maintained through a long life by religious faith. It was Christian temperance. Of course, it was all very singular in a kings palace. The higher one goes in the social world the more rigid the rules of etiquette and fashion are; and in the palaces of kings one might say they amount to a law that cannot be broken with safety. It snowed a great soul in Daniel to dare resist the mighty current around him, and live simply. Many a weak young man falls into intemperance, taking his first glass at a womans hands, because he is afraid to show ignorance of social customs, or a scrupulousness that attracts notice. The regimen was used for three years with great success. During this time the boys were learning the Chaldean language, quite unlike their own Hebrew, so that they could speak with the king and the court. They also studied whatever of science there was to be learned, as Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. We read that God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom. What the four youths gained at their books was so clarified by prayer, by dependence on God, by pure actions, and by plain living, that they rapidly advanced. God helped them. Over the gate of one of the colleges at Oxford is the motto, The Lord is my Light. Luther said, To pray well is to study well. The mind that is unclogged by rich food and wine is strong to grapple with hard problems. The Great Light sends down kind and quickening rays. When the three years were passed, all the selected youths went up to the king for examination. He talked with each one of them, with the result that Daniel, and his three friends who had joined him in his vows, were selected to stand before the throne and give advice upon all matters of wisdom and understanding. It was essential to the great part he was to play as prime minister and Gods representative that he should meet the astrologers on their own ground, and surpass them all, just as Moses had done in the Court of Pharaoh. This greatness of soul, shown by the abstinence of the boy Daniel, was attested and exhibited through a long and illustrious career. Some lessons may be emphasized in the study of this very early part of Daniels life in Babylon.
1. Saints may be found in kings houses. If we had been looking through the world in ancient days to find men of faith and prayer, we should never have dreamed of finding any such in the luxurious pagan palace of the Pharaoh at Memphis. Yet Joseph was there, praying and working for his God, surrounded by the pride of life, but untouched by it. So one would have passed by the court of Babylon as the last place where true piety could be nurtured, and yet there were men of God in highest station. The monarchs they served worshipped idols. There was feasting and revelry. There were sights from which the angels turned away. And yet in the heart of it all there was faith in God, humble living in His sight, and abstinence from wine and strong drink. So, I imagine, if we should search to-day for the brightest examples of piety, we should feel that it was quite in vain to look in the houses of the millionaires of our land, or of the titled rich of other lands, or in the courts of kings. God has His hidden ones, and often they are hidden in the blaze of the worlds prosperity.
2. Godliness is profitable for all things. It carries power with it which nothing else can give. Men instinctively reverence the self-denying spirit which young Daniel and his companions showed at court. Those who live altogether under the powers of this world feel reverence for those under the powers of the world to come. Those who command themselves, command others.
3. But we see, above all other truths, how God exalts his servants. We may well draw useful lessons in temperance, uprightness, courtesy, purity, and studiousness from the boyhood of Daniel. But we see the mighty hand of God in guiding the king to place him among the chosen youths, in permitting him to live unlike the rest, in giving him favour with his master and skill in his studies, in causing him to be selected for wisdom and exalted to the chief place in the gates. It is all of God. Even the noble purpose not to be defiled by the kings meat found its place in the boys heart through grace from on high, and it was kept alive there by the same power. And, therefore, we may well take up Daniels own words, and say, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: and he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: he revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. (Sermons by Monday Club.)
Conscientiousness
(with Chap. 6. Verse 16):--From the historical portion of the book which goes under the name of Daniel, I choose the first and the last scenes, desiring to call your attention to the close connection which subsists between them. In the first of these scenes we see the holy character of the prophet presumed, and in the second we observe it bearing its ripe fruit. It is not always, you know, that the early years of a mans life give promise of what the latter ones are. Daniels career was consistent throughout. We trace in the commencement of it the principles which actuated and supported him to the end. He had religious scruples with reference to the provision of the kings meat and wine. But all objections might have been escaped, and the food innocently partaken of. He was not bound to inquire what the prescribed diet was, and how treated before it was placed on the table. Daniel, however, not only acted on the law of God, but he loved it, and because he loved it he was resolved to be on the safe side, and was desirous rather to leave a margin beyond the legal restriction than risk the violation of it. Be it observed, in forming a judgment of his conduct, that his main scruple in all probability turned upon a point of conscience. St. Paul was required to settle the question for the primitive Christians. He says the conscientious scruples of weak Christians, while they existed, were bound to be respected; but at the same time he admits that the scruples were weak. An idol is nothing in the world; it has no real existence, and that therefore none of Gods good creatures can take any defilement from meat being offered to an idol. That sufficiently proves that in the question itself there was no absolute right or wrong. I need scarcely say that the light of the New Testament dispensation had not then shone, and Daniel had not seen at that early period any relaxation of the Jewish ceremonial law. Such is the first record of the life of Daniel. If it stood alone, if we knew no more of it than this, though it might lead us to greatly respect him as a conscientious man, I dont know that that would necessarily prove him to be a saint of God, or even amount to a high principle. Scrupulosity as to little points in externals is, strange to say, very often found in some character who practically sets God at defiance and the moral law, The Pharisees strained at a gnat and swallowed a camel, paying tithe of mint and anise and cummin with great exactitude, but omitting the weightier matters of the law--judgment, mercy, and faith. But Daniels scrupulosity was of a totally different order from theirs, and sprang from motives to which they were strangers, which may be gathered from the last recorded passage of his history. This passage contains the well-known account of his being thrown into the lions den and miraculously preserved there. The crime which was punished with this savage barbarity was offering prayer three times a day in defiance of the law which the first princes had induced Darius to make. Now, we see Daniel, who had begun by making a brave stand on a religious scruple, ending by making a still more brave stand on one of the weightier matters of the law--a question of principle if ever there was one. Command the servant of God to live without prayer for thirty days! You might as reasonably command the body to live without air as a devout soul without prayer. Communion with God is the element in which the soul of a righteous man lives and moves and has its being. As the life of the body consists of respiration and aspiration in repeated acts, taking in air and throwing it out, so the life of the soul consists in repairing unto God by the thought of His presence, and in going out towards Him in the fervent desire of prayer. This is the essential teaching of religion. Come what might of his disobedience to the ungodly statute, Daniel must make his protest, even though the dread lions must be faced. Now, when we read of the sufferings to which the martyrs were subjected we are apt to ask ourselves whether we should have endured under them, whether we should have resisted, as they did, unto blood, striving against sin. Perhaps some light of a practical and edifying character may be thrown on the question by observing in what the course which ends with martyrdom began. That was consistent conscientiousness. Daniel, who set at defiance the ungodly statute, is the same Daniel who, in his early youth, preferred death to risk the violation of the ceremonial law of God. The stuff of which martyrs are made is consistent adherence to principle, even when principle involves personal risk, pain, inconvenience, or martyrdom. Let it be observed, it is quite possible for a man who is steadfast in his attendance to duty to take a mistaken view of what his duty is. Show me the young person who observes the restrictions of Gods law conscientiously, and I will show you one who gives promise of that faith which endures unto death. From the principle upon how we should act under circumstances of risk, or ridicule, or inconvenience, we may form some judgment as to whether we should be found steadfast in the martyrs hour if God should call us to it. Only be thou faithful in that which is least, and then thou shalt be faithful also in much; yea, thou shalt be faithful unto death, and Christ shall give thee the crown of life. (Dean Goulbourn.)
The Power of a Temperate Life
Among the ancients much was made of temperance as a virtue. Moderation or self-control in all things was insisted upon to an extent hardly understood in the present day. No one reading the Ethics of Aristotle, for instance, can fail to be struck with the thoroughness of the educational methods therein enjoined and set forth. It was thought, above all things, necessary for true manhood that a person should have acquired the habit of self-mastery in such a way that he should enjoy the good things of life without becoming their slave. Their acquaintance with human nature taught Greeks and Romans the value of this practice. Young people were trained to avoid excesses of any kind, bodily or mental. No doubt much of this was due to the idea of the State. Everything was sacrificed to the good of the community, as, for example, in Sparta, where the laws made little of the suffering of the individual, and sought, above all things, the glory of the State. When Christianity came into the world the same thought received a new emphasis. Not merely a moral or material, but a spiritual value was put upon it. The spiritual man was recognised as one who, while regarding the body as the temple of the Holy Ghost, retained full control of his physical powers, believing that the desires of the flesh, left to themselves, were dangerous. Excesses of every kind were forbidden on the ground that spiritual life did not consist in the gratification of the senses, but in their moderate and careful use. A new ideal replaced that of Greek or Roman citizenship, namely, that man was meant to be a citizen of a heavenly rather than an earthly kingdom. The virtue of temperance was seen to be a necessity for its development, but in a grander and nobler sense than had been foreseen by Aristotle and Lycurgus. Before long asceticism came in with its dangerous and exaggerated emphasis of the duty of keeping under the body, and bringing it into subjection. Much harm was wrought by such devotees as St. Simeon Stylites, who sank far below the idea of the old pagan world in advocating self-torture in the place of self-control. In modern times Christianity has righted itself. We are all familiar nowadays with exhortations to manly Christianity and the worth of clean, wholesome, natural living, for the Kingdom of Heavens sake. We cannot too earnestly insist upon the value of temperance in all departments of human life. To be a Christian is to be master of oneself, to keep a rein upon the passions, to be able to move securely in the midst of exercises and enjoyments, over-indulgence in which would prove fatal both to nobleness and godliness. We use the word temperance in a somewhat restricted sense because of one of the greatest of our national sins--drunkenness; but I feel keenly that there are other kinds of intemperance than over-indulgence in alcoholic liquors. Over-eating is as much a sin against God as overdrinking. It is abuse of the creatures and abuse of the body we seek to pamper. In the search for exhilaration and in the abounding delight of vigorous life many promising, careers are ruined by the loss of self-control. And then let us be aware that only he who has learned this lesson is fitted to guide or rescue others. There is no man but has his battle with temptation, yet, if he prevails, his experience and his strength come to the help of others. The power of a temperate life is a grand thing, not for its own sake simply, but for the sake of others. (R. J. Campbell, M.A.)
