Spiritual Warfare--Daniel

"Watch out for Falling Rocks—Especially Big Ones"--Daniel and Spiritual Warfare

One sign you seldom see in Kansas and Nebraska on the highway is "Watch out for falling rocks." But in Colorado you see them on a regular basis. The legend is told that an old Indian chief lost his son. The chief went through all the mountains of the west putting up signs for people to look for his son. The signs said, "Watch for Falling Rocks." Okay, that was bad, but it is true that on many roads in Colorado you need to watch for falling rocks.

While I attended and later taught at Intermountain Bible College in Grand Junction, Colorado I spent a great deal of time up the Colorado River in the metropolises of Grand Valley (now Parachute) and Rifle. I was only a freshman at IBC when I began traveling to Grand Valley with Harry Scates who was the senior minister there. Our route was to go through the Debeque Canyon where the Colorado River has cut out the canyon in the sandstone creating high bluffs and spectacular scenery. But sometimes the scenery took a notion to move and when it did it was not uncommon for a big 100 ton rock to wind up in the middle of the highway. Two of these events come to mind.

The first was in 1957-58. On this occasion it was more than a big rock, but the entire mountainside moved almost damming up the Colorado River. The highway was closed for several weeks while they rerouted the road and shoved the mountainside into the riverbed. Harry and I even took the train one weekend to get to Grand Valley. There was a road around the canyon, but it was graveled only and slow going. If I were to take to the Debeque Canyon I could show you the exact spot of the landslide.

A footnote to this event. A man was traveling down the canyon when he realized the slide was coming. The speed limit was 60 mph, so he was going way too fast to stop. The man jammed on the brakes locking the rear wheels of the car. He shifted the car into reverse, gunned the engine and the transmission and drive line miraculously handled the shock, and the car shot backwards just barely missing the slide.

The next experience with a big rock was in 1967-68. On this particular day I was commuting from Rifle where I was preaching to Grand Junction to teach. Coming around a blind corner I saw a huge rock in the highway ahead. Fortunately it had already landed and I had ample time to get stopped. There was room to get around it and I was able to go on. I remember my passenger, the elderly Otto Duckworth, about had a heart attack when he saw the rock. It was big enough that if it had hit railroad engine it would completely destroyed it with room to spare.

Living in Colorado gave us an awareness of the power of big rocks and what they could do. My father came close to death when a rock dropped from the ceiling of an underground mine. The miner's helmet he wore saved his life.

Today as we look at Daniel we are going to witness the story of another big rock. Jesus talked about this rock when he said, "Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures,

The stone which the builders rejected,

This became the chief corner stone;

This came about from the Lord,

And it is marvelous in our eyes?

Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.""(Matthew 21:42-44 NASB) 

Jesus is echoing a spectacular event in the book of Daniel. It is a story about the power of one amazing big stone. And now to that story we turn in the book of Daniel.  

The Background of Daniel

Daniel was a teenager when along with a number of other young me he was taken to Babylon as a hostage by Nebuchadnezzar II in 605 BC. In less than 20 years Babylonia had risen from an unknown entity to the leading nation of the world. Babylonia had conquered all comers, including the once powerful Assyrians and Egyptians. The world stood in awe of this power. Theologically, all nations believed that their power was dependent on their gods. Obviously Babylonia's gods were the most powerful. In fact no god was able to stand before them and as far as the world knew that list included the God of Israel—Yahweh.

What they did not know was that Yahweh had given Babylonia its power In order to punish the adversaries of Israel and of greatest significance to punish Israel for her unfaithfulness to Him. Jeremiah and Habakkuk especially discuss this in their prophecies. 

Along with Daniel were three other fine young men—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. These boys were dumped into a quagmire of pagan, idolatrous worship and threatened with being overpowered by the demonic forces at work in Babylon. Imagine four teenage boys separated from all the restrictions they had previously known. No prophets of Yahweh preaching doom anymore. No parents telling them to pick up their dirty clothes and wanting to spoil their fun. No government leaders making demands. These boys were free to do whatever the Babylonian society allowed. The sky was the limit. These boys would learn about spiritual warfare at its highest (lowest?) levels. They were in a "get-down-and-dirty" spiritual world. Remember, these boys are teenagers? How many teenagers do we know today who were dropped into such circumstances survive? I know a few. I also know those who fall to the lure of what the devil has to offer. In a college town we see hundreds of them taking the plunge into hedonism and sin.  

