STUDIES IN THE BOOK OF DANIEL.

December 2, 2020

DANIEL AND HIS COMPANION continues. Dan. 1:1-21

“Daniel and his friends learned all they could about their new culture so they could do their work with excellence. But while they learned, they maintained steadfast allegiance to God, and God gave them skills and wisdom. Culture not need be God’s enemy, if it does not violate his command, it can aid in accomplishing his purpose.” Life application study Bible

  1. Dan. 1:18. “At the end of the days that the king said he would bring them in, then the princes …brought in them before Nebuchadnezzar.” The king examined them not so much in the languages, in the rules of oratory or poetry, as in all matters of wisdom and understanding, the rules of prudence and true politics; he enquired into their judgment about the due conduct of human life and public affairs.. And he not only found them to excel…but found that they had more understanding than the ancients, than all their teachers, Ps. 119:99-100 M. Henry
  2.  Dan. 1:19. “…among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore they stood before the king.” Note these four things, they achieved excellence in their work, served the people, prayed to God for help and maintained their integrity. Ps. 91:13, Is. 58:14, Hab. 3:19, 1Cor. 6:2, Rev. 3:21
  3. Dan. 1:20. “And in all matters of wisdom and understanding…he found them ten times better than all magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm”. He was soon aware of something extraordinary in these young men, and… that a little of their true divinity was preferable to a great deal of the divination he had been used to. What is the chaff to the wheat? What are the magicians’ rods to Aaron’s? There was no comparison between them. These four young students were better, were ten times better, than all the old practitioners, put them all together… This contempt did God pour upon the pride of the Chaldeans, and this honor did he put upon the low estate of his own people…” M. Henry 1Sam. 2: 2-10. Pro. 22:29.
  4. Dan. 1:21. “And Daniel continued even unto the first year of King Cyrus.” He lived to see the deliverance of his people out of their captivity and their return to their own land. Dan. 6:28; 10:1, Pro. 3:2, Ps. 91:16 1Pet. 3:10, Is. 65:22.