Daniel 1:8, commentary and pictures

Daniel set a deliberate purpose in his heart not to defile himself with the king's rich meat and wine, and courteously asked the officer over him for permission to abstain. He was a captive in Babylon at the opening of the seventy years, chosen with other youths for three years of Chaldean training on a daily allowance from the king's table, where God had placed them to make known His supremacy and holy requirements to a heathen kingdom. The food would have defiled because part had been offered to idols so that to partake was to join idol worship and dishonor God, because it included flesh pronounced unclean by the law of Moses, and because rich food and wine cloud the mind, stir passion, and unfit body and soul for God's service. His resolve was formed after prayer, Scripture, and counsel, held even in seemingly small things at risk of favor, position, and life, and expressed without defiance so that God gave him favor and vindicated his ten-day trial of pulse and water with superior health, clearness, and vigor. God then honored his obedience with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding that made him ten times better than Babylon's wise men and raised him to high trust, showing that faithfulness in little things shapes the whole life and strengthens others to stand. The verse therefore teaches true temperance under God's natural and moral law, loyal witness without compromise, and diligent cooperation with grace, calling youth, workers, and institutions to plain healthful living, self-control of appetite, and courage to stand alone.

Words and Historical Setting

Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the portion of the king's meat nor with the wine which he drank, a deliberate inward resolve that he then made known by requesting of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. That purpose was firm and settled, not impulsive, and it embraced both abstaining from the king's food and refusing the king's wine as true temperance, self-denial, and obedience to God's natural and moral law. The temperate course was shared by his companions, whose abstinence from table luxuries and wine joined earnestness, diligence, and steadfastness and was afterward vindicated by physical and mental excellence.

The setting was Babylon at the beginning of the seventy years' captivity, when youths were selected to be educated in the learning and tongue of the Chaldeans that they might stand in the king's palace. For that three-year training a daily allowance of food and wine was appointed them from the king's table, rich food and wine from the royal provision. Babylon was then the greatest kingdom in the world, and Israel's departure from God had led to captivity, with the vessels of God's house placed in the temple of the Babylonish gods. Daniel and his companions were permitted to be taken captive there and placed by Infinite Wisdom in a strange land, not by their own pride or ambition, separated from home influences and sacred associations.

God placed them there to testify of His supremacy, the holiness of His requirements, and the sure results of obedience, giving to heathen nations through loyal representatives the blessings that come through a knowledge of Jehovah. Their refusal of meat from the royal table and wine from the royal cellar was to carry out principles of truth, exalt God, and show the Babylonians that there is a King above the king of Babylon, the living God whom the Hebrew youth worshiped. Though captivity was boastfully cited as evidence that Babylonian religion and customs were superior, and though engaged in statesmanship with idolatrous literature and practices constantly before them, they bore their faith and their name as worshipers of the living God as a high honor and did not leave their religion behind. By faithful, cheerful, unselfish service in all business transactions they were to make the great men of Babylon acquainted with the religion of the Hebrews, preserve true worship, permit no slur upon God, and reveal Him to the idolatrous nation around them.

The king's daily provision of meat and wine for three years was an insidious plan to destroy faith without force. Though holding absolute authority over a kingdom of surpassing grandeur, the king did not use display of power or compulsion to make young men of perfect form and fine mental qualities renounce their faith for idolatry. He worked gradually by seating them for three years at a table with idolaters to familiarize them with idolatrous customs, hoping daily observation of the display connected with the charming, seductive rites of heathen worship would induce full apostasy and make them one with the Babylonians in religion.

Daniel courteously and respectfully asked the chief official, the prince of the eunuchs, and Melzar, the officer in charge of the Hebrew youth, to be excused and to allow simpler fare instead of eating and drinking from the king. He did not demand or storm, but spoke so respectfully that the request was received with respect and gained confidence and favor, though the official hesitated and feared the king's anger and disfavor if abstinence made them look bad. Daniel proposed that the matter be decided by a ten-day test in which he and his companions would eat pulse and vegetables and drink water while their companions ate the king's provisions. At the end the Hebrew youths appeared healthier, fairer and fatter in flesh, so they were allowed to continue their simple diet throughout their training for the duties of the kingdom.

Meaning of Defilement

To defile himself by the king's meat and wine meant first to join in worship of idols, for portions had been offered to them with a libation and dedication, so that to eat or drink would be an act of homage to Babylon's gods. Even to sit at the king's table, to seem to partake, or to pretend to eat and drink would implicate the eater, deny his faith, violate loyalty to Jehovah, and dishonor God and the principles of His law and of the national religion. The refusal was therefore a deliberate resolve to remain loyal and not to be different for its own sake, guarding character against corrupting influence and temptation that could ruin it.

