Keeping Fit for the Sake of Others
Study: Daniel 1: 8 – 17; 1 Timothy 4:7 – 8
Background: Daniel 1
Devotional: Titus 1: 5 – 9
Lesson 2 March 7, 2026
Key Verse
Rather]discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; 8 for bodily training is just slightly beneficial, but godliness is beneficial for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 1 Timothy 4:7b – 8
INTRODUCTION
Our Study Scripture deals with what is involved to be in shape spiritually and physically so that one can successfully encounter what you meet when you live to manifesto the world the beauty of the gospel.
This really boils down to you having to pledge allegiance to Christ and showing what Christ requires from you since you are His ambassadors.
The Dictionary defines allegiance as a devotion or loyalty to a person, group, or cause and so if Christ wants you to pledge and to manifest devotion or loyalty to Him above everyone or everything else, you know that you are going to face many contrary requests from those persons or institutions who want you to follow them instead of following Jesus.
As a child of Christ you should have made a decision how you would respond to those who are asking for devotion and what you would do when you promise more than you are really ready to deliver.
This is a most important decision that a child of Christ has to make for they realize that there are two kingdoms , and believers have to live in the kingdom of man on a day to day basis, working at jobs to earn a living, driving our cars, going to the groceries or supermarkets, attending our favourite sporting events, in fact deciding how we are spending money.
What believers know that there is also the Kingdom of God on earth and the creator who is holy and just rules the creation according to certain rules which of course reflect his character and His will. Jesus came to bring to earth this kingdom of God and to teach us more about this kingdom of God.
All you have to do as a believer therefore is to look around you and you will see these two kingdoms regularly come into conflict and collide. Sometimes they collide in small ways and sometimes they collide in dramatic clashes. But as long as these two kingdoms exist side by side, believers know that they and the world will not be at peace.
Our study will teach us the way to live for we are studying about a man that faced a choice about loyalty when someone in power over him demands allegiance and expects allegiance without illicit even asking for allegiance. The we will be studying really surprises us for he handles these demands in a remarkable way, showing how far he was prepared to compromise with the Kingdom of man as well as showing us where his ultimate allegiance lies
As we study this lesson therefore you should expect to learn how to face similar situations in our life for when we live in the kingdom of man we have to make choices which are sometimes very difficult.
So the question we must ask ourselves is whether we will stand above the majority of people whose behaviour do not really distinguish them as being in allegiance to Christ. When they do what they do the world has won.
The person we will be looking at closely is Daniel. He was a remarkable man and there is much for Christians to learn from his life. His influence on his times has placed him in a rare class with few equals. He was a top government official in the great Babylonian and Persian empires.
More importantly, the first section of his book is very helpful for a person trying to live as a Christian in a totally idolatrous and pagan culture. It has a timeless and very relevant message.
We therefore have to look at the situation that Daniel and his companions were in.
Daniel was among the Judean exiles taken to Babylon in 605 BC. There were three deportations from Judea to Babylon and in this the first, the captives were largely from the nobility and upper classes. We soon learn the Babylonian monarch was building up his personal staff and cultured Hebrew youngsters were prime entry-level candidates to be trained for important roles later-on.
Let us not put on our rose coloured glasses when you are looking at this Study for the problem is that Daniel and his friends were being trained to be executors of evil. One writer helps us in understanding the context:
“Babylon was the enemy. In verse 2 (the first chapter) this place was described as “the land of Shinar”. The land of Shinar is first mentioned in Genesis 10 and 11 where it was the place that a whole community of people gathered. They collected themselves into a community and they built a huge tower to identify themselves. This was, of course, the Tower of Babel. It was the first major effort by a group of people to rebel against God. It became the iconic example of going against what God wanted for his people
It is mentioned again in the Book of Joshua when the action of Israel loses a huge battle. The reason is discovered to be because one of its soldiers had stolen a “beautiful cloak from Shinar”.
At the end of the Bible in the Book of Revelation where Babylon represents the assembled evil of the entire world, Evil is personified by this place. In revelation 17:5, it is called,
“ Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations”.
Biblically, Babylon is a synonym for evil”.