Daniel in Babylon
Judah had fallen utterly before the power of Babylon. The holy city was burnt, its walls broken down, the Temple destroyed, and its sacred vessels devoted to the service of the heathen gods. Those that escaped the sword were carried captive to Babylon. Amongst these was Daniel, evidently of princely birth and noble appearance. He, a youth probably of some seventeen years, together with three of his companions, was reserved for the highest service of the State. Far happier were they than most of their countrymen. The king had seen his children slain, and then, his eyes put out, he was led, blinded and bereaved, in chains to Babylon. Most of the captives would be made slaves. The historians tell us that every Babylonian brick in the British Museum represents the anguish of some slave. It is needful for us to remember that this was at best the fate that awaited Daniel and his companions if they offended those who were set over them or if they refused in any way to fulfil the purposes of the king. To him and his companions are given new names indicating their consecration to the gods of Babylon. To the Hebrew a name was much more than a convenient distinction. It was sacred; there was in it a Divine meaning. And he was to be trained in all the learning and science of the Chaldeans. This training was not only of the mind, but of the body too, and secured for these students the luxury of daily supplies from the kings own table. Let us stay, to look at the captive, to look at the circumstances, and to look at the authority that was over him. His action in the matter could be so easily misunderstood, was indeed so difficult to explain. Object to food that came from the kings own table! There is nothing that we are more touchy about than a complaint of the food that we provide for others, especially if we think it good enough for ourselves. Who is this youth, who cannot conscientiously taste of the food that is good enough for Nebuchadnezzar himself? Very well, take him where most of his countrymen are. Let him share their fare for awhile. They are not troubled with costly meats and dainty drinks. See if that will suit him. And if Daniel complained that his objection was a religious one, that made the matter worse. What, refuse, reject, despise the meat that is sanctified to the gods of Babylon! Where, indeed, was the God of Israel now? The Temple burned, the golden vessels adorning the service of the gods that made Nineveh great! This were an insult past forgiveness. Such an offence were enough to provoke the wrath of these outraged deities. Let the young man pay the penalty that the gods themselves might well exact. Such were the perils that threatened him. And there was Nebuchadnezzar, proud conqueror of the nations. All the forces of that vast nation waited to fulfil his bidding, whose word was law. Daniel, a lad of seventeen, purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the kings meat nor with the wine which he drank. All within him, his devotion to irk God, the influence of his house, the hopes and memories of his nation, became a great resolution and refusal. He could not, would not, dared not--cost what it may. Daniel purposed in his heart. How grand a thing is that majesty of the will, that knitting of the man as master of his fate more than circumstances! You have seen the driftwood flung along the coast, hither and thither,--swept by the changeful tides, chased by the waves. But fronting the great seas has stood the rock, firm whilst thundering billows break on it in thunder and dashed their spray to the heavens. So the man who is rooted and grounded in right, as if he were become part of the solid earth, one with the round world itself. The man who stands for goodness stands in God. He who sets himself for the right has God at his back. Let the world laugh, or sneer, or smile, right is might. The purpose of the heart is the beginning of life. There is the helm; nay, it is the hand of the helm. Fools wish; men will. Wishing never got a man out of a difficulty, but a right will would have kept him out. And do not think of this will as a matter of nature only. Do not begin to be cast down because that is just what you lack. Do not turn away saying, Alas! I am foolish, fickle, cowardly; this is no example for me. Honestly ask yourself, What is the good of preaching, of the life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, what is the good of God Himself, unless somehow or other there can come into us a right will? Is not this the promise ever set before us--a new heart? And what is a new heart but a new will, a new purpose? Take hold of these words: It is God that worketh in us to will and to do. Think of some old warrior who takes the lad and puts upon those slender fingers his own sinewy hands. And thus they bend the bow together, and thus they hold the feathered arrow on the string: And the man with keen sight and unerring aim lets fly the string, whilst the lad with parted lips watches it strike the centre of the target. So is it that there comes upon us the might of God with purpose resolute, and strength unfailing, to make us more than conquerors, strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. We are apt to think about the will of God as something outside us to which we must be conformed. Gods will is apt to be only that which He has spoken in His word. But the will of God is that which Upholds the universe. Gods will is Gods might. It is a long way from this youth in Babylon to the Apostle Paul, but this makes them one. He declares himself an apostle by the will of God. He had opened his heart to the mighty force, had let himself go under its constraint. I can do all things through Him which strengtheneth me. Daniel himself gives us the secret of his power. The people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. (Dan_11:32.) Turn to the story again for another lesson. Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. His way was greatly smoothed for him because his ways were so winsome. He was so likeable, so loveable. A man who calls himself a Christian has no business to be us prickly as a hedgehog or as ugly to touch as a stinging nettle. A man may be resolute without being as stubborn as a mule or an ass. The ugliest thing in the world is an ugly religion--that kind of assumption of superiority, that suspects everything, that carries its head as if sniffing heresy, that looks its condemnation at everybody and everything. We are to please men with edification. Strength is much, but it is not all. Gods graces go in pairs, and strength is to be wedded to beauty. Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Do not forget that the Bible teaches us to pray that God would make us beautiful. Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. Because Daniel could not go all the way that those about him wanted him to he would go all the more gladly where he could. They may not have liked his religion, but they could not help liking him. It is a poor religion that acts like a thunderstorm, and turns the milk of human kindness sour wherever it goes. As true as steel, yet out of steel sun do not fashion only swords, but things as delicate as the hair-spring of a watch. Be gentle, be courteous, be ready to help, be quick to do anybody anywhere a good turn, and make that as much part of your religion as it is to be honest. Then turn for a moment from Daniel to think of his companions, I do not mean in the least to reflect upon these brave youths when I say that it is certainly possible that we might never have heard of them if it had not been for Daniel His bold stand made it easy for them to follow where he led. We are responsible for our influence, and that we can never measure, never know. If you will be true to your God and be true to your better self there are many about you who will take a stand because you do. And note the prudence of his proceeding. He requested the prince that he and his companions might have simple fare, just pulse to eat and water to drink--porridge you may call it if you will. It was a courteous request and courteously received. But the prince of the eunuchs feared to grant it. What will the king say when he sees your faces so much more woe-begone than those about you? Well, said Daniel, let us put the matter to the test. For ten days let us have this simple fare, and you shall see for yourself as to our looks and see if we are sadder than those about us. So it was settled. And at the end of the time they were found fairer and fatter than those about them. One is reminded of what Dr. Johnson said in Scotland. Said Boswell, Men here eat what we give horses in England. Yes, replied Johnson, and where will you find such men or such horses? Nature, says old Matthew Henry, is content with little, grace with less, but sin with nothing. Nobody will believe in a religion that makes people sadder than those who are without it. The sunshine of Gods favour must shine forth from the face if men would bless the world. A cheery face preaches a sermon seven days long, and nobody tires of it. As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom. So let us listen to the words of the grand old Book that here find a living picture: My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments. For length of days and long life and peace shell they add to thee. So shalt thou find good understanding and favour in the sight of God and man. (M. G. Pearse.)
Readings in Daniel
At the first epoch of the captivity of Judah, when Jehoiakim was King in Jerusalem, a goodly number of the scions, or younger branches, of the royal family, and of the Jewish nobility, were carried away by Nebuchadnezzar. Of the handsomest and cleverest of these, a selection was made by the conquerors orders to serve in his palace as chamberlains or attendants. Thus was fulfilled the word of the Lord, spoken by Isaiah fully a hundred years previously to Hezekiah, that the descendants of his own body should be led away captive, and become eunuchs in the palace of the King of Babylon (2Ki_20:18). Of the noble captives thus chosen to serve as attendants upon Nebuchadnezzar, four are specially named--Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Daniel was perhaps the handsomest, and certainly he had the greatest natural talents of the whole, besides being their leader in all that was amiable and pious. The first manifestation of their earnest desire to obey the laws of Jehovah was in regard to the food appointed for them. Rather would they have poorer food by far, if thus they kept the commandments of their Creator, than indulge in dainties without having the blessing of heaven. Not only on the bodily condition of the young men did the blessing of heaven descend, but Jehovah smiled upon their mental powers, and endowed them with knowledge and ability beyond all their contemporaries. No doubt the simplicity of their style of living would help rather than hinder their studies. Plain diet and abstinence from wine would leave their perceptive faculties unclouded. They would know nothing of the miseries of indigestion, or of the lassitude that follows indulgence in intoxicating beverages. For more than seventy years afterwards Daniel lived in Chaldea, an honoured servant of Jehovah. Let us consider some practical lessons deducible from the brief portion already surveyed.
I. MANS GOINGS ARE OF THE LORD; AND HIS OVER-RULING IS ALWAYS GOOD. Was it so in the case of Daniel and his three friends of royal and noble blood? To be dragged far away from their dear native land, and held captive amidst idolaters, surely such an experience could not be good? Without doubt it was for the glory of God, and the eternal benefit of these pious young men, that their lot was cast in Babylon. The lifework of a flower is to blossom and shed its perfume, wherever its Maker may plant it, whether in a lovely garden or in a desolate wilderness. Its sweetness is never wasted, though no eye but that of its Creator look upon it. And so with the children of heaven. At home or abroad, in congenial company or amid the prejudiced and the scoffing, in crowded city or in solitude, their eyes are turned to their Fathers face, and they muss ever be about their Fathers business. Was the Divine over-ruling good for that poor black boy whom the Lord permitted to be snatched from his wild but free home on the Gold Coast of Africa, and sold as a slave in Jamaica? Oh! the bitter tears he shed for many days, the curses he poured upon the head of his purchaser, and invoked on the cruel task-master that drove him daily to work on the sugar plantation! By-and-bye, however, he found his way to a chapel where negroes worshipped. There he heard of One who, though God over all, was, nevertheless, in human form, scourged am a slave, and crucified as a malefactor, that He might make our peace with offended Deity. The love that sent the Saviour to ransom lost sinners, the love that led the Redeemer to endure the wrath due to our transgressions, filled the poor black boys heart. Peace that passeth understanding, from that hour, kept his mind night and day, and he felt like singing all the time. It was easy for him then to work, for he had a rest remaining for him above; and even in the midst of his toils he was as happy as man can be on earth. So far from fretting thereafter against the Providence that had permitted his being sold into slavery, he thanked God for it every day of his life; and continually did he pray that his father and mother, too, might be brought as slaves to Jamaica, there to learn about the love of Jesus. Let us delight ourselves in the Lord and in His will. Let us sweetly submit ourselves to His disposal, and seek only how to walk worthy of Him in the path he chooses for us.
II. WE SHOULD DARE TO BE SINGULAR WHEN GOD CALLS US TO BE SO. For quiet and comfort most people have occasionally to conform to customs that do not meet their own taste. Singularity is often the characteristic of a weak or erratic mind, and sometimes the result of mere self-conceit. Where no moral principle is involved, and where deviation from the fashion would only occasion gossip about us, it is generally best in some measure to follow the crowd. But when the following of the customs of our place and time leads to questionable doings, or to positive transgressions of Gods laws, there comes into operation our Masters general order, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. Yes! it is a cross we are called to carry, but we bear it in worthy company. Balaam prophesied of the children of Israel that they should dwell as a people alone, and should not be reckoned among the nations. To promote this separation from the idolaters who surrounded them was one special object of the ceremonial law. Mingling with the heathen, they learned only evil. Israel shall dwell in safety alone, said Moses, in his farewell words to the much-loved tribes that sprang from Jacob. Daniel and his friends, even when placed by Providence in the very midst of idolaters, forgot not where their safety lay. They therefore stood aloof from everything which was in opposition to Gods law. Happy the man who faithfully follows their example! (2Co_6:17-18).
III. MAN LIVETH NOT BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDETH OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD. It is not the abundance of our dainties that sustains life, but Gods blessing. If we would but taste and see that God is good, if we would but accept His love freely offered in Jesus, and let Him make us altogether His own, ah! then, plain food and humble circumstances would render us happier far than the rich and great who know Him not. On ourselves, and on all we have, His blessing would evermore abide; and life in His favour lies. (Original Secession Magazine.)
