Daniel 1:4, commentary and pictures

Daniel 1:4 describes youths chosen for service in the Babylonian king's palace as physically sound without blemish and handsome in appearance, and as skilled in all wisdom, discerning in knowledge and understanding science, with ability to stand and serve in the palace. They were Daniel with Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, Hebrew captives of royal and princely birth from Judea, about fifteen or sixteen years old when carried away at the beginning of the captivity. They were to be taught the learning and tongue of the Chaldeans through a demanding three-year course of physical and intellectual discipline, with daily provision from the king's meat and wine. Placed there by God's providence amid strong temptation in a luxurious corrupt court, they purposed not to defile themselves but requested simple fare, and after a ten days' trial on pulse and water were found healthier in appearance than those who ate the king's dainties. God honored their temperance and faithful diligence with strength and comeliness and intellectual power, so that at examination none equaled them and they were found ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers, and youth so trained in the home, the Scriptures and right effort will likewise stand in kings' palaces to bear witness for God.

Chosen Youth and Setting

The youths sought for service in the Babylonian king's palace were to be physically sound, without blemish, and well favoured or handsome in appearance. They were also to be skilful in all wisdom, cunning in knowledge, understanding science and learning, discerning, and having ability in them to stand and serve in the palace. Daniel was among these youths and showed early promise of the remarkable ability he later developed.

They were four Hebrew captives — Daniel with Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah — of royal and princely birth from Israel taken from their Judean home. They were youths about fifteen or sixteen years old, selected for intelligence, knowledge, learning, and good appearance. They were carried away when Nebuchadnezzar first besieged and captured Jerusalem early in the reign of Jehoiakim, at the beginning of the seventy-year captivity.

In Babylon they appear in an ornate palace chamber, earnestly appealing to a palace attendant beside a table with vessels and food.

Training in Babylon

The verse means they were to be taught the learning and tongue of the Chaldeans in order that they might stand and serve in the king's palace at Babylon. Those chosen were physically sound and without blemish, well favoured and attractive in appearance, skilful in all wisdom, cunning in knowledge, understanding science and learning, discerning, and having ability in them for that palace service.

Because of those talents Nebuchadnezzar arranged for them instruction in the Chaldean language and a demanding, rigorous course of physical and intellectual discipline and education suited to service in his kingdom and to important positions at court. That training lasted three years in a foreign court, studied as captives, after which they were examined. Daniel was educated under tutors in that learning and tongue, and after his period of study he did not enter upon another line of book study but entered upon the work for which he had studied and put into practical use the theories he had gained.

Their training included a daily provision appointed by the king of his meat and of his wine. That food from the king's table included swine's flesh and other meats pronounced unclean by the law of Moses which Jews were forbidden to eat. The king himself judged their ability and qualifications and took kindly to them, seeing in them independence joined with true courtesy. He expected that change of country and associations and the influence of court life in that magnificent city would efface the impressions of their early religious education.

Loyalty Under Trial

They were taken in warfare as captives into a strange land and placed in the court by God in His providence, not by pride or ambition or their own choice, Daniel with Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah seeking not self-glory but the honor of their downtrodden people and of God. Their intelligence and comeliness brought them special favor, but their position in a luxurious, corrupt court set them amid strong temptation and exposed them to choices and severe tests of loyalty to God. They resolved not to damage or defile the mind but to cherish its powers for the Lord's work, to remain faithful to God's commandments and avoid every form of idolatry, and they prayed for understanding about how to act without taking part in idolatry.

Their schooling in Babylon did not erase the education received at home, for truths learned in childhood strengthened them in need and held them faithful to Jehovah under every circumstance. The king himself judged their ability and expected that change of country and associations and court life would efface their early religious education, but their early principles molded after the divine likeness held firm when severely tested. They remained loyal without compromising their faith, never compromising with idolaters, honoring God in both prosperity and adversity, and God honored them, for He never leaves His children who love and serve Him to be the sport of temptation.

Their captivity became the setting in which their loyalty could show Babylon His supremacy, the holiness of His requirements, and the results of obedience, as representatives sharing the blessings of knowing Jehovah and making His glory known to king and nobles as the only true God. They endured when tested and stood firm to principle as tried and proved representative persons and a pattern of integrity. Afterward Daniel received through an angel the king's forgotten dream and its interpretation to give to the people.

Temperance and Its Blessings

The history of the youths chosen to learn the tongue and learning of the Chaldeans that they might stand in the king's palace is the most comprehensive and forcible illustration in the Bible of true temperance and its attendant blessings. It is set forth to teach Christian temperance, integrity, firmness, and courageous principle. Daniel stands in that history as a holy man who controlled appetite and as a bold representative of pure hygiene.