The book of Daniel tells how young Daniel and his friends guided by their faith, maintained their identity and withstood the tide of Babylonian and Persian paganism. These young men had to make difficult choices in very challenging situations and put their lives on the line for their faith.
The names of Daniel and his friends give us a clue as to their upbringing and what they had learned from their parents and the godly people that surrounded them. Daniel and his friends were captured.
Daniel has been taken captive to Babylon and has to accept that the fact that he was going to be put in the service of the King of Babylon and learn the language and the intellectual knowledge of the Chaldeans.
So as we learn about how to get to be fit and to maintain fitness for the sake of Christ let us look at their names. We know that the young boys in our Study were princes and that they were from the family of Zedekiah and their grandfather was Josiah so they were in the kingly line and had lived a pretty pampered life getting pretty well everything they wanted in life despite the evil reign of Jehoiakim who was on the throne at that time. He put a lot of money in building magnificent edifices and living like an Oriental monarch.
But nevertheless these young men had every possible blessing, being pampered, cared for, and served, and suddenly they were taken off to Babylon where they were uprooted from the Hebrew culture, and their families, and subjected to an entirely different culture.
In order to brainwash them and retrain them the Babylonians (Chaldeans) had to obliterate the cultural background of these boys and put them in a totally different mould so that they would become conformed in their thinking to Babylonian ideas.
Hence the first step in this was to change their names.
But first, you had better think about what the experience of Daniel and his friends are telling us.
What are you doing with your children?
As a matter of fact, what are you doing with yourself?
Are there changes in your life and how you are regarded by the world which are as significant or even more significant than a simple name change?
The name Daniel given by his parents is a powerful name and it means God is my judge. So the king of Babylon orders that he be renamed ‘Belteshazzar’, which means “Bel will protect the hostage of the King”. He will now spend his time to fulfill the role that he will have to play in service to the King and This new name tells the world that his role in life is now to serve the kingdom of man.
Daniel’s allegiance to the God of Israel was now to be changed to allegiance to Bel, who was the head of the Babylonian pantheon, the Baal of the Canaanites.
Daniel was now expected to accept Bel as his protector.
You might think that this was not to unreasonable for when you start to work with a new company they give you a badge and that badge you use to get into the building and show everybody that it’s all right that you are there.
It tells us something about you for it says you are now part a part of something and you are aligned with the interest of the organization and you are one of them. You are now working with might be good or bad but you are now a part of them and if they get themselves into scandals so will you.
Daniel friend whose name was Hananiah had a name which meant “ God is gracious”. He was renamed ‘Shadrach’, which means “Sin the moon god” will serve you.It is not God who was the gracious one but it was now Sin the moon god now would be his protector.
Then there was another friend of Daniel called Mishael, and his name means “Who is like God”? The pagans would probably have laughed at his Hebrew name. He was renamed ‘Meshach, which means, “Who is this”?
Then the fourth little friend of Daniel was Azariah, whose name means “ Yahweh the Lord helps”. He was renamed ‘Obed-nego’, which means “Nego helps. Nego, or Nebo, was another of the gods, so his name means “Nebo will protect the crown”.
Now you might wonder why we are discussing these name changes, but it would be good for the brethren to understand that the Babylonians were trying to obliterate the cultural background of these young men and put them in an entirely different mold so that they would be conforming their thinking to Babylonian ideas.
Do not fool yourself, the world will be doing the same thing to you and to your children, and you cannot make the excuse that you are too busy to make them understand who the true God is. Parents are so indulgent and they are so preoccupied with the things of the world that they forget their responsibility to their children.
So how do you expect that your your children would be kept fit for the sake of Christ?
Even more importantly or just as important, how are you going to be keeping fit for the sake of Christ? What is it are you doing to get and keep fit?
It is quite common in Christian circles for all of us to complain about our children. But note what is happening to these boys. They were forced to accept the training of the priests of Baal, Marduk, Ishtar, Baal and all the pagan gods.
Babylonian culture was well prepared to integrate religious and secular thinking and teach them astronomy, mathematics, geography and all the wisdom of the world from the standpoint of the pagan pantheon of gods.
