Daniel 1

We launch our study of Daniel with a candid look at exile, identity, and courage in the small choices that shape a life. We read Daniel 1, unpack the royal training program, and explore how quiet resolve can outlast an empire.

• context of Babylonian exile and the temple vessels
• why assimilation was strategic and subtle
• Daniel’s food test as a boundary of worship
• obedience and God-given wisdom over three years
• names, identity, and serving without absorption
• “ten times better” competence rooted in character
• timeline note from Nebuchadnezzar to Cyrus
• what this teaches us about God’s faithfulness

Go to Regular Guys Bible Study on Buzzsprout and leave us a fan mail message to make Ken feel better

Steve's Reference Links:

• https://www.bibletales.online/kings-in-the-time-of-daniel/
• https://youtu.be/9cSC9uobtPM

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:12

You are listening to the Regular Guys Bible Study Podcast, the Bible study for regular guys by regular guys. We are your host, Ken and Steve, and we are just regular guys studying the Bible together. Not theologians. Alrighty, Steve. Alright, apparently. We're back. Yeah, we're back. It's been forever. For it has ever.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

It has been a long break.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:45

And I'm, you know, I'm going to blame you.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

I'm pretty sure at least one of those was all you, and one of those was both of us.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Yeah. I I didn't say whose fault it was, Steve. But what I was saying is I was going to blame you. Oh. I think you're confusing the two. Um, it's, you know, what I've discovered is when you blame someone else, it's really cool because then people think it's not your fault. You see how that works?

SPEAKER_02 1:26

That's why you're such a good manager. That's right. You just blame your employees to your upper management space. And then when you're talking to your employees, you blame upper management.

Why Daniel And Old Testament Context

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Exactly. Exactly. That's the way you handle management right there. You manage up and you manage down, and then I just twiddle my thumbs. Sounds about right. Yeah. All right, well, guys, uh, this is our very first podcast for Daniel. We are this is only our second attempt at an old testament book. Our first one was Ruth. Um, check it out if you haven't. Uh, and we are going to Daniel now.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Um and our next one will be numbers or Deuteronomy.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Oh, Deuteronomy. Yeah. No, we're not. We're not doing that. Steve's Steve's going on out on a solo career on uh Deuteronomy.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Yeah, our podcast is so popular. I'm gonna do a spin-off podcast on the Bible uh books that no one wants to read.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Oh man. Hey, Steve, you know, God put those there for a reason.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

He sure did. And there are valid reasons, they're just not fun to read.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

They aren't fun to read. But that being said, I have read all the books of the Bible, and they are all and I I will say, as Paul says in one of those letters, all scripture in one of those books. In one of those books, one of those letters he wrote, he says, All scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching and something.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

Teaching and uh is it rebuking or teaching and um teaching?

SPEAKER_01 3:33

I don't know. Dang it anyway. Now I'm gonna wonder that that's my paraphrase. I didn't quite finish it. Uh, you know what? Oh no, it says teaching uh all scriptures, God breathe, and useful for teaching. Dot dot dot. That's what it says.

SPEAKER_04 3:49

I thought for sure you just did a chat GPT search while you were waiting.

Reading Daniel 1:1–7

SPEAKER_01 3:54

No, I did not. Um all right. Well, uh, if you haven't read Daniel chapter one, uh please go ahead and do that um and then come back and you'll be able to discuss it with us. Discuss it with us. No, you can't. You can talk all you want.

SPEAKER_02 4:13

No, you have a place to leave a message.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

There is a place for you to leave a message. Um if you go to hold it. What do we do? If you go to Buzz Sprout, um there is a fan mail place there.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Um how many how many fan mail letters have we gotten, Ken?

SPEAKER_01 4:34

We have gotten a number that I will I'm not at liberty to say at the moment. Um actually you haven't checked? No, I have actually I haven't checked in a little bit, actually, in a couple of weeks. But the reason why is because we haven't gotten any. And you know what? That makes me sad. When I go and check it and there's no messages there, that makes me a little bit sad. Um, I know people are listening, so you're if you're listening, going, oh, am I the only one listening? No, you're not the only one. There's not, we're not, but you might be. That's not true. That is not true. Uh, but you know, if we charged a dollar per podcast for this, we would still be completely broke.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

That's you know what, guys, if you're listening or gals, I think you should reach out and make Ken feel better and leave a little note. Uh, give us some feedback and tell us how great we are.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Yeah, so go to regular guys Bible study on uh um on uh Buzz Sprout. Actually, if you go look at any of the descriptions, um any modern description of our podcast, it will have a link to our fan mail uh space. And so you can uh you can click on that, follow it, and leave a message. And I would really would like it. Um, especially if you said something negative about Steve.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

That's oh sweet. I'm always open for uh constructive criticism.

