This article started out as a writeup for wisdom as described in the Bible (e.g; Solomon, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Daniel), but the Holy Spirit has led me to write on Daniel 1 instead.
The book of Daniel was written during a tumultuous period, where the Israelites were under the Babylonian exile which lasted for seventy years.
The exile took place in two sieges.
v1:
The first chapter opens with the first siege occurring, during king Johoiakim’s third year reign over Judah.
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had just invaded Jerusalem and besieged it. Some Israelites were carried away to Babylon as exiles, including Daniel.
v2:
Some precious vessels in God’s temple were also carried away to Babylon.
The rebuilding of the temple and city walls after the exile, was recorded in Ezra / Nehemiah respectively.
v3-4:
Nebuchadnezzar wanted to recruit the best young men from among the Israelites, to serve him in his palace.
There were high qualifications in this selection process, they were to be “without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand” (ESV).
Those selected would undergo preparatory training, on how to read and write in the Babylonian language.
v5:
The training would be conducted over a three year period, and the king had also prescribed a special daily diet of meat and wine for them.
Thereafter, they will graduate and be ready to minister unto the king personally in his palace.
v6:
Daniel and his other three friends, from the tribe of Judah: Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were selected for this grooming process.
v7:
The four of them were given names too:
Daniel was renamed to “Belteshazzar”, which was actually named after one of king Nebuchadnezzar gods (Dan 4:8).
Hananiah was renamed to “Shadrach”.
Mishael was renamed to “Meshach”.
Azariah was renamed to “Abed-nego”.
v8:
Daniel chose obedience to God (the ceremonial laws in Leviticus on clean / unclean food).
He thus sought permission from the king’s official, not to eat the food prepared for them.
v9:
Because of his uncompromising obedience and unwavering audacity, God gave Daniel favour and compassion in the eyes of the official.
However, the official was still afraid the king might find out when he compared their faces and appearances to the rest, and thus didn’t allow.
v11-13:
Daniel instead approached Melzar, which the official had appointed directly over him and his friends.
Daniel requested him to give them only vegetables and water over a ten days trial period, then compare their appearances again with the rest.
He was confident that the outcome would be favourable.
v14-16:
Melzar agreed, and indeed after ten days they actually appeared better looking, healthier, and even fatter, than those who ate of the king’s royal portion.
Thus, from then on Melzar gave them only vegetables to eat daily, and water to drink.
v17:
God was pleased with Daniel and his friends, and bestowed them with wisdom and understanding in all their learning.
The Hebrew word for wisdom / wise comes from the same primitive root (transliterated / pronounced as “chakam”), and is what we understand notionally to be: intelligent, skilful, prudent, learned.
It is synonymous with the wisdom that James 1:5 (written in Greek) tells us to ask of God, who promises to give liberally.
And also, it is the same wisdom which is used throughout Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.
These two books were written by king Solomon, as he tries to define what wisdom means biblically and the characteristics of a wise person (e.g; exercising self-control over our speech, Prov 17:27-28).
For Daniel, he was also given the ability to interpret all the visions and dreams which king Nebuchadnezzar had, and also his own dreams.
There were a total of four apocalyptic dreams / visions recorded in the book of Daniel, concerning future kingdoms and God’s final eternal kingdom (Dan 7-12).
v18-20:
After the three years of training, Daniel and his friends were brought into the king’s palace where the king himself spoke with them.
Daniel and his friends were found to be ten times smarter than all the magicians and astrologers, in the kingdom of Babylon.
Thereafter, they entered the king’s personal service.
v21:
Subsequently, Daniel and his friends rose up the ranks in the Babylonian empire (Dan 2:48-49).
Daniel himself served as provincial administrator in the Babylonian court, and then finally in the Persian court.
