hotcoffee
New Member
Daniel 1:11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
When we left Daniel and his friends yesterday, they had be captured and castrated. Their names had been changed by their captors.
They didn't make a big deal over the changing of their names. They knew who they were. My dad use to say "you can call me anything you want just don't call me late for dinner".
But they did make a big deal out of the food they were given. It was the same food Nebuchadnezzar ate. We gather it was not kosher. So Daniel had asked the chief official to allow them to eat just vegetables and water. When we left them yesterday, we saw that God was in control.
I'm struck by the idea that they had castrated Daniel physically, but apparently he "grew a pair" emotionally. It must have taken "a pair" to talk to the chief official and make the deal we see here with the chief official. The menu, after all, was ordered by the very man who had ordered his castration.
Have you ever gone out on a limb and tried something that you weren't sure would work? I would imagine that in a movie there would be a close up of the chief official when Daniel asked him to make this diet change. The character's facial expression would change slightly from authoritarian to slightly human. That's the instance when God got involved. That's the instance that prompted Daniel to offer the "test".
All in all, Daniel is being true to God. He's also showing leadership which is going to be very important in his character has the Book of Daniel continues. He's going to need the leadership and "a pair" to make it through what happens to him for the rest of his life.
