Daniel 1:20, commentary and pictures

At the close of three years of training the king himself examined the four Hebrew captives in all matters of wisdom and understanding and found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers in all his realm, standing without peer among the most gifted people gathered in Babylon.
Their superiority was the direct attendant blessing and result of firm self-denial and temperance in eating and drinking, having refused to defile themselves with the king's rich food and wine and continued on simple fare.
God gave them knowledge, skill, learning, wisdom and understanding and cooperated with their diligent study and faithful use of entrusted talents, rather than making His blessing a substitute for their own effort.
They kept themselves in touch with God by prayer and study of His Word, remained true as steel to principle amid temptation in a perilous court, and honored Him, so He honored them with standing and influence before the king.
They stand as the pattern of true higher education and sanctified integrity for youth and students today, showing that heavenly wisdom gained from God through reverence, purity, healthful living and diligence far surpasses merely human learning.

Setting and Examination

The examination came at the close of three years of training, when the king himself personally examined and tested the ability, acquirements, and learning of the Hebrew youths. It was a testing of what they had gained in wisdom and understanding, to prove their fitness to serve before him.

In all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better, far superior, than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. In every matter he asked about, in all that he tested, they surpassed the whole class of learned men in his kingdom.

None were found like them, and they stood before the king to serve in his presence. Among the most gifted and highly educated people gathered in Babylon from many conquered lands, among men of exceptional gifts and learning from many lands in all the courts of Babylon, they stood without peer or rival in mental ability and learning.

The subjects are the four Hebrew youths and captives, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Daniel also had understanding in all visions and dreams, with knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom given besides.

Temperance and Physical Health

Daniel and his companions purposed in heart not to defile themselves with the appointed daily allowance of the king's meat and wine, which included meats pronounced unclean by the law of Moses, rich food, flesh meats, intoxicating drink, and luxurious variety. They asked for simpler fare, were granted a ten days' trial of pulse and water, appeared fairer in flesh and healthier than those eating the king's dainties, and continued that simple abstemious diet. The first chapter of Daniel thus presents them as men who controlled appetite and as a bold representative example of pure hygiene and Christian temperance in integrity and firmness. Their examination before Nebuchadnezzar came at the close of three years of training, when in all matters of wisdom and understanding he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers in all his realm, with none like them in physical and mental vigor to be found in all the courts of Babylon.

That superiority was the attendant blessing and direct result of their temperate course, firm self-denial, diligence, and obedience to God's laws in eating and drinking in both natural and moral law. Their keen minds and broad knowledge testified to mental powers preserved by temperance, and their exceptional ability followed God's blessing on their firmness and self-denial. They reasoned that to fulfill God's purpose for them they must keep appetite under control so the mind would be clear and keen to comprehend His instruction, and because they denied appetite, closed the door to temptation, and placed themselves in right relation to God, He blessed their efforts and gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom. Their choice to abstain from intoxicating drink and indulgence of perverted appetite was thus vindicated by their better condition and knowledge, fulfilling the promise that those who honor God will be honored by Him.

Their wisdom and understanding that set them above all the magicians and astrologers depended on what they ate and drank, for refusal of wine and the king's rich food kept them in the course they had laid out as students. That food would have confused the brain and left them unable to distinguish between right and wrong and between the sacred and the common, but their disciplined habits and rules of life, with food that kept their minds clear, strengthened sound judgment, thought, memory, and ability to study God's Word and to study and labor. They determined to be true to principle and to eat and drink to God's glory, keeping the fear of God before them, praying as needy and dependent, and keeping the mental machinery fit to receive the education God had to give. So God honored their loyalty and conscientious self-denial with superior clearness of mind, clear intellect and clear presentation of matters that bring a knowledge of God and the truth, preserved physical vigor and clear senses seen in erect form, firm elastic step, fair countenance, uncorrupted blood, undimmed senses, untainted breath, keen apprehension, precise language, and broad knowledge, free from oppression and sickness from luxurious food.

Their history proves that all human testimony and claims for the advantages of a meat diet or a great variety of food should carry no weight. Appetite, passion, hereditary and cultivated habits, circumstances, and surroundings are to be servants to the God-fearing man, not rulers over him. The Christian is not to be enslaved by hereditary or cultivated habits or tendencies but is to rule the animal passions rather than be held in bondage of habit, and is to control circumstances by an inwrought principle learned from Christ, with excuses valueless. That principle of self-denial and self-sacrifice seen in Christ and John the Baptist is to pass like a plowshare through hereditary and cultivated habits and through all circumstances and surroundings.