One writer points out some facts so that we will understand the danger these young men, Daniel and his friends were in. He states about this:
“ So these little boys were put into a pagan setting and taught pagan truths so that it would be difficult to know the difference between truth and error.
They would be taught that 4 + 4 = 8, but at the same time they were taught that it was a certain god who made the equation possible.
Or they would be taught astronomy against the background of the pagan view of the identification of nature with God. (I will add, Do not laugh for you believe in horoscopes too. We hope not though).
The integration was complete so that they were immersed in a pagan educational system—the best possible education that could be received at that time—but they were being taught simultaneously all the philosophies of an idolatrous system.
Fix in your head a picture of a 12 or 13 year old boy you know and think of him thrust into this kind of situation. How would you respond? All the pressure was on.
In addition, think a moment about what it was like in Babylon: there was idolatry on every side, with temples, walls, roads, gates, all dedicated to pagan gods. The great Tower of Babel was just down the street from Nebuchadnezzar’s palace; the palace itself was dedicated to the god Marduk and to the glory of Nebuchadnezzar. In the Book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar is walking on the roof of his palace and describes as incomparable “this great Babylon that I have built!”
There was no city like it. And those little boys were there in the palace.
They tell us that the walls of Nebuchadnezzar’s palace were 150 ft wide. You don’t tunnel out of a place like that! They could not go home.
It seems from this account that only four boys were faithful to the Lord.
The other boys knuckled under but these four little boys were faithful to God in that setting”.
Let me hastento add one other thing that this writer points us to:
“These boys heard the preaching of Jeremiah, they heard the preaching of Habakkuk and Zephaniah so they were exposed to truth.
And these little boys went off to Babylon clinging to the one thing that they knew would support them, the Lord himself, as he was depicted in the Word. That was all they had. They were separated from their families they were uprooted—the shock must have been enormous, but they had the truth of the Word of God.
They submitted to the change of names, although certainly that was degrading. They submitted to a pagan education. In their case they really had no alternative. If you think out of Nebuchadnezzar’s finishing school, you are really finished. But had that been clearly wrong to them, they would not have done it, as we will see in a moment they submitted to a number of indignities. But there was one area where Daniel would not submit, and we are given that account in verses 8 and following”.
So, instead of skipping through this Lesson, as if it is just an interesting story what do you think about being fit yourself and making your children fit, and your family fit, and your associates fit, and the brethren fit for the sake of Christ?
You will hear sermons and discussions all the time about the story but rarely will you hear that the story is speaking to you in any deep personal way that will embarrass your sundry neglect.
So we hope you will understand from this Lesson what the Scriptures are talking to you about.
So when you choose an alternative, is it going to be one that works hardship on you and not on everybody around you?
Do you hear Daniel saying that he preferred to go back to Judah and get the kind of kosher steaks that he was accustomed to having?
What he did not, and even though he knew that how he would act would be contrary often to the law of the King, and it would cause discomfort to the people around him, he chose an alternative kind of behaviour even though it was sometimes to his own detriment
So, will you apply this principle to your life and choose the thing that often works a hardship on you and not on everybody around you.
The Apostle tells us that the servants of God must not strive but must be patient and gentle and in meekness instructing those who oppose themselves. So look at your life.
Is there a gentleness and a sensitivity that would gain the honor and the respect of the people around you?
There are many other lessons that we can learn from this episode with Daniel in chapter 1 and it would be interesting if you think about this Chapter carefully.
We know what the end was for Daniel. It was at a high position of responsibility of administering the entire empire from the Babylonians to the Medes and the Persians, and he gained the respect of all of those courts.
We also cannot stress too much that we, like Daniel, face a choice about loyalty. He showed us where his ultimate allegiance lay as he handled the demands on him in a remarkable way.
His example will help us as we face similar moments in our lives.
Note that we have to make the decision as to how we should make the small choices, as well as the larger choices, because these choices demonstrate to whom you are devoted or to whom you are loyal.
God allowed Daniel and his young friends to be placed in the court of one of the most powerful and proud tyrants who ever lived. His word was law. There was no restraint on him and he exercised absolute authority.
