HOMILETICS
SECT. II.—THE FOUR CAPTIVE YOUTHS (Chap. Daniel 1:3-7)
Among the youths of noble or princely birth taken from Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar as trophies of his conquest [7], and perhaps as hostages for the good behaviour of those who were left behind, were Daniel and his three companions, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. These, according to a custom prevalent in Babylon, similar to that of the Ottoman court which in more modern times originated the institution of the Janissaries [8], were, at the king’s command, immediately placed under the charge of an officer called Ashpenaz [9], the chief of the eunuchs [10]. To this often influential class these captive youths were henceforth to belong, having been selected for their handsome appearance, intelligence, and good address [11]. In token of their entire subjection to their Babylonian master, their names, according to a common usage, were changed for others intended apparently to obliterate all traces of their race and nation, and still more of their religion, and to mark them, if it could not also make them, worshippers of the gods of their new sovereign [12], as well as his property and slaves. Designed for high stations at court and about the king’s person, they were for three years to be dieted in a way judged most fitted to promote their health and more especially their good appearance; while they were carefully instructed in the learning [13] and language of the Chaldæans [14]. These captive youths, and Daniel more especially, were to be God’s chosen instruments in effecting, by their influence at court, the predicted restoration of their exiled countrymen at the appointed period. Observe from the passage—
[7] “Certain of the children of Israel and of the king’s seed, and of the princes.” When Darius Hystaspes succeeded Cyrus, he obtained from Babylonia and the rest of Assyria a thousand talents of silver and five hundred boy-eunuchs. Keil observes that פַּרְתְּסִים (partemim) is the Zend “prathema” (Sansc. “prathama”), denoting persons of distinction—magnates, princes.
[8] The Janissaries were originally Christian youths who had been taken captive by the Turks and brought to the Ottoman court, after which they were placed under the care of the chief of the white eunuchs, under whom they were trained and educated, taught some trade, and brought up in the religion of their masters. Those most gifted were employed about the ruler’s person, and in due time advanced to high and suitable offices in the state, to military commands, and to the government of provinces. Their Christian names were changed for such as their Moslem masters delighted in.—Kitto; also Ranke’s “Ottoman Empire.”
[9] “Ashpenaz.” Keil observes that the name has not yet received any satisfactory or generally adopted explanation. He thinks the person so named was the chief marshal of Nebuchadnezzar’s court. Dr. Rule thinks he might be called master of the household. Junius observes that the word in the Chaldaic denotes the master of the chiders (objurgantium), or, as Willet translates it, the master of the comptrollers, i.e., the chief comptroller and governor of the king’s house.
[10] “Eunuchs.” Dr. Rule remarks that the name סריסים (sarisim) may simply indicate members of the king’s household; the name being applied to officers in or about the palace, whether literally and physically eunuchs or not.
[11] “Well-favoured.” The Assyrian and Babylonian kings, wishing to add to the lustre and magnificence of their court, admitted into their palace none but young persons of high birth, distinguished for the gracefulness of their person and the beauty of their countenance.—Gaussen.
[12] “Gave names.” Daniel, which in Hebrew denotes, “God is my Judge,” was changed, according to the name of Nebuchadnezzar’s god (Daniel 4:8), into Belteshazzar, or “Bel’s treasurer,” or the “Depositary of Bel’s secret things;” but according to Gesenius and Nork, the “Prince of Bel.” Azariah, or “The Help of the Lord,” was changed into Abednego, the “servant of Nego,” or the Brightness, i.e., of the Sun or Fire, or perhaps one of the planets—also objects of Babylonian worship. The other two names given for Mishael and Hananiah believed to have also an idolatrous meaning, although not so obvious. Shadrach, according to some, is “The Inspiration of Rach” or the Sun; and Meshach, a “devotee of Shach “or Venus, the festival goddess. Kitto observes that the practice of changing the names of slaves is as ancient as the time of Joseph, whose name was changed by his Egyptian master to Zaphnath-Paaneah, or the Revealer of Secrets. In modern times the practice prevailed in the case of Negro slaves.