Divine Gift and Education

In all learning and wisdom the four Hebrew captives, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, received knowledge, skill, learning, wisdom and understanding as a direct gift from God, with Daniel also given understanding in all visions and dreams. The Lord Himself was their educator, heaven connected the finite with the infinite, and they partook of the divine nature. They placed themselves on the Lord's side, conformed habits, appetites, words and actions to the instruction of the Old Testament Scriptures, refused idolatrous practice, kept the senses sharp amid religious corruption to distinguish right from wrong, consecrated themselves daily to God and sought Him in prayer three times a day in faith. Because they denied appetite, closed the door to temptation, kept appetite under control so the mind would be clear and keen to comprehend instruction, and placed themselves in right relation to God, God heard them, cooperated with them as they cooperated with Him, blessed their efforts, and gave them the purest and most complete education. Their tenfold superiority over the magicians and astrologers in every matter of wisdom and understanding the king tested is the gain connected with that self-denial of appetite, careful diet, honoring God while seeking knowledge, and faithful practice.

This fulfills the promise that those who honor God will be honored by Him. Because they honored Him in prosperity and adversity, were true as steel to principle, would not be corrupted by selfishness, and would honor God at the loss of all things, God honored them with superior standing, honor and influence before the king. Their faithfulness to principles of temperance led in God's providence to positions of honor and influence and exaltation to positions of trust in Babylon, which they would not have received had they indulged appetite. Among men of exceptional gifts and learning gathered from many lands none were like them in physical, mental and moral vigor, and Daniel's faithfulness to duty and loyalty to God allowed God to honor him as a messenger to the Babylonian king, giving Babylon through His representatives evidence of the blessings that come through a knowledge of Jehovah. They gave God all the glory for that superiority, bearing their faith and their name as worshipers of the living God as a high honor without compromise with idolaters.

God's cooperation did not make His blessing a substitute for their own effort. Trusting His grace, their future depended on their own will and action, as they diligently studied, used their abilities, made the most of their opportunities, traded upon entrusted talents, refused to waste life in selfish pursuits or amusement, and developed themselves to a high standard through willing work and reverence for Him. When tested on both faith and knowledge they could give a reason of the hope within them and pass examination in all learning and wisdom through living connection with the God of all wisdom, and that knowledge served them in strait places. Being found ten times better was the rich reward of close application under the training of God joined to diligent human effort to secure knowledge, to which the Lord added heavenly wisdom and opened the understanding of those who honor Him to advance in learning. The God of heaven will not supply deficiencies caused by mental and spiritual indolence.

Purity of mind made them strong-minded. As hearers and doers of the word of God, receiving the Bible as food for the soul, holy obedience enlarged their natural powers and quickened and sharpened every intellectual faculty for advancement in every branch of learning they entered. This purifies and strengthens the intellect and carries advancement in the sciences, while departure from the simplicity of true godliness and failure to eat and drink the words of eternal life weakens character, lessens mental vigor, and retards advancement in learning.

Faithful Study and Devotion

Their tenfold superiority rested on staying joined to God by prayer and study, seeking Him three times a day in faith, making His Word their meat and drink and highest instructor, hearing and doing it, walking with Him as Enoch did, and living with strictly conscientious and humble minds in practical life. They built that standing by studying the Old Testament Scriptures as they had them and bringing habits, appetites, words, and actions under its discipline, so that neither physical nor spiritual health would be weakened by wrong habits. They consecrated themselves to God daily, placed themselves on His side, and God heard them and worked with them as they worked with Him, giving knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom even to the barren heart and feeble intellect when the Bible is taken as the study book and learned from the great Teacher with prayer. Their faithful improving of every opportunity to grow intelligent in every line of learning equipped them to serve in Babylon without surrendering principle.

That faithfulness had been planted at home, for training to fear God and sound principles and truths of His Word learned in childhood and youth preserved them in captivity and stayed ready to guide them when trial came and they were separated from home. Because they kept the fear of God before them, prayed as needy and dependent, refused to indulge appetite lest food and wine confuse the brain and blur right from wrong and sacred from common, and kept the mental machinery fit to receive what God had to teach, they could eat and drink to His glory and become successful Christian statesmen. Their reverence for God and refusal to join corrupting court practices went together with the wisdom, understanding, and knowledge God gave, and their loyalty while holding the religious education received at home lifted them to honor rather than making them foolish.

They were true as steel to principle, taking their stand on the Lord's side and refusing idolatrous practice, corruption, and compromise by mixing heathen religion with faith, even at the cost of displeasure and loss, honoring God in prosperity and adversity amid association with idolaters and religious corruption in a perilous court. Their godliness came from within rather than from favorable surroundings, keeping their senses sharp to distinguish right from wrong, and whoever remains faithful amid harmful influences in that way can come off triumphant. Their religious training and unbroken growth in religious wisdom and intelligence did not hinder learning or fitness for the kingdom's responsibilities but fitted them for faithful, capable service in important duties.