Happiness Despite Circumstances
By way of pre-eminence modern science emphasises two laws--the law of heredity, and the law of environment. With these laws as with keys, our scholars unlock the mysteries of vegetable and animal life, and also the life of man. This first law, heredity, deals with the fixed elements in the souls career. It unveils the mans birth-gifts, and shows us from what sources these gifts of mind and body came. But this ancestral element is fixed and unchanging. No man, by tugging at his heartstrings, can change the sanguine temperament of birth to the phlegmatic or the melancholic. The beginning of happiness and usefulness is an instant and absolute acceptance of the task and temperament that God and our fathers have appointed. But when heredity has given us the fixed element in character, and the source from which the life moves forth, then comes in the second great law of environment that deals with shifting and variable influences and makes life flexible, makes the future uncertain, and clothes the to-morrows with wonder and mystery. This, therefore, is the problem of the great biographer. Given the youth clothed with certain ancestral qualities of strength and manliness, then, through environment, wealth or poverty, ambition, jealousy, hatred, passion, self-sacrifice are introduced. When the old birth-gifts and the new forces of environment unite, unexpected qualities and unlooked-for crises appear. And it is this unknown element that lends fascination to the great hours of life. For be it confessed that, if the acorn must remain an acorn to the end, its environment will modify the oak that springs therefrom. Planted upon a southern exposure, in deep, rich soil, it develops a giant structure, fitted for mast of ship or beam of factory. Falling in scant and rocky soil, and on northern slope, the acorn will develop but a poor and stunted life, fit for fagots and the winters fire. And if circumstances cannot change the original birth-gift, they can develop the native capacity into full manhood and usefulness, or they can repress these qualities and make life stunted and misshapen. Having suffered much from many influences and many half-truths, our generation has suffered grievously from the overemphasis of environment. Multitudes are the slaves of their surroundings and the victims of events. Carrying within themselves the powers that, if asserted, would make them the sons of happiness and strength, they go forward with bowed heads, sad, weary and dispirited. But if we are to understand the danger of an over-emphasis of circumstances, we must first consider its real scope and law. This we can do best of all by tracing its workings in the realms of vegetable and animal life. Ours is a world in which the rose is influenced by sunshine or shade, and in which the lark is influenced by the cage or by freedom; in which the sweet shrub is influenced by the early spring and the late frost. Carry the brilliant peacock to the dull, foggy climate of Norway, and the gay plumage within a few years is dulled into drab or a dirty grey. And if environment controls the colours of animals, sometimes it modifies, and even destroys the senses of sight and hearing. The blind fish that live in the underground rivers of the Mammoth Cave represent an optic nerve that has become a mass of ruins through disuse. We need not be surprised, therefore, that this law of environment is intellectual law and spiritual law. This law of environment as to evil appears in the proverb, Evil communications corrupt good manners. It appears also in the proverb regarding Christ, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? It reappears in modern science, insisting that man is the sum total of his circumstances. It explains the pessimism and the sadness and gloom in our garrets and palaces. If, now, we search out the secret of the influence of circumstances, we shall find it in the simple statement that the law of environment is the law of food, succour and nutrition. The root, for example, is related to its environment in the soil. The blossom is related to its environment in the sunshine and light and heat. The leaf drinks in the light and heat, and absorbs the rich gases from the air. But if the blossom unfolds in the vicinity of a cotton factory, the leaves soon fall, choked to death by the foul gases. And if the root extends to the stream into which the same poisoned waters flow, then soon the tree and its trunk die also. And the question whether the tree is to come to full bloom and power depends upon the great facts of light and heat, and summer and winter that make up that total called the environment of the tree. Not otherwise is it with man. He is profoundly influenced by his circumstances and the atmosphere in which he lives, and breathes, and works. Only the tree has one root towards the soil and others towards the air, the man has many nerves that relate him to his environment. Physically his body is small. But assemble the foods, and the various forms of water that he drinks, the air that he breathes, throughout a single year, and how enormous the bulk that makes up his environment. He hungers for food. Cut that nerve of relation, and he dies for want of succour. Feverish, he thirsts for drink. Cut the nerve that runs toward the fountain, and he perishes for lack of water. The intellect is a nerve toward the kingdom of truth. The imagination is a nerve toward the kingdom of beauty, the face, the flower, the picture. Affection is a nerve toward the kingdom of love, in friendship, and the fireside joys. The conscience is a nerve toward the God of righteousness, as are faith, and hope, and love. Physically, man must draw his succour from an environment called the granary and the storehouse and the fountain. Spiritually, he draws his life from an invisible environment, named God. Cut these nerves of relation, and death ensues. Feed and strengthen these nerves until all the Divine tide comes in, and man has life more abundantly. Upon the basis of the great scientific law, therefore, Christ said, Without me ye can do nothing. And this spiritual law of environment appears when men exclaim, In God we live and move, and have all our being. Having emphasised the truth as to the influence of circumstances and environment, consider the untruth involved therein. Misunderstanding, we have coined a proverb, Among Romans do as Romans do. If this proverb asks a youth to be divinely good if he is with the angels, it bids him become a demon if his companions happen to be devils. Over-emphasising the influence of circumstances, some youth from the country will come into the city this coming autumn, with his stainless purity and beauty. Chancing upon evil companions, he will be confused by their profanity, he will blush at their salacity. But, accustoming himself to his circumstances, he will at last pride himself in that he can listen to a vulgar story without a blush, and roll off an oath without a single thought of revulsion. Yet it is given to the soul to rise above these untoward events, for happiness is not in circumstances, but in the will, and victory is not in events without, but in the trustful soul within. History holds a thousand examples of this great law of victory over circumstances. For forty years, until life had passed its maturity, Moses lived in the kings palace, and was the child of wealth and opportunity of leisure. Then the sceptre of power dropped from his hand, and in old age he dwelt apart in a desert and tended sheep. Never were circumstances so cruel, and yet, dwelling in the desert, Moses matured his great laws and plans of reform, and we know that his life in the palace was the era when his soul was poverty stricken, and that life never became deep, rich, and victorious until he wore a coat of skins and slept in a desert. And there is no temptation so fiery, and no testing so severe but that the soul can rise superior to these circumstances that try mans souls. In the palace Potiphars wife tempted Joseph, and promised the youth that he might succeed to the great mans name and position, but Joseph came out of the fierce flame with no smell of fire upon his garments. Women, too, have defied circumstances. The soldiers camp was once notorious for the grog shop, for gambling and licentiousness, and yet even there Florence Nightingale and Augusta Stanley moved in and out, lifting soldiers up from baseness to sobriety and integrity; cleansing the filth from others without staining their garments of spotless purity. Does not the sunbeam cleanse the soil and yet remain itself unstained? Our age has failed to realise the importance of the will. God has made the soul king over its own territory. And circumstances cannot rob the righteous man of his strength, nor spoil him of his happiness and his victory. Moreover, man can rise above circumstances that involve temptation, and maintain spotless purity amidst conditions vicious and surcharged with evil, for the sanctuary of the soul is sacred. It is a castle that has one key, and that is controlled by the owner. Evil can stand in the street, under the souls windows. Evil can display bribes, offer gifts, hold out a cup brimming with sorcery and sing the sirens song. But sin, with its cloven foot, can never cross the threshold until the will draws back the bolts and bars. Sin has no hypnotic power. And the soul stands above evil as the hero stands looking down upon the serpent, knowing that even the heel can crush the serpents head. Away with the excuse that the soul is the victim of circumstances. It is given to the disciple of Christ to walk through the fire of temptation, and feel no harm. It is possible, also, to maintain happiness, midst trouble, disquietude, and defeat itself. For happiness is not in events on the outside. It is given to all to say with Paul, I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. For know, all ye young hearts, that environment is not in dwellings or palace. It is in the heavens above you. The apple tree is rooted in the soil, yet this orb of luscious fruit is not of the earth. Ninety per cent of the crisp, dripping juices were absorbed from the glowing sunbeams, from the forces of the great upper world, for the branches, stretching toward the sky, are the true roots. And mans body is a root that runs toward the house and street in which he lives, but the great invisible world above is the true world, toward which faith and hope, and prayer, and love, and aspiration, are branches dissolving invisible food, and there is mans true environment. There is your true life. The imagination can create its own environment. Only let the chambers of imagery he filled with lustrous scenes and noble imaginations. Doubtless the teachers of life are trouble and temptation, as well as joy and success. But happiness and victory are the ends thereof. It is possible to live victorious over all lifes troubles. God wishes his sons and daughters to go singing through the years. Even in the tornado, it is said, there is a central spot where there is perfect quiet, and the particles of air are undisturbed. And he who trusts Christ his Saviour, and lives close to Gods heart, has a chamber of peace in the very thick of lifes storm. Be original in yourself, and overcome the circumstances that would degrade you. (N. D. Hillis, D.D.)
The Triumphant Life
I. THE ROOT OF THE TRIUMPHANT LIFE IS HOLY PURPOSE. But Daniel purposed in his heart, etc. Those ancient monarchs were wise winners and compactors of kingdoms after their sort. When they conquered some foreign country they even violently welded it into homogeneity with the kingdom over which they already ruled. They did this by deporting the inhabitants of the conquered country to their original kingdom, and by importing into the conquered country great masses of their own already loyal subjects. Also, from the families of the best blood and largest influence of the conquered country they selected certain young men, carried them to their own court, subjected them under their own eye to special courses of education, showered upon them royal favours, fed them with such viands as graced even the royal table, attached them to themselves in the strongest way, and when their course of education was completed, weighted them with high official duty. Thus these rulers sought to rub out the lines of cleavage of race and of religion which otherwise had split their peoples. Thus Daniel, a young Hebrew of probably about seventeen years, had been treated--carried from captured Jerusalem to triumphant Babylon (Dan_1:3-7); and there was appointed Daniel and his captive companions a daily provision of the kings meat and of the wine which he drank.
1. This was an utmost honour. To eat with one or to eat what a lifted one partook of meant much in that Oriental society. In no way could one more thoroughly express his gracious favour to another than by sending him a portion of that which he himself was eating; and to do it daily was the constant expression of continued favour.
2. There were dietary reasons also underneath the royal grant. The king wanted them fed with the best that they might become the best. But for the Hebrew youth Daniel there was special trouble about the kings meat and the kings wine.
I. It was food selected without reference to the precise Mosaic ritual concerning meats clean and unclean. Because meats which the Divine legislation declared unclean were to be found even upon a kings table, they were not beyond the jurisdiction of a Divine law for a Hebrew.
II. It was customary among the pagans when they ate to throw a small part of the viands and wine upon the hearth as an offering to the gods, thus consecrating the whole to them. To partake of such food would be to a Hebrew the sanctioning of idolatry. And that word purposed is, in the original, significant. It means purposed in the sense of set, placed, as when you put down a thing, and leave it there and have done with it. There was no debating about Daniels purpose. Think how many specious persuasions might set themselves at uncompacting his purpose.
1. He was a young man. His refusal might easily be charged to youthful rashness. How preposterous the thought that he, a boy, should fling himself against the mighty King of Babylon!
2. He was away from home.
3. He was in very peculiar circumstances--a captive, and of the king a special protege.
4. Such refusal would be dreadfully inconvenient. Every day the kings viands were coming--every day to have to refuse!
5. It would damage his prospects--here was the only line of advancement possible for him.
6. It was plainly dangerous.
7. In itself it was only a little matter, etc. But notwithstanding Daniel purposed in his heart, etc.; and the subsequent life of Daniel was according to the hand of this purpose he then laid upon his lifes helm. He would not transgress. He would not do wrong. You cannot got the bloom of a genuinely triumphant life out of any other root.
II. Consider, as we gaze upon this Bible specimen of a triumphant life, THAT A GENUINELY HOLY PURPOSE PROMPTS ALWAYS TO ACTION CONFORMABLE WITH ITSELF, AND SO THE LIFE IS MADE TRIUMPHANT. Turn again to our Scripture, But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself, etc., therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself; and when the prince of the eunuchs feared and objected, he proposed a way in which the defiling might be missed. And such action, conformable with purpose, makes purpose purpose, and rescues it from being but a poor and sickly sentiment. Ah! the Apostle James was right, conduct is the test of faith (Jam_2:14-23); and just here is a frequent trouble: what we call our religious purpose is too much merely religious sentiment. It lacks the verve and vigour and granitic quality of a genuine purpose, because we do not act out that therefore; because purposing does not bloom into doing. When we are called to any special sacrifice that we may not defile ourselves with the kings meat, we have only a lavender sentiment with which to meet the sacrifice. But not thus can we live the really triumphant life. Holy purpose and holy action--these are always its essential elements. (Wayland Hoyt, D.D.)
The Heroic Prince
The captive princes were honourably treated, as became nobles and princes. They were more than hostages. Daniel and his three companions were designated for a public career. For three years they were to be taught the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. They were provided with the best food for mind and body. But whatever Daniel had left behind him in Jerusalem, he had not left his religion. On religious grounds he shrank from the food and wine daily set before him. This was a crisis in Daniels early life. The battlefield was a small one, but it was not little to him. He had much to tempt him to forgetfulness of God. He lived in an idolatrous atmosphere. This matter of his daily food was not a small matter. He must stand to conscience. He had courage, and he needed it; for his resolution involved risk. Doubtless he had the ambition as well as the great faculty of his race. He could make his way in this foreign court. He could outstrip many, perhaps all, competitors. The greatest heroisms are wrought in silence. The stand for principle may be taken on some small-seeming matter. But if there be principle in it, it is not a small matter. In doing the thing that is right, we must expect and be willing to run risks. There can be no true courage without it. Daniel saw that no way could risk be avoided. Daniels courage was influential. The resolution personal to himself became the resolution of others. He kindled his three friends to courage. Every man has some influence in this world. The hero multiplies heroes; the one heroic act is the parent of many heroisms. That recorded example has quickened many in all ages to an imitation of his fearless conscientiousness. His courage was victorious. He was settled in his mind. Daniel gained his point, but mark his tact. He prudently asked for liberty of conscience. He made no parade of his conscientiousness. His heart is fixed. This is the spirit in which to do the right. Rudeness is no part of religion. Daniel, by his early stand for conscience, was committed to a life of piety. (G. T. Coster.)
Daniels Resolve
The food provided probably contained articles interdicted by the Divine law. Portions of it were polluted with blood--forbidden to every Jew. And both meat and wine were probably offered as a libation to other gods. A great principle was therefore at stake. Daniel knew the worth of what some people call a mere abstraction, an idea. Is it objected that this was a small matter? Perhaps it was, but the battle of great principles is often fought on some small field, while the clang of swords and the trump of victory resound against the vault of Heaven itself. We are sent into this world not to evade contempt, not to get on (as the phrase goes), not even to avoid calamity, not even to account life dear unto ourselves; but to finish our Divinely marked course, the particular ministry we have received, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. We have no hesitation in quoting such expressions as these when speaking of Daniel; for that he had a course to run, a service to humanity and God to perform, a testimony to bear, is at once evident the moment we think of his history, and his singularly elevated position as an evangelical prophet, a harbinger to prepare the Saviours way. And so, whatever might betide, come what may, alone, as it would seem, without concert at this stage with his three associates, Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the kings meat. That resolution was one of Gods moral inspirations. There was an ardour about it that fired the souls of the other three. It was the germ of great results, the parent of other heroisms, the one event that gave form and colour to all their lives. In executing the resolve, gentleness was wedded to fortitude. The conduct of Daniel is a good illustration of the motto, fortiter in re, suaviter in modo, strong as to the matter, gentle as to the manner. He was too wise openly to resist the ordinances of the king. (H. T. Robjohns, B.A.)
