NOT OF THIS WORLD (DANIEL 1)
Avram Grant is known as the manager who succeeded Jose Mourinho at Chelsea Football Club when the latter left in 2007. Grant was unaware of his father's full story as a Holocaust survivor until he was a teenager when he heard his father screaming in his sleep. His father Meir Grant, the only family member to survive Siberia, was from the town of Mlawa in Poland, where three million Jews lived before the beginning of World War II.
In 1937, Meir's father took his wife and nine children (including Meir) on a three-year trek that would take them across Poland and eventually to Russia. One child was hidden in a monastery. Two were placed in an orphanage. The train they were on was stopped and two more were taken away and never seen again. In Russia the family was left them behind in -40 degrees temperatures and was forced to live in the forest. In total, Meir dug a grave for his father, his mother and other members of his family - all with his own hands.
Avram Grant said, "My father grew up an orthodox Jew, but lost his faith during the war because of what he went through. I think it's easy to understand why. It's impossible to bury half your family and remain unchanged. He never hated anyone. He always told me there were good people as well as the bad. He never held a grudge, never wanted revenge. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/legacy/danwalker/2012/05/avram_grants_story_is_an.html
"My father suffered a lot but he was most optimistic guy I ever met in my life," Grant said. "He said don't live in past, live in future."
http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ap-portsmouth-grant
A few years before the southern kingdom of Judah fell to the Babylonians in 586 B.C., Daniel and his three other friends from the royal family were carried as captives and exiles by Nebuchadnezzar in the third year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah One of the four great Old Testament prophets, Daniel was the most outstanding and longest lasting Jewish official in Persia, serving at least 50 years to king Cyrus' reign (Dan 1:21).
How do you survive a Holocaust, a massacre or a tribulation? How do you live positively when negativity persists and prevails? What hope do you have to succeed in work, society and life when the odds are so heavily stacked up against you? Why do some Christians make it in the marketplace and why do some mess up?
Start from the Bottom
1 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. 3 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. 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. 6 Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego. (Dan 1:1-7)
Two young men who had just graduated from Harvard were all excited and talking effusively as they got into a taxi in downtown Boston. After hearing them for a couple of minutes the cab driver asked, "You men Harvard graduates?"
"Yes Sir! Class of '94!" they answered proudly.
The cab driver extended his hand back to shake their hand, saying, "Class of '58."
It is not a coincidence that the verb "besiege" is used for the last time in the Old Testament. It was a new country, a new community and a new culture. The old city was ruined, the old king was removed, and there was no reversal. Living in the new land entailed caution, confusion and compromise. There was nothing to pine for or return to because parts of the old were in the new land. The articles of the temple were carried off to the temple of Nebuchadnezzar's god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his idol. The best and the brightest were in exile. It could not get harder and harsher than this. He could not hold on to his country, family or name.
Enter Daniel and the three amigos or friends. Daniel was the first group of deportees and he was physically, intellectually, mentally, linguistically and culturally one of the finest. The deportees were served a three years' diet. Daniel asked for no quarters and was given none. Although he was favored, he curried no favors and earned his stripes the old-fashioned way. He excelled in many ways. The five things Daniel had acquired to his advantage were knowledge and understanding (learned) in all literature (books) and wisdom (learning). Verse 4 showed his aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand (KJV skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science) means success or expert (skillful) in all wisdom, informative in knowledge (same root word), and understanding in science. Wisdom can mean timeless, knowledge is current and science is future. Verse 4's language and literature (KJV "learning and tongue") mean the classics and language of the Babylonians.
Is three years of training a long time? Not too long or short. Do you enjoy learning a new language, such as Cantonese, Putonghua, English? Do you know you can learn a language in six months? Ask a missionary or a maid from the Philippines or Indonesia. They get a six month intensive course in spoken Cantonese in their native country, and they become more fluent fro learning on the job. Do you know web has offers to teach you the guitar in 10 days 21 days and 30 days?
Stick to the Basics
8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you. (Dan 1:8-10)
Six Suggestions for Success:
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievement of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times, and to have a smile for every living creature you meet.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you will have no time to criticize others.
To be too big for worry, too noble for anger and too strong for fear.
To think well of your self and to proclaim this fact to the world not in loud words, but in great deeds.
To live in the faith that the world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you. (More Toasts, Gertrude Stein)
The verb "resolve/purposed" (suwm) is the key to Daniel's survival or extinction. The translations for resolve' include "put" (Gen 2:8), "set" (Gen 4:15), "laid" (Gen 9:23) and "make" (Gen 13:16).Resolve is something that is done before the fact, not during the fact or after the fact. It is on the inside, not outside. It requires discipline, design, duty, delight and determination. His resolve comes from a greater calling, a higher purpose and a divine power, not to lose weight, make money or achieve more. The English verb "resolve" means settle or solve something. He was patient, persistent and purposeful. His decision was out of choice and conviction rather than circumstances and changes.
