Daniel 1:19, commentary and pictures

After three years of training the king himself questioned and tested the youths, and finding none like the four Hebrew captives appointed them to stand in his presence in royal service. God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and superior understanding in wisdom, yet His blessing did not replace their own diligent, prayerful study and obedience. Their refusal to defile themselves with the king's rich food and wine kept body and mind clear and vigorous, giving them health, keen intellect, exact speech and judgment ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers. Placed by providence in the court of the greatest kingdom, they stood as loyal representatives of the living God above earthly kings, showing what youth may become through temperance, faithfulness in little things, and close connection with God.

Examination and Appointment

After three years of training the prince of the eunuchs brought them in at the appointed time, and the king himself communed with them, questioning and testing their ability and acquirements. Among all the youths examined, including the most promising gathered from every conquered land, none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king, meaning they were appointed to stand in his presence in royal service and high positions.

Their superiority was seen in comprehension, knowledge, wisdom and understanding, keen apprehension, clear, choice, exact and precise speech, and broad and varied learning. They were found ten times better in all matters of wisdom and understanding than all the magicians and astrologers in the realm. Physical strength and beauty, erect form, firm elastic step, fair countenance, uncorrupted blood, undimmed senses, untainted breath, alertness, and clear senses testified to their fitness.

Chosen to be educated in the learning and tongue of the Chaldeans that they might stand in the king's palace, they were appointed a daily allowance of the king's meat and wine, including meats pronounced unclean by the law of Moses and rich food and wine from the royal table and cellar. The officer hesitated to grant simple fare, fearing they would look worse and bring himself into disfavor, but granted a ten-day trial of pulse and water. After that trial they appeared far more healthy than those who ate the king's dainties.

In the same year they entered the king's service, events occurred that severely tested their integrity. The same divine help continued when the king had lost both his dream and its meaning and threatened to kill all the wise men and astrologers unless they told both. Then an angel revealed the dream and its interpretation to Daniel so he could declare it.

Divine Gift and Cooperation

None like them was found among all the young men brought for examination at the end of three years of training, and therefore Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were appointed to stand and serve before the king. Their knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom came from God, who gave understanding in visions and dreams to Daniel and made the four ten times better in all matters of wisdom and understanding than all the magicians and astrologers in the realm. He honors those who honor Him, cooperates with earnest people, gives His Spirit to those who cooperate with Him, and blessed them with clear minds, physical and mental vigor, strength, comeliness, and intellectual ability. Their distinction was cultivated through faithful practice and self-denial, through prayerful study, conscientious humility, and close walk with God reflected in their answers, through consecration, prayer, disciplined habits, and faithfulness amid Babylon's idolatry, and through resolve to honor God by temperance that preserved physical powers to support mental strength and usefulness. Their unmatched standing was the visible fruit of refusing the king's meat and wine for pulse and water, with God fulfilling His promise to those who honor Him.

God's blessing did not take the place of their own effort, for they studied diligently and used every entrusted power, ability, and opportunity fully. Their destiny involved their own will and action, exercised through sustained, diligent, persevering effort and dependence on God's grace, bringing all habits, appetites, and passions into conformity to God's requirements. They prayerfully studied the Bible and learned from the great Teacher, surrendered their wills to God and valued opportunities to grow in understanding, while God helped them with wisdom and knowledge and formed in them unselfishness, hope, and courage. Those who follow their example work with God and angels while God works in them to will and to do what pleases Him, showing what young men today may become with the same help through close connection with God, love and reverence for Him, and willing, focused use of abilities without wasting life's valuable time on selfish aims and amusement.

Their steadfast purpose to obey God reflected faithful instruction received at home and from childhood to youth, which preserved them in the time of test and trial in captivity. Storing the mind with pure, sound, honest principles engraved truth upon the tablets of the soul and stored memory with the precious truths of the Word, and their faithful study of the Old Testament, obedience to God's Word, and refusal to sacrifice principle were joined with divine wisdom so they were fit to serve before the king. Hearing and doing God's Word with a pure mind enlarged natural powers, strengthened character, sharpened every intellectual faculty, and joined progress in learning and strength of intellect. Truths only dimly comprehended before became essential in captivity and in time of need flashed forth like concealed treasure, like newly discovered jewels revealing all their beauty, proving heavenly wisdom superior to Babylon's highest schools and forming faithful representatives of God who remain loyal to Jehovah under any circumstances and consequences.