Daniels Firmness and Prudence
Daniels example teaches that we should carry the principles of religion with us into all situations, and through all the varying circumstances of life. There are some persons who will suit themselves to all society and all places; appear to be pious in one company and profane in another; attend the worship of God at home and neglect it when abroad, or just conform to the custom of the place where they may be. Not so was it with Daniel. Not so will it be with any of the consistent servants of God. It is this uniformity and consistency of conduct that is the glory of the true servants of God, which brings honour to the Divine name, and shows the power of real religion. The double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Another interesting trait of character presented to us here is that while Daniel had formed this settled purpose in his heart, he adopted the most prudent measures to accomplish the object he had in view. He was a youth, but he had already learned to be sober-minded, to act with humility, caution, and prudence. (Thomas Coleman.)
Conscience
The distinctive thing about Daniel was his conscience, along with that sense of Divine authority with which, to Daniel, his conscience stood vested. The conscience is a solemn thing; it is the power with which we appreciate the right in its Divine imperialism. All the possibilities of the completest theism are involved in it. For Daniel to feel that to do this was right and that to do that was wrong was for him to feel that the Divine voice was speaking to him in terms of command or of prohibition. In that way behaviour became to him a kind of worship, and was the continuous expression of a religious loyalty. Conscience is an old-fashioned affair, but nothing has yet been discovered that will quite take the place of it. Doing right is itself religion when the right is done with a distinct appreciation of the infinitude of the obligation that we are under to do right. That is a point to be guarded jealously. It is religions starting-point--conscience is, The right, when felt as such, with all its unspeakable sanctions, all its transparent validity, all its unargued authority, all its long and mystic reach into the realms of things unseen, is a point at which thought takes easy hold upon that which is eternal, and at which it rises up in quick response of reverent worship toward the Holy One in all the divineness of His imperialism. It is a long reach toward God merely to feel the sanctity of the claim which the right makes upon us, so that when alternative courses open themselves before us, however we may feel ourselves enticed toward that which is evil, we experience a counter-drawing that is too mystic to be explained, and that bears down upon us with too authoritative a compulsion to be lightly ignored. It is through the sensitive conscience considered as the souls open eye that we first come into range with Divine things. Here, then, our first and most painstaking work must be done. The conscience is religions front door; and yet it is not such a door that having passed through it you can close it behind you. We better say, then, that conscience is religions bottom masonry upon which the whole superstructure has to be posited, such superstructure towering up in its permanence only so long as the substructure abides in its deep solidity. A man cannot become religiously expanded beyond the point where he continues to be ethically sound. Conscience conditions every step of our Christian expansion. You cannot plant religion on the top of moral mud any more than you can put up a fifteen-story apartment house on the top of the Jersey meadows. The stability of a house depends as much on the solidity of its foundation when it has stood for a thousand years as it does the first year it is erected. You admire the glisten of the diamond, but you cannot coax diamond-glisten out of polished putty, with whatever appliances of attrition it may be treated withal. The first thing to do is to do right; that is more than all creeds and more than all worship; for to a man in his wrong-doing it makes no earthly difference what he does believe, and as for worship, there is no such thing as worshipping God with one set of faculties at the same moment that we are disobeying Him with another set.
Daniel faced the situation, saw his duty, and did it. Having seen it, and seen it distinctly, he did not obfuscate the situation by mixing in a mass of foreign ingredients that had no concern with the immediate case. He might have said that whatever might have been his duty if he had remained in Jerusalem ceased to be such on moving into a country where other customs obtained; and that a man, out of regard to the feelings of others, ought to consult to a considerable degree the habits and usages that are in vogue in his present environment. There is no known method by which we can trim our behaviour to others ideas, and still keep a live conscience. On that day of his temptation, what be knew to be right stood out before him with lines as distinct as though they had been the lineaments of a personal face, and lineaments, too, so full of majesty and kingliness that they were apprehended by him as being the features of the face of God. So, instead of losing God by fooling with his duty, God became nearer to him, and duty a more impressive and superb reality by its discharge. The first thing to say about this is that a man is not safe except when the contrast between right and wrong is as sharp to his conscience as the contrast between black and white is sharp to his eye. That is not at all saying that there will not be questions of right and wrong that will be difficult of decision. It is merely saying that our only security lies in having so energetic a moral sense that right, when once we have decided where it lies, is felt by us to be tremendously right, and wrong felt by us to be devilishly wrong. No sliding scale between them; no fading off of the one into the other. Adam could not have transgressed so long as the tones of Divine command were distinctly ringing in his ears. That was the very genius of diabolic ingenuity. Adams attention was diverted, his attention was twisted from the single point at issue, and distinct considerations of personal gratification thrust before his regard instead. And sin begins to-day exactly as it began then. It begins by dragging into the decision of moral questions something beside moral considerations. Now that is the point where Daniel beat Adam. If, instead of pinning his eye to the moral element of the case, he had commenced to take into the account the advantages personal to himself that would have been certain to issue if he had become partaker of the kings meat and wine, it would morally have been the instant death of him. Perdition comes in instalments, and the first instalment is just as much perdition as the last one is; and the first instalment comes when a man or a child fronts a question of right or wrong, and instead of facing it and answering it on its own basis, wriggles off on to a side issue, and refers it to the arbitrament of considerations that have nothing to do with the case. Now that is the way that a considerable number of current Christians are settling current questions. If a man attends the theatre, having settled the question for himself on grounds that are distinctly and unmixedly moral, then it is no mans business but his own. But I know that there are a great many people who attend who have not settled the question for themselves, and who go there borne upon the current of contemporary usage. For them there is no moral ground involved; they have slipped in under the seal of example. In a word, although it is a conscience question, their own conscience has not faced it and answered it. They have not--if they have decided in the manner just described--they have not ruled out side issues and collateral considerations, and met the one only point, viz., Is it right? If there is anything that is calculated to stir moral indignation to its very bottom it is to see men and women, grown up, with intelligence, congenitally endowed with a conscience, professedly concerned for the weal of their times, and yet allowing practical questions that are crammed full of moral elements to be decided by considerations of usage or convenience or emolument that have no slightest relevancy to the distinct moral issue. A pretty kind of Daniel those people would have made! Now that is what is the matter with us. People are not planting their own feet down on distinct solid moral ground of their own. A man cannot extemporise heroism. Daniel could not have stood up in the face of the whole Babylonian empire and have dared the empire to do its worst upon him had he not had in him the stuff that goes to compose daring. To do right meant to him so infinitely and so divinely much that the pains of it and the dangers of it signified too pitifully little for his arithmetic to be able to take hold of and numerate. I know that people are lacking in moral vigour to-day because I know that they are lacking in courage. People are afraid. There is a cowardice that is despicable. The crowd rules. There are men and women that are more afraid of the despotism of public opinion than Daniel was afraid of King Nebuchadnezzar and all his hired butchers. Men do not dare to speak out. Hesitant virtue, cowardly integrity, is iniquitys auxiliary. You can depend upon it that vice will keep in good spirits till you brand it, but if you go into the branding business you do it at your peril: well, what of it? And let me say only once more that this same moral fibre is not only the material of heroism, but it is also, of course, the material of indignation. Indignation is one of the moral trachea, and is the spark that solid virtue has elicited from it when struck by villainy. A mans power of indignation is measured exactly by the vigour and intensity of his power of moral appreciation. To be patient is sometimes the most eloquent symptom possible of ethical insipidity. Moreover, meagreness of moral vigour is what accounts for indignations fitfulness. A mans conscience needs to have a pretty good constitution in order to be able to keep indignation in stock--in order, that is, to be steadily in condition to resent vicious encroachments. There occur what are popularly known as spasms of virtue. The phrase expresses it well. The case is to be diagnosed in this way; it is virtue, but so sparingly accumulated and loosely fibred as hardly to be more than aflame before it is consumed--a sort of sky-rocket affair that makes momentary diversion, and that only renders subsequent darkness but the more palpable and ponderable. The greatest thing a man can do is to do right, for while that is not the completion of the entire edifice, it is the plumb-line, dropped from Heaven, along which every stone requires to be laid that aspires to be a permanent element in the edifice. (C. H. Parkhurst.)
Decision and Consistency
In the case of Daniel early piety, prepared for ripe excellence in old age. Daniel lived to be eighty; was prime minister of Babylon; and died full of honours.
I. HIS EARLY DECISION. He purposed (resolved) not to defile himself with the kings meat. He put a restraint on his self-indulgence. It was the evident intention of Babylonians to wean Daniel and his companions from their patriotic and religious principles. The new names given to them suggest this. Great advantages attend early decision. It is half the battle. It was not his learning that gave Daniel this wisdom or decision. It was Gods grace.
II. ABIDING CONSISTENCY OF LIFE. This sprang from the early decision. What firmness, fidelity, and piety! Note the testimony of his enemies. Incorruptible in duty, blameless in life. This is the way to honour religion.
III. HELPS TOWARDS THIS CONSISTENCY. The source of it was Divine. There is no other safe or abiding course. But gracious helps are provided.
1. The Word of God. Daniel a student of it (Dan_9:12). We need a chart for lifes voyage, a lamp for lifes path.
2. Prayer. Daniel eminent for this. He prayed alone (Dan_9:3). He prayed with his companions (Dan_2:17-18). It was his custom, and was not given up, nor concealed, when a decree issued against it. How can We hope to walk wisely or safely without asking Divine help and guidance?
3. Godly companionship. The four children of the captivity were helps to one another. (W. Pakenham Walsh, D.D.)
Small Circumstances the Battlefield of Great Principles
The narrow mountain pass often becomes the scene of the deadliest struggles, because, though worthless in itself, that barren spot is the bulwark of the country. (T. White.)
The Influences Daniel Exhibited
The whole tendency of the Chaldean education must have been to alienate the young captives from their own people and religion. The intellectual training which they received from the Chaldean sages was of necessity in the highest degree perilous to a continued belief in the God of their fathers. A harsher treatment might have driven their thoughts homeward, and made them cling with secret tenacity to their ancestral faith. But the captives lot was made soft and pleasant to them; they experienced nothing save kindness at the court of Nebuchadnezzar. At an early and susceptible age, they found themselves removed from all the influences of pure religion, and surrounded by those of idolatry. It was not only that the superstitions of Babylon were interwoven with the secular instruction they received, though in that there was danger enough. But there was a danger beyond this. The wisdom of the Chaldees was the most varied and profound possessed by any nation then existing. Day by day new vistas of knowledge were opened before the Hebrew neophytes, who, it must be remembered, were all youths of singular mental capacity--had been chosen on that very account. Everyone knows what is the effect of an elaborate secular training dissociated from religion. The young Hebrews might well have been carried away by the pride of intellect, and have lost their grasp on the old faith, even though they did not embrace the superstitious of their masters. It happened thus, as may be inferred from the narrative, with the majority of those who had been taken as hostages from Judea. The influences brought to bear on them produced their natural result. Only one possessing more than ordinary strength of character could have withstood the tendency of such an education, and continued at that heathen court Jewish in thought, sympathy, and religion. Daniel continued, despite all temptation, what he had ever been--pious, consistent, and pure; and from his example his kinsmen gained the firmness of purpose to do as he did, and to face all risks in his companionship. (P. H. Hunter.)
Adhere to the Right You Know
Such scruples as those of Daniel and his friends may seem trivial when viewed in the light of Christianity. It may be thought a small matter, after all, on which those Hebrew youths felt so keenly and insisted so earnestly--whether or not they should share in a repast of which a portion had been laid on the altar of Bel or Nebo. But nothing can be deemed a trifle where principle is at stake. What makes the conduct of Daniel and his comrades so admirable is that, clearly perceiving what was right, they tenaciously clung to the doing of it. And that determination of theirs to abstain from the royal food meant more than lay on the surface. It meant a testimony to the one true and living God, in the midst of a society given over to the worship of dead and false gods. It meant the rigorous observance of the Mosaic law at a time when the Jewish system appeared to be falling into fragments. It meant the steadfast clinging to the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, even when it seemed as though he had abandoned their descendants. So this action of the Jewish boy, trifling in itself, was really great in its motive and spirit. It has to be remembered also that Daniels adherence to principle was maintained in face of two special difficulties, which seldom fail to confront men when seeking to do right. One difficulty sprang from his own inclinations. He did not choose the pulse because he liked it; no doubt it would have been more agreeable to him to share in those royal luxuries which were his for the taking. Temperance is easy when the means of indulgence are out of reach, but not so easy when they lie within sweep of the hand. It might have seemed legitimate enough to soften the rigour of captivity by sensuous pleasure. Daniel and his friends did not think so; they thought only of their duty to God. Another difficulty which Daniel had to face was the force of opinion around him. He stood practically alone in his conviction that to partake of this heathen food was to dishonour God. The Chaldeans could not enter into the motives of such a refusal; to them the ways of the Jews must have seemed as inexplicable as those of the Christians seemed to Roman governors in the first and second centuries. It was an exclusively Jewish conception, that of a holy and righteous God, requiring in those who served Him holiness and righteousness of life--a consecration of self which must appear even in food and dress. But heathen religious were quite different from this, and the royal chamberlain, though willing to humour his favourite, made no pretence to understand him. Of the fellow-captives of Daniel only three were found like-minded. It is not every man who will dare to be in the right with two or three. It is to the credit of these young Hebrews that they chose the better part, and braved the common voice, resisting the power which lies in those words, Everybody does it, because to yield would have been dishonouring to God. (P. H. Hunter.)