Exile, Vessels, And Foreshadowing

SPEAKER_01 6:17

Um no one said anything about constructive, um, but criticism is you know a blessing. No, I okay, I'm being mean now. No, I'm I apologize, Steve. You always are I apologize. Um I have a buddy that tells me I'm too mean to Steve, um, and I am sometimes too mean to Steve, but it's because he can take it.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

You know what, Ken? Just because of that, yeah. I'm gonna I'm gonna bless you with letting you read the shorter section, which is verses one through seven. All right, and I'll read eight through twenty-one.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

All right. Wow. Is that a is there I feel like you're you're setting me up here. Is this because of the names? Oh no. Is this because of the names? Okay, that's that's fine. That's fine. That's not a problem. All right, I am gonna read ESV. Is that okay? Is that what you have been reading?

SPEAKER_02 7:23

That is what I am on at the moment.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

I read both. Let's get let's get going. This is Daniel chapter one. In the third, uh I'm sorry, in chapter one, verse one through seven. In the third year of the reign, hold on, I'm gonna stop right there already. Um, should we continue and read the whole thing first? Or like so I finished and then you read and and then we go and talk about the whole thing, or do you want to talk about sections individually?

SPEAKER_02 7:55

I figured we'd talk about the first section and then jump to the second. All right. But so that's our usual mo.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

I know, but uh you never know. Uh Old Testament's just different. It's it is it's stories instead of instruction. Um, and so we we get instruction from the stories, but you know, and and we learn about who God is. So let me get start again. First Daniel chapter one, verse one through seven. 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. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his God, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his God. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, the chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace and to teach them the teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Meshael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names Daniel he called Beltashazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mesh Meshal he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.

SPEAKER_03 9:54

You did pretty well.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Yeah, I should But is it Cal Chaldeans or Chaldeans?

SPEAKER_01 10:01

I've always heard Chaldeans, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 10:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

It's spelled Chaldeans, but I've always heard Chaldeans, so that's what I said. Who knows?

SPEAKER_03 10:11

Um should we have done an introduction first to the book? Uh it's too late now. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

We can't do it first.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

Should we do an introduction now and like say a little bit about when this book was written?

SPEAKER_02 10:28

If you have something to say, okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

Well you can say it. Let me just say this. This book was written after David was king, after David and Solomon and all those. I I don't know how far after. I did not go into that much detail. But I do have a short little book intro here that I would like to read.

Culture, Names, And Identity

SPEAKER_02 10:51

Um, and this is yes, so it has to be written after David was king because the temple. Well, after Solomon, this was occurred in time way later than all of that.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

True. That's why it happened afterwards.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Okay, I just don't know why you pointed it out.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Well, some people don't know. Uh, you know, don't make fun of our listeners, Steve.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

You're my I'm not. I'm making fun of you.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

All right. I was just being all right. Anyway, this is a book intro. I'm gonna read this book intro. It comes from the um the NLT study bible. Um, it says, When Daniel came of age in Babylon, Jerusalem, the holy city, lay in ruins. Babylon was flourishing, but it would soon also soon wither and die. God's people, the children of Israel, were living as exiles in Babylon. Uh, that's not really that's not an intro. Uh hold on.

SPEAKER_03 11:55

All right. This was written.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

This is not the intro that I originally read. Okay, here's the setting. This is what I read. In 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem and captured some Israelites, including some of the young men of Judah. So this is from 605 is when this is occurring.

SPEAKER_03 12:22

Um let's see.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Now, the question is, uh no, go ahead. That's enough of the intro. It happened in 605.

SPEAKER_03 12:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

That's all we need to know.

SPEAKER_03 12:39

Right now. Right now. Yeah. All right. What do you got, Steve? So in verse 2, it says with some of the vessels of the house of God. Like that should ring of importance for us.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

Or perhaps it's a little bit of foreshadowing.