Temperance Health and Mind

The four purposed in heart not to defile themselves, refusing the portion of the king's meat and wine, rich food and luxuries and spirituous liquors, including meats pronounced unclean by the law of Moses, and requesting and choosing instead pulse and water and simple fare without excuse or contention. Their course was strict temperance in all things and self-denial in appetite, obedience to divine law both natural and moral, and refusal of whatever would hinder character and spiritual growth, closing the door to temptation and placing themselves in right relation to God. This earnest, whole-souled determination to be true to principle at any cost was met with God's approval and attendant blessing, and their clear minds and superior abilities when the king examined them after three years of training and found none like them were the result of that temperance, self-denial, diligence and steadfastness preserving physical and mental powers. The officer at first hesitated to grant simple fare, fearing abstinence would make them look worse and bring himself into disfavor with the king, but granted a ten days' trial, after which they appeared far more healthy than those who ate the king's dainties, so pulse and water became thereafter their food and fitted them to stand before the king in his service. Honoring God in this way is the lesson for students in pursuit of excellence, connecting self-denial in appetite and careful diet and care for the blood-making organs with gaining knowledge and brain power.

Their abstinence left them far ahead physically, making a visible distinction between their appearance and that of those who indulged appetite. Simple diet kept their minds clear from the oppression of luxurious food, kept them from sickness and from dullness and oppression, and prepared them better for study and for hard and taxing labor, giving health and fair and healthy flesh and strength of thought and memory and vigorous work through obedience to God. Their erect form, firm elastic step, fair countenance with uncorrupted blood, undimmed senses and untainted breath were certificates of temperate habits and obedience to nature's laws, while keen apprehension, choice and exact language, precise speech and extensive and varied knowledge testified to unimpaired strength and vigor of mental powers. They therefore excelled in physical strength and beauty, mental vigor and learning, with healthy appearance, clear senses, alertness, comeliness and intellectual ability showing God honors obedience to divine law, both natural and moral, and faithfulness even in little things. Their fitness, found ten times ahead of all others who had every advantage when the king tested ability and learning among the most promising youth gathered from every conquered land, came from refusing wine and luxuries, keeping fear and love of God with cheerful service and clean conscience and bright countenance, and cooperating with God in getting an education.

Intelligence depended on what they ate and drank, so keeping appetite under control kept intellect clear and keen to comprehend God's instruction. By refusing the wine and rich food the king had appointed they kept clear intellect and clear presentation of matters, which fitted them to bring a knowledge of God and the truth before the king and their associates and to endure trial. Their habits of eating and drinking thus contributed to intellectual strength, preserving physical powers to support mental strength and usefulness, while God blessed them with understanding and wisdom, sound judgment, broad knowledge and fitness for high service.

Witness to Babylon

God permitted Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah to be taken captive to Babylon, then the greatest kingdom in the world, so that they could carry to its king and nobles the knowledge of Him as the only true God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. He placed them before the king and among the great men on purpose, so that the Babylonians would learn the religion of the Hebrews and know that the living God reigns above the king of Babylon and over all kingdoms. Standing before the king as loyal worshipers of Jehovah, they became the representatives through whom Babylon received evidence of God's supremacy, the holiness of His requirements, and the sure results of obedience, despite Israel's captivity and the humiliation of the temple vessels. When examined alongside the other candidates for royal service they stood out above them all in comprehension, knowledge, and clear, exact speech, and were admitted to the king's service, found ten times better in all matters of wisdom and understanding than all the magicians and astrologers in the realm.

They stood as representatives of the living God because they remained loyal in Babylon and were distinguished among the other young captives, exalting God as King above the king of Babylon and holding to the principles of truth. They were found with none like them because they refused to compromise by mixing heathen religion with the Hebrew faith, refused the meat and wine from the royal table, and were faithful even in little things, while God worked with them and upheld and honored them as true to Him. Their temperance and sense of responsibility as God's representatives developed their physical, mental, and spiritual powers, keeping them from sickness and from the dullness that comes from luxurious food, and giving them clear minds, strong memory, vigor for study and hard labor, and skill in secular, scientific, and religious knowledge. They determined to be cheerful and faithful in all business, to give unselfish service from gratitude, to preserve true worship without slur upon God, and to show courtesy, kindness, and adaptation to court customs that did not dishonor Him, teaching Babylon by faithful service amid idolatrous literature and practices that their God was living and not an image, without losing their own knowledge of God and interest in the religion of the Bible.