They carried no vestige of pride or self-importance, but with humility realized dependence on God and accountability to Him for mental and physical endowments, looked to Him for wisdom, and then exercised every power, trading upon entrusted talents to acquire more. They acknowledged Him before men and angels, gave Him all the glory for secular, scientific, and religious endowments, weeded out whatever would grieve His Spirit, yielded themselves to the control of the Holy Spirit to stay well-balanced, and improved every opportunity. Their united judgment rested on the counsel of Christ who had led Israel through the wilderness, and their integrity and refusal to yield for convenience opened the way to show that strength and wisdom came from keeping God exalted. From lowest and most obscure to highest in place, worth is measured not by belonging to a favored talented class nor by number of talents, but by prizing what is given as God's gift, consecrating it to His glory rather than self, and diligently employing it until trust is won.

That continual growth in religious wisdom equipped rather than hindered them as statesmen, so their learning fitted them to carry out the kingdom's important duties faithfully and capably without sacrificing principle. They were scholars skilled in secular as well as religious knowledge who studied science without being corrupted, and true science and Bible religion are in perfect harmony, so that seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness brings all needed things.

Witness to Babylon

God honored Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah at the beginning of the seventy years' captivity to make them His representatives to heathen nations, bearing their faith and their name as worshipers of the living God as a high honor and never compromising with idolaters. Because they were true as steel to principle, would not be corrupted by selfishness, would honor God at the loss of all things, and honored Him in prosperity and adversity, He honored them with superior standing before the king, and this exaltation fulfilled His purpose to give heathen nations the blessings that come through a knowledge of Jehovah. Their wisdom and understanding gave Babylon evidence of His supremacy, the holiness of His requirements, and the sure results of obedience through people who remained loyal to Him. At Babylon's court, among men of exceptional gifts and learning gathered from many lands, when the king questioned them about wisdom and understanding he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers in all his realm, leaving them without rival. God had given them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom, and to Daniel understanding in all visions and dreams, and their clear minds and strength of thought and memory were connected with obeying God and practicing temperance. Their excellence followed their faithfulness to God and their faithfulness to duty and loyalty to God, so that God honored Daniel as His messenger, and their service in Babylon gave its king and nobles knowledge of the Creator, the only true God, and taught Babylon's leaders that the God of the Hebrews rules over earthly kingdoms.

Their faithfulness prepared the way for what followed, when the dream and its interpretation had departed from the king and he threatened to kill all the wise men and astrologers if they could not tell him his dream and its interpretation. An angel of God interpreted the dream to Daniel so he could give it to the people and help the king. They had made the most of their opportunities for education in the courts of Babylon, and when tested on both faith and knowledge could give a reason of the hope within them and pass examination in all learning and wisdom, with Daniel having understanding also in all visions and dreams because of a living connection with the God of all wisdom. Being found ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers was the rich reward of close application under the training of God joined to diligent human effort to secure knowledge, to which the Lord added heavenly wisdom. That God-given wisdom enabled them to surpass Babylon's magicians and astrologers, and it served them in strait places, for Daniel's insight helped the king by interpreting his dream while the Hebrews remained faithful to God rather than compromising with Babylonian religion, and God upheld and honored them. Their history stands for admonition to those on whom the ends of the world are come that the God of heaven will not supply deficiencies caused by mental and spiritual indolence.

The strict adherence to principle of the four Hebrew youths and worthies exerted a good, wise, and positive influence in Daniel's time. Their faithfulness and self-denial, joined with exceptional wisdom and understanding, made a lasting impression on others that reached beyond themselves, showing that God's people can use their abilities to influence others through principled conduct. Through God-given strength and grace Daniel became an example whose influence reached beyond himself, and his firm stand for what was right influenced his three companions. Had he failed, they too would have failed and would not have been remembered as young men honored by God. Men who through the grace of Christ use their God-given faculties to reform themselves, and by self-denying action gain victories over their own hereditary and cultivated tendencies in thorough co-operation with Jesus Christ, become like Daniel in making impressions upon other hearts that will never be effaced, with an influence that will be carried to all parts of the world.

