Sermon Tone Analysis

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

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Introduction

We have an expression for being in a difficult situation.

They call it “being between a rock and a hard place.”

That is an appropriate title for this message because Daniel seems to be caught in the middle between God and Nebuchadnezzar.

If Daniel were to follow exactly the plans Nebuchadnezzar had for the Hebrew captives, he would defile himself and displease God.

If Daniel simply refused to do what Nebuchadnezzar expected, he would be in trouble with the king who had taken him captive.

This is not the only time in Daniel where we will find tension between pleasing God and pleasing those in authority.

In chapter 3 Daniel's three friends must choose between bowing down to the king's image and being thrown into the fiery furnace.

I

n , Daniel’s choice is between forsaking his prayers and facing the lions.

The dilemma Daniel faces in chapter 1 is different from that found in and 6.

In these latter chapters, the issue is:

Pleasing God OR Pleasing men.

In chapter 1, Daniel and his friends face the opportunity for: Pleasing God AND Pleasing men.

The task at hand was not an easy one.

For Daniel and his friends, it would require commitment and perseverance.

Beyond that, it would require divine strength and intervention and certainly supernatural motivation.

Daniel and his three friends did not do “what comes naturally” in this chapter.

They did “what comes supernaturally,” to the glory of God.

Think for a moment how a person like Daniel could have felt toward God and toward government, because of what had happened to him.

From what little we are told of Daniel’s early childhood (see ), we can surmise that he grew up in Judah, perhaps in the city of Jerusalem.

He was likely born of parents high in the social rankings of Judah, maybe even of royal blood ().

Daniel’s life dramatically changed for the worse (or so it seemed), through no fault of his own.

Long before Daniel’s day, the united kingdom of Israel once ruled by Saul, David, and finally Solomon, divided into two nations.

The northern kingdom, known as Israel (sometimes called “Ephraim” by the prophets) was consistently wicked, worshipping idols and forsaking the law of God.

The southern kingdom, known as Judah, was often wicked, too, but had times of repentance and revival.

The prophets of God warned of future judgment against Israel if she did not repent from her wicked ways.

Israel did not listen, and God’s judgment came upon this wayward nation in the form of defeat and dispersion by the Assyrians.

Assyria was eager to extend her empire by adding the southern kingdom of Judah to her conquests, but God intervened, sparing Judah from the hand of the Assyrians.

God pointed to the fall of Israel at the hand of the Assyrians as an object lesson for wayward Judah.

He warned of a similar fate for Judah at the hand of the nation of Babylon.

Judah refused to heed these warnings, so captivity came upon the southern kingdom as well.

Daniel, along with a number of other Hebrew youths, were part of the first wave of captives held hostage in Babylon.

Several attacks on Jerusalem would follow, with many Hebrews deported to Babylon to spend 70 years in captivity.

As were others, Daniel was torn from his native land, his family, and his friends, so far as we know, never seeing his homeland again.

It is even possible, since Daniel is called a eunuch, castration was a part of his humiliation as a Hebrew hostage.

How easy it would have been for Daniel to become bitter toward Babylon, toward his own people [after all, Israel’s sin brought on God’s judgment], and even toward God [God gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar ()]!

We are not told about the attitudes and actions of any of the other Hebrew hostages, but it is probably safe to assume they did not respond the way Daniel and his friends did.

The first chapter is critical to our understanding of the entire Book of Daniel, providing the historical setting for the entire book, and especially revealing the mind set of Daniel and his three friends.

It explains, in part, the reasons for Daniel’s rise to a position of great influence in the Babylonian government.

Chapter 1 introduces Nebuchadnezzar, the king under whom Daniel serves in chapters 1-4, as being impressed with Daniel and his friends because of their wisdom.

As the book proceeds, the king begins to understand that their wisdom is from God.

In , Nebuchadnezzar places the articles he took from the temple in Jerusalem, the “house of God,” into the house of his god supposing that his “god” is greater than the God of the Jews.

By chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar is humbling himself in worship and praise before the God of the Jews, acknowledging Him to be the God of the universe—God alone.

presents those who live in the “times of the Gentiles,” whether Jew or Gentile, with the ideal, the goal for which every Christian should strive—pleasing God and pleasing men.