SPEAKER_03 13:07

Dun dun dun.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

Is it is it foreshadowing?

SPEAKER_02 13:12

I think so.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

What is what is it? Why in what way? What are the vessels?

SPEAKER_02 13:17

Um when we get to the part, and I this is for memory, so don't shoot me if I'm wrong. But why would I recall that what what kind of person does that?

SPEAKER_01 13:33

The stupidest thing I've ever heard. Don't kill me. Don't shoot me. What an idiot. Dang it, I'm being mean again. I'm sorry, Steve.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

There's a lot of things I could say, but the current political climate right now is such that I do not want to even comment on that one.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Yeah, that's probably smart.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

Uh, anyway, so when uh the writing on the wall appears, it is when um Cyrus, I think. Is that right? Is partying and stuff, and he is drinking out of these vessels from the temple of God.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

I think.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Okay, that's interesting. All right, let's see.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

But that's not that's not for our like six more chapters or something.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

But that's something to remember. Um, these vessels. So um, you know, there's other translations that use other words. Uh let's see, what does NIV say there instead of vessels? It says um some of the articles from the temple.

SPEAKER_03 14:43

So just like magazine articles?

Language Notes And Resources

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Yes, Steve. Um just holy items is really what it's talking about. Um now ESV has the literal translation, by the way, of vessels. So it's likely these religious relics are in some kind of bowls or or something.

SPEAKER_02 15:12

Yeah, the the strongest definition for that uh word is any apparatus as an implement, utensil, dress, vessel, or weapon, it goes on to list a bunch of other stuff.

SPEAKER_03 15:29

Okay, well that's interesting, Steve. Let me ask you this. Um why do you think God would allow the Babylonian king to besiege his nation?

SPEAKER_02 15:52

Because they were sinning and not following the law.

SPEAKER_03 15:57

All right.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

He was using Babylon to get Israel back into shape.

SPEAKER_03 16:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Which if if we did a a thorough study of the Old Testament, you would see a repeated cycle over and over and over where they they came close to God and then they fell far away from God, and they came close to God and then they fell far away from God, and then they fell close to God and they fell far away from God.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Yes. Good thing we don't do that ourselves.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

Oh, never. Alright. Only every day.

SPEAKER_03 16:35

Really? Oh, well, not quite every day. Wow. All right.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

Um I didn't realize that Daniel and his friends were of the nobility.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

That, you know what? I did not either. This is the first time I've ever read this and realized, oh, these guys were either of the royal family of the royal family in some way. Maybe some of them were of the royal family, or of the nobility of the Israel. So they were these were well off, well-educated um uh kids from Israel that were taken taken by the king to be educated um in the Chaldean way.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

But only if they were good looking, because that's important.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

They did have to be handsome.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

It says youths um do you think that with without blemish blemish?

Reading Daniel 1:8–21

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Youths without blemish, so they could not have any acne scars.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Or birthmarks.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Or birthmarks, or um I don't know, other things. This is what your definition of a blemish is, I guess. That's true. But um so it does not say boys.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

But the the people mentioned here are males. Do you think that girls were included here?

SPEAKER_02 18:24

I don't know for sure, but I suspect not.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Yeah, I agree. I I expect these are male youths. Um because the girls would have been maybe put into the unfortunately into the harem of the king.

SPEAKER_03 18:50

Right. Which if we choose to do um oh, what's her name?

SPEAKER_02 18:57

Such a time as this.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Uh oh, that is um that's um uh dang it.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

I hate it when I can't remember names.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

That's ridiculous. It's ridiculous that I don't know this.

SPEAKER_03 19:12

Um uh Ezra not Ezra. Um Dang it. Is it not Ezekiel? Not uh Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

Naomi Oh, Naomi was in the story of Ruth.

SPEAKER_02 19:42

Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

Uh dang it, what is wrong with this? Why can't is the book not named after her?

SPEAKER_02 19:51

No, it's not.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

It's in like first Samuel or 2nd Samuel or something. Uh anyway, I know what you're talking about.

The Food Test And Faithfulness

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Um, it's gotta be much later than the Samuel.

SPEAKER_03 20:07

Really? I think Esther. It is a book after her. Ah, it is. Yes, Esther.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

In my app, in my app it just says EST, and I'm like, Eastern Standard Time? What?