We must never forget that God is sovereign and he puts us in sometimes very uncomfortable situations. But God has an aim in view, and God made Daniel a saviour to his nation and as well an instructor in the prophecies of God par excellence.
Every believer is placed in a position where they are required to walk faithfully and obey God irrespective of the pressures they face. If professing believers are not prepared to live a life governed by these principles, God will have no pleasure in them.
Daniel was given great gifts of understanding and wisdom but don’t you forget that you have been given the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and therefore you are in an exalted position of grace. When you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit you will do great and wonderful things.
Daniel is often and rightly lauded for his sterling qualities especially his faith. And while we have little or no information on his life prior to captivity, his display of faith while in Babylon must have been a carryover of his manner of life prior to exile. Here we have a youngster confidently seeking the favor of a hardened security officer at great risk to himself.
Despite Daniel’s perilous situation and the shameful condition of his nation he
had obviously paid attention to the words of the prophet Jeremiah and knew God’s promises to Judah were sure.
Are you paying attention to the words of the prophets?
Later we learn of his strict daily, spiritual regimen that must have been in practice even as a youth. His rigorous attention to prayer and keeping God’s law served him well and his growing influence and advice to the king must have benefited
his fellow exiles.
The Study Text records the start of Daniel’s long career in Babylon and from the very beginning we see the ‘hand of God’ on his life.
Faithful believers are assured our God is no less concerned for us.
Importantly, Daniel was never assured of how events might play out in his life. Nevertheless, he trusted God for all outcomes as should we!
THE TEXT
Verses 1-7. These verses give a time-line for the first deportation of Jews to Babylon. It was the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah. Along with the captives the Babylonians looted the Temple in Jerusalem and carried off treasures.
Apparently, the deportees were mainly from the nobility and upper classes of Judean society. Among the deportees was Daniel and three of his friends. The king saw these and other youngsters as candidates for his personal staff and immediately ordered their training and assimilation into Babylonian culture.
These measures include new names and a strict Babylonian diet.
The Jewish captives were at about the early high school age; they had no parents, no chaperones, no mentors, but with obvious aptitude that could be moulded to Chaldean culture. The king instructed that the very best of the land was available to these young men during three years of training.
Daniel was brought up in Josiah’s court and would likely have known the
Jeremiah 29:7 instruction to:
“Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and prayed to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare”.
Daniel was prepared to be an administrator in Babylon but drew a line against certain edicts from the king including a prescribed diet. Our Study records Daniel and his friend’s response to the Babylonian diet issue.
8. But Daniel purposed in his heart … Daniel did not seem to think that the name change was that important. He knew there was patriarchal precedence for his view. He certainly knew that when Joseph was chosen to serve Pharaoh that his name was changed, but that didn’t stop Joseph from following the ways of God. The name change was not critical and did not defile him.
Participating in a pagan government would not defile him either. It did not defile Joseph nor did it defile Moses, that great leader of Israel who was brought up and trained in the court of Pharaoh. Moses served in the Egyptian court and he was not defiled and so his serving in the Babylonian government would not defile him either.
Clearly, a secular education does not have to damage young children, especially if they have been taught to not unquestioningly accept the ways of the world.
A solid education at home provides an excellent foundation, so that the people of God will not be indoctrinated to accept the life view of the world. It is important to teach children good ideas, and to teach them not to believe everything that they are taught outside the home.
Think about that!
Daniel and his friends knew that they could follow the example of Joseph and Moses without worrying about the contamination of the false aspects of the education system in Babylon. They had been previously well taught and could reject the foolish ideas of the Babylonian astrologers and wizards, while accepting the advances of Babylonian science.
Daniel knew that there was no getting around God’s instruction against eating unclean foods and foods associated with the worship of heathen gods, for this would defile him.
He also knew that one of the reasons for the judgment on Judah, was the fact that the people were eating the unclean foods and defiling the land. In addition, they were desecrating Sabbath worship, and did not want to rest the land as was required simply because they wanted to make money. Daniel would not continue in that forbidden way. This was no cultural standard. Eating these foods was contrary to the specific and clear Law of God. Daniel would not cross that line.
Today many of us like to argue that some commandments in Scripture are culturally based. We should be mindful that there is no compromise with God. If a ruler of the civil authorities commands disobedience to Scripture, we should obey God rather than man.