Daniel and his friends are the “ideal Jews” who did what the Jews as a nation did not do.

They refused to defile things the Jews persistently practiced.

In our text, Daniel and his friends provide us with a model of biblical submission, primarily a submission to God, but also a submission to those under whose authority God has placed us.

Chapter 1 instructs us in holiness.

Daniel and his friends knew where and how to “draw the line” between what was defiling and what was not.

We who desire to live godly lives will find much to gain from the example of Daniel and his friends, as revealed in this great text of scripture.

Finally, our text establishes a connection between godliness and wisdom.

As a result of their actions, Daniel and his three friends are given wisdom which far surpasses that of all others in Babylon, whether Jew or Gentile.

Our text has much to say to us about the source of true wisdom.

Let those who would be wise learn from Daniel and his friends and listen well to what the Spirit of God has to teach us, through these men, about godly living in an ungodly world.

Historical Background

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In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God;

[2] and he brought them to the land of Shinar,

[3] to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god.

The defeat of Jehoiakim and the capture of Jerusalem and Judah should have come as no surprise.

For a long time, Judah had been warned of divine judgment at the hand of Babylon.

Therefore thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am about to give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it.

And the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall enter and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses where people have offered incense to Baal on their roofs and poured out libations to other gods to provoke Me to anger.

Indeed the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been doing only evil in My sight from their youth; for the sons of Israel have been only provoking Me to anger by the work of their hands,” declares the Lord.

“Indeed this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My wrath from the day that they built it, even to this day, that it should be removed from before My face, because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their kings, their leaders, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem” ().

Over a century before Nebuchadnezzar marched on Jerusalem and Judah, the circumstances of this divine judgment are announced by Isaiah to King Hezekiah:

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts, ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and all that your fathers have laid up in store to this day shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord.

‘And some of your sons who shall issue from you, whom you shall beget, shall be taken away; and they shall become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon’” ().[4]

Judah’s captivity was a divine judgment for the sins of this nation.

Daniel’s prayer, recorded in chapter 9, reveals his grasp of this fact.

Daniel was fully convinced that it was God who gave Jehoiakim king of Judah, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.

It was this knowledge which enabled Daniel to deal with his own circumstances in the godly manner evident throughout the Book of Daniel.

The Setting

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Nebuchadnezzar’s empire was rapidly expanding.

He needed men of great ability to fill positions of power and responsibility in his administration.

He instituted a plan which would identify the most gifted and skillful Hebrew captives available and prepare them for positions of responsibility.

Daniel and his Hebrew peers were the “cream of the crop” in Judea.

Nebuchadnezzar knew this well.

This, in fact, is why these young men were taken captive to Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar set about a carefully planned course of education.

Ashpenaz, placed in charge of this training project, was to select the finest and most qualified candidates from among the Hebrew captives.

Those selected had to be physically and mentally flawless, as well as highly trained and proficient in a broad range of knowledge and skills.

They were to be the most promising candidates for court service that could be found.

These men would require further education, for which the king made provision.

I do not understand from our text that the king was attempting to brainwash the Hebrew captives.

Those selected were already highly trained and knowledgeable.

Their schooling had already been virtually completed before their captivity.

What they did need, in order to serve in the court of the king of Babylon, was to speak, to read and to write in Aramaic, the language of that land.

They needed language school.

As I perceive verse 4, this is precisely of what their education was to consist.

No doubt the study of Chaldean literature would involve the religion and culture of Babylon, but the principle purpose of their schooling was not to tempt these youths to forsake their culture or religion as much as it was to equip them to serve in the administration of a Babylonian king.

Those who find brainwashing seem to read too much into the text and do not take the text’s words literally enough.

They also fail to understand the mindset of the polytheist, the person who believes in many gods.

The polytheist is not troubled or offended that someone may believe in gods other than his own.

In fact, the polytheist is often more than willing to consider adding the gods of others to his own gods.

The only thing which greatly offends the polytheist is exclusionism, believing their God is the only God.

We should not be surprised that the sailors on board that sinking ship with Jonah, urged him to call out to his own gods, even though not their own:

“Get up, call on your god.