Their position in the court was a perilous one, but God's providence placed them in positions of trust so that His power could be revealed through their steadfast lives. Though young and surrounded by powerful temptations, they feared God and held fast to principle, and were kept from corruption because they maintained a simple faith rooted in character, with God setting a hedge about them and heavenly intelligences cooperating with them while they walked humbly. Faithfulness to duty amid trial was met with God's protection, and Daniel stands as a noble statesman and a bright light amid Babylon's moral darkness, showing that God can give grace to those who work among worldly people. Their faithfulness and godly character offer a pattern for those in any work or position to encourage others toward right paths and honor God, overcoming through the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.

Example for Students Today

To stand before the king means to be qualified for higher work for God as channels of light, and Daniel with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are the pattern for all in responsible positions and for what youth may become through close connection with God, love and reverence for Him, and willing, diligent use of abilities. The king himself communed with and examined them, and among all examined none was found like them, so they were chosen to stand and serve before him, because earnest whole-souled determination to be true to principle at any cost brings divine blessing and fitness for high service. By closing the door to temptation, denying appetite, and placing themselves in right relation to God they kept appetite under control so the mind would be clear and keen to comprehend instruction, honored God, and God manifested Himself to them with the same help promised to young men and women today who do as they did. To be like Daniel is to seek power that comes alone from God in order to represent truth in righteousness, with no vestige of pride or self-importance, imbued with the Spirit of wisdom, magnifying truth and presenting the holy perfume of Christ's character which is the sacred fire of God's own kindling. It requires bringing all habits, appetites, and passions into conformity to God's requirements, receiving constant light to impart, putting from the mind all that is cheap and frivolous, discarding nonsense and amusement-loving propensities, refusing to waste life's valuable time on selfish aims and amusement, and refusing sinful associations, unprofitable amusements, and indulgence of appetite in order to gain clear minds and moral strength to stand firm and climb the highest round of the educational ladder on holy ground for the honor of their people and the glory of God.

Their advancement shows that religious interest is the first and highest study, and the whole first chapter supplies more instruction than can be given to a large congregation in one hour of speaking. God works with every diligent student who prayerfully studies the Bible and learns from the great Teacher, flashing light into barren heart and feeble intellect, and as He gave knowledge and skill to Daniel and his fellows they proved unequaled when the king tested them and were chosen to stand before him. Hearing and doing God's word with a pure mind is joined to progress in learning and strength of intellect, sharpening every intellectual faculty. Bringing God's word into practical life rather than continuing in mere book-knowledge displays the superiority of heavenly wisdom over the learning of Babylon's highest schools. When students' hearts are drawn toward heavenly things their words and actions testify of heavenly things in that proportion, while spiritual health creates a fragrant atmosphere, so students and church-school teachers and pupils who conform life to God's Word and keep heaven and immortal life before the mind find the same mental and spiritual help, are impressed as rightly educated, and constantly advance forward and upward.

For believers who enter worldly colleges, Daniel living the truth while studying in a worldly school is the model. It means entering as a student with no pretension, living out belief without sacrificing principle, respecting all rules and regulations of the school, keeping the living principles of truth including the Sabbath, starting no open controversies, and letting a godly life witness more powerfully than words until others notice the difference and ask questions. Then it means telling inquirers the simple Bible doctrines in simple language and dropping seeds of truth in minds and hearts, which under the Holy Spirit spring up to bear fruit for the glory of God in the saving of souls, even using opportunity to ask questions upon Bible doctrines so light flashes into minds and a spirit of investigation is aroused. This course requires men who have the Spirit of God with truth wrought into their being, who are established, rooted and grounded and led and taught of God, who study the situation to find the best way to represent truth, for only those should attempt this work because those without decided connection with God who place themselves in such schools will themselves be led astray instead of correcting error and diffusing light.

Their conduct is the model for Seventh-day Adventist institutions in witness to the world, and for workers and teachers in them. Those who bear responsibilities must be of the same kind as Daniel, a man God could teach because he was true to God: trained, thinking, praying men bearing God's impress and keeping growing in holiness, moral dignity, and understanding of their work, so every part is entrusted to the very best talent obtainable. God gave Daniel heavenly wisdom and understanding, and He will give the same to workers in His institutions when they live in close fellowship with Him, constantly learning from Jesus and seeking His help, so that He walks and talks with them and is their counselor in all things and makes them growing, efficient men. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were well-balanced scholars, skilled in secular, scientific, and religious knowledge, who studied science without being corrupted because they yielded to the control of the Holy Spirit, gave God all glory for endowments, and refused to compromise by mixing heathen religion with Hebrew faith, and in Babylonian eyes that faithfulness made them complete as statesmen fit to be entrusted with the affairs of the kingdom. Their learning did not come by chance but by faithful use of powers with God giving skill and understanding, honored without becoming exalted or proud, earning place before the king through steadfast faithfulness, self-denial, and perseverance under trial by linking with God and proving true to principle rather than forcing prominence; those who labor, pray, watch, and wait are dependable, must acknowledge dependence on God, give Him honor and credit, remove what grieves His Spirit, put will and talents on the Lord's side, value spiritual good above gain, develop every faculty to represent His kingdom and seek first His kingdom and righteousness, for knowledge used in His service is power for good.