[13] “Might teach the learning of the Chaldeans.” According to Pliny and Strabo, the priest-caste among the Babylonians had educational establishments in certain cities; for instance, in Babylon itself, Borsippa in Babylonia, and Hipparene in Mesopotamia.—Hengstenberg. According to Plato and Xenophon, the education of royal officers in Persia did not begin until they had passed fourteen years of age, and youths did not enter into the king’s service until they had completed their sixteenth or seventeenth year.—Rule. An objection has been made to the genuineness of the Book of Daniel on the ground that it is improbable that Daniel, with his strict principles, should be willing to be taught the principles of the magi. But Moses also was “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22). As Moses acquired the secular knowledge of the Egyptians without their debasing superstitions, so might Daniel that of the Babylonians. Nor was that learning all superstitious. Their philosophers were chiefly engaged about astronomy; and the Greeks thought that the birthplace of philosophy in general was among the magi of Persia and the Chaldees of Babylonia or Assyria. But the futility of the objection is at once obvious; at Babylon the king’s will was law, and especially with his slaves. The passage is rather a confirmation of the genuineness of the book, as affording an example of agreement with the customs and usages of the time and country.
[14] “The language of the Chaldeans.” Michaelis, Winer, and others have supposed that by the “language of the Chaldeans” we are to understand that of the Chaldeans proper, and not the Eastern Aramæan branch, which is usually called the Chaldaic, and which in chap. Daniel 2:4, as in Ezra 4:7 and Isaiah 38, is called the Aramaic or Syriac. Hengstenberg thinks it to be the court language, spoken by the monarch himself and his attendants, which appears from chap. Daniel 2:4 not to be the Aramaic, as that is said to be the language in which the Babylonian sages answered the king. The exact knowledge of the languages prevalent in Babylon in the time of Daniel, as shown by the book, no contemptible proof of its genuineness. Keil thinks the “language of the Chaldeans” in the text to be that of the Babylonish priests and learned men or magi, called also Chaldeans in a more restricted sense, the same being afterwards applied to the whole body of the wise men of Babylon (Daniel 2:2). He adds: “If for the present no certain answer can be given to the question as to the origin of the Chaldeans and the nature of their language and writing, yet this much may be accepted as certain, that the language and writing of the Chaldees (כַּשְׂדִּים, casdim) was not Semitic or Aramaic, but that the Chaldeans had in remote times migrated into Babylonia, and there had obtained dominion over the Semitic inhabitants of the land; and that from among this dominant race the Chaldees, the priestly and the learned class of the Chaldees, arose. This class in Babylon is much older than the Chaldean monarchy founded by Nebuchadnezzar.” This instruction in the wisdom of the Chaldeans, Auberlen thinks, “tended, at all events, to develop the high prophetical gifts which Daniel possessed by nature;” and that “a similar school was thus provided for Daniel to that which his Egyptian education was to Moses, or which study of philosophy is for the theologian of our own day.” Dr. Rule observes that “seven or eight centuries later than Daniel, the learning of the Chaldeans or Babylonians was described as comprising astronomy, astrology, divination, augury, incantations, and the science of dreams and prodigies. Although idol-worshippers, Justin Martyr, in his Exhortation to the Greeks, affirms that the Babylonians differed widely from the Greeks and from all other idolaters of the world, inasmuch as they acknowledged a supreme and self-existent God.”
1. The literal fulfilment of God’s word. The good King Hezekiah’s foolish vanity entailed a chastisement which, according to the word of the prophet, was to fall upon his descendants. Some of them were to become eunuchs in Babylon (Isaiah 39:7; 2 Kings 20:18). Probably Daniel and his three companions were thus made examples, that no word of God, whether in promise or threatening, falls to the ground. “Heaven and earth may pass away, but my word shall not pass away.”