Nebuchadnezzar was a tyrant, unrestrained in his brutality and Daniel had to please this man, as well as to please God. He had to be obedient to the civil authority and be obedient to God at the same time. Daniel knew that he was different and that he had to maintain his identity as a child of God. He had to make a choice and he was unwavering with his choice.
9. Now God had brought Daniel into favor … for the first time in the book of Daniel, God is credited as the active force. Daniel’s situation echoes the relationship between Joseph and the prison warden (Genesis 39:20–23). In both cases, the person who obeys and follows God finds favor and approval from others.
The sentiment expressed by the prince of the eunuchs is more than a feeling of sympathy toward Daniel. Scholars tell us the Hebrew word translated tender love is also translated as “mercies”
in Daniel 9:9, 18, and that is the sense here. The phrase evokes ideas of faithfulness and loyalty. Moreover, the two Hebrew words translated as favor and tender love appear together throughout Scripture to describe God’s commitment to His people (Psalms 25:6; 40:11; 51:1; 69:16; 103:4; Isaiah 63:7; Jeremiah 16:5; Lamentations 3:22; Hosea 2:19; Zechariah 7:9).
Daniel made his resolve. He would not defile himself with the king’s food, so there must have been something about the food that Daniel did not find acceptable. In the meantime, God unbeknown to him, brought him into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs. It would appear that if God had not brought Daniel into favor with the prince of the eunuchs so that this man would have compassion on Daniel, Daniel could very well have lost his life by resisting Nebuchadnezzar’s edict.
10. I fear my lord the king, … the prince of the eunuchs does not give Daniel an immediately desirable answer. It’s not a flat refusal, but it points out that if things go wrong, more people than Daniel will suffer the consequences. What Daniel is requesting, to reject a visible and substantial sign of allegiance and assimilation could be dangerous. The desires of kings are not to be taken lightly. The death penalty is a very real possibility (Daniel 6). What we might think to be hyperbole on the part of the official seems to be a genuine fear to him.
The main concern seems to be that by refusing the food and drink appointed by the king, Daniel and his companions will be eating inferior food. The prince of the eunuchs anticipates this will render them visibly less healthy than the children which are of your sort.
In the end, by not giving a flat refusal, the prince of the eunuchs gives Daniel tacit permission to continue pursuing his request. As a loyal servant, he cannot promote Daniel’s request. Nevertheless, the favor and tender love that God kindled in him causes the prince of the eunuchs to allow Daniel to continue pursuing his request without interference.
God intervened, but the chief of the eunuchs though willing to listen to Daniel’s request and appeared to be sympathetic, was extremely afraid of the King. This fear was quite reasonable, for Nebuchadnezzar was a very harsh man and everybody tried to avoid his wrath. If Nebuchadnezzar found out that this man had disobeyed his order to feed the young men his food and changed the type of food given to Daniel, in the wink of an eye he would lose his head. The eunuch did not want to go ahead with Daniel’s stand, for he feared that if Daniel did not eat the high quality food from the king’s table, he would look worse than the other young men of his age and the king would have his head for that. He was unwilling accommodate Daniel’s request.
11. Daniel apparently thought about this problem and he came up with a creative solution. The chief eunuch had given him great information and Daniel now understood that whatever happened would affect those above him. So he now had to act not only to protect himself but to protect his overseers as well.
By asking for ten days to test his dietary request, Daniel acknowledges the warning the prince of the eunuchs has given (Daniel 1:10, above). Daniel also offers an alternative to the king’s food: pulse. The Hebrew word used here is rare, occurring only here and in Daniel 1:16 (below), where it appears with a slightly different spelling. It is related to the Hebrew word for seed. It could refer to a diet of seeds, meaning legumes and grains. It could also indicate things that grow from seeds, including fruits and vegetables. This diet resembles what God gave humans to eat in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 1:29).
We do not assume that Daniel requests an entirely vegetarian diet. In Daniel 10:3, he temporarily stops eating meat, so it must be concluded that he consumes meat more or less regularly.
