Daniel 1 – Growing Up

“Growing up” is an unpopular phrase among adolescents. It means making good choices, working hard, and taking responsibility for one’s actions. Parents, teachers, pastors, and mentors (even a big brother or big sister) try to set before the younger and simpler class a set of principles by which to live their lives. Why principles, though? Would not specifics be better? Do we not strive to be practical?

A simple analogy should suffice to answer this line of questioning. Suppose you want to teach your child how to safely cross the road. You lay out the basic principle: “Look both ways.” Then you test your child. You walk hand-in-hand to the curb. You look to the left and ask, “See any cars? No.” Then you look to the right and ask, “See any cars?” The child points and cries out, “Yes! There is a car.” You look again. Well, yes, a car is parked down the block. You begin to scribble notes of the specific situation. “In the case where a car is parked. . . .” And it continues. How long does it take you to walk across the street? How long will it take for a car travelling at 30 mph to run over you, given you step off the curb walking at 3 mph? Torture (unless you’re a math teacher).

If the wise man can teach the young man the principle, the young man will learn by experience to apply it to any circumstance he might face.

Imagine Daniel. When the book of Daniel opens, Daniel is a young teenager, probably around 15 years old. He finds himself carried away from home captive. He is on his own in the sense that he has no parent, teacher, or priest with him. He has no one to help him navigate his new surroundings or think through the issues. His early education probably never included lectures titled, “Deportation: To Eat or not to Eat,” “Staying Cool: Survival Tips for Fiery Furnaces,” or, “Lion Dens: Basic Procedures.” Daniel 1 clearly presents a number of principles which Daniel had learned in his childhood–principles that strengthened his trust in the Most High God and gave him confidence to speak and to act in difficult situations. I will highlight three of those principles.

First, Daniel knew that God is in control. Daniel 1:1-2 begins the entire book with this truth: “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God.” Reading Jeremiah and especially Lamentations, the destruction of Jerusalem was terrible. Nebuchadnezzar not only brought the cruelty of war against the people of Judah, but he was also God’s agent of covenantal judgment. Daniel, as well as others with spiritual discernment, understood that God did not somehow lose the war to Nebuchadnezzar; He was not defeated. Rather, God was true to his word, and He executed justice in exactly the way He said he would (Deut 28). Daniel knew his God.

Secondly, Daniel knew that God is gracious. He records in 1:9 that “God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs.” Again in 1:17, he states, “As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.” Not only was God in control of the largest events in human history, but he also blessed each of these young men individually. Daniel was no longer in Jerusalem. He was no longer close to the Temple, the dwelling place of God. Nevertheless, he knew that God was not far off and that the Most High had graciously provided for him.

Finally, Daniel knew God’s word. Daniel had evidently been taught the principles of the Law. He knew the food laws, and he knew the teaching on intoxication. In Daniel 1:8, he says of himself, “But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.” Daniel was immediately tested when he entered Babylon. The solution to the problem, however, was simple. Knowing God’s word gave him wisdom in this newfound situation. The wisdom was manifested in his inward resolution to obey the word of God.

So, how “grown up” are we? How well do we know the Most High God? How well are we obeying the simple commands of Scripture on a daily basis? Where are we finding life’s principles? Are we looking for them? Daniel grew up in a hurry because he knew the character of God, and he obeyed the word of God.

Audio recording of this lesson by Pastor Ryan Martin is available on our church website:
1. The Sovereignty of God in Great and in Small

The Flood of Gilgamesh

The “Epic of Gilgamesh” is one of the greatest of Ancient Near Eastern literature. It narrates the story of a hero, Gilgamesh, whose quest for eternal life takes him through many adventures. Along the way, he finds a man name Utnapishtim who reached immortality, and relates to Gilgamesh his story. Utnapishtim says that the gods told him to build a ship in order to escape a great flood. The gods gave specific instructions on how to build the ship. Then his family and the animals boarded the ship. The flood came as a great judgment upon the people. The mountains were smashed, and “the landscape was as level as a flat roof.” After the rains subsided, Utnapishtim sent out a dove, then a raven. When they did not return, he knew the waters had subsided. He exited the ship and offered sacrifices. Enlil was not pleased that humans survived his wrath. Ea intervened, and Enlil blessed Utnapishtim and his wife giving them eternal life.

For Christians, the significance of the Epic of Gilgamesh is the parallel story of the destruction of the earth by means of a flood. Utnapishtim is the biblical character, Noah, who built the ark according to Genesis 6. The specific points of comparison between the biblical account of the flood and Utnapishtim’s story are reflected in the ship, the sending out of the birds, the sacrifices afterwards, and the blessing. Though this portion of the Epic of Gilgamesh does not prove the historicity of the biblical flood, It is an interesting, and very ancient, corroborating tradition passed down outside of Israelite tradition.