(15) Appeared fairer.—Thus was God beginning to assert His power among the Babylonians. This change in the appearance of Daniel was the effect of his free grace, not of the meat that came from the king’s palace. May it not have been that the young exiles thought of the words of Isaiah (Isaiah 52:11), “Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out thence, touch no unclean thing”? read more
Daniel 1:2 ; Daniel 1:6 I was taken captive when nearly sixteen years of age. I did not know the true God; and I was taken to Ireland in captivity with so many thousand men, in accordance with our deserts, because we departed from God and kept not His precepts. St. Patrick's Confessions. Daniel 1:8 The strangeness of foreign life threw me back into myself. Newman, Apologia, I. Daniel's Self-denial Daniel 1:8 We are told about a great many good men in the pages of the Bible: some who were... read more
THE PRELUDE"His loyalty he kept, his faith, his love."-MILTONTHE first chapter of the Book of Daniel serves as a beautiful introduction to the whole, and strikes the keynote of faithfulness to the institutions of Judaism which of all others seemed most important to the mind of a pious Hebrew in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes. At a time when many were wavering, and many had lapsed into open apostasy, the writer wished to set before his countrymen in the most winning and vivid manner the... read more
Analysis and Annotations I. DANIEL IN BABYLON, NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM, AND HISTORICAL EVENTS CHAPTER 1 Daniel and His Companions in Babylon 1. The introduction (Daniel 1:1-2 ) 2. The king’s command (Daniel 1:3-5 ) 3. Daniel and his companions (Daniel 1:6-21 ) Daniel 1:1-2 . Divine judgment, which had threatened so long, had finally fallen upon Jerusalem. It was executed by the divinely chosen instrument, Nebuchadnezzar. Three times he came against Jerusalem. In 606 B.C. he appeared the... read more
1:15 And at the end of ten days their {q} countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.(q) This bare feeding and that also of Moses, when he fled from the court of Egypt, declares that we must live in such sobriety as God calls us to, seeing that he will make it more profitable to us than all dainties: for his blessing alone suffices. read more
NEBUCHADNEZZAR ’S DREAM Daniel, like Ezekiel, was an Israelite in Babylonian captivity, but of a little earlier date (Daniel 1:1-4 , compared with Ezekiel 1:1-2 ). Of royal blood, fine physique, strong intellectuality and deep knowledge, he became trained in the language, traditions and astrological science of his captors that, with the other eunuchs, he might serve their king in responsible relations in the palace (Daniel 1:4-7 ). For religious reasons, and out of reverence to the true God,... read more
Mark the grace and watchful eye of the Lord in this instance over his people, or we shall lose the chief beauty of the history. Surely, nothing but grace could have prompted young men, like Daniel and his companions, to use such an abstinence in the King's court, with all their passions about them. And nothing but the overruling of the Lord, could for a moment have prompted the mind the Prince that had the charge of the captives to listen to the voice of Daniel, at the evident hazard of... read more
Daniel 1 THREE TIMES DID Nebuchadnezzar and his servants come up against Jerusalem, when the three kings, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, fell before him. On the first of these occasions, Daniel and his three friends were carried captive amongst a number of youths of royal or princely birth, who were considered to be of exceptional intellectual capacity the pick of the nation in wisdom and understanding. The astute Babylonian king intended to fortify his position with the cleverest men of... read more
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 1 Corinthians 10:18-Proverbs :; therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Daniel's... read more
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John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Daniel 1:1-21
Introductory. The abstinence of Daniel and his Friends from Unclean FoodDaniel is introduced as one of a band of Jews taken captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in the third year of Jehoiakim (Daniel 1:1-2). Along with three of his youthful countrymen he is chosen to be trained during three years for personal attendance on the king (Daniel 1:3-7). As the food and drink provided for those in this position are ceremonially unclean Daniel resolves not to partake of them. After an unsuccessful... read more