1:1 In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem and laid it under siege.
The third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim was 606 B.C. Jehoiakim was the oldest son of the godly King Josiah. Pharaoh Neco made him a puppet king in place of his younger brother. Jehoiakim was an evil king who squandered state funds on his new palace. He also destroyed Jeremiah’s writings, which warned Israel of coming judgment.
Nebuchadnezzar means “Nebo, protect my frontier.” He was the King of Babylon. The city of Babel was founded by Nimrod at least 1,500 years earlier. This land is known by archaeologists as Sumer. It is the land of the Sumerians. Judah refused to pay tribute to King Nebuchadnezzar, so the Babylonian king lay siege to the city of Jerusalem.
1:2 Now the Lord delivered King Jehoiakim of Judah into his power, along with some of the vessels of the temple of God. He brought them to the land of Babylonia to the temple of his god and put the vessels in the treasury of his god.
According to the Mosaic Law, Israel was commanded to rest the land every seventh year. Since they had refused to keep this commandment for the last 490 years, Israel owed Jehovah seventy years of Sabbaths. He collected these seventy years by sending Judah into Babylonian Captivity.
When Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem the first time, he took “some” of the temple vessels. The other vessels would be taken during later invasions.
The temple vessels were brought to the temples of the Babylonian gods. The main Babylonian God was Bel, but he was also known as Merodach and Marduk. This pagan god could have been the result of Nimrod being deified by his mother after his death. The defeat of Jerusalem and the plunder of the temple vessels were viewed by the Gentiles as the defeat of Bel over Jehovah.
1:3 The king commanded Ashpenaz, who was in charge of his court officials, to choose some of the Israelites who were of royal and noble descent—
The Hebrew word for “court officials” is סָרִיס (sarim), meaning eunuchs. Ashpenez was in charge of the eunuchs. King Nebuchadnezzar did not want his court officials concentrating on his harem. He did not want these young men thinking about dating. Therefore, he castrated them so that they could concentrate on their studies and serve the Babylonian Empire at a higher level of effectiveness. This means that the eunuchs would not be distracted by wives, family members, or children. This was standard operating procedure under the dictatorships of most ancient pagan kings.
King Nebuchadnezzar commanded Ashpenez to deport some of the royal family to Babylon. They were transported to Babylon for two reasons. First, the royal family was made hostage to make sure that Jerusalem paid tribute. Second, Jehovah wanted to preserve the house of David, because Jesus, the Messiah, was to come through the line of David.
1:4 young men in whom there was no physical defect and who were handsome, well versed in all kinds of wisdom, well-educated and having keen insight, and who were capable of entering the king’s royal service—and to teach them the literature and language of the Babylonians.
Ashpenez gathered up the most intellectual men of the Jewish race and began brainwashing them into the Babylonian culture. The Babylonian culture was very advanced. At this time, Egyptians already knew the distance to the sun. They knew the earth was round (It was the Greeks who came along and flattened out the earth). Notice that science taught that the earth was flat. The Bible taught that the earth was a sphere (Isa. 40:22). Various subjects were taught In Babylon, such as agriculture, astrology, astronomy, mathematics, the Babylonian religions, and the Akkadian language.
1:5 So the king assigned them a daily ration from his royal delicacies and from the wine he himself drank. They were to be trained for the next three years. At the end of that time they were to enter the king’s service.
The royal family was to go through a three year brainwashing program. Satan hoped to wipe out all messianic teachings and replace them with the satanic culture of the Babylonians. Babylon is Satan’s city. After the flood, he began false worship with Nimrod. During the Great Tribulation, he will make Babylon his capital city.
1:6 As it turned out, among these young men were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
Daniel means “Judge of God.” Hananiah means “The Lord’s Beloved.” Mishael is “Who is as God?” Azariah is “The Lord is my help.” These four Hebrew boys from Judah were probably between 14-17 years of age when they were taken captive. The names of these four teenagers demonstrate that they must have had godly parents.
They must have consented to being made eunuchs, because possibly they desired to have a testimony for God in the Babylonian capital. If so, then this would fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 39:7: “And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” Jesus may have had these four boys in mind when He said that some “have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake” (Matthew 19:12). This would explain why Daniel never married or had any children.
1:7 But the overseer of the court officials renamed them. He gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar, Hananiah he named Shadrach, Mishael he named Meshach, and Azariah he named Abednego.
