God the Teacher by M. C. Wilcox

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 18, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 38.

God the Teacher.

By M. C. Wilcox

A Lesson for the Ages.

Scope of Babylon’s Schools—Object in Education—Missing the Mark—A Noble Purpose—Taught of God.

Viewed from a temporal and politic standpoint, it was to no mean education that Nebuchadnezzar called the royal Judean youth. In many respects it would compare favorably with much of the education of to-day. In fact, some of the things then known in natural science are now lost to the world, and neither Yankee ingenuity nor European persistence have been able to restore them. Let us sketch briefly the educational evidences of that age which have come down to us in the histories they left.

Babylonia was the great educational world center. Great universities were established at Borsippa, a suburb of Babylon, and at Ur, or Orchoe. The great Babylonian libraries which existed were written by the Chaldeans and by the magi.

“The contents of the inscriptions [in these libraries],” says “Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia,” “as well as the materials inscribed, are most various. Stone slabs, gems, clay tablets, glass, and metals are all employed; and the subject matter is historical, mythological, religious, official, commercial, astronomical, and mathematical.”

Art, the finest of which has perished, was manifest in various lines. Their sculpture, painting, and coloring, shows them to have possessed no small knowledge of metallurgy and chemistry. The stones used in sculpture, which were bored, shaped, or engraved, were not merely the softer kind of rock, but the harder kinds, such as carnelian, agate, quartz, jasper, sienite, loadstone, and green felspar. To cut these, emery must have been used, as well as rapidly revolving drills and disks, such as lapidaries now use. The work, “sometimes ‘exceedingly delicate,’” shows a complete mastery over tools and material, and it indicates that either the eye was much better then than now, or else powerful magnifying glasses were used. In fact, a lens has been found in Assyria, and it is well known that glass was used and cut into various shapes in Babylon.

In metals, gold and silver, bronze and copper, lead and iron, were used. Solid massive gates were cast of bronze. The pottery is of excellent quality. Their textile fabrics were of great celebrity even as early as the days of Joshua, standing in the ancient world as do the fabrics of Turkey and Persia now. These fabrics were in wool, cotton, and linen.

Rawlinson tells us that in mechanical art they “decidedly excel ‘the Egyptians,’” and “may challenge comparison with the most ‘advanced nations of antiquity,’” falling “little if at all short of the Greeks and Romans.”

In astronomy they distinguished between fixed stars and planets, mapped out the heavens into constellations as they exist to-day, computed eclipses, and learned the relative distances of moon and planets.

All these things were taught in their universities. The practical application of the wisdom of the wise men of Babylon is evidenced in the great works of the city of Babylon itself. The men who projected and directed in the construction of these works in that mighty city were not novices. In the days of Daniel ancient sun-temples had been or were being repaired; golden royal palaces, exceeding imagination in their barbaric splendor, had been erected. Colossal and beautiful hanging gardens, containing rocks and forest trees, had been constructed by Nebuchadnezzar in the heart of the city, that his wife, a royal mountain-maiden, might enjoy the beauties of the country in the midst of the most luxurious metropolitan life.

By mighty moat and wall the city was fortified against all known weapons of war which might be wielded by an attacking foe. This wall was said to be sixty miles in length, fifteen miles on each side of the city, three hundred and fifty feet high, and eighty-seven feet thick. On either side of the Euphrates River, which flowed through the city, was there a wall equal to one-half the cubic contents of the outer wall.

A Noble Purpose.

It was this city, “the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency,” that Nebuchadnezzar surveyed when in his pride of heart he exclaimed: “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built ‘for the house of the ‘kingdom by the ‘might of my power, ‘and for the honour ‘of my majesty?’”

It was to this mighty city, teeming with works of art and grandeur, that the children of exile, mourning for desecrated Zion, were carried, there to witness, even in their humiliation, to the truth of God’s Word. Nebuchadnezzar purposed that they should be educated in the best schools the world knew. How the news of the king’s purpose struck the Judean youths is thus recorded:—

An inscription in cuneiform characters, which reads: “Beltis, his lady, has caused Urukh (?), the pious chief, king of Hur, and king of the land (?) of the Akkad, to build a temple to her.”—Rawlinson.