The Persistence of Early Religion
Babylon began too late with these youths. Their names were changed, but their principles did not yield to the enchantment. Early instructions are not so easily obliterated. The impressions of childhood are always the most lasting. They engrave themselves upon the whole formation of the man; they constitute the mould of ones being. They may be weakened and overlaid, but not extinguished. They are like words spoken in a whispering gallery, which may not be heard near where they are uttered, but are produced in far distant years and go echoing along the remotest paths of life. A childs heart is plastic, and the form to which it is once set is the hardest thing in the world to change. These youths had been brought up in the knowledge and worship of the true God, and had been taught His Word and law; and their early teaching abode with them, and remained proof against all the subtle seductions and expedients of a heathen court. They quietly took the new names assigned them, for they could not help themselves. Those names were indeed lies as applied to them, but they were obliged to submit, as the good and pious of every age have had to bear the ill names which the world has put upon then. These Hebrew youths took the base cognomens dictated by their heathen conquerors, but under those offensive names still lurked the holy teachings of their childhood. Tyrants might change their names, but their hearts remained loyal to the God of their fathers. It was not long before a test occurred to prove how firmly rooted in their hearts were the sacred teachings which had been early imprinted upon these youths. (Joseph A. Seiss, D.D.)
Purity Pays
As a rule, the undefiled man is the best looking man. It is redness of eyes, not dearness of complexion, which marks the lover of wine. The bloat of the beer-drinker gives the lie to every boast of the healthfulness of his favourite beverage. He who takes defiling food and drinks as a cure for his ailments, will have an increase of ailments for which to take the defiling portions. He who will keep himself pure will find himself in best bodily condition through his purity. The truth of this fact has been tested over and ever again in army life, and in life at sea, in expeditions to the frigid and the torrid zones, and in every grade of society from the palace to the hovel. (Sunday School Times.)
Weighty Beacons for Abstinence
Daniels piety appeareth in this, that he maketh conscience of smaller evils also, such as most men in his case would never have boggled at. He would not defile himself with the the portion of the kings meat. He scrupled the eating of it; and why?
1. Because it was often such as was forbidden by the law of God (Lev_11:1-47.; Deu_14:1-29.).
2. Because it was so used as would defile him and his fellows against the word of God; for the heathens, to the shame of many Christians, had their grace after meat, as it were, consecrating their dishes to their Idols before they tasted of them (Dan_5:4; 1Co_8:10).
3. They could not do it without offence to their weaker brethren, with whom (they chose rather to sympathise in their adversity than to live in excess and fulness (Amo_6:6).
4. They well perceived that the kings love and provisions were not single and sincere, but that he meant his own profit, to assure himself the better of the land of Judah, and that they might forget their religion. Lastly, they knew that intemperance was the mother of many mischiefs, as in Abram, Esau the rich glutton, etc. (J. Trapp.)
An Abstemious Prince
It is said that when the German Crown Prince went to Bonn University he invoked the displeasure of his colleagues because he would not participate in their drinking habits. The Crown Prince saw his father, the Kaiser, on the subject, and, as a result, the Emperor made it known that in his opinion the students were seriously injuring their health by excessive beer drinking; and he denounced the practice in unmistakable terms. In his temperance the Prince was using his influence aright, and he displayed a spirit akin to that of the apostle, who declared if meat should make his brother to offend he would eat no flesh. (Christian Herald.)
Youthful Temperance Secures Against Old Age Remorse
Once, when Socrates was asked what was the virtue of a young man, he said, To avoid excess in everything. If this virtue were more common, how much happier the world would be. Before he died Lord Northington, Chancellor in George IIIs reign, paid the penalty which port wine extracts from its fervent worshippers, and he suffered the acutest pangs of gout. It is recorded that as he limped from the Woolsack to the Bar of the House of Lords, he once muttered to a young peer who watched his distress with evident sympathy, Ah, my young friend, if I had known that these legs would one day carry a Chancellor, I would have taken better care of them when I was at your age. He knew from bitter experience the pains and penalties of an ill-spent youth.
Divine Help in Character Making
(Dan_1:17):--Schools may make learned men, God alone can make wise men. And the character of such men as Daniel and his companions, who are at once distinguished for learning, wisdom, and uncompromising fidelity to religion, is, in a peculiar manner, the work of Gods hands. Persons of such a character have been rare in the earth, and when raised up in an age of degeneracy, it is always for important purposes, which neither they, nor those who have the charge of their education, could have divined. In the training of these young men, Nebuchadnezzar had one design, and God had another. (T. White.)
Daniels Education
Two arguments may be drawn from this passage, to commend the cultivation of religious character, to those who are engaged in the business of secular education.
1. They will find, as Daniel did, that religion is an aid to study. When she takes up her habitation in the heart, she will keep the soul calm, the reason clear, the feelings fresh, the taste pure, and secure the Divine blessing on diligence. The objects which religion presents to the mind are the most sublime that can be contemplated, and nourish the heart equally with the understanding.
2. The excellent character of these youths was the direct mean of their success in life. (T. White.)
Intellectual Power Aided by Plain Living
We have the high thinking that follows plain living. No doubt the frugal fare helped to keep the brains clear and the minds ready for work. The same Spartan discipline leads to the same results in many a Scottish University and American farmhouse, where some lad is half starving himself and enthusiastically grappling with study. Where do the great scholars and thinkers come from? From huts where poor men lie, from humble homes where profusion was unknown and poverty often looked in at the window. Pulse and water are helps, not hindrances, to intellectual clearness and progress in knowledge. When the examination day came, the youths who had had a good time with the kings meat, and, no doubt, had often laughed at the strait-laced four, were at the bottom of the lists, if they passed at all, and the four were at the top, as such people generally are. (A. Maclaren.)
Youthful Piety
I. YOUTHFUL PIETY POSSESSED. The piety of the Hebrew youths, the fact that their minds had been brought under the government of vital personal godliness, is distinctly implied and assumed. On this the whole of their history is specifically founded. In what manner it was that they had received the inestimable boon we are not informed. Belonging as they did to the royal house of Judah, or to noble families of that tribe, they probably had enjoyed early advantages, in connection with some instructor who had remained faithful to the Most High in that age of infatuated apostasy; and it may be that the disastrous event of the captivity, which had drawn them from their native scenes to a far distant and a far different land, had operated powerfully and grievously upon them. Some cases indeed may exist in which the germs of pious thought and emotion were implanted at a period so early and in a mode so gentle that the incipient processes of the work have been very indistinct. But then, again, there are other cases, and these perhaps numerous ones, in which the instrumentality, or a large proportion of it, is clear, is defined, is not destined to be forgotten. But then the instrumentality is not so important as the fact. What privileges, and at the same time what responsibilities are yours! My young friends, whose estimate of piety has perhaps been imperfect, and whose habits, it may be, have been utterly and entirely estranged from it, let me remind you solemnly that without delay such piety is indeed requisite, absolutely requisite for you all. Whatever else you may be without, you must not be destitute of religion. All possible inducements, arising from all possible sources, implore you to become what others are, and in entire and cordial dedication to give yourselves unto God.
II. From the notice of youthful piety possessed, we observe again that WE HAVE YOUTHFUL PIETY TRIED. The religion of Daniel and his companions was submitted to a very powerful and decisive test. You observe that their conspicuousness in personal beauty and intellectual accomplishments obviously exposed them to a powerful and a perilous snare. Moreover, their names, which were appellations memorialising the true God, were to be exchanged for others, being the memorials of the idol divinities of Babylon. To Daniel, signifying God is my judge, was assigned the name of Belshazzar, meaning probably the keeper of the treasures of Bel. To Hananiah, signifying the grace of the Lord, was assigned the name of Shadrach, meaning probably the inspiration of the sun. To Mishael, signifying he that is the powerful God, was assigned the name of Meshach, probably meaning devoted to Shah, the Oriental Venus. And to Azariah, signifying the Lord is a help, was assigned the name of Abed-nego, meaning probably the servant of the shining fire. Thus it was that all remembrance of their allegiance to the true God was to be obliterated; and they were to be drawn into that great vortex of abomination which had well-nigh absorbed the world. But amidst these artful and cruel appliances, appealing alike to their vanity, to their sensuality, to their interests and to their fears, the piety of the heart stood firm; it steadfastly resisted, and it triumphantly overcame. You must understand their abstinence from the more dainty food not only as an act of self-control in regard to appetite, and as a patriotic recognition of the affliction of Israel, they refusing to live in indulgence while their brethren in captivity lived in privation and dishonour, but as a solemn testimony against idolatry and against all compromise with it, and as a solemn testimony on behalf of the true Jehovah, to whom they were dedicated, and by whom they resolved unalterably to abide. Now, youthful piety is never without its difficulties; and many instances occur to us in which it has been; as in the case before us, severely and acutely tried. We may think of Joseph in the house of Potiphar, and of Moses in the court of Pharoah, and of Samuel with the sons of Eli, and of Obadiah in the palace of Ahab, and of Hezekiah under the tutelage of Ahaz. And, my young friends, to whom God has given the inestimable boon of piety, you probably have already discovered the fact indicated in your own history, or you will discover it soon. You may be tried by your own indwelling passions, which, although subjugated by the grace which is in you, have not yet done striving for the mystery: vanity, self-conceit, cupidity, anger, envy, deceit, levity, animal passion and lust. You, may be tried by the hostility of others, on whom by kindred or by civil position you are dependent--parents, guardians, masters, who hate your religion, and who hate what they conceive to be the results of it; attempting, therefore, in the ungenerous malice of domestic and social persecution, to rend you from your faith and your hope. You may be tried by the fascinations of worldly amusement and pleasure: the feast, the dance, the song. You may be tried by opportunities of secular exaltation and honour--of rising high in the ranks of life, of attaining power, and of associating on well-nigh equal terms with the magnates of the land. You may be tried by strange and terrible combinations of evil influence, formed and applied by the great adversary of souls, rushing in upon you mysteriously, impetuously, and suddenly, with an agency almost overwhelming, that must utterly amaze and confound you. Oh! accept the warning, and vigilantly and prayerfully prepare. Let us observe, in the next place, that the trial of useful piety of which we now speak is pertained and arranged by God in wisdom and in kindness. It might seem to some a harsh and an inopportune dispensation; and questioning might be indulged, whether it would not be fair better to wait and postpone the ordeal until he who has to endure it has become more matured in character and more ample in red sources. The test never can be applied to one who has what the Scriptures emphatically term the root of the matter in him, without the test being found adapted to produce, and actually producing upon character results of the most salutary and beneficial order. It is the discipline which fits the Christian labourer for the field, the Christian pilgrim for the journey, the Christian mariner for the ocean, the Christian combatant for the battle. It leads to acquaintance with self and all other beings; it augments hatred of sin, it exercises patience, it strengthens faith, it quickens action, it encourages prayer, it promotes dependence and reliance upon God. Endure hardness, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. Fight the good fight of faith, whereunto you were called; and lay hold upon eternal life; and then but a little while, and He to whom you have been loyal will crown you with the laurels of the conqueror.
III. Having illustrated youthful piety possessed, and youthful piety tried, we have to observe YOUTHFUL PIETY HONOURED. You have heard how the experiment proposed by Daniel in respect to the food for the prescribed period was blessed by God. You are informed, further, how Daniel and his companions improved under the mental tuition which was administered, though still retaining their religion, and so indicating to us the fact that the pursuit of learning and science may be continued in perfect subservience to the honour of religion, and positively for the advancement of its empire. Additional instances of the honour which is attached to true piety have been preserved to us in the sacred records. The cases which we have cited as instances of trial we can also cite, and we aught to cite, as instances of honour. Remember the case of Joseph in the house of Potiphar, resisting the temptation in the spirit of inquiry, How shall I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? Then imprisoned by the revengeful lie of the tempter, but emerging at length from his ignominy and his peril, and set on high to be ruler over the land of Egypt. Remember the case of Moses. We can add to these multitudes of cases more from the annals of the Christian church, and we have memorials around us to this day, all proving that through piety is the pathway to honour. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. With regard to the honour which arises from youthful piety, were we to classify it we might commend to you such arrangements as these. There is honour from the world. It is a mistake to conclude, as it has been hastily concluded, that genuine and decided piety is the parent of privation and disgrace in the world. Humility, amiableness, diligence, integrity, purity, benevolence--these are to men, under God, elements which; employed in the common affairs of life, constitute them the architects of their own fortunes. And then again, there is honour from good men. Those who are devoted to the high service of God in the Gospel of His Son are welcomed cordially and gratefully by the churches of the living Jehovah. There is honour, too, from God, in accordance with His ancient promise, Them that honour Me I will honour. The honour that arises from the world and the honour that arises from good men He ultimately communicates, and then He imparts further and most delightful communications of His love.