No matter what we assume the “king’s meat” and “pulse” to be, there remains a strong contrast between what Daniel is ordered to eat and what he is requesting to eat. The portion of the royal food and wine are symbols of power and privilege. Even if it is just a fancy loaf of bread, it is something that can presumably be obtained only by the king’s permission. It is, therefore, a tangible way in which the king demonstrates his power. By contrast, requesting the humble “pulse” and water could be seen as an act of solidarity with those conquered of Judah.
Perhaps this food is more in keeping with what inhabitants of Judah who had not been whisked away to court have available to eat. Again, the key point is that Daniel uses the food he eats, and thus his body, as a way to honor God.
Notice that the simple diet made Daniel and his companions fatter and more healthy looking than the rest of the other children of the nobility.
12-13. Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, … He approached the man directly in charge of him, a steward, with an alternative that would meet everybody’s aim. One writer sums it up this way:
“The goal was peak performance, both physically and mentally. The “control group” against whom Daniel and his friends would be compared to, was the rest of the Hebrew trainees. Daniel proposed that he and his friends be allowed to eat vegetables for 10 days and then their condition compared with the rest. If Daniel’s group could match or surpass the others, then the goal of the Babylonian officials was obtained, yet in a way that did not defile the Hebrew youths.
Daniel’s proposal is submissive, because it seeks the permission of the one directly in charge; it seeks to fulfill the purposes of Daniel’s superiors”.
Daniel was sure that the diet chosen by the king was not a healthy one for them. His diet was a much better diet and it was obviously not unpalatable.
Have you ever thought about your diet? Or what kind of things you are doing with your body which you will remember is the temple of God?
This not encouragement to vegetarian or vegan diets because they all have their flaws.
Daniel and his friends were extremely wise and mature for their age. They were gracious and not overbearing, behaving like sons of royalty. They were certainly gentle and sensitive about what was happening around them and the effect of their welfare on the people around them.
He and his friends were in a difficult position. They were living a life of loneliness with no support. Daniel himself seems to have been a loner all his life, dealing with and trusting only in God during his seventy years of ministry. The only Jews he was ever mentioned as associating with were the previously mentioned three Hebrew boys.
Note most importantly that Daniel and his circle still considered themselves to be under the law of God, even though they were captives in the land of Babylon. He did not accept the popular advice that if you are in Rome you are to do as the Romans do. Or stated otherwise you’re in Babylon so do what the Babylonians do. Daniel did not think that if he was to follow that principle God would forgive him for not seeking to keep up with God’s Word.
He was very meticulous in keeping up to his conviction that the Word of God was true.
He should abstain from those things that the Babylonians and the rest of the Hebrew exiles were feasting on.
It was probably nice to be feasting on the choice foods of the King’s table, for that would be the very best food available, but that was not what God wanted. God had laid down His commandments and Daniel and his friends chose to obey God.
Note that Daniel and his friends had no words of condemnation for the other Hebrew boys or exiles that had been chosen to work in the court of Nebuchadnezzar and would eat and do whatever Nebuchadnezzar wanted. He simply went about his business quietly without kicking up a fuss and making everybody among the other exiles think especially highly of him for his stand. He simply did what he had to do under the watchful light of his Father in heaven, for he only wanted to please the Father and get any rewards from Him.
Daniel and his friends had to balance the biblical principle of submission with the decision they made in their hearts and minds. They purposed to obey God and keep themselves free from defilement. The way Daniel approached this showed a marvellous level of spiritual maturity and wisdom.
He showed that good people must do good things in the right way. This would bring respect, honor and admiration. Both goals and process are critically important. It makes no sense to do good things in the wrong way. His behavior brings to mind the instruction of the Apostle Paul, which was that the servant of God must not strive, but must be patient and gentle, in meekness instructing those who oppose themselves (2 Tim 2:25).
14. So he consented to them in this matter … the steward consented to the proposal for Daniel and his friends to have their choice of food, to see which diet was best for them and the test was underway for ten days. The Hebrew words for what Daniel wanted was literally “seeds”, or maybe oatmeal, which would involve grains like corn or wheat.
