Never Far from Home
Daniel Taken to Babylon
1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.
3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, 4 youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.
5 The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king.
6 Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. 7 And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego. <Daniel 1:1-7 ESV>
The book is very relevant today for us. The book of Daniel follows the author beginning in the third year of King Jehoiakim around 606 B.C. up to the reign of Cyrus king of Persia about 536 B.C. Seventy years of service to his people and his God.
Daniel’s life can be summed up by purpose, prayer, and prophecy.
- Daniel was a man of purpose - from the abstaining of eating pagan sacrifice food to not submitting to the worship of pagan idols.
- Daniel was a man of prayer - we can find several specific time in this book where he prayed (Dan. 2.17-23, 6.10, 9.3-19, 10). We can also see how prayer is able to deliver us from our enemies; even the from the mouth of lions.
- Daniel was a man of prophecy - it has been said that the book of Daniel gives us a “skeleton of prophecy on which all prophecy is placed” qited from J.V.McGee “The Book of Daniel” Thru the Bible Books
In verse V7: And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names:
Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.
Daniel (Heb.God is Judge/Babylon Belteshazzar which means Baal's prince. Baal was one of the gods of the Babylonians)
Hananiah is beloved of the Lord to Hananiah [was given the name] of Shadrach which means illumined by the sun god
Mishael, who is as God? to [he gave the name] of Meshach meaning who is like Shak? another one of the Babylonian deities
Azariah, the Lord is my help [he gave the name] Abednego meaning the servant of Nego, which was another one of the Babylonian deities. Why would they do such a thing? “So Shadrach, Meshach, Abed-Nego, Belteshazzar, these are all the profane names that were given to them by the eunuch in Babylon as they took away from them their Hebrew names which related to God.” <CSmith_comm_Daniel1>
Friends never forget who you are in Christ Jesus! All these things that took place in order to remove all traces of who they were and where they had come from. We know that this did not work and that they held fast to their faith in LORD.
The book of Daniel deals with political issues and ecclesiastical issue as separate matters but reminds us that God is sovereign over all.
May God bless you and give you a deeper understanding of scripture - amen.
We can see in this first portion of Daniel 1 how he and his friends were taken from their home and trust into a foriegn culture, yet they remained faithful to their God. A culture bent on removing them not only from their homes but also from their faith. Not even their names were safe from the persecution of the captures. As we walk through a forgien land today may we be as faithful as they were!