@ 2023-05-04: DANIEL AND HIS THREE FRIENDS

It is only natural that we as adults in the Church of God wish to encourage our young people. It is equally natural to point them to the “obedience of faith” manifested by Daniel and his three friends.

But sometimes, we get the idea that the example of those four young men relates directly to what Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church: 

(1Co 1:26 MKJV) For you see your calling, brothers, that not many wise men according to the flesh are called, not many mighty, not many noble.[i]

(1Co 1:27 MKJV) But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

(1Co 1:28 MKJV) and God has chosen the base things of the world, and things which are despised, and things which are not, in order to bring to nothing things that are;

(1Co 1:29 MKJV) so that no flesh should glory in His presence.

(1Co 1:30 MKJV) But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption;

(1Co 1:31 MKJV) so that, according as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” 

But first, Paul does not say that God calls no one who is “wise”, “mighty”, or of “noble birth”. Compared to those of Athens (from which Paul had come prior to teaching in Corinth), the Christians of Corinth had little to boast about physically.[ii] Yet Paul’s very words imply that some few of them did come out of honorable circumstances in the world.

Paul himself had much indeed to boast about, humanly speaking. Besides his Jewish heritage, and besides his undoubted genius (ENFP-style, specifically[iii]), he was born a Roman citizen. But he counted all of that “loss” for the sake of Jesus Christ, and taught others to follow his example (Philippians 3:3-21).

Among the Hebrew prophets, Amos (who was a rancher and a farmer[iv]) certainly fit Paul’s description. Outside of God’s calling, he was a “nobody” in the world’s eyes. On the other hand, Jeremiah and Ezekiel were “somebodies”. They were priests—noble men by then-contemporary Jewish standards.[v] These men of “noble birth” had to be humbled spiritually (the First Beatitude) and then afflicted physically (the Third Beatitude) before God could use them![vi]

What then about Daniel and his three friends? Did God use four “nobodies” to humble people who were “somebodies” in this world? Or did He pick another class of people to humble the “worldly”, but only after humbling and afflicting them through one of the worst earthly trials imaginable? 

Four Royal Eunuchs 

Let us start with some background: 

(2Ki 20:1 MKJV) In those days Hezekiah was sick to death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, So says Y^ehawweh[vii] (יְהַ֘וֶּ֤ה),[viii] Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.

(2Ki 20:2 MKJV) And he turned his face to the wall and prayed to Y^ehawweh, saying, O Y^ehawweh,

(2Ki 20:3 MKJV) I pray, O Y^ehawweh, remember now how I have walked before You in truth and with a sincere heart, and have done good in Your sight. And Hezekiah wept with a great weeping.

(2Ki 20:4 MKJV) And it happened, Isaiah had gone out into the middle of the court, the Word of Y^ehawweh came to him saying,

(2Ki 20:5 MKJV) Return again and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, So says Y^ehawweh, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of Y^ehawweh.

(2Ki 20:6 MKJV) And I will add fifteen years to your days. And I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. And I will defend this city for My own sake, and for My servant David's sake.

(2Ki 20:7 MKJV) And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

(2Ki 20:8 MKJV) And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What shall be the sign that Y^ehawweh will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of Y^ehawweh the third day?

(2Ki 20:9 MKJV) And Isaiah said, This will be the sign from Y^ehawweh, that Y^ehawweh will do the thing which He has spoken. Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?

(2Ki 20:10 MKJV) And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten steps. No, but let the shadow go backward ten steps.

(2Ki 20:11 MKJV) And Isaiah the prophet cried to Y^ehawweh. And He brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.

(2Ki 20:12 MKJV) At that time Berodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah. For he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

(2Ki 20:13 MKJV) And Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them all the house of his precious things, the silver and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion which Hezekiah did not show them.

(2Ki 20:14 MKJV) And Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, What did these men say? And from where did they come to you? And Hezekiah said, They have come from a far country, from Babylon.

(2Ki 20:15 MKJV) And he said, What have they seen in your house? And Hezekiah answered, They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures which I have not shown to them.

(2Ki 20:16 MKJV) And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the Word of Y^ehawweh.

(2Ki 20:17 MKJV) Behold, the days come when all that is in your house, and which your fathers have laid up in store until today, shall be carried into Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says Y^ehawweh.

(2Ki 20:18 MKJV) And of your sons which shall issue from you, which you shall father, they shall take away. And they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

(2Ki 20:19 MKJV) And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, Good is the Word of Y^ehawweh which you have spoken. And he said, Is it not good if peace and truth are in my days?[ix] 

How then did the Eternal God fulfill this prophecy? 

(Dan 1:1 MKJV) In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

(Dan 1:2 MKJV) And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god. And he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.

(Dan 1:3 MKJV) And the king spoke to Ashpenaz[x] the master of his eunuchs that he should bring some of the sons of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the rulers;

(Dan 1:4 MKJV) sons in whom was no blemish, but who were handsome and skillful in all wisdom; and who had knowledge and understanding, even those who were able to stand in the king's palace, and to whom they might teach the writing and the language of the Chaldeans.