SPEAKER_01 20:25

I saw something exactly like that and could did not know what it said. Oh, okay. All right. I'm glad that we're showing our stupidity today, Steve.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

We're doing great at that.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

Yeah. All right. So um I'm sorry, I don't even know what you were saying. What was your point? Did you have a point other than the one on your head?

SPEAKER_02 20:49

Just that Esther was put into the harem.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Oh, right, right, right. Yes. And um, and it was God's will, and God saved his people through it. Um, all right. Uh and in the same way, um God had this happen for a reason. Um all right, so let's see. What did he do? He uh he got these so why do you think he's uh wanting to teach these kids? What is what would be the goal of this? What is his goal?

SPEAKER_02 21:30

I suspect that um this was a method of trying to keep the peace if you uh absorbed people into your culture that were of the uh defeated land, and the defeated people perhaps saw this, or these uh trained Jews became the emissaries back in Jerusalem at a later time or something. I think it's just a a smart method of trying to bridge gaps.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

All right. I think I'm gonna relate this to two, I've been a part of two companies that had a let's say a company take over or you know, another company buy them. And in both cases, they did not really um they didn't do enough to undo the culture of the company that they bought. And so the company that they bought never fully embraced the parent company, right? Um, because why would they? They're the enemy. Um and so in my opinion, it's uh it is a way to kind of meld the Jewish community in with the the Chaldeans and hopefully create because you know they overthrew them, they're wanting them to be the same society, just one society, right? Um because that's the only way it'll last. And so I think their goal is to create this um uh you know, change the Jewish culture into the Chaldean culture, uh, or at least melt, you know, modify it enough so that they become one.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

I have some really bad news for you, Ken. Yes. I was part of one of those uh takeovers.

SPEAKER_03 23:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:51

They only pulled in the attractive people to pull them into the new culture, which is why you you didn't get to partake in it.

Health, Status, And Ancient Diets

SPEAKER_01 24:06

That uh that's hilarious. Yeah, okay. I I didn't realize some of you, some of you privileged, uh, had undergone culture training. Um all right. I deserve that. That was good. Um that was a m you know what your dig was much better than than all of mine put together. So congratulations.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

I win.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

All right.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

I guess that's it for the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

All right. Um let's go on. Uh let's see. Uh do you have any other comments about this?

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Um I have one more, but it's toward the end. So if you have something before like verse six, then please speak up.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

No, no, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 24:57

Okay. So he does all this name changing. And so I looked up what the names meant, both their original name and their new name. I don't know if it's of any real interest, but perhaps it'll spark a conversation. So Daniel means God is my judge. Beltishar means Lord of the Straiten's treasure. Hananiah means God has favored, and Shadrach means royal or the great scribe. Meshal means who is what God is, and Meshach means guest of a king. Azariah means Jehovah has helped, Abednego means servant of Nebo.

SPEAKER_03 26:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

So, you know, maybe um it says the chief unit gave them these names. That does not necessarily mean he gave them. Oh, uh, let's see. Uh we don't know exactly if he gave them those names when he first met them or after they had been training for a while. And that's true.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

The Old Testament is very bad at chronologic, chronologically telling a story.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Right. And and you know, some of the chronology actually can get mixed up over time. Um, and I mean of the especially of the details that don't really matter that much. But it sounds like by the names of those that they were given, they were given names based on the their talents or what what how they would serve in the in the king's court.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

Yeah, it does seem that way.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

But what was Daniel's again?

SPEAKER_02 27:10

Uh Beltashazzar is Lord of the Straton's treasure, and Daniel is God is my judge.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

Okay, yeah, Beltashazzar. Um, and you know what's interesting about Daniel, we often tell stories, or kids' stories, we talk about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. We don't talk about uh what are their names? Uh Ananiah, Meshel, and Azariah.

SPEAKER_02 27:39

But we always use Daniel's original name.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

That's right. We don't ever tell stories about Beltashazzar or Belt, whatever. We always talk about Daniel. So, Daniel, we always use his Hebrew name. Um, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednega, we always use the Chaldean name.

God Gives Wisdom And Skill

SPEAKER_02 27:59

Did you know that the this chapter, and I believe the last chapter, are written in Hebrew, and the rest is written in Aramaic or something like that. I don't remember exactly. But they're in two different languages. It's written in two different languages.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

I did not know that.