Call to Faithful Living

The record has been kept to encourage all who face trial and temptation that firmness in resisting temptation, strict integrity that will not lower principle to suit circumstances, a self-denying life, and the triumph of principle over the lusts of the flesh can win divine favor and bring rich blessing. It shows that through religious principle young men may remain true to divine requirements even at great sacrifice and thereby reach the highest standard of moral and intellectual attainment. Their integrity and firmness stand as the example of Christian temperance, and their doing their best made them distinguished among the others so that they were brought before the king. Because none was like them in physical, mental, and moral superiority they stood before the ruler, for superiority was given to youth who honored God by discarding through love and fear of Him everything detrimental to physical, mental, and moral perfection. Their abstemious, temperate habits in harmony with the laws of nature, which are the laws of God, kept mind and body in healthful condition so that the mind could be impressed and divine power could work in co-partnership with the human agent to make them complete.

Their exceptional standing illustrates that humble, faithful, praying, whole-hearted workers are advanced, and their strict compliance with divine requirements benefited health of body and mind as they sought wisdom and strength from God and observed strict temperance in all habits of life. Their good influence in their own time teaches children the value of faithfulness to principle, and their faithful service is worthy of imitation, bringing a good influence wherever one goes who acts as faithfully as they did. The very first individual duty is with the soul, owing gratitude for the gift of the only begotten Son to redeem, and children and students who follow this example support teachers and schools by a life worthy of imitation.

Their self-denial and self-sacrifice show that appetites, passions, hereditary and cultivated habits, circumstances and surroundings are to be servants to the God-fearing person, not rulers over him. The Christian is not to be enslaved by habit or tendency but to rule animal passions and to control circumstances by an inwrought principle learned from Christ. That principle of self-denial and self-sacrifice, seen also in Christ and in John the Baptist, is to pass like a plowshare through hereditary and cultivated habits and through all circumstances and surroundings, leaving excuses valueless. Through grace, with Christ ruling in the heart and the kingdom of God within, a person uses God-given faculties to reform self by self-denying action, gaining victories over hereditary and cultivated tendencies. By Christ ruling in the heart strength of principle, power, and ability are gained to stand as a faithful sentinel and true reformer, and those so transformed make impressions upon other hearts that will never be effaced, with influence carried to all parts of the world.

Faithfulness in doing the little things entrusted to them gave character to the whole life, so that among them all none was like them and they stood before the king. Not only professing truth but living it, acting in accordance with principles of temperance and showing purity of character and honesty in dealing, faithful, true, honest and upright in small as well as great acts of life, makes believers stand distinct from the world while in the world but not of the world. Such living sanctifies them through the truth as sons and daughters of God, children of the heavenly King, members of the royal family, witnessing for Him so the world sees what truth does. To all who follow this example encouragement will be given similar to that given to Daniel, and the habits of faithfulness and accuracy formed in daily work and in learning a trade shape the later life, with purity and faithfulness marking conduct.

With Joseph they show how the golden chain of truth binds youth to the throne of God so they cannot be tempted to turn aside from integrity. They valued divine favor above the favor and praise of princes, and were honored before men for faithful integrity and determination to honor God above every human power, with divine love spread as a shield over them. Even in the court they were not ashamed to display their true colors, confessing faith in words, habits, and practices and refusing to bow to any earthly mandate that detracted from divine honor, with strength from heaven to confess allegiance. Their standing calls youth to unfurl their colors before men and angels, to make open confession by choice words and consistent action, to let Christ occupy the throne in the soul temple, and to lay all talents without reserve in service.

Their history proves that young men must gain solidity of character through firm principle fitting them for usefulness, so that divine purpose can be carried out through them and bring them to their appointed place. It stands as proof that Christ is willing to reveal Himself to children and as the record of what is expected from children and youth who keep the commandments and form characters after the divine similitude. That outcome is a sacred responsibility for parents, who are to teach obedience from babyhood and to educate children to share in the earnest work to be done in this age.