It meant also to keep the law of Moses, for the provision included swine's flesh and other meats pronounced unclean and unfit, and to refuse them was to obey God's requirements rather than seek royal favor, position, or worldly advantage even at risk of loss. Those who so refused treated God's will as highest law, understanding the effects of food on the body and choosing His teaching above the king's approval.

It meant further to reject what unfits body and mind for God's service, for rich luxuries, flesh, stimulating drink, and wine had been taught to weaken physical structure, impair digestion and blood-making, oppress and clog the mind, cloud judgment, confuse the brain, stir passions, and dull discernment of right and sacred. Wine in particular was judged a snare that becomes pleasant and preferred to water, confusing the senses and blurring sacred and common as shown by Nadab and Abihu. Daniel and his companions therefore determined to banish everything defiling from diet, practicing conscientious self-denial and strict temperance learned by earlier education to keep clear intellect for knowing God and truth and presenting it clearly. By holding that course with earnest request for a ten-day trial, they kept minds clear and free from oppression of luxury, vigorous for study and taxing labor, and a power from above worked with their effort to prove health reform sustains strength.

Defilement by eating and drinking extends to any violation of nature's laws, since improper use defiles the body which is God's property and temple for developing mind and soul. It includes overeating even of healthful food, surfeiting the stomach, taking great variety and many kinds at one meal, and using flesh of any kind, tobacco, liquor, and other stimulating narcotics, none of which are healthful or necessary for strength. The original diet of fruits and grains is held up as the pattern, with Daniel numbered among godly people who ate no flesh. By governing appetite with sound reasoning, keeping food under control, restricting quantity, and practicing total abstinence from intoxicating drink, the eater cooperates with God to keep a healthful current of blood, leave mind and body unoppressed, and preserve fitness for hard labor.

Manner of Firm Resolve

Daniel purposed in his heart after prayer and study of Scripture, after counsel together with his companions and careful thought about consequences, danger and what obedience might cost. The resolve grew out of home training in temperance and in God's Word and works, which had taught accountability to God for all abilities and the need to preserve mental, spiritual and physical efficiency. It was a pointed, deliberate, united and informed choice to keep principle and hold the diet followed before captivity, not a defiant, impulsive or presumptuous act, and it was made in trust toward God while captive in unfavorable surroundings. They knew wine was forbidden to those serving God because it confuses the senses, clouds judgment and discernment of right from wrong, and that yielding to appetite weakens hatred of wrong and power to stand for righteousness and strict temperance. Wherever they were their loveable words and actions sweetened the atmosphere, and because they had taken counsel of God and revered Him as the mighty Counselor no attraction set before them could turn them from their purpose, so God gave favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. The same holds now for everyone who takes a stand on the Lord's side and eats the flesh and drinks the blood of the Son of God, for youth are composed of what they eat, and when heavenly principles are kept before the mind and instilled in the heart they transform the eater into the likeness of Christ by partaking of the same living fountain that flowed from Christ the living Rock for Israel in the wilderness.

He made his purpose known by direct request to be excused, in a respectful, courteous and kind manner without passion or self-will, and so gained confidence and favor. He valued God's approval and loyalty to the religion of his fathers and love for truth and righteousness above royal favor, opportunity, position, worldly advantage and life itself, even at risk of displeasing the king, losing place, or death. He did not believe success required doing what others did in the king's court, but chose moral faithfulness over conformity, for even appearing to accept the royal provisions would deny faith and expose to corrupting influences. His companions likewise kept appetite under control so their minds would be clear to understand God's instruction, choosing a simple diet without wine, intoxicating drink, highly flavored meat and rich foods, which agreed with them and gave clear brain, active mind and intellectual ability for learning. That self-denial vindicated itself in the test that found them healthier than those on the royal food, showing that careful diet supports the blood-making organs and helps students develop mental powers while seeking knowledge to the honor of God, and teaching young people that those who resist temptation, deny appetite and put themselves in right relation to God may expect the Lord to reveal Himself to them.

Obedience was binding even in what seems small and unimportant, and must not be traded for convenience, favor or human opinion, for God's Word not human judgment is the rule of right and wrong. Refusing was loyalty to God rather than needless scrupulousness, a firm God-reliant choice to stand apart rather than dishonor God, and a turning point in a life of faith in which it is better to incur human displeasure than to compromise principle. Yielding in this first test by surrendering principle and compromising truth would have weakened physical vigor, clear thought, spiritual strength, sense of right and hatred of wrong, clouded discernment, broken connection with Heaven and left the tempted overcome and swept away. That one departure would have led step by step to further wrongdoing, separation from heaven and apostasy, while steadfast trust and refusal of compromise protected from that path and was followed by the gift of prophetic insight.