“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now God made Daniel to find favor and compassion in the sight of the prince of the eunuchs. And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink; for why should he see your faces worse liking than the youths which are of your own age? so should ye endanger my head with the king. Then said Daniel to the steward, whom the prince of the eunuchs had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the youths that eat of the king’s meat; and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. So he hearkened unto them in this matter, and proved them ten days. And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer, and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youths which did eat of the king’s meat. So the steward took away their meat, and the wine that they should drink, and gave them pulse.” Dan. 1:8–16, R.V.

There were several reasons why Daniel and his fellows could not thoroughly enter into the plans of the king: (1) They could not drink of the wine of the king, the wine of Babylon. (2) They could not be partakers of the unwholesome rich viands of which royalty was partaker. Service to God demanded strong healthful bodies and clear minds: and the Word of God had taught them, as doubtless their own experience, that the “dainties” of the ruler were “deceitful meat;” that “wine is a mocker,” and that princes should “eat in due season, for strength and not for drunkenness.” The school of the prophets, which at least in a perverted form they had doubtless attended, embraced the education of the whole man, physically, mentally, morally, within its compass. In fact, the foundation of all, was the Word of God. Therein is found the best rules of sanitation and hygiene, the instruction as to the best dietary, that were taught in the ancient world, and it is the wonder and guide of enlightened sanitarians to-day. And that people—the Hebrews—who have but blindly, superstitiously, half-heartedly followed those instructions, are among the healthiest peoples in the world.

Babylon knew but little of all this. Luxuriousness and lasciviousness reigned in her courts. Luxury fosters lasciviousness, weakness of body, grossness of mind, hardness of heart, and ultimate ruin and

decay. These things were taught or countenanced or permitted in the Babylonian system of education, and the Judean princes, loyal to God, remembered the words of their wisest king: “Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty [of both soul and body]; and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.” “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.” And remembering this, they nobly refused to defile themselves with the king’s meat, or with the wine which he drank.

3. The eating and drinking of the Babylonians was more or less connected with their religion, the root of which was nature worship, and the chief of which was sun-worship. Great feasts came continually—weekly, monthly, yearly—in connection with this worship. Licentiousness in some form was a part of it, and this licentiousness was fed and fostered by rich, unwholesome viands, the exciting condiments and sauces, and the stimulating, intoxicating, maddening wine, drunken on all such occasions. And the mad revels of students in our great institutions of learning, connected more or less with secret societies, may be easily traced to the idolatrous feasts and revels of the various cults and guilds of ancient Babylon. The Easter and Yuletide festivities, as well as the special feasting on Sundays, are all continuations of the ancient Babylonian feasts in honor of the sun and its “wild solar holiday of all pagan times.”

But these religious feasts and revels were expressly forbidden by the law of Jehovah, in which the Judean youth had been educated. They had seen the sad result of this false worship and false education among their own people and their kings; and they themselves were reaping the fruit of the evil sowing in their own captivity and enforced exile from beloved Zion, which lay in utter ruin. Even Israel’s wisest king, who was famous throughout all nations for his knowledge, to whom all the world sought for wisdom; whose knowledge embraced botany, and zoology, and entomology, and rhetoric, and psychology, and art, and ethics; whose proverbs are even now, in their comprehensive scope, the wonder of the world, even he, through the seductive influences of wine and the idolatrous women of his court, fell. Knowing God’s law, knowing and seeing the sad results of departure from it through the popular worship and feasts of the heathen, the noble young men of Judah, tho slaves, refused that part of their education which would have connected them most closely with the idolatry of Babylon.

A black basalt book of Nebuchadnezzar, containing a record of his building and beautifying of the walls and great edifices of Babylon, and a prayer to Marduk or Merodach. This basalt slab is in the British India Office, London.

Vases and drinking vessels of Chaldean manufacture. Some are glazed, and possess much beauty. Vessels of burnt clay are sometimes found seven feet long, three feet high, and two feet across. These inverted were used as sepulchers.

4. Above all other considerations there must have come into the lives of the young men as controlling principles their duty and service to God. Their own names continually recalled God’s goodness and their duty to Him: Daniel, God’s judge; Hananiah, “whom Jehovah graciously gave;” Mishael, “who is what God is;” Azariah, “whom Jehovah aids.” Nebuchadnezzar, knowing the influence of these, bestows others, in order to bind them to idolatry. Daniel was called Belteshazzar, “Bel favors;” Hananiah, Shadrach, “circuit of the sun,” or “royal one;” Mishael, Meshach, “guest of the shah,” properly, ram, then the name of the sun-god of the Chaldeans, Fi; Azariah, Abed-nego, a “servant of Nego,” or god Nebo. But the language, the memories, the associations, of heaven-taught youth were stronger than the glittering generalities, the seductive atmosphere, the fulsome flatteries, the strong delusions of the popular education of wealthy, world-renowned Babylon; a lesson which all Christian parents should take to heart.