It is certainly clear that God divinely intervened and was orchestrating the whole drama. If Daniel’s suggestions worked successfully, the four Hebrews would not defile themselves and at the same time the Babylonian overlords would have benefited.
Ten days is a very short amount of time for such an experiment. It is unlikely that Melzar expects a significant change in their appearances, especially a negative one.
15-17. When the ten days of the test were finished, Daniel and his friends were in much better shape compared to the others that had been fed from the King’s table. The stewards took away the delicacies and rich food and wine that the other group had been given and gave them grains or vegetables to eat so that they too would look and feel better.
God blessed these young men because they followed His will. This was a demonstration of discipline, a demonstration of loyalty to principle, and the action showed faith and character. The actions of the servants of God brought God’s approval and blessing.
Daniel and his companions proved themselves to be very able and gifted. They had great ability, and they excelled at all the subjects of study given to them by the Chaldeans. They showed great judgment and wisdom. Daniel obviously had a particularly brilliant mind and God rewarded his morality and attitude with the supernatural ability to understand visions and dreams. God would use this ability to communicate His ideas to Daniel.
Note that this was a special gift of God. God decided to give that gift to Daniel because like Joseph, he was submissive to the will of God.
The ten days should not have made that big of a difference. Although God is not explicitly stated to be active in the situation, this is clearly divine intervention. Having passed the test, Daniel and his companions are granted a dietary exemption on an ongoing basis.
This verse sets the stage for the narratives to follow. God is once again explicitly active, granting Daniel and his fellows knowledge and skill beyond what they were brought to court to learn. This is particularly true regarding Daniel’s understanding in all visions and dreams. The text makes it clear that Daniel will succeed in the Babylonian court, not because he earned it, but because God wills it.
1 Timothy 4: 7 – 8
There are several reasons Paul wrote the first epistle to Timothy:
(a) To encourage Timothy to stay on at Ephesus and deal with the significant and difficult issues that had arisen;
(b) To provide authoritative instruction on how the household of God was to conduct itself in case Paul delayed in coming; and
(c) To combat directly the opponents and their teaching and to remind Timothy of how he was to conduct himself and what he was to teach.
The underlying purpose was then to encourage Timothy in his work but also to transfer Paul’s authority to Timothy in his fight against the opponents.”
7. But refuse profane and old wives’ fables.… this verse begins an expansion of the discussion in
1 Timothy 1:3–7, where Paul warns Timothy about false teachings and teachers that have their origin in legends and myths (Titus 1:14).
Paul’s caution against profane and old wives’ fables here employs an imperative verb, which means it is an order, not a suggestion. This is the first imperative in a paired exhortation; the other appears in the second half of the verse.
… And exercise thyself rather unto godliness….
The second half of the paired imperative instructs Timothy to exercise himself. Paul uses athletic imagery, but the training he has in mind is not that of the athlete in pursuit of peak physical performance.
Instead, Paul instructs Timothy to take the same drive and passion that an athlete devotes to his body and apply it to pursuing godliness (1 Corinthians 9:24). It’s not enough to merely avoid evil; one must pursue holiness.
8. For bodily exercise profiteth little: … this phrase is sometimes wrongly interpreted to mean that there is nothing to be gained from taking care of the body. The Greek word used here indicates that something is small in comparison to something else (1 Timothy 5:23).
In other words, it is “not nothing.” There is something to be gained from bodily exercise. The physical body is a gift from God. Jesus cared for His physical body (Mark 6:31; 11:12–13), and so should we.
On the other hand, genuine godliness is beneficial both in the present and in eternity. The godly life yields peace, harmony, and contentment that cannot be found by any other means. And unlike physical health, spiritual health lasts forever. Death cannot conquer it.
CONCLUSION
We often hear the statement that we have to protect ourselves from the world, and should concentrate on not being tempted by the world. We are also sometimes exhorted to fix the world.
But not only are we to remember that Satan is the prince of this world and calls much of its activity and aid as well he is much more powerful than we human beings are,
We also should note that Dan paid attention to the prophecies of Jeremiah who told the exiles living in Babylon in Jeremiah 29:7
“ Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
We therefore have to pay more ATTENTION to the sovereign will of God. God turns the hearts of men in whatever way He wished.