Immediate Results and Blessings

God gave Daniel favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs, so that his courteous request for simpler fare was heard rather than refused. The ten-day trial on pulse and water and vegetables vindicated the course, for at examination the result was decidedly in favor of the temperate youths. They appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than those on the king's dainties, with erect form, firm step, fair countenance, clear sparkling eye, ruddy glow, undimmed senses and untainted breath, while the clear sparkle of eye was gone and the ruddy healthful glow had disappeared from the countenance of those who ate the luxuries and drank the wine. Their simple diet kept body and mind in the very best health for God's service, preserving physical powers and mental strength, keeping minds clear and free from the oppression of luxurious food, keeping digestion sound and blood-making healthy, and leaving them far healthier and more active in body and vigorous in mind. Their countenances became a certificate of physical soundness and moral purity, and their sanctified adherence to temperance accompanied growth in physical, mental, and spiritual understanding with beneficial effect upon mind and character. They were thereafter permitted to keep the diet they had chosen through their training, since guarding against intemperance brings stamina, endurance, calm nerves, clear judgment and keen perceptions for times of need.

God honored such obedience with knowledge and skill in all learning, wisdom, understanding in visions and dreams, clear thought, memory and sound judgment. Daniel's reverence for God in resisting corrupting indulgence, his plain diet together with a life of prayer and prayer three times a day, gave in great degree his clearness of mind, firmness of purpose, strength of intellect in acquiring knowledge and power to resist temptation. By refusing what would confuse the mind and weaken power to distinguish right from wrong and sacred from common, their minds were kept fit to receive the education God offered and to think and work vigorously. After three years none were found like them, they stood ten times better than the magicians and wise men, were fitted for taxing labor without sickness, interpreted the king's forgotten dream, and were raised to exalted places.

Those who honor God with full purpose of heart are blessed, protected in duty, and made strong for conflict, receiving His approval, wisdom, grace and needed help amid temptation. Daniel was blessed for steadfastly doing what he knew was right, and his steadfast loyalty with his companions honored and glorified God, so God rewarded them with rich blessings. Faithfulness even in little things gave character to the whole life, kept them from weakening themselves physically and mentally, influenced the companions to stand firm, and positioned them to receive what God provided.

Doctrines and Principles Taught

Daniel purposed not to defile himself with the king's meat and wine by bringing appetite under control, and his course stands as the pattern of true temperance and self-denial in daily life. Strict obedience to God in eating and drinking keeps the mental powers unsoiled for the Lord's work, while yielding to appetite weakens the sense of right and opens the way to further wrong. Temperance preserves physical vigor, clear thought, calm nerves, and spiritual strength for God's service, and the young are to live in harmony with the light given on Christian temperance and the laws of health. Eating and drinking directly affect the physical, mental, and moral nature, for Daniel had learned from childhood training in strict temperance to conform all habits to nature's laws and to render account to God for every capability as a gift not to be dwarfed or crippled. The law of God is to be exalted in the mind and reverenced in the heart, with appetite and passions kept as servants and not rulers, and an abstemious diet cooperates with God in purifying and uplifting the soul. Even amid the ordeal of courtly grandeur, hypocrisy, and paganism in the early years of captivity, Daniel and his youthful companions remained uncorrupted, becoming an honor to God and a bright and shining light in the court of Babylon.

Refusal to compromise loyalty to God in Babylon made Daniel a representative of the true God among an idolatrous people, honoring his name as a worshiper of the living God. He carried out his duties as a statesman but refused any work that would oppose God, and his faithfulness drew discussion and brought his faith to the king's attention. Daniel and his companions openly kept their faith in words, habits, and actions, refusing human commands that would dishonor God, remaining true in prosperity and adversity. Loyalty to God must take precedence over worldly advancement or acceptance, and those who like Daniel seek power from God alone represent not self with selfish and fraudulent practices but truth in righteousness. Such a one has no vestige of pride or self-importance, does not exalt himself above fellow workers because of greater responsibility, but is imbued with the Spirit of wisdom from God, magnifies the truth, represents the sacredness of the work, and ever presents before men and angels the holy perfume of the character of Christ, which is the sacred fire of God's own kindling. Remaining close to God and faithful to principle, Daniel and his companions were upheld and honored by God with wisdom and understanding, favor and protection before others.

Faith in God's blessing did not replace their own effort during their education for the king's court, for they worked diligently and brought all ability to study and labor. Through the grace of God their destiny depended upon their own will and action, and by close, severe taxation of their powers they made the most of their opportunities for study and labor. Daniel purposed to do God's will and placed his will on the Lord's side, cooperating with God as God works in people to will, and working in harmony with the divine Agent rather than yielding to temptation. His history was recorded for the benefit of youth of all succeeding ages to show that what men have done men may do, standing firm amid great temptation when danger comes not from scarcity but from abundance and constant temptation to excess. Preserving powers unimpaired for the service of God requires strict temperance in the use of His bounties and total abstinence from every injurious or debasing indulgence, faithfully doing one's part in learning to eat and drink to God's glory according to Bible principles. Those who refuse to defile themselves reap the reward of temperate habits in greater physical stamina and increased power of endurance as a bank of deposit to draw upon in emergency, for right physical habits promote mental superiority under immutable law, with the fear of God which is the beginning of wisdom as the foundation of greatness and God's Spirit strengthening every true purpose and noble resolution.