IV. But then we have also to contemplate YOUTHFUL PIETY USEFUL. The decision of the Hebrew brethren, besides being associated with their own personal exaltation, was associated with many and momentous results of benefit and advantage to others. We do not dwell upon what must have been the influence of their example in the sphere in which they moved, but pass to the express and positive records. The immediate recorded result of their decision was an impression made upon the mind of the potentate they served with regard to the claims of the living and true God. We wish the young to remember this one simple fact, that the piety of four young men produced an immense effect upon the interests and destinies of the world. Now, we refer again to the instances of piety which have been selected from the sacred volume as instances of usefulness. They are all, as you must perceive, eminently so. We then proceed to affirm as a fact that in the annals of the church youthful piety has generally been by far the most useful. Then we may proceed further to state that God has given youthful piety for the express purpose of being useful. Those who possess it possess it not as a privilege merely, but as a responsibility--not as a blessing merely, but as an obligation. They possess it, that they may work for Him whom they are called upon to serve, in the advancement of His kingdom, and in the salvation of the souls of their fellow men. They are placed under the government of principles, the legitimate operation of which invokes them constantly to earnest and zealous effort, and which they must carry out into every department of influence, in order that the law of their stewardship may be fulfilled. The opportunities for usefulness on the part of the young are manifestly great. And then, again, the prospects of usefulness are animating. No labour can be in vain; all work forms a part of one grand system, impelling to a grand consummation, when the cause of God and truth shall extend its dominion over the world. (James Parsons.)
The Character of Daniel
I. And what first presents itself to us is that HE WAS A MAN OF AN ABSTEMIOUS LIFE, AND OF THE GREATEST TEMPERANCE. He knew that delicious entertainments, however pleasant to the senses, often tend to hurt the stomach and impair the constitution. When this is the case, why should the poor ever envy the rich, or wish to change conditions? Is not health the first of temporal blessings, and what we had better enjoy, than all the fine things at the tables of the great? Besides, luxury tends not only to enfeeble the body but to enervate the mind. The more we indulge our sensual appetites we weaken our intellectual powers. By pampering our taste it acquires new strength and is apt to engage the whole soul. With what relish does an epicure talk of a fine dish, or of rich wine, and with what pleasure does he partake of them! He enjoys them more than the most rational, intellectual entertainment whatever. It deserves our remark that some of the greatest prophets mentioned in Scripture were remarkable for their humble and plain manner of life. It is recorded of John the Baptist, than whom none greater was born of a woman, that his daily food was locusts and wild honey (Mat_3:4). And it appears from the Gospel that our Lord and his disciples lived on the simplest food. Barley loaves and small fishes were their common entertainment. And why did the blessed Jesus prefer this manner of life when all the creatures were at his command? Why, but to teach us temperance and sobriety, and to set our affections upon things more substantial and valuable. Let us, therefore, be improving our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and in getting them enriched with Divine grace. The greater proficiency we make in the knowledge of Christ the more indifferent we will become about sensual enjoyments.
II. In the second place, concerning the prophet Daniel, THAT HE WAS RENOWNED FOR KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM ABOVE ALL THE WISE MEN OF BABYLON. To have his mind enlightened in the knowledge of God, and his memory stored with Divine truth, were the great objects which engaged his attention, Whilst others were amusing themselves with empty speculations, and employed about trifles, he was contemplating Divine things, and was chiefly conversant with the living oracles of the living God. Was it the wisdom which is from above with which he was chiefly conversant? Do we not approve his taste, and admire his choice? Human science is at best extremely imperfect, and may be called a mixture of error and of folly; but the knowledge of God and His blessed Son is truth itself, and the fruit of it eternal life.
III. Let me remark, in the third place, concerning Daniel, that HE WAS THE ROOTED ENEMY OF IDOLATRY, AND A SINCERE WORSHIPPER OF THE ONE TRUE AND LIVING GOD. Though he lived in the midst of the heathen, he kept himself pure from their abominations and despised their idols. Let our closets bear witness for us how regular we are in our devotions! God forbid that they should appear against us in judgment!
IV. I would remark, in the fourth place, concerning Daniel, that HE WAS A FAITHFUL SERVANT TO HIS PRINCE. Would to God that all in such elevated stations were men of similar worth!
V. I remark, in the fifth place, concerning Daniel, THAT HE DARED TO DECLARE THE TRUTH TO THOSE PRINCES TO WHOM HE DELIVERED IT, HOWEVER MORTIFYING AND DISAGREEABLE TO THEM. Nebuchadnezzar had incurred the displeasure of the Almighty by his pride and arrogance, and it was revealed to him in a dream that he should be deprived of his kingdom, divested of his reason, and reduced to the humbling situation of eating grass and straw like an ox. The king, anxious to know the meaning of the vision, sent for Daniel to explain it, when the prophet told him the awful judgments which awaited him, and pressed upon him the duties of repentance and charity. It argued not a little fortitude to inform an arbitrary prince of the mean and despicable situation to which he was to be reduced, and to be put upon a level with the brutes. But Daniel dreaded not the kings resentment, because he trusted in God. Truth was too important to be concealed, even from a despotic monarch. We, too, are sometimes obliged to preach disagreeable truths; but fidelity to our great Master, and to the souls of men, requires it. We must declare the whole counsel of God, in whatever manner it may be taken.
VI. I remark, in the first place, concerning Daniel, THAT PROVIDENCE INTERPOSED IN A VERY REMARKABLE MANNER WHEN HIS LIFE WAS IN IMMINENT DANGER.
1. From this subject I observe that those who fear God will be taken notice of and respected in the world.
2. I observe that by faithfully serving God we shall most effectually recommend Him to others. (D. Johnston, D.D.)
The Personality of Daniel
1. So the first characteristic of Daniel was his fidelity to religious convictions. Piety, moral integrity, and the favour of God, he preferred to the pleasures and prizes of life.
2. Another trait of Daniels was judgment, so extraordinary as to make his name proverbial for that quality. His tact, his diplomatic skill, is admirable. Never once does he forget himself. No matter what dilemmas surround him, he is always the judicious, the well-balanced, the equipoised man.
3. But the most pleasing aspect of the personality of Daniel was his humility. (J. B. Remensnyder.)
Religious Constancy
His conduct through life was all in beautiful accordance with his first recorded action. Afar his example, let us cultivate constancy, as well as decision of religious character. Dot not our religion be like a torrent filled by the falling of a water-spout, or by the bursting of a thunder-cloud, whose waters for a time overflow, and carry all before them, but anon its channel is dry, and the only memorial of its former fulness is the sediment it has left behind. Let our religion be like a pure stream, fed from some living fountain, whose waters flow daily to the sea, yet flow each succeeding day in undiminished fulness. (J. White.)
Daniels Continuance a Remarkable Testimony to His Worth
Dr. Pusey remarks: Simple words, but what a volume of tried faithfulness is unrolled by them! Amid all the intrigues indigenous at all times in dynasties of Oriental despotism, amid all the envy towards a foreign captive in high office as a kings councillor, amid all the trouble incidental to the insanity of the King and the murder of two of his successors, in that whole critical period for his people, Daniel continued. (F. W. Farrar, D.D.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv8, 11 SECT. III.—THE RESOLUTION (Chap. Dan_1:8-10)
HOMILETICS
SECT. III.—THE RESOLUTION (Chap. Dan_1:8-10)
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The religion of Daniel and his three companions was soon to be put to the test. They were to be fed from the royal table [16]; but the Jews were forbidden by the law of Moses to eat certain kinds of food, as well as food prepared in a certain way. Some animals were to be avoided as unclean, and none ware to be eaten with the blood in them. Besides, what the heathen used of animal food had been already offered in sacrifice to their idols, while a portion both of the meat and drink on their table was presented as an offering and acknowledgment to the same false deities. Daniel saw that to partake of the royal provision [17] was thus to pollute himself by participation with idolatry and to transgress the law of God [18]. His purpose was at once taken. Be the consequences what they might, he would neither defile himself nor apostatise from his God. Persuaded that man does not “live by bread alone, but by every word of God,” he would request the superintendent to substitute pulse and water for the royal viands. He determined, says Matthew Henry, to let it be known from the first day of his residence in Babylon, that though but a young Jewish slave, he was the servant of the living God. If he could not preserve his dignity as a prince, he would preserve his purity as a child of the covenant. It was no small risk. The wrath of Nebuchadnezzar, as of all Oriental despots, was as the roaring of a lion. That wrath might well be apprehended for what must appear to him, if known, an act of disobedience, and even of contempt. Unless prevented by some remarkable interposition, the act may cost Daniel and his three friends their life. Daniel had indeed already gained the favour and affection of the chief or superintendent of the eunuchs, but for him to change the diet, or even allow or connive at such a change, must endanger his life also—with Daniel a considerable aggravation of the difficulty. Still he must obey the dictates of his conscience and do what he believes to be the will of God [19]. Prayer was no doubt his refuge. The God of Abraham would open up a way of deliverance. “On the Mount the Lord will be seen.” Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. Isaac was saved at the last hour, The Lord will provide. Jehovah-Jireh still lives. To the chief officer, therefore, Daniel communicates his difficulty and his purpose. The worthy heathen expressed his distress, and his fear for the consequences, even to himself. Daniel only requests a trial. Ashpenaz can do nothing but commend him to the good graces of the subordinate whose duty it was to attend immediately upon the young men, and whose responsibility was less than his own. Observe—
[16] “A daily provision of the king’s meat.” Among the Persians, a number of persons, all the lower attendants of the court, received their support from the king’s table. This custom derived by the Persians from the Babylonians, or at least held in common with them. According to Jer_52:33-34, King Jehoiachin, by the command of Evil-Merodach, received his daily sustenance from the royal table.—Hengstenberg. Dr. Rule observes that crowds of Israelites no doubt ate “unclean things in Assyria” (Hos_9:3), defiling themselves in like manner; but a few noble souls lived above compromise. At this same time, Ezekiel, also a captive in the same land, witnessing the shame of those who “ate their defiled bread among the Gentiles” whither they were driven, could say, “O Lord God, behold, my soul hath not been polluted; for from my youth up, even till now, have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces, neither came there abominable flesh into my month” (Eze_4:13-14). Their “barley-cakes” the prophet was commanded to treat with loathsome contempt. Good Queen Esther, too, is described in an apocryphal writing as appealing to God that she had not “eaten at Haman’s table, nor had pleasure in the king’s feast, nor had drunk the wine of the drink-offering.”
[17] “The portion of the king’s meat,” Heb. פַּתְבַּג הַמֶּלֶךְ (pathbag hammelek). Dr. Rule observes that what this might mean the old versions could not explain, and our English translators could only gather from the context. Some of the Rabbis understand it to be bread. He remarks, what Dr. Pusey has also told us in the Appendix to his Lectures on Daniel, that Professor Max Müller, in his explanation of words in the Book of Daniel supposed to be Aryan, says that this word is Aryan, and is equivalent to the Sanscrit pratibaga, “a share of small articles, as fruit, flowers, &c., paid daily to the raja for household expenditure.” The Professor quotes a passage from Athenæus, where a Greek word is supposed to represent the word in Daniel, namely, potibazis, said to be put for ποτιβαγις, and to denote “barley bread and wheaten toast, and a crown of cypress, and mixed wine in a gold cup, out of which the king himself drinks.” Dr. Rule, after quoting a passage from Herodotus, which shows that the Assyrians at their sacrifices “poured libations and offered consecrated barley-cake with the sound of the flute and crowned with chaplets,” remarks that “if the pathbag of Daniel and the potibazis of Athenæus be the same, if the king of Babylon drank of the consecrated wine, tasted the consecrated barley-cake, and put on the chaplet of cypress, amid the noise of music and hymns to his god; if the like consecrated food was sent to members of the royal household, to partake of it would be nothing less than a formal participation of idolatry.”
[18] “Would not defile himself” Keil observes that Daniel’s resolution arose from fidelity to the law, and from steadfastness to the faith that man lives “not by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Deu_8:3); and from the assurance that God would bless the humbler provision which he asks for himself and his companions. These ordinances in relation to food are part of the Levitical law, Exo_22:31, Deu_14:2; Deu_14:21, where the principle of avoiding food inconsistent with holiness, only touched upon in Exodus, is expanded.
