Scripture

 1 LES

1:1 In the third year of King Jehoiakim of Judah, after Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had arrived at Jerusalem, he began to besiege it.

 1:2 And the Lord gave it into his hand along with Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, and a part of the holy vessels of the Lord. And he took them away to Babylon in the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he stored the vessels in the temple of his god.

1:3 And the king instructed Ashpenaz, his own chief eunuch, to bring to him some of the sons of the leading men of Israel and some from the royal line and some from among the nobles,

 1:4 unblemished young men and handsome in appearance and well versed in all skills and wisdom and sound judgment and skilled in letters and language and prudent and clever and wise and having great ability and aptitude, so that they could function in the palace of the king. And he commanded him to instruct them in the literature and language of the Chaldeans.

1:5 and to supply for them a share from the palace of the king each day and from the royal table and from the wine that the king drinks and to thoroughly educate them for three years and afterwards to make them stand before the king.

1:6 Now there were from among the race of the children of Israel those who were from the tribe of Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah.

1:7 And the chief of the eunuchs assigned names to them: to Daniel, Belshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; and to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.

1:8 Now Daniel thought carefully in his conscience as to how he would not defile himself by the food provisions of the king and by the wine drinks, so he entreated the chief of the eunuchs in order that he would not disgrace himself.

1:9 Now the Lord had given Daniel favor and grace before the chief of the eunuchs. 1:10 And then the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord, the king, who ordered your food and your drink, lest he may see your countenance deteriorating and weakened compared to those who are being nourished with you, young men of other nationalities, and so I will be put into grave danger with respect to my own life.”

1:11 And Daniel said to Ashpenaz, who had been appointed by the chief of the eunuchs over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

1:12 “Indeed, test your servants for ten days, and let us be given some edible vegetables and seeds from the land so that we may eat them and drink water.

1:13 And if our appearance should seem thin and weak beside the other young men who are eating from the royal provisions, then deal with your servants just as you wish.”

1:14 And so he dealt with them according to this manner and tested them for ten days.

1:15 And after these ten days their countenance appeared fair and healthy and the appearance of their flesh better than that of the other young men who were eating the royal provisions.

1:16 And so Ashpenaz proceeded to take away their provisions and their wine and gave them in place of it some edible vegetables and seeds.

1:17 And so the Lord gave to these young men knowledge and understanding and prudence and insight in every literature and language and skill, also to Daniel he gave understanding in all matters pertaining to a vision and also to dreams as well as in all aspects of wisdom.

1:18 And after these days, the king had commanded to bring them in, so they were brought in by the chief of the eunuchs to king Nebuchadnezzar.

1:19 And so the king conversed with them and there was not found among them wise men equal to Daniel and Hananiah and Mishael and Azariah, and they were placed beside the king.

1:20 And so in every topic, both in understanding and learning, concerning whatever he inquired about from them, the king found them more wise and skilled ten times beyond the sophists and the philosophers who were in his entire kingdom. And the king honored them and set them in place as administrators, and proclaimed them to be wise and skilled beyond all his wise and skilled men in matters throughout all his land and throughout his kingdom.

1:21 And Daniel was there until the first year of the kingdom of Cyrus, king of Persia.

Commentary

1 In the third year – 604/3 BC, 70 years later would be late 534 BC, and the great return under CYRUS: Ezra 5:13 But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon the same king Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God.

Jehoiakim – means “Yah has CONFIRMED/FULIFILLED” (Strongs 3079, & 6965) by setting the DATE & TIME that the future king of Babylon will set out.  Jehoiakim took the word of God and cut it up with a penknife in Jeremiah 36:22-23.  His judgment was death (at the 2nd siege 2300 days later) in Jeremiah 36:30.

2 he took them away to Babylon – The “holy vessels” are only to be handled by the tribe of Levi, whose rod budded in

Numbers 17: 7-8,10

7 And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness.

8 And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.

10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Bring Aaron’s rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not.

This theme of the Holy vessels will be picked up again in chapter 5, where they are used for a wine drinking party.

4 skilled in letters and language – These “letters” would be the paleo Hebrew script in the Hebrew language and was what the hand wrote on the wall in chapter 5.

To Instruct them in the literature and language of the Chaldeans – Now Adam Rutherford says the Babylonian king Nabopolassar “was an astrologer whose forecasts were said to be of great accuracy.” And he “was the most distinguished … of his proficiency in astrology and soothsaying he used to foretell the future to the multitude infallibly…” and then, “the eclipse occurred in 621 BC” (Pyramidology p. 544).

We are soon to see that DANIEL will SURPASS All the wisdom of Babylon, even and especially when it comes to solar and lunar cycles and eclipses!!