Pattern for Learners Today

Daniel and his three companions are the pattern of integrity, temperance, diligence, and noble sanctified independence for youth, students, and all who face trial and temptation, showing what young men today may be in the service of God. They were earnest and whole-souled, determined to be true to principle at any cost, reasoning that to fulfill God's purpose for them they must keep appetite under control so the mind would be clear and keen to comprehend instruction. Because they denied appetite, closed the door to temptation, and placed themselves in right relation to God, He blessed their efforts and gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom, so that when tested in wisdom and understanding they excelled and were found far superior to the magicians and astrologers, and to all who do as they did He will manifest Himself. Their refusal of the king's meat and wine was refusal to defile themselves with what would confuse the brain and leave them unable to distinguish between right and wrong and between the sacred and the common, and they determined to eat and drink to God's glory, keeping the fear of God before them, praying as needy and dependent, and keeping the mental machinery fit to receive the education God had to give. That gain was connected with self-denial of appetite, careful diet, and honoring God while seeking knowledge, and students should learn from them to care for the blood-making organs and cultivate mental ability, bringing right eating and right drinking into religion so that God can help distinguish right from wrong and bring health to body and mind, seen even in even tones and kind words under a power above all human power. The first chapter of their history thus teaches Christian temperance, with their integrity and firmness as its example and Daniel standing as a bold representative of pure hygiene and a man of God who controlled appetite. Their history also teaches patience and responsibility for character, for present probation decides eternal destiny with no second probation.

Their superiority gives evidence to the world, to angels and to men of true higher education, the purest and most complete education, and defines what it is. It revealed the supremacy of heavenly wisdom over the learning of Babylon's highest schools, for Daniel made God's word his guide and highest instructor and put it into practical life while also developing knowledge in other fields. That education was built on consecration to God: they studied the Old Testament Scriptures and conformed habits, appetites, words, and actions to its instruction, bringing themselves under discipline so physical and spiritual health would not be weakened by wrong habits. They placed themselves on the Lord's side, refused idolatrous practice, kept their senses sharp so that in association with idolaters amid religious corruption they could distinguish right from wrong, consecrated themselves daily to God and sought Him in prayer three times a day in faith, and God heard and cooperated with them as they cooperated with Him. Such knowledge of the science of the gospel qualifies workers for God and proves that those who love God and keep His commandments receive divine help in advancing in educational lines, setting the pattern for teachers and students preparing for the future life and becoming wise unto salvation. The highest, enduring, reliable education comes from learning of the only true God and Jesus Christ through the Word, not merely from books, experiments, or professors, and with reverence as foundation mental powers can be fully developed and carried into the future life.

The same heavenly wisdom and understanding given to Daniel is promised today to every diligent, prayerful student who takes the Bible as study book, studies it prayerfully, and learns from the great Teacher. Even with barren heart and feeble intellect, prayerful study brings light flashing into the mind and fills with the love of God, and teachers can realize the same help of God as Daniel and his fellows did when God gave them knowledge and skill and they stood before the king with none like them, ten times better in wisdom and understanding than all the magicians and astrologers in all his realm. That gift comes to those in fellowship with Him who constantly learn of Jesus, for lack of fellowship keeps men from growing and becoming more efficient, while those who come close to Jesus and seek His help will have Him walk with them and talk with them and be their counselor in all things. It is the pattern for witnessing by being in the world but not of the world, standing distinct in manner of dealing, showing purity of character and honesty, sanctified through the truth as sons and daughters of God, members of the royal family, faithful, true, honest and upright in small as well as great acts of life, living the truth and not only professing it and acting in accordance with temperance, with faithfulness in little things giving character to the whole life. The school must therefore at all times make religious interest the first and highest study, for in proportion as hearts are drawn toward heavenly things words and actions will testify of heavenly things, and spiritual health of the soul creates a fragrant atmosphere. Learning is to be put into practical use rather than continued in prolonged book-knowledge, entering upon the work for which study was made and practicing theories gained, humbly seeking wisdom from God and receiving His guidance and counsel and seeking heavenly direction much more before making any move, in order to carry truth to the mighty of the earth as Daniel did in Babylon.

Reaching that standard was not by blessing as a substitute for effort, for trusting God's grace they studied diligently, used their abilities, and made the most of their opportunities through determined work. By grace their choices and actions mattered, and through close connection with God, reverence for Him, and willing work they reached the highest standard of wisdom, refusing to waste life in selfish pursuits or amusement, a standard every Christian youth can reach. It requires bringing all habits, appetites, and passions into conformity to the requirements of God, and young men and women who do so will qualify for higher work as laborers who earnestly seek to acquire in order to impart and constantly receive light to be channels of communication. That means putting from the mind all that is cheap and frivolous and discarding nonsense and amusement-loving propensities as out of place in those living by faith, eating His flesh and drinking His blood, wasting no time in selfish pleasure, vanity, or folly. After the ten-days test on simple food instead of wine and luxuries and years of trial they were found ten times ahead of all who had every advantage, with simple diet, fear and love of God, cheerful service, clean conscience, and bright countenance, showing by cooperation of man with God in getting an education fitted for usefulness and duty how children and youth should eat properly, use the muscles, preserve health with mind and body exercised proportionately, resist temptation and avoid harmful indulgence to keep the mind clear for learning, and live and conduct themselves properly with moral firmness.