(Dan 1:5 MKJV) And the king gave them the portion of a day in its day from the king's food, and the wine which he drank, even to rear them three years, so that at their end they might stand before the king.

(Dan 1:6 MKJV) And among them were four of the sons of Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

(Dan 1:7 MKJV) to whom the ruler of the eunuchs gave names. For he called Daniel, Belteshazzar;[xi] and Hananiah, Shadrach; and Mishael, Meshach; and Azariah, Abednego. 

Granted, we are not told in verse 6 that these four “sons of Judah” (i.e., “sons of Israel” broadly) descended from King Hezekiah. But what is the likelihood that they did? Very, very high. First, there is the prophecy of Isaiah. Second, these four young men were “honor students” in their own land. Their kinds of talent, education, and even handsomeness all befit a noble, even a royal background. These were not “common people” by the standards of their time and place.

E.W. Bullinger notes the following about verse 3 in his The Companion Bible: 

and = even, or both. Some codices, with six early printed editions, omit this “and”: reading “sons of Israel, of the king’s seed” (or “seed-royal”).[xii] 

In like manner, the New English Translation has the following: 

(Dan 1:3 NET) The king commanded Ashpenaz, who was in charge of his court officials,[xiii] to choose some of the Israelites who were of royal and noble descent…. 

The weight of the evidence, then, is that these four young men were of the royal line—not “commoners” of the House of Judah.

Let us continue: 

(Dan 1:8 MKJV) But Daniel laid on his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's food, nor with the wine which he drank. So he asked permission of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

(Dan 1:9 MKJV) And God had given Daniel kindness and compassion before the chief of the eunuchs.

(Dan 1:10 MKJV) And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who has chosen your food and your drink. For why should he see your faces worse looking than the boys who are of your kind? Then you would forfeit my head to the king.

(Dan 1:11 MKJV) And Daniel said to Melzar, whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

(Dan 1:12 MKJV) I beg you, try your servants ten days. And let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.

(Dan 1:13 MKJV) Then let our appearance be seen before you, and the appearance of the boys who eat of the king's food. And as you see, deal with your servants.

(Dan 1:14 MKJV) So he listened to them in this matter, and tried them for ten days.

(Dan 1:15 MKJV) And at the end of ten days their faces looked fairer and fatter in flesh than all the boys who had eaten the king's food.

(Dan 1:16 MKJV) So Melzar took away their part of the food, and the wine that they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.

(Dan 1:17 MKJV) As for these four boys, God gave them knowledge and skill in all writing and wisdom. And Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

(Dan 1:18 MKJV) And at the end of the days that the king had said he would bring them in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.

(Dan 1:19 MKJV) And the king talked with them. And among them all were found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they stood before the king.

(Dan 1:20 MKJV) And in any matters of wisdom and understanding that the king asked them, he found them ten times better than all the horoscopists and conjurers who were in all his kingdom.

(Dan 1:21 MKJV) And Daniel continued to the first year of King Cyrus. 

So, these “noble” young men first were taken captive, then—let us be direct—castrated, just as Isaiah warned Hezekiah would happen.

What a trial!

But despite all this, Daniel and his three friends found both grace and opportunity in God’s will, even in the despair of a foreign land [cf. the original Hebrew text and melody of Psalms 137 (YouTube)]. 

Whence Came Daniel’s Wisdom? 

Then came the time when God began to use Daniel powerfully: 

(Dan 2:4 MKJV) And the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, O king, live forever. Tell your servants the dream, and we will reveal the meaning. 

Daniel knew not only Biblical Hebrew, but Imperial Aramaic—and he knew both very well! On top of this, he knew the ancestral system of the melodic rendition of canonical Scripture and used it skillfully to annotate his book in both languages.

Was Daniel’s wisdom entirely God-given (beyond the obvious sense that “all things come from God”)? Or did God give more wisdom to an “honor student” as defined in strictly human terms?

Let Daniel himself answer: 

(Dan 2:20 MKJV) Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His.

(Dan 2:21 MKJV) And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. 

Incidentally, Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel both understood that “thoughts”, “dreams”, and “visions” all come from one’s “head”. They did not use “heart” as the source, as was the typical, figurative, and sentiment-based Biblical Hebrew idiom. 

(Dan 4:5 JPS) (4:2) I saw a dream which made me afraid; and imaginings upon my bed and the visions of my head affrighted me.

(Dan 7:1 JPS) In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed; then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matters.[xiv] 

An Often-Overlooked Lesson 

So, what is one vital lesson that the Book of Daniel can teach us—besides the “classic” one of “the obedience of faith” in trials? The Eternal through Isaiah put it best—yet concerning Daniel and his three friends, the lesson is very seldom mentioned among us: 

(Isa 56:1 MKJV) So says Y^ehawweh, Keep judgment and do justice; for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.