SPEAKER_02 28:23

You should go watch the YouTube video where the they do the little drawings, um, it's like Bible story or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

I'll do that.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

Uh that's really because it also it it draws a lot of other poetic sort of symmetries that I would have never caught on my own.

SPEAKER_03 28:44

Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

Alright. That's good. I'll do that. Can you send me a link, Steve?

SPEAKER_02 28:51

Sure. I can do that. Yeah. You could even post it, post it with the podcast, right?

SPEAKER_01 28:56

I could, yeah. Yeah, why don't you do that? If you send me the link, I'll post it in the notes uh for the description of the podcast. It'll be right under where the fan mail link is that you could click on first, and then you could click on this to see this little video. All right.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

All right. Are we ready for me to read the rest?

SPEAKER_01 29:20

Uh yeah, let's go on. Um so yeah, read the rest.

Ten Times Better And Summary

SPEAKER_02 29:27

Verse 8. 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. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs. And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I fear the Lord the king who assigned your food and your drink. For why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king? Then Daniel said to the steward, whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Ananiah, Meshael, and Azariah. Test your servants for ten days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see. So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food. So the steward took away their own took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables. 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. At the end of the time when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar, and the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Meshel, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king, and in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom. And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

All right. So um so one thing uh the one thing I notice here is that Daniel doesn't say, hey, me and these other guys, we don't want to defile ourselves on your with this food. Daniel says, I don't want to be defiled by this your food. But it ends up when uh when he approaches, it sounds like when he approaches him, Hananiah, uh Mel and Azariah are also there. And he goes, Oh wee. And I just wonder if Hananiah, Mel, and Azariah agreed with him. So I uh I think that the food that they were offered probably included things like pork and I don't know, shellfish, meat sacrifice to idols, uh too.

SPEAKER_02 32:40

All that stuff that they're not supposed to eat.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:46

Um and if if the other three were also, which we we know that they are, devoted to God, they would feel the same way.

SPEAKER_01 32:56

Yeah, I agree. I think they agreed, um, or they wouldn't have been there with uh with Daniel. Uh but Daniel's the one that had the courage to speak up um first, anyway. It doesn't mean they won't be able to. It's his book.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

It's his book. He's the leader.

Cyrus, Timeline, And Reliability

SPEAKER_01 33:13

Uh that's a good point. Um yeah, uh we could if Azariah had spoken up first, this book might be called Azariah. Yep. Yeah, that's a good point. Um so anyway, um, yeah, I so what do you think? Um some people, like Steve, take this to mean that we should eat vegetables.

SPEAKER_03 33:41

I could see where they might take this one passage and make that claim. Okay. But if you go to the New Testament, uh everything is good for eating.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

Yes, I mean, even um, and they even uh definitely ate meat at the Passover and other feasts, and right and they were not vegetarians, and this is not a story about saying uh you should be a vegetarian. This is a story about being obedient to God.

SPEAKER_02 34:23

Um yeah, upholding upholding the the laws of um what is it, kosher laws or something like that?

SPEAKER_01 34:32

Yeah, yeah, the kosher laws, I guess. Um and so you know, God had called Israel to eat no unclean thing. Um and those things, certain meats and the way they were prepared are considered unclean.

SPEAKER_02 34:54

So here's a question for you.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

All right.

SPEAKER_02 34:58

How many fat, healthy looking vegetarians do you know?

SPEAKER_01 35:08

Well, when you say you said fat and healthy looking.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

All right, so they're fatter in appearance, right? And healthier looking. I most of the vegetarians I know tend to be a little pale and pretty thin.

SPEAKER_01 35:28

All right, uh but most I will say this, most vegetarians uh or a lot of vegetarians don't get enough protein in their diet. Um but uh so I'm I'm actually assuming um they had a good amount of things like legumes and nuts and and are lentils, are lentils a uh lentils are like a high protein thing, right?

What We Learn About God

SPEAKER_03 35:59

I think so.