[19] “He requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” Dr. Cox remarks that, in the conduct of Daniel on this occasion, his moral triumph was complete and glorious; appearing perfectly conscientious and entirely decided while exhibiting a graceful modesty connected with his moral heroism, together with great judgment and wisdom, and a spirit of self-denial and temperance of the most exemplary kind. Dr. Rule observes that it was far more than a purpose on the part of Daniel. It was a resolve. Literally “he laid it on his heart,” וַיָּשֶׁם דּ״ עַל־ לִנּוֹ (vai-yashem D. ’al libbo), made it a matter of conscience, not contemplating any possible contingency that might shake his constancy.
1. Religious principle sure to be tested. The gold must be submitted to the fire to prove its reality and purge it from dross. The trial of faith a rule in God’s government and the universal experience of His people. That trial may be a “fiery” one (1Pe_4:12). May throw into heaviness for a season; but has for its issue “praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1Pe_1:7). Believers to be, like Apelles, “approved in Christ.” Difficult situations, involving danger, trouble, or loss, the ordinary means of the trial. The favour of God and conscious obedience to His will on the one hand, with suffering and worldly loss, or God’s displeasure and a wounded conscience on the other, with the short-lived favour of the world; which shall it be? Moses must choose between the treasures of Egypt and the reproach of Christ; worldly greatness with idolaters, or “affliction with the people of God.”
2. Trial a needful preparation for future service. Daniel and his companions destined to important service in Babylon. God was to be glorified in them as His faithful witnesses. The deliverance of their captive countrymen to be ultimately effected through their influence. Hence the necessity of discipline and trial. The instrument to be prepared and polished. The faith and obedience of these font godly youths to be afterwards severely tested. The trial to commence now, even at the beginning. Smaller trials must prepare for greater ones. The faith that is to face and triumph over the fiery furnace and the lions’ den to be made strong by exercise.
3. Self-denial necessary to true religion. Daniel and his friends must choose between the dainties of the king’s table and the diet of the humblest slave. A considerable difference to the flesh between the king’s savoury dishes and delicious wines, and mere boiled beans and water. But the choice was soon decided on. Grace enabled Daniel, “instead of yielding to the temptations of luxury, voluntarily to subject himself to the humblest fare, that appetite might not betray him into sin.” Like his ancestor Moses, he “chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.” The Master’s rule, “If any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.” The part of good soldiers of Jesus Christ to “endure hardness.” Such endurance and self-denial the means of strengthening character and fitting for service in the world. The pulse itself probably made, even physically, a means towards Daniel’s elevation. Protogenes, the celebrated painter, said to have lived on lupins during the seven years he was engaged on his famous picture, “that his judgment might not be clouded by luxurious diet.” Calvin even thinks that Daniel might have desired pulse and water, on account of the injurious effects of good living. Auberlen remarks that “he who is to receive or interpret divine revelations, must not feed on the dainties nor drink from the intoxicating cup of this world.”
4. Abstinence from what is in itself lawful sometimes a sacred duty. The royal provisions in themselves good, but in the circumstances not to be partaken of by Daniel and his friends without sin and moral defilement. So even in his old age, Daniel for a special religious purpose abstained for a time both from flesh and wine (Dan_10:3). “Every creature of God is good, and to be received with thanksgiving of them that know and believe the truth.” But there are times when, for the sake of others, if not for our own, it may be our duty to abstain from the use of some. Christian wisdom and an enlightened conscience needed to direct us in regard to such abstinence. The same Apostle who counselled Timothy to “use a little wine” for his stomach’s sake and his frequent infirmities, asserts that “it is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak;” and declares for himself, “If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend” (Rom_14:21; 1Co_8:13). The character of the wines and other intoxicating drinks used in this country, the prevalence of the drinking customs, the continued evidence before our eyes of the terrible effects of the use of these drinks, both physically, socially, and morally, slaying as they do their tens of thousands, and drawing in their train both misery, poverty, disease, and crime—these facts are believed by many to make it the duty of Christian men and women in general, in the exercise of that charity that “pleaseth not itself” and “seeketh not her own,” to abstain entirely from the use of these beverages for at least the sake of those who must, one way or other, be influenced by our example.
5. Grace made sufficient for all situations. Grace needed most in times of difficulty and trial. That grace now afforded to Daniel and his friends in their perplexity. To Paul’s thrice-repeated prayer that the “thorn in the flesh” might depart from him, the only answer vouchsafed was, “My grace is sufficient for thee; my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Believing this, Paul gloried in his infirmities and necessities. Neither tribulation, nor persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor peril, nor sword, able to separate the genuine believer “from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
6. The value of courage and resolution in the matter of religion. These needful to serve God and keep a good conscience in the world. Constantly verified in the history of the Church, both in Old and New Testament times. To be faithful to God and faithful to the end, one must, like Daniel, “purpose in his heart,” and through grace adhere to it. Joshua exhorted more than once before encountering the Canaanites, and marching in to take possession of the land, to “be strong and of a good courage, and not be afraid.” Impossible at once to be a faithful Christian and a coward. The “fearful and unbelieving” among those who are excluded from the New Jerusalem (Rev_21:8). “We have received, not the spirit of fear, but of love, and of power, and of a sound mind.” He that timidly will save his life shall lose it. The feet to be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, in order to tread on briars and scorpions, “and all the power of the enemy.” The promise, “Thy shoes shall be iron and brass.” In a world up in rebellion against God, His servants need to be “made as an iron pillar and a brazen wall.” The exhortation to Ezekiel always needed, “Be not afraid of their faces.” Reuben “unstable as water,” therefore “unable to excel.” Fear makes men deserters; but “if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” He that putteth his hand to the plough and looketh back is not fit for the kingdom of God,—neither for the enjoyment of it himself or the extension of it to others. A Christian needs to be a hero, and grace makes him one. Faith the foundation of true courage. Through faith, “out of weakness men were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, and turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” The faith that is “of the operation of God” makes men heroes, and in religion a man must either be that or nothing.
7. Fidelity to God the best way to favour with men. “When a man’s doings please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” Psa_106:46 verified in Daniel and his companions: “He made them to be pitied of them that carried them captives.” True religion commends itself even to worldly men. Grace a winning thing. Includes “whatsoever things are comely and of good report.” Favour with men not to be bought at the expense of religious principle, and need not be. Daniel found favour with the chief of the eunuchs and yet kept his religion, and indeed by keeping it. Daniel made God’s love and favour the first and chief thing, and God gave him in addition the love and favour of men. “The hearts of kings are in the hand of the Lord, and He turneth them as the rills of water.” True religion consists in love, and love naturally begets love. Jesus, the embodiment of that religion, “grew in favour with God and men.” The experience of Daniel in Babylon that of Joseph in Egypt. The chief of the eunuchs, like the keeper of the prison, won by the becoming behaviour and sweetness of disposition in a youthful Hebrew slave. The youth who pleases God likely to find acceptance with men.
8. The importance of faithfulness in little things. An apparently small matter, the kind of food Daniel should eat or not eat; but God’s law made even that a matter of conscience. Fidelity to God and His worship involved in it. Daniel was faithful to his conscience, and desired to be excused from eating what he could not partake of without sin. Thus prepared for proving faithful in greater things—faithful to all his duties and trusts under the king, and faithful to God at the peril of the lions’ den. “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.”
9. The necessity of decision in the matter of religion. A distinct and settled purpose often our safety and preservation in the world. Daniel’s purity in Babylon due to his “purposing in his heart.” A firm purpose in God’s strength to do right, the girdle that binds the spiritual armour together. “I have said that I will keep Thy word.” “One shall say, I am the Lord’s.” “I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep Thy righteous judgments.” Jesus Himself an example of such decision. He “steadfastly set His face to go up to Jerusalem.” Temptations to turn aside are to be resolutely answered as He answered Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan; for thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men.” “When people are in Babylon they have need to take special care that they partake not in Babylon’s sins.”—Henry. Safety often in a decided “No.”
DANIEL A NOTABLE EXAMPLE OF RESOLUTION
“Daniel purposed in his heart”—(Dan_1:8)
Resolution both an act and a habit. As a habit, it marks the character of the man who makes a resolution and acts upon it. The habit formed by frequent acts of resolving and acting accordingly. As a habit, resolution a most important part of character. Gives a man moral strength, energy, backbone. Constitutes force of character. Makes a man strong. Forms the hero, the scholar, the statesman, the artist. Makes the successful merchant, the man of science, the philanthropist, and the benefactor of his kind. “I will be a hero,” the turning-point in Nelson’s history. Reynolds resolves at Rome to study the works of the old masters till he has understood their excellence, and becomes a master himself. Paley at college resolves to shake off his habitual indolence and rise at four o’clock to his studies, and produces works that cannot die. Daniel’s resolution in regard to his diet one of the means of strengthening his character and fitting him for future greatness. Each resolution carried out in spite of difficulty or natural reluctance makes a man stronger. An irresolute man a weak man. The part of weakness either to make no resolution, or to make it and fail to keep it. “Resolves and re-resolves, and dies a fool.” Broken resolutions leave a man weaker. One resolution kept prepares for keeping the next. A resolution manfully carried out often the turning-point in a man’s life and the determination of a man’s character. Resolution as an act should be—
1. Made deliberately. Rash resolutions often both foolish and dangerous. Resolutely to carry out such, worse than the making of them. Resolution not to degenerate into obstinacy and wilfulness, as in Herod the Tetrarch, and Pharaoh at the Red Sea. Daniel thought before purposing in his heart. “Ponder the path of thy feet.”
2. Directed to what is right. A resolution should be to pursue a right course—to act right, speak right, feel right. Daniel resolved to do what he saw and believed to be his duty. Resolution noble when it is to serve God, do good, and sin not; to be truthful, honest, industrious, kind, obliging; to avoid temptation as far as possible, and to resist it when it comes; to say “No “to every evil suggestion. If still with our back to God, our resolution to be that of the prodigal,—“I will arise and go to my Father.” The diseased woman’s resolution to press through the crowd and touch the hem of Christ’s garment brought health to her body and life to her soul. The Syrophenician mother pressed on with her suit till she obtained a favourable answer, notwithstanding discouragements and repulses, and she succeeded. So Esther resolved, at the risk of her own life, to plead with the king for the lives of her countrymen: “If I perish, I perish.”
3. Made in dependence on divine assistance. To make a right resolution needs divine aid; much more to keep it. The spirit willing when the flesh is weak. To will may be present, but how to perform that which is good we find not, and needs divine strength. Resolution to be linked with prayer. Strength given to them that ask for it. Daniel a man of prayer as well as purpose; the latter because the former. Peter resolved to follow his Master even unto death, but, trusting in himself, he denies Him at the challenge of a servant-girl. Neglect of the Saviour’s caution, “Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation,” likely to be followed with a fall. “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.” David’s prayer, “Hold Thou me up and I shall be safe.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v8 Dan 1:8 - Dan 1:21.
Daniel
YOUTHFUL CONFESSORS
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Dan 1:8 - Dan 1:21.
Daniel was but a boy at the date of the Captivity, and little more at the time of the attempt to make a Chaldean of him. The last verse says that he ‘continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus,’ the date given elsewhere as the close of the Captivity {2Ch 36:22; Ezr 1:1; Ezr 6:3}. From Dan 10:1 we learn that he lived on till Cyrus’s third year, if not later; but the date in Dan 1:21 is probably given in order to suggest that Daniel’s career covered the whole period of the Captivity, and burned like a star of hope for the exiles. The incident in our passage is a noble example of religious principle applied to small details of daily life, and shows how God crowns such conscientious self-restraint with success. The lessons which it contains are best gathered by following the narrative.
I. The heroic determination of the boyish confessor is first set forth. The plan of taking leading young men from the newly captured nation and turning them into Babylonians was a stroke of policy as heartless and high-handed as might be expected from a great conqueror. In some measure, the same thing has been done by all nations who have built up a world-wide dominion. The new names given to the youths, the attaching of them to the court, their education in Babylonish fashion, all were meant for the same purpose,-to denationalise them, and strip them of their religion, and thus to make them tools for more easily governing their countrymen.