(Isa 56:2 MKJV) Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it; keeping the sabbath, from defiling it; and keeping his hand from doing any evil.

(Isa 56:3 MKJV) And do not let the son of the stranger, who has joined himself to Y^ehawweh, speak, saying, Y^ehawweh has utterly separated me from His people. And do not let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.

(Isa 56:4 MKJV) For so says Y^ehawweh to the eunuchs who keep My Sabbath, and choose things that please Me, and take hold of My covenant;

(Isa 56:5 MKJV) even to them will I give within My house and within My walls a hand and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

(Isa 56:6 MKJV) Also the sons of the stranger, who join themselves to Y^ehawweh to serve Him, and to love the name of Y^ehawweh, to be His servants, everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and takes hold of My covenant;

(Isa 56:7 MKJV) even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples[.]

(Isa 56:8 MKJV) [So] says the Lord Y^ehawweh who gathers the outcasts of Israel, Yet I will gather beside him his gathered ones. 

(יוֹחָנָ֗ן רַ֫כָּ֥ב)

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[i] This was not necessarily true of all converts, even in the early days of the Church. Besides many priests, there were people such as the Ethiopian eunuch, leading Gentile women in the local Jewish synagogues, and even some local Jewish leaders. Paul admonishes rich Church members through Timothy. James mentions rich Church members and their discrimination against poor Church members.

[ii] That did not stop some of them from looking for other, allegedly “spiritual” things to boast about!

[iii] No so-called “Jungian personality type” (as made famous by the MBTI) is “better or worse” than any other. Paul’s great human strengths, in terms of the Beatitudes, were “Blessed are the merciful (the compassionate)” [as based in “Jungian Ne”, a form of perception] and “Blessed are the pure in heart” [as based in “Jungian Fi”, a form of decision-making], in that order. These are human strengths that I share as a fellow ENFP.

[iv] (Amo 7:14-15 MKJV) Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah: I was no prophet, nor was I a prophet's son. But I was a herdsman and a gatherer from sycamore trees. And Y^ehawweh took me from behind the flock, and Y^ehawweh said to me, Go, prophesy to My people Israel.

[v] Cf. the Hebrew text and the versions of Psalms 62:10 (62:11).

[vi] The same thing happened to Moses and for the same essential reason.

[vii] The Modern KJV (MKJV) uses “Jehovah”, which has no grammatical or historical propriety. I substitute the 3^rd person masculine singular imperfect (Pi`el stem) of hawah (הוה): Y^ehawweh.

[viii] I am no “Sacred Names” partisan, nor do I encourage others to be so. But the meaning of YHWH was never lost, and now its correct pronunciation has been made clear to God’s Church from the only authoritative source: the Hebrew Masoretic Text. (The original consonantal spelling—older than any now-extant Hebrew text—would have been YHWY, but the pronunciation and meaning would have been the same: the Pi`el stem of HWH or HWY, itself the older form of HYH or HYY.)

[ix] Cf. Isaiah 38-39; 2 Chronicles 32:24-31; and possibly Isaiah 22:8:14, regarding Hezekiah’s Jerusalem. Cf. also Psalms 124, written long prior by David.

[x] There are valuable comments—if perhaps sometimes misleading ones—about the office this man held, as given in the “classical” commentaries (Keil & Delitzsch, John Gill, etc.). Equally interesting comments exist about the training of the four young men from Judah.

[xi] Cf. the name Belshazzar, which Daniel altered to “nonsense”—or else (one might speculate) as one "marked" by the true God, that is, by an “X” [as tet (ט) was written then], thanks to the addition of one letter. But see also the notes of the New English Translation on the subject.

[xii] Bullinger cites the marginal notes of C.D. Ginsburg’s “Massoretico-Critical Edition” (“small” version). Ginsburg merely says “books”, so even though the reading is pointed, the “books” may have been “scrolls” which do not contain vowel-points. In that case, Ginsburg must have added vowels to his marginal note. Supporting this inference is the fact that the melodic accent is left out.

[xiii] While the study notes of the NET argue against the necessity of the meaning “eunuchs”, citing Genesis 37:36, they also cite Jewish tradition in favor of that meaning in Daniel. Besides, though Potiphar in Genesis 37:36 had a wife, the very use of the word [saris (סָרִיס)] there may mean he was either a literal eunuch or else was otherwise impotent—and either state would shed light on his wife’s interest in Joseph. The matter deserves further investigation.

[xiv] There are other, similar examples in Daniel. This is a very “scientific” description! It befits “Jungian Thinkers” rather than “Jungian Feelers”. If Daniel likely was an ENTP, Nebuchadnezzar likely was Daniel’s psychological mirror-image, an INTJ. One thing that fits this inference is the king’s dream of the future, which was of four successive “world empires”, in that order of presentation—and not the reverse as one might expect from or through an ENTJ (although given the king’s conquests, his organizational skills, and his style of pride, the latter type cannot yet be ruled out).