Refreshing Stories of the Bible - Daniel in exile
Refreshing Stories from the Bible • Sermon • Submitted
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17 As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
Pretend that you don’t know anything about the context of that verse.
Pretend that you don’t know anything about the context of that verse.
You’ve never read this passage before.
You don’t know who the 4 children are that are being referenced.
You don’t know where they are when this is written nor how they got there.
The name Daniel means absolutely nothing to you.
I know this is hard, but what would you assume is true about the circumstances surrounding these boys given the development happening in their life?
From the passage we learn that these boys are maturing into grounded, intelligent humans.
Their knowledge and skills are increasing.
They’re increasing in their ability to learn and exercise wisdom.
You might be tempted to think that these boys must be living in some sort of idealized atmosphere.
Surely, their family, education, and religious training must have all been working together to cultivate this growth.
There must be a highly effective team of parents, teachers, coaches, and pastors working together to make this happen.
If you ran across a teenager that fit this description today, how would you respond?
What assumptions would you make about their home life?
Who would you credit with their behavior?
Now, let’s reconnect with the reality of these four “children.”
Daniel 1:3-4 “3 And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes; 4 Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.”
In this verse, we are reminded that these four children were not living in the idealized atmosphere that we might expect.
They have been removed from their families.
They have been taken from the familiar communities where they had spent their childhoods.
Their education would be hijacked to impose a worldview and way of thinking that was contrary to everything they had experienced to that point.
Even their names would be changed, according to verse 7.
The lives of these children are in chaos.
Nothing about their situation indicates a situation conducive to what we see.
So, how does something like this happen?
How DID Daniel and his friends become so successful?
How DID Daniel and his friends become so successful?
Part of the answer is hidden from us.
Daniel is a teenager when he is taken.
Probably between 14-17.
He is taken in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim (Jehoiachin’s father).
Which means he would have spent 11-14 years in the culture of revival that existed during the reign of the godly king Josiah.
Now, we don’t really know what these boys’ homes were actually like.
We don’t even know who their parents were.
One thing is not hidden.
We can clearly see the effect that the 4 children’s pre-exilic life had on their post-exilic life.
Daniel and the other three boys had internalized their devotion to God.
Their relationship with God was not based on external expectations being forced upon them from without.
Instead, it had clearly become an inward way-finder informing their reactions to the situations of their life.
Watch what happened when the king ordered the Hebrew children to be fed from his table.
Daniel 1:5 “5 And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king’s meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king.”
What would be wrong with this?
The king’s meat and the king’s wine?
Isn’t this a privilege?
Isn’t it a great kindness?
Daniel didn’t see it as such.
Daniel 1:8 “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.”
Daniel requests permission to abstain from the meat and wine of Nebuchadnezzar.
Why?
He saw it as a source of defilement.
What is defiling about meat?
Well for a Jew, pork and other meats were prohibited.
Daniel was not submitting to the watchful eye of his Jewish authorities.
They were mostly dead.
Daniel is acting based on the knowledge and understanding that he had incorporated into his life.
What is defiling about the king’s wine?
Isn’t all wine in the Bible alcoholic?
Short answer: no.
Daniel viewed the king’s wine as a source of defilement.
Daniel resisted the pressure to conform.
He knew what he believed to be right.
He was unwilling to abandon those beliefs because of the influence of others.
Why did God bless Daniel and his friends so much?
How big of a deal is food?
To Daniel, it was a very big deal.
Big enough to risk his life.
Most of us would probably not consider it that important in the morality of our lives.
There is a biblical principle that is referenced by Jesus in the New Testament.
Luke 16:10 “10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.”
Daniel and his friends were wise in their application of this principle.
God blessed them with more of what they already had; wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.
Because of their faithful use of the knowledge they had, God granted them deeper wisdom than they had before.
That is how Daniel and his friends could thrive and increase all while living in Babylon.
They no longer enjoyed the safety and comfort of the familiar.
They were inundated with paganism.
They were surrounded by their enemies.
They were far from home, and no longer had families.
And yet, we find them growing and maturing.
Can we experience the same things today?
Can we experience the same things today?
Daniel is often a message directed at children.
Our kids are in the back.
Our teens are upstairs.
This is for adults.
We, as adults, need to be reminded of this passage too.
There are significant obstacles resisting our own growth and development.
We can, like the Hebrew children, overcome this resistance to grow in wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.
We simply have to keep doing the next thing that we know to do.
Wisdom doesn’t sprout overnight.
It is nurtured and developed.
It comes from saying yes to what’s is right and no to what is wrong.
What is right and wrong, though?
How are we supposed to know when everything around us is trying to blur the lines.
Even movie villains today can’t just be bad guys, we have to have sympathetic villains.
We have to get our moral standard from an unchanging source.
This is what Daniel did.
The Hebrew scriptures, which he had learned, placed restrictions on what to eat.
Rather than trying to find exceptions, Daniel just did what he knew God had said.
He believed what God said, and He obeyed the words.
We make things too complicated when we try to justify or exempt ourselves from simple obedience to God.
We also harm our own spiritual lives by giving in to what the flesh wants rather than what God said.
Then we wonder why we lack discernment, wisdom, and understanding when faced with a crisis.
We need to learn to obey God in the simple matters or we will struggle to obey Him in the heavy matters.
What are simple things you know, without question, that are right to do?
What are some harder issues that you need wisdom for?
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