5 for three years dated from Dan. 1:1 this would be 604-601 BC.  Back in Jerusalem, Jehoiakim, in denial of losing the kingdom, would indignantly burn the scroll of Jeremiah in late 603 BC. See Jer. 36:9

6 from the tribe of Judah – Contrasting the evil actions of Jehoiakim back in Israel, also of Judah, the royal line.

8 thought carefully – Enthumeomai (G1760) means to “revolve in mind”.  Same Word in Gen. 6:6 (in the Septuagint) when God “repented” that He had made man flesh.  The root word “thymos”(G2372) means “heat, anger boiling up and soon subsiding again”. This trial was close to his heart and values, and the first trial he would face in Babylon.  Perhaps the thought that he put into this trial would prepare him to listen to God intently and understand secret visions like what he was given in the very next chapter of his life (chapter two).

9 had given – God gave Daniel “favor and grace” as a result of his careful thought in the previous verse.  When God gives you favor in the eyes of men, you can succeed in the plans He has for you, even in “Babylon”.

10 young men of other nationalities – This is a nod to the fact that the King of Babylon had conquered the entire known world, and had the wisdom of all the young men of all the nations.

11 Daniel – (H1840 from H1835 “Dan” which is from H1777 – judge or contend, plead) God is my judge.

Hananiah = Jah is gracious; or, graciously given by Jah.

Mishael = who is (or is as) El? Ap. 4. IV.

Azariah = helped of Jah, or Jah has helped.[1]

12 ten days While the King of Babylon is here, the children were only tested for 10 days. Same trial period as the church of Smyrna Rev. 2:10.

from the land – Many of the laws in the book of Moses pertained to the land and the food it produced.  This was very clever of Daniel to follow God’s law without saying “I’m going to follow the law of my God as it is written by Moses”, and probably was considered a reasonable request.  He didn’t have to explain himself or the laws of God, all he had to do was request proper food and this prevented all the laws that he might break.

14 tested – G3985 peirazo means to try, make trial of, to try one’s faith, virtue, character, and  “of the temptations of the devil”.  This again forms a basis of trial that we might experience during the tribulation.

15 fair and healthy – G2566 comparable to G2570 “kalos” which means beautiful to look at and also beautiful by reason of purity of heart and life, morally good, noble.  Not “fat” as in the KJV.  This reminds me of Luke 21:18 that “not a hair on your head will be harmed” when antichrist is persecuting you.

16 Ashpenaz = “I will make prominent the sprinkled” (Strong’s) or “horse nose” (Smith’s Bible Dictionary).

17 in every literature – literature is γραμματικός

grammatikos, adj., grammarian, knowing one’s letters; well-grounded in the rudiments. 4×[1]  Grammar is going to be a vital part in the interpretation of Daniel 9:27 when establishing its subject, which is the salvation covenant.

all matters pertaining to a vision – vision in Greek is “horama” G3705, and was first used in the Septuagint Bible in Genesis 15:1 when God made the Abrahamic Covenant with Abraham and his seed, and in Gen. 46:2 when God spoke to Jacob (Israel) in his famous dream of “Jacob’s latter”. Two main Biblical visions that would apply to Daniel’s coming prophecies!

Also to dreams – God gave Daniel the gift of understanding dreams, which will be critical in understanding Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, which is going to reveal all the stages of prophecy until the 2nd advent of Christ, all in ONE DREAM!

19 Daniel – means God is my judge.

Hannaniah – Yah has been gracious or royal, or the great scribe (Smith Bible Dicitonary), Shadrack meaning “circuit of the sun”, or Decree of moon-god

Mishael – “Who is what God is?” or Guest of the King (Smith Bible Dictionary for Meshack)

Azariah – Yah has helped (or Abednego which means “servant of Nebo” In Babylonian, (Smith Bible Dictionary).

20 ten times beyond in all knowledge hints at the coming knowledge of solar & lunar cycles that astronomers discovered (2300 years, 1260 years, & 2520 yrs) astronomer Jean-Philippe Loys de Cheseaux (1718-1751) of Lausanne, Switzerland and H. Grattan Guinness who wrote Creation Centered in Christ.

21 first year of the kingdom of Cyrus which Daniel is directly pointing to the fulfillment of “the word of the Lord” according to Jeremiah the prophet he will base his 70 weeks prophecy.  

adj. adjective

[1] (2012). In The Lexham Analytical Lexicon of the Septuagint. Lexham Press.

Ap. Appendix.

[1] Bullinger, E. W. (2018). The Companion Bible: Being the Authorized Version of 1611 with the Structures and Notes, Critical, Explanatory and Suggestive and with 198 Appendixes (Vol. 1, p. 1180). Faithlife.