SPEAKER_01 36:01

Um anyway, I I assume they got protein from other areas. Um but you know, when we call somebody fat um in our modern culture that has way too much food and way too much really bad for you food, it is not necessarily, it's never a good thing. Oh, you have a nice nice layer of fat on you. Um you're 400 pounds. That's great. Um, but that's that's not the case in the old testament. I mean, um, you know, fat means they're just not skin and bones. They've they've got some meat on them.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

But there have been time periods where being obese or larger than healthy was considered a sign of wealth.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

That's true. That is true, especially in Asian communities. I know my father was uh uh in the Korean War, and he was stationed in um uh uh what Greenland?

SPEAKER_02 37:13

And was he unemployed in Greenland?

SPEAKER_01 37:19

You didn't say it right, Steve. Inconceivable. Unemployed in Greenland! There you go. All right, um, anyway, uh he would say that the the Koreans would come there and the Korean generals when they would come and would want to stop, and uh they were on like something like two and a half rations because it was so cold and stuff. But it he said that was ridiculous. You can't eat that much food, but the Koreans would come and try to get as fat as possible to go back and because it was a status symbol to have uh to be fat. Um and yes, but that's not what we're talking about here, I don't believe.

SPEAKER_02 38:09

Well, and as we continue on this rabbit trail, and the if you look at the uh European European paintings of like I don't know, the Renaissance period, I think.

SPEAKER_03 38:24

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:25

A lot of the paintings are of fat women.

SPEAKER_03 38:30

All right, I think we gotta change the subject now.

SPEAKER_02 38:34

Let's say non-athletic.

SPEAKER_01 38:36

Yes. Um I think that was a sign of wealth, uh, because they don't they don't work with their hands, right? They're they're can sit around, do nothing.

SPEAKER_03 38:47

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 38:49

All right. Oh my goodness. Um, all right, so um Daniel and uh Daniel convinced the eunuch that was in charge, give us 10 days, see if we look better, right? And they did it, and they they did look better, right? Than all the others. Um, you know, I don't know if it's because the food was healthier that they were eating or not, um, but I do know that it's big that it had to do with being obedient to God.

SPEAKER_02 39:30

I just had a question coming into my mind as you mentioned the chief of the eunuchs. Okay. Were these four guys turned into eunuchs?

SPEAKER_01 39:41

So I did think uh wonder about that. I think not.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

But the chief of the eunuchs, chief of the eunuchs is the one looking over them.

SPEAKER_01 39:58

But I think weren't the eunuchs used as guards, or were they also all the servants in the in the kingdom?

SPEAKER_04 40:05

I have no idea.

SPEAKER_02 40:07

Um so I know it's used as an operating system.

SPEAKER_01 40:13

Uh that's a different eunuchs. That is U N I U N I X. This is U No. Uh U. Where is it? What is this? U N O C H, is that right?

SPEAKER_03 40:29

Uh where is E U N O C H.

SPEAKER_01 40:36

I think. If I can why can I not find this thing? Uh I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 40:41

It's all over the place. And now I suddenly can't find it.

SPEAKER_01 40:43

E U-N-U-C-H-S. There it is. Unix. All right. Gosh, talk about a stupid rabbit trail. All right, we need to get moving on this, Steve.

SPEAKER_02 40:56

Well, I don't have that many more notes here.

SPEAKER_01 40:58

That's fine. All right, that's fine. So they tested them for 10 days. They looked better. Um, and so he said, All right, you win. I'm just gonna give you this this food that you've asked for. Um and you know, it's actually they're making the this eunuch look good, right? Because he's their res uh he they are his responsibility. Um, and so he's they are actually making him look good. Um okay, and then it said that um, and while they also looked good, um, over this time, and how long was the time they were being trained? Do you remember?

SPEAKER_02 41:39

I don't.

SPEAKER_01 41:40

Three years. Three years they were to be trained. Um, and you know, Daniel gained understanding and visions and dreams, um, and then at the end of the three-year period, he brings them back together and says, All right, let's see what everybody knows. Um, and you know, he finds that they are better ten times better. I don't know what that means.

SPEAKER_02 42:07

Uh it's like they that means you take like if you take the number one times ten, yeah, you get ten. But if you take ten times ten, you get a hundred.

SPEAKER_01 42:18

Okay, I got it. So, in other words, if somebody could um could uh interpret a dream halfway, then Daniel could interpret a dream five times.

SPEAKER_03 42:45

Right? Yes, because that's ten times as good.

SPEAKER_02 42:50

Point five, yes.