Just like Joseph, over a thousand years earlier, these boys were thrust into a situation where they could do what they pleased because no one was watching. For all of them, someone was watching. That unseen force would keep them in line in all circumstances.  

They are not in the city of Babylon very long when they are recognized as being quite handsome and talented. I've never had to deal with either gift, but I know those who do. They are given by the grace of God a greater challenge than us common folk. The Hollywood crowd is so proud of itself that it regularly performs public acts of self-adulation. In February we had the Oscars in which those who consider themselves the best of society in turn chose the ones they considered the best in their sub-culture. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were blessed with that issue. Note what the book of Daniels says: 

3     Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his ²officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the ³royal family and of the nobles,

     4     youths in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for ¹serving in the king's ²court; and he ordered him to teach them the ³literature and language of the Chaldeans.

     5     The king appointed for them a daily ration from the king's choice food and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be ¹educated three years, at the end of which they were to ²enter the king's personal service.

     6     Now among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

     7     Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them; and to Daniel he assigned the name Belteshazzar, to Hananiah Shadrach, to Mishael Meshach and to Azariah Abed-nego.  

Several things to note about these boys:

• They were high bred and came from high class families in Israel. Actually God rescued them from a culture that was rapidly becoming more pagan than what they would find in Babylon. Their move here was an act of protection. They most likely had received whatever education the nobility of Jerusalem received—primarily reading and understanding the Torah. What else they may have learned we do not know.
  
• They were good looking with no defects. Imagine being checked over by someone to see if you have defects. In Israel only priests had to be free of defects. As far as we know these boys were not from priestly families. This may have been one of the considerations for their selection to go to Babylon in the first place. Nebuchadnezzar had a habit of taking the best of people he found to be in his country where they could be productive for him. His hope was that he would win their loyalty and their commitment to him and his country. Young boys would be especially malleable
  
• The boys were intelligent and capable of being trained. They had the characteristics that would make them do well in school. They were the kind of scholarly material for which the Babylonian government looked. They would serve well in government and ultimately provide strength for the government. They were to be taught Babylonian language and literature. That would be the Aramaic language and of course Aramaic literature. This would have been written in a cuneiform style script. Simply, these boys were to be given the best education that Babylonia could provide. In a special way God was preparing leaders by giving them an excellent education. They would be trained for three years and then enter the King's service. That means they would have a place on the king's advisory staff, be well paid, have nice homes, and all the amenities that accompanied such positions. Smith says about this:  

Those selected were to undergo a thorough program of education and indoctrination—a virtual Babylonian brainwashing! They studied the literature and language of the Chaldean people.⁵ The subject matter no doubt included language, astronomy, mathematics, natural history, mythological literature, agriculture, and architecture. These young men were not being trained as soothsayers, but as upper-level administrators and advisors.⁶ Nonetheless, the purpose of this curriculum was to change the way these young men thought—their worldview, their value system (1:4b). 

• Daniel and his friends were to be given the best of food from the king's table—best wine, best desserts, richest cuts of meat. But here a problem arises. For the first time in the history of the Bible there is a dietary challenge presented. Prior to this, except that it is mentioned in the Law of Moses, little consideration is given to what can or cannot be eaten. Another aspect of brainwashing is being employed. The goal here was to change the lifestyle of these young men.
  
  
• New names. Look at the comparison chart. The young men would give up their God/Yahweh honoring names and take on names that honored Babylonian deities. This time the goal of the government is to change the loyalties of the boys. Their teachers knew that the boys came from a religious background. Religion was also important to the Babylonians and they wanted the boys to recognize and serve the gods of Babylon.  