2. The inscrutable providence of God. It is one of the mysteries of that providence that the innocent suffer with and through the guilty. Both rulers and people in Israel had deeply revolted from Jehovah. But it might be asked of those four godly youths, “What had they done?” “When the scourge slayeth suddenly, it mocketh at the trial of the innocent.” Yet God is still infinitely wise and just and good. A gracious end in view, though hidden at the time. Children often made to feel the effects of a parent’s sin, while these effects may be graciously overruled for their eternal good. The captivity of these youths made to turn to their own benefit and that of others. Apparent evil often a real good. “Ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Genesis 1:20).
3. The sovereignty of divine grace. Nothing is said of the parents of these youths. The royal seed had become a reprobate one. Both the sons of Josiah who succeeded him on the throne were wicked. The princes of Jerusalem imitated them in their sin. Grace makes exceptions. Perhaps these youths were judiciously taken away from the evil example of the rest. Safer perhaps at the time to live in Babylon than in Jerusalem. One might hope from the character of these four youths that they had been taught the fear of God at home. But graceless parents may have gracious children. Grace steps in and makes men to differ. The wind bloweth where it listeth. Saints found in Cæsar’s household, and a godly Obadiah in Ahab’s court.
4. Mercy remembered in the midst of judgment. Preparations for the purposed and promised deliverance of Israel made from the very commencement of their captivity. One of the very first captives to be made God’s chosen instrument in bringing it about. The edict of Cyrus, at the end of the predicted seventy years, the result of Daniel’s influence at the Babylonian and Persian courts. The same influence doubtless effectual in mitigating the sufferings of his fellow-exiles [15]. A silver lining often in the darkest cloud. God’s bow of mercy set in the cloud of man’s deepest misery. Mercy and judgment the alto and bass in the believer’s song.
[15] “The Lord in His great mercy had prepared for His people an influence in Babylon that must have mitigated the severity of bondage when the ten thousand captives [with Jehoiachin] were added to all that went before. The king and the princes indeed were prisoners of war; but young men of royal blood are at the head of the government, naturalised, and in rank next the imperial throne, but known as worshippers of the God of heaven, and as confessors of that God in opposition to the gods of the country, in full enjoyment of religious liberty and protected in the exercise of their sacred right by a decree in honour of Daniel’s God.”—Rule.
5. God’s instruments prepared for their work. Daniel and his three companions prepared beforehand for the part they were to perform in the relief and deliverance of their countrymen. Gifted by nature and endowed by grace, they received an education at the Babylonian court that fitted them for the post they were to occupy about the king’s person and in the government of the country. Capacity for learning, united with conscientious application and the divine blessing given in answer to prayer, made the youthful exiles ten times more able to answer the king’s questions than all the wise men in the realm, and so prepared the way for their future elevation. The influence of that education in reference to the exercise of Daniel’s prophetical gift also not to be entirely overlooked.
6. Grace superior to circumstances. Captivity in a heathen land, residence in an idolatrous and luxurious court, a three years’ course of study pervaded with idolatry and superstition, the constant presence of the followers of a false religion and a low morality, all combined are unable to crush out the piety of these young men. Circumstances changed their names but not their nature. With names imposed upon them that seemed to designate them the worshippers of idols, they were enabled by grace to remain the faithful servants of the true God. The religion produced by the Holy Spirit in the soul is fast colours—not painted, but engrained.
7. The value of gracious principles in early life. Only the presence of divine grace in the soul able to withstand the temptations of the world and to conquer in the battle of life. “Evil communications corrupt good manners” only when those manners are not the fruit of a divine principle implanted in the soul. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith.” Only an apparently renewed Demas will forsake the truth, “having loved this present world.” Renewed by the Spirit and grafted into Christ, we are “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,” and made “more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” Probably these youths taught like Timothy to know the Holy Scriptures from early childhood. Daniel may have had a Eunice for his mother, though her name is not recorded. His early youth spent in the reign of good Josiah, who apparently died only four years before he was taken captive to Babylon. Few men have become at once great and good who have not been able to connect their religion with a mother’s prayers and the instruction received at a mother’s knee. One thing concerning these four youths is certain, that in early life they had been taught to say in truth, “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee.”