Daniel: A Man Of No Compromise Series

Daniel: A Man of No Compromise

Daniel 1

We often associate Daniel with the lion’s den. When we do that, we are looking at Daniel when he was an old man. He was a senior adult when he was thrown in the lion’s den. This account of Daniel where he is thrown in the fiery furnace is when he was a young man. The fiery furnace and the lion’s den are sort of book ends when Daniel was young and when Daniel was old.

Daniel may have even been a teenager when he was thrown in the fiery furnace. It is a message on integrity and his no compromise life. There has been so much damage caused when believers in Christ compromise on their faith. I knew a Christian who lived on compromise street, and they felt embarrassed because it made them feel like a compromiser. Daniel stood his ground come what may. He was a man of no compromise.

There may be different definitions of compromise, like there are all words, but in this context, we are defining compromise as the expedient acceptance of standards that are lower than is desirable. That means we are talking about a kind of compromise that is not healthy for our spiritual walk with Christ.

Daniel’s life from teenager to old man is an example of no compromise. He was not bent by outside pressures. What Daniel did or did not do was determined by his inward convictions and not the outward situations. Daniel was put in a position of compromise because his people were living in sin and refused to repent.

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god. (Daniel 1:1-2)

God had sent Jeremiah the prophet to warn the people to turn back to God. They refused to repent, and God gave them over into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the King of the Babylonians. When he conquered Israel he took the articles from the house of God, designed to give glory to the God of Israel and set them up to give glory to his god Baal.

In addition to setting up these articles to his god, Nebuchadnezzar wanted the choicest young men brought back to serve him. Of these choicest youth was Daniel. He is about to be tested in his integrity and where he stood in the area of no compromise.

Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— 4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. (Daniel 1: 3-4)

Nebuchadnezzar ordered Ashpenaz who was the chief of his court officials to train these young men for service. A couple of side notes about Ashpenaz. One is that some translations call Ashpenaz the chief of the eunuchs. So, one side note is that he is a eunuch. The side note that I really want to get to is that his nose must have been enormous. If you search the Bible dictionary meaning of Ashpenaz some give the meaning as, horse nose.

It has been many years since I studied for a master’s degree in a Theological Seminary, and I have forgotten much of what I learned. For some reason I remember the discussion in Old Testament survey about this official having a big nose, since that was the meaning of his name. Ashpenaz turns out to be used by the Lord to bring about God’s plan for Israel, so we won’t give too much attention to the size of his nose was.

Ashpenaz was in charge of Kings Nebuchadnezzar re-education program. This is where Daniel was to compromise everything about his identity as an Israelite. But for Daniel there were areas that he could bend and areas that he could not bend. He could adjust to culture and language, but not to his worship of God. So Ashpenaz becomes a co-hero of the story in the end because Daniel is able with Divine enablement of God to bring in Ashpenaz on his strategy of no compromise.

Look at the qualities of Daniel and his friends. They were the outstanding young men. We also see some of the aspects of this three year program that Daniel was willing to undergo.

young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service. (Daniel 1:4-5)