Daniel's purpose did not come out from his mouth or written on a piece of paper, but is set or written in the heart (v 8), missing from NIV. The original phrase "resolve/put in heart" was God's intention in the past for the Israelites along with the object lesson to bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes (Deut 11:18). In a foreign land the observance was not on the outside, but on the inside. The practice now was private, practical and personal, rather than public.
The verb defile (v 8) is also translated as pollute (Ezra 2:62) and stain (Isa 63:3). It was not just about food, but culture, values and beliefs. A remote possibility is pollution is from the diet of blood (Isa 59:3, 63:3, Lam 4:14).
Strive for the Best
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. 17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. 18 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's service. 20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom. 21 And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus. (Dan 1:11-21)
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead and the unborn could do it no better. If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, like Shakespeare wrote poetry, like Beethoven composed music; sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, "Here lived a great street sweeper, who swept his job well.'" (Readers' Digest 4/92)
There are two imperatives in the chapter. The first is test or prove in KJV (v 9). The first test (v 13) in the Bible was Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, but the last test/prove belongs to Daniel (vv 12, 14), with a twist, it is an imperative (v 12) but self-imposed. The traditional translations for test are tempt (Gen 22:1), prove (Ex 15:25) and try (2 Chron 32:31).
What vegetables do you dislike? For me it's cucumber, celery and carrot.
Ranker.com has collected over 1,500 voters on the subject of "Vegetables I Won't Eat" and the top vegetables netizens won't eat are:
1. Radish
2. Turnip
3. Beet
4. Brussels Sprouts
5. Lima Bean
6. Eggplant
7. Olive
I do not necessarily subscribe to the theory that Daniel was opposing food offered to idols. Nor do I agree that Daniel is a vegetarian or vegan. The Jewish diet is more than that. More than that, the Jews are most concerned for three kinds of food: swine, shelled and scaled seafood. Blood is also forbidden. Dairy and meat cannot be combined in the same meal and there's a waiting period between eating one and then the other.
Do you know what they say about healthy food? Health-conscious folks say, "Healthy food is seldom tasty, and tasty food is seldom healthy." Healthy food used to be (3B) boring, bland and best to avoid, but now organic food is expensive, important and hard to get. Nowadays we have vegetarians who abstain from meat, ovo-vegans ("ovo" means egg in Portugese) who consume eggs but not dairy products, and milk-and-egg diet vegans.
The earliest translation for "vegetables" (v 12) is "pulse" in KJV. Vegetable is any part of a plant that is not the fruit. Vegetables are food from the root, stem, or leave, but pulse or grain is food from the seeds. Pulse is more than vegetables. Pulse is derived from the word seed, so pulse is more grain than vegetables or plant. Included in the pulse category are beans, peas, corn, wheat, rice, barley, oat, lentils, cereals and others. Pulses provide protein, complex carbohydrates, and several vitamins and minerals. Like other plant-based foods, they contain no cholesterol and little fat or sodium. Pulse doubles the protein content of wheat and triples that of rice. (Wikipedia).
Daniel excelled physically, practically and personally. His only competition was with himself not others. The outcome of eating pulse was a "better nourished" (v 15) Daniel. The translation is better served in KJV ("appear fairer and fatter in flesh") or Hebrew, which is "appear good and fat," of which the latter (fat) is translated as fat (Gen 41:4), rank (Gen 41:5 ), firm (Ps 73:4) and plenteous (Hab 1:16). Daniel's wisdom, knowledge and science were not philosophical, but practical. Visions (v 17) can be daytime, but dreams are mysteries.
Most of all, he trained himself to excel in body, mind and heart as a rounded person. Daniel had Jewish and Gentile friends, with slaves and officials. Verse 9's "treat/deal" (v 13) is in the imperative to assure and thank his friend in advance. Furthermore, the verb "assign /endanger" (v 10) are in the intensive piel stems, adding the emphasis surely, specifically, sorely to the verbs assign and endanger. The verb "endanger" (KJV) makes its only presence in the Bible. To the chief official who showed him favor (kindness) and compassion (v 9), he proposed a limit of ten days (v 14), so as not to get others in trouble. Daniel was considerate, cooperative and courteous. He did not betray or belittle the loving kindness (chesed) and compassion the officers showed him (v 9). To enter the king's service (v 19) is equivalent to stand before the king or stand "facing" the king in Hebrew. It means to be by the king's side and in his presence literally. It implies to be pleasant, presentable and pleasing.
Conclusion: Do you thank the Lord for the talents, tasks, trials and tenacity He has given you? Do you think you have no friends, future or favor from others? Do you trust God Have you asked God to make you a better person, to help you make good choices, and to make you the best that you can be?