BRAINWASHING THROUGH NAME CHANGE
HEBREW NAME	MEANING	BABYLONIAN NAME	MEANING
HANANIAH MISHAEL AZARIAH DANIEL	"The Lord is Gracious" "Who is What God is?" "The Lord has helped" "God is my Judge"	SHADRACH MESHACH ABED-NEGO BELTESHAZZAR	"Command of Aku" "Who is what Aku is?" "Servant of Nebo" "May Balak protect"

What the Babylonians were to learn was simple. You can change my name and you can send me to school, but you are not going to change the "main man" that is down inside me. Daniel made the decision that he would not defile himself by eating the king's food.  

"Defile" here is in reference to the laws of Moses. Food was a large issue in the law of Moses. There were rules about the kind of meat you could eat, the kind of birds you eat, the kind of seafood you could have and even the bugs you could eat. "Defile" is in reference to moral and spiritual defilement. Daniel knew that if he ate from the king's table he would be morally and spiritually defiled. This is the only time in the Old Testament where we have a Jewish person taking issue with the food being served. But the issue of defilement looms large in the time of Daniel and the period after the Babylonian exile.  

Seventh Day Adventists today point to this passage to bolster their claims that we should all be vegetarians. But there are much larger issues here. The demonic forces plan to use food to help lure Daniel and his friends away from the worship of the True and Living God. Daniel asked for a special dispensation and willingly submitted himself to a test to prove that he was right. The official was concerned. If Daniel and his friends looked sickly then it could be his head. Daniel asked for ten days to demonstrate that the diet would work. If not, they would eat the food from the King's table. The test—eat only vegetables or grains for ten days. No meat of any kind and no wine. Water only.

We do not know why Daniel made such a decision. Was he trying to demonstrate his faith or to display his confidence in his faith. One suggestion is that he had a heavenly vision that told him to do this. Because of Daniel's closeness to God, this may well be the case. Issues that would have prompted Daniel were:

• The meat could have been unacceptable. Babylonians ate pork and horsemeat. Both were forbidden by the Law of Moses.
  
• Any meat provided would not have been prepared in a kosher style. This refers first to the way the animal is killed and then to how the blood is handled from the animal.
  
• There was strong likelihood that any meat provided had previously been offered to an idol which would make it sacred meat. Probably this is the only type of meat the king used because it would afford him spiritual power and special physical strength. Even in his eating he was worshiping his deities. Though this is never an issue in the Old Testament it certainly does become one in the New Testament. Paul clearly warns his followers not to eat meat sacrificed to idols. The meat has not changed, but the message the meat sends has.
  
• Wine was often poured out as drink offerings (libations) to the gods, so there was even a religious
  
• Daniel can eat grains and vegetables because these were not likely to be offered to idols.  

Some factors to be considered:

At first glance this request seems simple enough, but a number of factors rendered this a courageous act. Stephen Miller makes the following points: 

• To refuse the royal diet could have been taken as an insult to the king and as an act of direct disobedience to Nebuchadnezzar's orders.
  
• Pressure from Daniel's peers most certainly made the decision difficult. Everyone else was doing it. By choosing this course of action, Daniel and his friends were setting themselves apart from the others. Now they were different, strange.
  
• Such unorthodox behavior could have jeopardized their chances for advancement.
  
• The quality of food would have been attractive. It was the best in the land.
  
• Their new location may have tempted them to be unfaithful. Judah was nine hundred miles away; parents and friends would never know whether or not they kept God's laws. Yet Daniel and his friends were aware of a very important fact. Other people might not know their actions, but God would know, and someday all will give an account of themselves to him.
  
• It would have been natural to argue that since God had not protected them from captivity—this horrible situation—they did not have to be careful to obey his commands. They could have become bitter toward God during this time. Sometimes believers fall into this trap. All of these factors could have caused some people to compromise, but Daniel and his friends remained faithful to their God. 

The chief eunuch or overseer allowed Daniel and his friends to take the test. At the end of the ten days he saw that the Hebrew boys looked better than those who ate from the king's table. They were not more chubby, but their flesh had a better texture to it. He removed the four from the royal diet permanently. Most likely the other boys had indulged a little too much in the rich food from the king's diet and had more wine than they needed; thus they didn't look so good.  

But God is beginning to quietly demonstrate his power over the Babylonians. Probably even Daniel did not know the real agenda that was represented by the food. "The change in the appearance of the young men was the result of God's grace, not the properties of the foods consumed."