Temporal versus Eternal.

The education of Babylon promised great temporal advantages to those who excelled. Honorable positions among the magi and Chaldeans were ever open, in which the growing scholar could wield great influence, and the mighty king was ever seeking such to fill important posts of responsibility in the affairs of his vast empire. But beyond these it offered nothing. True, there were the greater gods; and the promised reward among them in a world no better than this; for the gods, being deified departed heroes, were of like passions with men here; and the better or upper worlds were realms of plot and counter-plot, war and strife, rape and marriage. Might and position awaited if a man could win it by strength, subterfuge, or the special favor of some deity; but of power over sin, of the “upright life and pure,” of the right of existence because of righteousness, the polytheistic religion of Babylon knew nothing, and taught nothing free from condemning and all-destructive error. The very root of that religion, as we have already seen, was rebellion against God, perversion of His ways, rejection of His commands, and trust in the self-sufficiency of the creature.

Daniel and his brave, faithful companions turned from it all, and chose the simple course that would separate them as much as possible from sin-loving youth and all idolatrous associations. But they had read of the wrong course: “Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.” We can readily understand that this course cost them something. We can easily hear the protests and ridicule of the disloyal Judean youths among the captivity. We can hear the taunts of the Babylonians and captives from other nations. We can hear the reproach cast upon the simple diet of pulse (leguminous foods, as peas, beans, lentils, or perhaps seeds of any kind), and pure water. We can see the curled lip and contemptuous glance; we can note the repressed word on the part of the persecuted; we can read their inward prayers; we can almost join them in their prayer-meetings, when alone, as they poured out their souls to the living God, their personal Friend. They were like one of old, only bearing the reproaches of Christ, greater riches than the treasures of Babylon. They were building characters of eternal worth.

With beautiful Christian courtesy and wisdom, they lay the matter before the king’s steward, and ask for a brief time of testing for the proposed diet. The brevity of the time shows clearly that they expected God to work manifestly. They were in Babylon to witness for Him; they would meet every condition so far as slaves could; and then God would vindicate their faith, and witness to His truth. The steward admitted the test, and the ten days of the vegetarian diet satisfied him that the youths of Judea could hold their own, and he gave them their own way.

The Results.

The three-years’ university course soon terminated. The Judean princes had studied the language and learning of the Chaldeans, the arts, the sciences, the knowledge, all of worth, and much unwillingly, not of worth, doubtless, which the renowned teachers of Babylon had to impart. The result is told in the following simple record:—

“Now as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. And at the end of the days which the king had appointed for bringing them in, the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore stood they before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding, concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his realm. And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus.” Dan. 1:17–21, R.V.

They had attended the schools of Babylon, but they had had a higher Teacher than Babylon knew. Beyond the voice of heathen tradition they heard the words of truth; beyond the deification of nature, they saw the working of the great Jehovah, high over all. High sounding over the traditions of the priests, the commentaries of the lawyers, the guesses of the scientists, the vague generalities of the evolutionists, they heard the voice of the Infinite God. They had opened the heart and soul and mind and flesh to let God in, and He came in with all the life-expanding and truth-progressing power of the Infinite. They were taught of God; how little in comparison were the hypotheses and suppositions and superstitions of man! With the whole being opened to Him, ever seeking entrance to His temple,—man’s body,—what wonder is it that “God gave them knowledge and skill in all ‘learning and wisdom;’” and that when the king communed with those who studied the prescribed course at his universities, tested them at the end of three years, “among them all was found none like Daniel, ‘Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah’”! “Therefore stood they before the ‘king,’” as counselors. But this was not all the test; in the affairs of his great and diverse kingdom, “in every matter of wisdom and ‘understanding, concerning which the king inquired of them, he found ‘them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that ‘were in all his realm.’”

God did more than this for Daniel. He opened to his mind new revelations of the far future. He made him a seer,—a see-er of the time to come. In his loyalty to God, Daniel could be trusted with the great prophetic gift, to the glory of God, the warning of the world, and the good of His people. And the glorious lessons of infinite worth have come down to us. Will we heed them? M. C. WILCOX.

A flint instrument, supposedly used for impressing characters on moist clay.