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)
Let’s look at some of the three-year re-education schemes of this program to transform these young superstars. They were to receive the king’s government education. Daniel was immersed in the Babylonian literature and history told from the viewpoint of a Babylonian. There is an ongoing battle for the control of the education system. Not just the control of the universities but the high schools and even our elementary schools.
Think of the strategy of woke culture and how they use the education system to control their narrative. There seems to be more and more high profile battles for the education system at lower levels in the elementary system. Daniel would be studying the Babylonian religious system.
It would be a three-year program to make these men more sympathetic to the Babylonian religious system. Already there was a wide scale sympathy of the Israelites who were to by worshiping on Jehovah to other systems of worship particularly Baal worship. Because they refused to listen to Jeremiah and the call of God to worship him only it led to this catastrophic captivity. Daniel is to embark on an education system that was based on a system of pagan gods. The interesting thing about this is that undergoing this education system was not a line in the sand for Daniel. This he was willing to do.
He was taught the language of the Babylonians. The apostle Paul spoke Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. We find out how this was part of his ministry. What Daniel learned and the position his held is going to be used by the Lord. Daniel was well position and did not compromise to get there.
Daniel’s name was changed from Daniel which means God is judge to Belteshazzar which means Bel, a Babylonian god protects his life. His name went from one that praised the true God but, now acknowledged Bel.
In the area of food Daniel was offered a diet consisting of the king’s choicest food and wine. Daniel was getting special treatment to receive this food, but Daniel refused the food. Why is it that Daniel willingly accepted the Babylonian education, language and name but not the food? Why was he not compromising when he did accept three of the four re-education aspects?
The only area Daniel did not accept was on the area of food. So how can we say Daniel was a man of no compromise? The distinction was that eating the king’s food was violating a direct command of God. Daniel was well aware that he was in captivity because his people were continually violating the commands of God and refused to repent.
Daniel would not defile himself as his people had done. If we take a closer look at the three areas Daniel accepted, then we will find Daniel had a definite reason for accepting three aspects of his re-education and drawing a line in the sand about the area of food.
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, (Daniel 1:8-9)
As far as education we see that Daniel was not breaking a command of God by accepting the education system of Babylon. There is an interesting verse from the last sermon of Stephen that would give us insight into Daniel’s reasoning on this.
Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. (Acts 7:22)
Daniel knew that Moses before him was educated in the Egyptian system. God had honored Moses and neither Moses or Daniel would defile themselves by accepting the education system they were in. As for language not only Moses learned an Egyptian language but also Joseph. The two heroes of Israel had learned the pagan language. Daniel was not making a line in the sand issue about language.
When Daniel received a new name, he would have known that Joseph did the same. His book is called Daniel and not Belshazzar so in his heart he will always be Daniel, God is Judge. You can call Daniel what you like because names will never hurt him.
Daniel can bend on education, language and name, but not on food. There is a distinction. There was a specific command in the Word of God on food. On this Daniel had laid it on his heart not to defile himself.
There were two problems in the area of food. The food provided did not meet the requirements of the Mosaic law. It was not prepared according to regulations and probably included forbidden animals. The other problem was the wine as well as the meat had been dedicated to idols. This was the Babylonian custom.
Even before Daniel made an appeal to the commander not to eat the food, he had made up his mind not to eat it. He knew this would defile him. He was prepared to make his stand on this issue whatever the cost.
It is interesting the way Daniel went about his appeal for not eating the kings food. He did not make a loud proclamation before everyone. Through prayer he made a quiet appeal to the choice few that could help him.
Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, (Daniel 1:10)
This was a huge deal for the commander to allow Daniel to go against the kings decree of not eating his choice food. He could be executed for doing this. Daniel could have reasoned his way out of this conviction. There are many ways we can be drawn in to compromise our faith. It does not mean we cannot make any cultural concession. We see Daniel made several, but where there is a principle from the Word of God we are prepared to stand.
The courage of Daniel makes me think of the quote of Martin Luther, “My conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus, I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one’s conscience is neither safe nor sound. Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me.”
Daniel drew the line where God drew the line. This set the pattern for his whole life and carried him through the fiery furnace and the lion’s den. He never compromised on the commands of God.
At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. (Daniel 6:4)
How would we stand up if a group of investigators began to put you under that kind of scrutiny. Would they find in us as they did in Daniel no corruption, no compromise of biblical principles.
The Daniels are few in number. Proverbs 20:6 says a trustworthy man is hard to find. It is easy to compromise. All of Israel did that it seems, except for Daniel, Shadrach Meshach and Abednego. There is a cost to making a stand. These four choice young men were willing to die for their stand. Look how this ended for these four.
The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. (Daniel 1:19)
God honored these four young people who honored God. Where God does not speak, we can bend. Where God does speak, we stand. Come what may. We will become men and women of no compromise.