Daniel was clearly doing all he could to make the kingdom of man successful even though that kingdom was Babylon.
He knew very well that even in the worst evil has the whole hope of being redeemed, and that everything that is against God will be used by God for the wrath of man will praise the Lord and the remainder of wrath God will restrain.
It is interesting to note that the equally wicked Assyrian Empire which was destroyed by God no longer exists obviously but the remainingAssyrians are now Christians in the Coptic faith. That was a remarkable turnaround and so we have the responsibility of and serving Babylon with the aim that we might do a little bit to bring some of them to the knowledge of God. So be careful how you write people off.
As a matter of fact that wicked king of Babylon gave one of the most beautiful testimonies about God after God disciplined him. You can read that testimony yourself.
Sometime later after the Medes and Persians overcame the kingdom of Babylon, that king Darius who loved and respected Daniel recognized he had foolishly passed an edict which would have forbidden Daniel to worship his God. He could not reverse his edict and he could not sleep as he surely prayed that Daniel’s God would save him from the den of lions. We do not know whether Darius was a worshipper of Yahweh and we do not know if he became one. but we know Darius declared when Daniel was freed from the lion’s den, Surely Yahweh is the GOD of heaven
The caution we would give to you however is that whatever you are led to do, do it under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Do not take on these massive tasks of trying to change the kingdom of man all by yourself.
Living in a countercultural way is not easy but in fact it is easier if it is done as part of the group of saints.
So we are exhorted that we do not forsake the assembling of ourselves as some do. Our task is to help the brethren to mature so they can do the tasks that God has entrusted them with
Do not forget that God used the wicked Babylonian Empire to discipline the nation of Judah for they had gone off on a strange track and ignored the warnings of the prophets.
By having Daniel go through these severe tests his character came to the fore in a much greater way than it would have if he were still living in the land of Judah under the wicked kings like Jehoiakim.
If Daniel were not in the Land of Babylon, and developed by God in a marvelous way, we would not have the great prophecies of the times of the end that Daniel gave. Read Daniel Chapter 9 and onwards as the prophet Daniel deals with the history of the Nation of Israel and the history of the Gentile world.
In fact, in the Old Testament Scriptures Daniel is singled out as an extremely righteous person. Ezekiel 14:14 states about Daniel when discussing the wickedness and unrighteousness of his nation:
“Even though these three men Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst by their own righteousness, they could only deliver themselves, declares the Lord God”.
And again:
“Even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the midst, as I live declares the Lord God they could not deliver either their son or their daughter. They were deliver only themselves by their righteousness”.
In chapter 28:5 off Ezekiel when he is speaking about the leader of Tyrus Daniel is likened as a person with great wisdom and so he was noted for his righteousness and also his wisdom.
Recognize therefore that both of our StudyTexts studied deal with the connection between bodies and honoring God.
In Daniel 1:8–17, Daniel and his companions resisted total assimilation into Babylonian culture and religion. This resistance took the form of tactfully refusing to eat the food and drink the wine given to them. Instead, Daniel requested water and food that was more in line with God’s desires. Through God’s intervention, his request was granted, and the resulting trial period was successful.
Daniel and his companions resisted being fully assimilated, maintaining their connection to their people and God.
Strong connections can be formed through food and other kinds of consumption. These connections may be relational. They may be philosophical or societal. Being mindful of what you consume and its effects on both your body and soul will be noticed by others. Daniel and his friends used their bodies to honor God. For us, this can take the physical forms of eating healthy foods, exercising, getting enough rest, and being proactive about preventative care.
The Text of 1 Timothy 4:7–8 puts this into a spiritual perspective. While celebrating the goodness of God’s creation, Paul instructed Timothy to make the pursuit of godliness his highest priority. The language he used alluded to athletes’ training (compare 1 Corinthians 9:24–27). This reminded Timothy that pursuing God gains a believer far more than focusing primarily on the body ever could. Living within misaligned cultures, it can be easy to allow the pursuit of bodily health to rise above its proper place in our priorities. Paul’s words remind believers that faithfulness to God matters more. Read together, Daniel 1 and 1 Timothy 4 encourage us to honor our bodies so that we might honor God.