Examples for Daily Life

Daniel is set as the pattern for youth and students to stand firm under test, to dare to stand alone, to make purpose known, and to say No to evil without fearing ridicule. His firm resolve not to be defiled by the king's food and wine, expressed in his request to the official in charge, teaches self-denial in eating and drinking as a help to students, since careful diet supports the blood-making organs and the development of mental powers in seeking knowledge to God's honor. Placed in the king's court amid daily dissipation, selfish indulgence, gratification of appetite, intemperance and gluttony, he refused to join debilitating and corrupting practices and resisted the downward influence whatever the consequences. His consistency under a test over eating, enduring instead of yielding, instructs youth who feel they lack advantages in eating, showing that faithfulness brings cooperation from heaven.

That integrity pleased the Lord, made Daniel greatly beloved and honored of heaven, kept his mind clear, gave him moral power to remain unmoved by temptation, and was met by God's gift of skill in Chaldean learning and understanding in all visions and dreams. The same example teaches later youth that they can stand firm and receive God's favor and blessing by guarding against excess, practicing strict temperance in the use of God's gifts, and abstaining from harmful or degrading indulgences so powers remain unimpaired for service. God saw his pure motive and determination with pleasure, for he relied on the Lord for wisdom rather than his own judgment, making divine wisdom the foundation of education and welcoming the Lord's counsel. Bringing habits, appetites and passions into conformity with God's requirements thus prepares young people for higher service, calling students to maintain integrity, avoid association with those who walk in sin, discard unprofitable amusements and indulgence of appetite, gain clearness of mind for knowledge, win continual victories over self and darkness, enjoy God's favor, use time diligently, keep purity, seek wisdom from God, and reflect honor to God by firm adherence to right through trial to judgment.

Daniel is likewise the model for God's workers and institutions, showing faithfulness in Babylon while carrying out statesman duties yet refusing any work opposing God, so that his faithfulness drew discussion, brought his faith to the king's attention, and honored God in prosperity and adversity. What he and his fellows were in Babylon, every institution established by Seventh-day Adventists is to be to the world, a witness through honoring God and being honored in return. Firm adherence to self-denial that refuses defilement causes no loss, and gives lessons of present value to be learned to a purpose and studied diligently from the highest standpoint. Young men are thereby called to firm adherence to principle and every gospel minister to proclaim the thrilling truths for this time, as workers the Lord now calls for to be light-bearers gathering rays from heaven and shedding them abroad.

Canvassers are to be temperate like Daniel, with chastity like Joseph and meekness like Moses, cultivating kindness of heart and copying Christ in thoughtful, careful, industrious and discreet habits, making of themselves all possible to honor God, and then power will attend them wherever they go. Those ruled by Christ gain strength to stand firm, and like Daniel their influence as reformers makes lasting impressions reaching throughout the world. Statesmen, physicians, ministers, teachers, sanitarium and school workers are thus to be faithful in duty, temperate, pure, meek, and worldwide light-bearers, with his integrity under pressure applied to advance hygienic principles.

The verse gives practical health reform in choosing plain simple nourishing food for health not luxury, taking pulse and water instead of rich food and wine. His request for simpler fare reflects conviction that food and drink must not cloud the mind or harm the body, governing appetite by sound reasoning from Christian temperance rather than impulse, and keeping what is placed in the stomach under control in cooperation with God. He refused wine, meat, luxuries and flesh meats of any kind or in variety as not healthful or necessary for strength, since the mind must not be clogged with articles difficult of digestion. He practiced restraint even with healthful food, restricting quantity, avoiding overeating and surfeiting, avoiding a great variety of rich food, so as to keep a healthful current of blood, leave mind and body unoppressed for hard labor, keep the mind clear for service, and prepare for demanding work.

His choice is presented as an example of the original diet of fruits and grains and as evidence that he was among pious people who ate no flesh. Those who resolutely follow his example in refusing flesh foods, trusting the Lord's guidance, receive strength, wisdom and sound judgment from God, and no human testimony for meat eating has weight against this history. When children of faith dedicate themselves without reserve with earnest prayer as he did, the Lord honors their faith with a clear mind, for those who honor God He will honor. The same firmness teaches abstinence from intoxicating drink, tobacco and harmful indulgences, avoidance of too many kinds at one meal, instruction of children in effects of diet, and preparation of suitable school and sanitarium food, with steadfast loyalty needed for final tests including the Sabbath against idolatry.