As part of the Babylonian brain washing system, they renamed all of their captives after Babylonian gods. Belteshazzar means “worshiper of Bel.” Shadrach means “Illumined by Rak,” the sun god. Meshach means “Belonging to Shak,” the wine goddess. Abednego means “Servant of Nego,” who was considered to be equivalent to Lucifer.
1:8 But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the royal delicacies or the royal wine. He therefore asked the overseer of the court officials for permission not to defile himself.
The king fed his students the very best Babylonian gourmet food. However, Daniel turned it down for three reasons. First, the Mosaic Law condemned the eating of food with blood. Second, the Mosaic Law forbid the eating of pork. Third, the food was dedicated to Babylonian gods.
This teenager was in a foreign heathen court of the most powerful satanic nation in the world, but he took a strong stand for God. Asking not to eat the food of the king was a brave act for a young teenager, because he could have been removed from his favored position or possibly executed.
1:9 Then God made the overseer of the court officials sympathetic to Daniel.
Notice that God is so sovereign over all things, that He can control the emotions of pagans. Daniel had obviously won the respect of his captor. Daniel honored God, so God honored Daniel.
1:10 But he responded to Daniel, “I fear my master the king. He is the one who has decided your food and drink. What would happen if he saw that you looked malnourished in comparison to the other young men your age? If that happened, you would endanger my life with the king!”
Daniel’s request threatened the security of his Babylonian teacher.
1:11 Daniel then spoke to the warden whom the overseer of the court officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:
Daniel again shows tremendous courage for a teenager. Babylon thought that they had taken Daniel captive, but Babylon was actually captive to Daniel. A young Hebrew teenager was beginning to run the affairs of the state by implementing educational reforms.
1:12 “Please test your servants for ten days by providing us with some vegetables to eat and water to drink.
Daniel most politely asked the officials to test the Mosaic diet for ten days.
1:13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who are eating the royal delicacies; deal with us in light of what you see.”
After the test, Daniel would agree to the terms of his teachers.
1:14 So the warden agreed to their proposal and tested them for ten days.
This was a rare moment in world history where the prisoner influenced his guards.
1:15 At the end of the ten days their appearance was better and their bodies were healthier than all the young men who had been eating the royal delicacies.
The Mosaic diet was tested and judged as superior to the Babylonian diet.
1:16 So the warden removed the delicacies and the wine from their diet and gave them a diet of vegetables instead.
The warden allowed these Jewish teenagers to remain on the Mosaic diet.
1:17 Now as for these four young men, God endowed them with knowledge and skill in all sorts of literature and wisdom—and Daniel had insight into all kinds of visions and dreams.
Daniel and his three friends aced all of their exams. Daniel was also given the gift of interpreting visions and dreams.
There are many charismatics who claim that God speaks to them in dreams and visions today. They will often write a book and amass a lot of profit from gullible readers who are not grounded in the entire counsel of the Word of God.
God speaks today only through the written Word of God. Many people would rather dream about the Word of God than to study it. This is superstition. Demons will take advantage of those who are fragmented in their Bible doctrine. Demons want baby Christians to study dreams and visions, because they can mix truth with error and fool those who are not grounded in the entire counsel of the Word of God. The last thing that a demon wants is for one to study the entire Bible in the original languages. This makes demons nervous, because the one who is grounded will not be so easily deceived.
1:18 When the time appointed by the king arrived, the overseer of the court officials brought them into Nebuchadnezzar’s presence.
King Nebuchadnezzar is going to evaluate the training process of his new students. Notice that Nebuchadnezzar trained his students in a positive environment and in a friendly manner. He graciously gave them food, shelter, and a promising career. This is the opposite of Communist training. They attempt to break a man down before they brainwash him. The Communists do not possess the educational wisdom of Nebuchadnezzar.
1:19 When the king spoke with them, he did not find among the entire group anyone like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, or Azariah. So they entered the king’s service.
The four Hebrew teenagers were found to be geniuses.
1:20 In every matter of wisdom and insight the king asked them about, he found them to be ten times better than any of the magicians and astrologers that were in his entire empire.
These four teenagers were found to be the most brilliant men in all of the devil’s kingdom.
1:21 Now Daniel lived on until the first year of Cyrus the king.
Cyrus was the Persian King who overthrew Babylon seventy years later. Daniel lived into his nineties.