SPEAKER_01 42:52

Yes, okay, I got it. All right, that makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_02 42:56

Now I think a lot better. They're a lot better, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

Um, all right, let me see. I have another note here in 17. I say, I'm just gonna read my note. I haven't read my note in a while, so I hope it makes sense. I noticed here that it says God gave them these things, these things of learning and wisdom. While I try to take credit for everything in my life, I often find myself patting myself on the back for something I did well, or my uh my wisdom or my skill.

SPEAKER_02 43:35

Uh I see feeling a little uh convicted, are you?

SPEAKER_01 43:38

Yeah, I was I was feeling a little convicted when I read that um about um so you know God gave them these abilities, and God gives us our abilities, Steve. Um so I think we often I know I often like to take credit for the things uh for my abilities, like even uh it's easy to give God credit for things that just happen.

SPEAKER_02 44:16

But often we like things you work for, but things you work hard for, you act like oh I did that.

SPEAKER_01 44:23

Yeah, um, but the truth is God still did that, and he gave you um everything uh to be able to do that. All right, so first of all, I want to summarize this chapter. Or do you want to summarize the chapter?

SPEAKER_03 44:46

No, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 44:47

All right, I'm gonna summarize the chapter and then I'm gonna ask a question. All right, so here's my summary. Um the Babylonian king comes, uh defeats um the Jewish king, takes a bunch of nobles, uh kids, and back, trains them up, um, feeds them well. Daniel and his friends they decide, nope, we can't eat that stupid garbage. That's not uh what God wants us to eat. We'll just eat vegetables and drink water. Um they do that, they look really healthy and they learn a lot, and they're really some of the best ever kids in learning and all that. And the king, after three years, tests them all, and he finds that these four kids, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, are all superior to all the rest of his uh of his enchanters and and every all of his servants.

SPEAKER_03 45:57

That's it.

SPEAKER_02 45:59

What can you tell me about King Cyrus? And why do you think the author points him out in the last verse of the first chapter?

SPEAKER_01 46:09

I don't know. I think he's the next king that takes over for uh who is this Nebuchadnezzar? Is he uh Nebuchadnezzar's son?

SPEAKER_02 46:22

I believe that is wrong. Okay, he is the Persian king that takes over. Oh um, but he shows up in Second Chronicles, in Ezra, in Isaiah. Oh, lots of places then, lots of places, and so you know this kind of prompted me to go look at the timeline of Kings, and it was interesting because I came across this article that talked about how for the longest time the the uh skeptics would criticize the book of Daniel because it they said such and such never existed, yada yada. Um and then later archaeology would reveal something and prove them wrong. Um so like Nebuchadnezzar, I think there was some question about the rule between him and when his son took over. And his son, I don't think his son ruled very long, which we'll get to that. I'm not gonna do a spoiler. Um anyway, it was just an interesting article. I will send that to you as well, and you can put that in the thing for people to read.

SPEAKER_01 47:47

I will. Um, all right, so I have one more question, Steve. So from this chapter, what do we learn about God?

SPEAKER_02 47:58

If you're faithful to his uh demands of us, he will be faithful to us.

SPEAKER_01 48:05

Okay, that's a good one. Yep. How did you learn? Okay, uh, no, that's one thing. Um one thing that I learned about God, and it's not that I didn't know, but it's one thing that I this story tells about God is that God will put us through situations that look bad. Um but any any situation that God puts us in, we are called to be his children. Um it's not necessarily bad, it's just the situation that we are in.

SPEAKER_03 48:43

So that's what I think. So God puts us in these situations, and they're not necessarily bad.

SPEAKER_01 48:54

All right, that's all I got.

SPEAKER_02 48:56

They're off those situations are often there to uh hone us, to hone us and to teach us.

SPEAKER_01 49:03

Yes, yes. All right, guys, that's all I got. You got anything else, Steve?

SPEAKER_02 49:08

No, this was kind of a long one.

SPEAKER_01 49:10

It was a long one. Um, a lot of that was our own stupidness, but you know, yeah, it's alright. Um, so alright, next week, guys, uh Daniel chapter two. I don't know if we'll do the whole thing. I think it's a longer chapter, um, but we'll see. We'll get uh through what we get what we get through. Study is a chasm LLC production. All rights reserved.