Fitness for a place in the palace depended on what was eaten and drunk. Those selected were physically sound and well favored, skilled in wisdom and knowledge, able to understand learning, and their physical and mental capacities made them useful for service. They had been educated beforehand to strict temperance in all things for their present and future good.

Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the portion of the king's meat nor with his wine. With his companions he declined the wine and the rich foods and luxuries of the king's table and requested simple fare. They laid out this course as students in order to stand high in clear intellect and in clear presentation of matters that bring a knowledge of God and the truth before the king and their associates. Their training included the king's food and wine, and they refused what would defile them.

After a ten days' trial on pulse and water they were found far more healthy in appearance than those who partook of the king's dainties. Pulse and water thereafter continued as their food. In that test they also appeared healthier and showed better knowledge than the others being proved with them.

Strict temperance in eating and drinking preserved and increased their physical and mental capacities. It allowed God to develop their physical, mental, and spiritual understanding. Self-denial in eating and drinking brings gain, and their temperance and self-discipline kept their powers unimpaired amid strong temptation so that their tested ability surpassed that of the other youths.

God honored their right course with strength and comeliness and intellectual power. This was seen in erect form, firm elastic step, fair countenance, undimmed senses, untainted breath, keen apprehension, choice exact language, and extensive varied knowledge with unimpaired mental vigor. At the examination after three years of training none among the most promising youth gathered from conquered lands equaled Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. For God gave Daniel and his companions knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom and caused them to be found ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers in wisdom and understanding.

Students should practice this lesson. They should care for diet and the blood-making organs and seek knowledge and excellence in mental ability in a way that honors God.

Education and Present Application

Their fitness to stand in the palace began long before Babylon, in the father's home and family before captivity separated them, where parents taught children about God and His works in Scripture and in nature and so prepared them in mind and character. Brought up from childhood in Jerusalem in the knowledge of the true God with all its religious privileges, they had made the Bible the study of their lives. The lessons of childhood molded their characters after the divine likeness, with principles of righteousness vividly impressed upon their minds by the Holy Spirit through parents who feared God and taught them to prize His precepts.

Right training produces youth like them, for training begun in the home school and in the church and perfected by hearty cooperation between parents and church-school teachers under an elevated standard makes children without blemish, well favored, skillful in wisdom and knowledge and science, and able to stand in kings' palaces. That ability is gained by putting on righteousness, overcoming every defect, and receiving power from the Lord for victory after victory. Where parents fail in this duty and neglect their children, the defective character of sons and daughters brings guilt upon the parents as guardians of their little ones as well as upon the transgressors themselves.

Their abilities and education did not make God's blessing a substitute for effort, for they studied diligently with strenuous use of their powers. Believing that through grace their destiny depended also on their own will and action, they brought all their ability to the work and by close, severe taxation of their powers made the most of their opportunities for study and labor, because fidelity is expected of servants. Daniel thus developed learning and abilities surpassing the wisdom of the highest schools, while heavenly wisdom came from God. His course shows students to make God's word their guide, to let practical obedience open the understanding, and not to let amusements take precedence.

He gained secular and religious knowledge without being corrupted by Babylonian teaching or compromising loyalty to God, through faithfully using his God-given powers to serve God and make Him known. With Paul he is an example of entering institutions of learning while remaining faithful and making truth known. After his period of study under tutors in the learning and tongue of the Chaldeans he did not enter again upon another line of book study but entered upon the work for which he had been studying and put into practical use the theories he had gained. True education requires the wisdom that comes alone from God with God represented in every phase, seeking heavenly direction and putting learning into practice rather than devoting years to one line of book-knowledge after another, and education matters insofar as the instruction received is practiced.

Every institution established by believers is to be to the world what Daniel and his fellows were in Babylon, as representatives who never compromise, bearing their faith as worshipers of the living God as a special honor in prosperity and adversity. Young people who study God's word and works and learn faithful service may later bear witness for God in positions of influence, using their gifts and opportunities while making God their strength. It will be literally fulfilled that youth so trained will indeed stand in kings' palaces and be brought before kings and nobles to give an answer for their faith when God's people are scattered into all parts of the world. Every student who honors and glorifies God will receive wisdom from God to do his best, and those who make the most of their opportunities and place themselves in right relation with God will be rewarded even as Daniel was, to whom God gave knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom.

God permitted them to be taken captive to Babylon, then the greatest kingdom in the world, so that they might carry to its king and nobles the knowledge of Him as the only true God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Their selection gave them opportunities to exalt the true God before the nations through conscientious observance of Holy Scripture. When their faith was tried to the utmost in a strange land, trust in the promises proved all-sufficient, and the Scriptures proved a guide and a stay, because the instruction received in the homes of their parents had made them strong in faith and constant in service.