Most men would yield to the influences, and be so lapped in the comforts of their new position as to become pliable as wax in the conqueror’s hands; but here and there he would come across a bit of stiffer stuff, which would break rather than bend. Such an obstinate piece of humanity was found in the Hebrew youth, of some fifteen years, whose Hebrew name {‘God is my judge’} expressed a truth that ruled him, when the name was exchanged for one that invoked Bel. It took some firmness for a captive lad, without friends or influence, to take Daniel’s stand; for the motive of his desire to be excused from taking the fare provided can only have been religious. He was determined, in his brave young heart, not to ‘defile’ himself with the king’s meat. The phrase points to the pollution incurred by eating things offered to idols, and does not imply scrupulousness like that of Pharisaic times, nor necessarily suggest a late date for the book. Probably there had been some kind of religious consecration of the food to Babylonian gods, and Daniel, in his solitary faithfulness, was carrying out the same principles which Paul afterwards laid down for Corinthian Christians as to partaking of things offered to idols. Similar difficulties are sure to emerge in analogous cases, and do so, on many mission fields.
The motive here, then, is distinctly religious. Common life was so woven in with idolatrous worship that every meal was in some sense a sacrifice. Therefore ‘Touch not, taste not, handle not,’ was the inevitable dictate for a devout heart. Daniel seems to have been the moving spirit; but as is generally the case, he was able to infuse his own strong convictions into his companions, and the four of them held together in their protest. The great lesson from the incident is that religion should regulate the smallest details of life, and that it is not narrow over-scrupulousness, but fidelity to the highest duty, when a man sets his foot down about any small matter, and says, ‘No, I dare not do it, little as it is, and pleasant as it might be to sense, because I should thereby be mixed up in a practical denial of my God.’ ‘So did not I, because of the fear of God’ {Neh 5:15}, is a motto which will require from many a young man abstinence from many things which it would be much easier to accept.
II. This young confessor was as prudent as he was brave; and the story goes on to show how wisely he played his part, and how willing he was to accept all working compromises which might smooth his way. He did not at all want to pose as a martyr, and had no pleasure in making a noise. The favour which he had won with the high officer who looked after the lads before their formal examination {graduation we might call it}, is set down in the narrative to the divine favour; but that favour worked by means, and no doubt the lad had done his part to win the important good opinion of his superior. The more firm is our determination to take no step beyond the line of duty, the more conciliatory we should be. But many people seem to think that heroism is shown by rudeness, and that if we are afraid that we shall some time have to say ‘No’ very emphatically, we should prepare for it by a great many preliminary and unnecessary negatives. The very stern need for parting company, when conscience points one way and companions another, is a reason for keeping cordially together whenever we can.
‘The prince of the eunuchs’ made a very reasonable objection. He had been appointed to see after the health of the lads, and had ample means at his disposal; and if they lost their health in this chase after what he could only think a superstitious fad, the despot whom he served would think nothing of making him answer with his head. His fear gives a striking side-light as to the conditions of service in such a court, where no man’s head was firm between his shoulders. Why should the prince of the eunuchs have supposed that the diet asked for would not nourish the lads? It was that of the bulk of men everywhere, and he had only to go out into the streets or the nearest barrack in Babylon to see what thews and muscles could be nurtured on vegetable diet and water. But whatever the want of ground in his objection, it was enough that he made it. Note that he puts it entirely on possible harmful results to himself, and that silences Daniel, who had no right to ask another to run his head into the noose, into which he was ready to put his own, if necessary. Martyrs by proxy, who have such strong convictions that they think it somebody else’s duty to run risk for them, are by no means unknown.
This boy was made of other metal. So, apparently he gives up the prince of the eunuchs, and turns to another of the friends whom he had made in his short captivity-the person in whose more immediate charge he and his three friends were. He is named Melzar in the Authorised Version; but the Revised Version more accurately takes that to be a name of office, and translates it as ‘steward.’ He did the catering for them, and was sufficiently friendly to listen to Daniel’s reasonable proposal to try the vegetable diet for ‘ten days’-probably meaning an indefinite period, sufficiently long to test results, which a literal ten days would perhaps scarcely be. So the good-natured steward let the lads have their way, much wondering in his soul, no doubt, why they should take as much trouble to avoid good living as most youths would have taken to get it.
III. The success of the experiment comes next.
We do not need to suppose a miracle as either wrought or suggested by the narrative. The issue might have taught the steward a wholesome lesson in dietetics, which he and a great many of us much need. ‘A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth,’ and his bodily life consisteth not in the abundance and variety of the things that he eateth. The teaching of this lesson is, not that vegetarianism or total abstinence is obligatory, for diet is here regarded only as part of idolatrous worship; but certainly a secondary conclusion, fairly drawn from the story, is that vigorous health is best kept up on very simple fare. Many dinner-tables, over which God’s blessing is formally asked, are spread in such a fashion as it is hard to suppose deserves His blessing. The simpler the fare, the fewer the wants: the fewer the wants, the greater the riches; the freer the life, the more leisure for higher pursuits, and the more sound the bodily health.
But the rosy faces and vigorous health of Daniel and his friends may illustrate, by a picturesque example, a large truth-that God suffers no man to be a loser by faithfulness, and more than makes up all that is surrendered for His sake. The blessing of God on small means makes them fountains of truer joy than large ones unblessed. No man hath left anything for Christ’s sake but he receives a hundred-fold in this life, if not in the actual blessings surrendered, at all events in the peace and joy of heart of which they were supposed to be bearers. God fills places emptied by Himself, and those emptied by us for His sake.
IV. The conscientious abstinence of Daniel had limits.
The learning of the ‘Chaldeans’ was largely ritualistic, and magic, incantations, divination, and mythology constituted a most important part of it. Did not the conscience, which could not swallow idolatrous food, resent being forced to assimilate idolatrous learning? No; for all that learning could be acquired by a faithful monotheist, and could be used against the system which gave it birth. Like Moses, or like the young Pharisee Saul, these Jewish boys nurtured their faith by knowledge of their enemies’ belief, and used their childhood’s lessons as weapons in fighting for God’s truth. It is not every man’s duty to become familiar with error, or to master anti-Christian systems. But if it become ours, we are not to turn away from the task, nor to doubt that God will keep His own truth alight in our minds, if we realise the danger of the position, and seek to cling to Him.
V. So we have the last scene in the youths’ appearance before Nebuchadnezzar.
A three years’ curriculum was considered necessary to turn a Jewish boy into a Chaldean expert, fit to be a traitor to his nation, an apostate from his God, and a tool of the tyrant. So far as knowledge of the priestly and astronomical science went, the four Hebrews came out at the top of the lists. The great king himself, with that personal interference in all departments which makes a despot’s life so burdensome, put them through their paces, and was satisfied. His object had been to get instruments with which he could work on the Captivity, and, no doubt, also to secure servants who had no links with anybody in Babylon. Foreigners, ‘kinless loons,’ are favourites with despots, for plain reasons. But Nebuchadnezzar could not fathom the hearts of the lads. An incarnation of unbridled will would find it difficult to understand a life guided by conscience, and religious scruples would have sounded as an unknown tongue to him. But yet, as he and they stood face to face, who was stronger, the conqueror or the youths who feared God, and none besides? They were in their right place at the head of the examination lists. They had not said, ‘We do not believe in all this rubbish, and we are not going to trouble ourselves to master it,’ but they had set themselves determinedly to work, and been all the more persevering because of their objection to the diet. If a young man has to be singular by reason of his religion, let him be singularly diligent in his work, and seek to be first, not merely for his own glory, but for the sake of the religion which he professes.
‘Plain living and high thinking’ ought to go together. England and America have many names carved high on their annals, and written deep on their citizens’ hearts, who have nourished a sublime, studious youth in poverty, ‘cultivating literature on a little oatmeal,’ and who all their lives have ‘scorned delights and lived laborious days.’ It is the temper which is most likely to succeed, but which, whether it succeeds or not, brings the best blessings to those who cultivate it. Such a youth will generally be followed by an honoured manhood like Daniel’s, but will, at all events, be its own reward, and have God’s blessing.
‘Daniel continued unto the first year of king Cyrus.’ These simple words contain volumes. During all the troubles of the nation, from the king’s insanity, and the murders of his successors, amidst whirling intrigues, envies, plots, and persecutions, this one man stood firm, like a pillar amid blowing sands. So God keeps the steadfast soul which is fixed on Him; and while the world passeth away, and the fashion thereof, he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v8 Daniel Faithful to his Religious Convictions
Daniel Faithful to his Religious Convictions
v. 8. But Daniel purposed in his heart, definitely made up his mind, that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat nor with the wine which he drank, chiefly because the heathen had the custom of consecrating their food and, in fact, their entire meals by offering a portion to their gods, Cf 1Co 10:18-20; therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Daniel’s resolution to refrain from the king’s food thus was due to the fact that he had the proper spiritual understanding of the Law, that he desired to be obedient to its spirit as well as to its letter.
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v. 9. Now, God, whose kind providence is brought out throughout the narrative, had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs, so that the latter was favorably disposed toward Daniel, was ready to grant him any reasonable request from the outset.
v. 10. And the prince of the eunuchs, to whom Daniel promptly presented his petition, said unto Daniel, as he gave evidence of the favorable mental attitude which he had toward the Jewish youth, I fear my lord, the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink, by a definite command; for why should he see your faces worse liking, of a meager and emaciated appearance, in a worse condition, than the children which are of your sort? The question has the meaning of a most emphatic denial: He must not see you in that condition. Then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king, that is, the king held his life as a pledge for the faithful fulfillment of his commandment concerning the training of the Jewish youths.
v. 11. Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, the official who was their immediate superior during the course of their training,
v. 12. Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days, making an experiment in their case; and let them give us pulse to eat and water to drink, the simplest kind of vegetable food with water, all luxuries in the line of food being omitted in their diet.
v. 13. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, in a careful examination of their physical condition, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat, making a comparison between these four and the youths who complied with the king’s order concerning their diet; and as thou seest, according to the result of the observations made after the period, deal with thy servants, the test determining the matter once for all.
v. 14. So he consented to them in this matter and proved them ten days, making the experiment in accordance with their petition.
v. 15. And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh, they were clearer-eyed and in better condition in every way, than all the children, or youths, which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.
v. 16. Thus Melzar, who evidently was in charge of the king’s kitchen, took away the portion of their meat and the wine that they should drink, he no longer set it aside for their diet; and gave them pulse, vegetables, especially legumes.
v. 17. As for these four children, God, who thus rewarded their faithfulness, gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom, so that they mastered the Chaldean literature and scientific knowledge; and Daniel, in addition to these accomplishments, had understanding in all visions and dreams, this being clearly a miraculous gift granted by God for a special purpose and not identical with the gift of prophecy.
v. 18. Now, at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, that is, at the end of the three-year period originally fixed, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar, so that all the Jewish youths were presented for inspection and examination.
v. 19. And the king communed with them, examining them in all the branches which they had studied; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, none of the others equaled them either in physical beauty or in mental excellencies; therefore stood they before the king, they entered the royal service, they were given a position of importance at the royal court.
v. 20. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king enquired of them, namely, at the general examination, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers, the most learned men and those who practiced occult arts, that were in all his realm.
v. 21. And Daniel continued, he held positions at court, he lived in Babylonian court circles, even unto the first year of King Cyrus. If God’s children are faithful in their adherence to His Word and commandments, He often rewards them even in this life by giving them positions of wealth and influence in the world.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv8, 11, 14, 17, 19 Daniel intended in his mind
Daniel intended in his mind
Here "mind" refers to Daniel himself. AT: "Daniel decided to himself" (See: Synecdoche)
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pollute himself
To "pollute" something is to make is unclean. Some of the food and drink of the Babylonians would make Daniel ceremonially unclean according to God's law. This can be made explicit. AT: "make himself unclean according to God's law" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
delicacies
This refers to the special, rare, good foods that the king ate. See how you translated this in Daniel 1:3.
Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men of your own age?
The official uses this question to explain what he thought would happen. It can be a statement. AT: "He does not want to see you looking worse than the other young men of your own age." (See: Rhetorical Question)
The king might have my head
This is an idiom. AT: "The king might cut off my head" or "The king might kill me" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
mind
wine
favor
compassion
lord
king
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20 1:8-14 Daniel determined not to defile himself with the…
1:8-14 Daniel determined not to defile himself with the king’s food and wine or to yield his religious and moral independence to the king. He gave God the opportunity to demonstrate his loving kindness and care toward his trustworthy servants. This strong reliance upon God by Daniel and his friends is a significant motif throughout the book (see also 2:16-23; 3:16-18; 6:16).
1:8 Daniel was determined not to defile himself: The meat and wine from Nebuchadnezzar’s table were probably unclean by Jewish standards. The Babylonians used unclean meats such as pork (see Lev 11:1-23; Deut 14:1-21), and their meat and wine had probably been dedicated to Babylonian gods. The other young Hebrews agreed with Daniel (Dan 1:12-16). They trusted God and obeyed his commands, and God blessed them (cp. Deut 28:1-14).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.