HOMILETICS
SECT. III.—THE RESOLUTION (Chap. Daniel 1:8-10)
The religion of Daniel and his three companions was soon to be put to the test. They were to be fed from the royal table [16]; but the Jews were forbidden by the law of Moses to eat certain kinds of food, as well as food prepared in a certain way. Some animals were to be avoided as unclean, and none ware to be eaten with the blood in them. Besides, what the heathen used of animal food had been already offered in sacrifice to their idols, while a portion both of the meat and drink on their table was presented as an offering and acknowledgment to the same false deities. Daniel saw that to partake of the royal provision [17] was thus to pollute himself by participation with idolatry and to transgress the law of God [18]. His purpose was at once taken. Be the consequences what they might, he would neither defile himself nor apostatise from his God. Persuaded that man does not “live by bread alone, but by every word of God,” he would request the superintendent to substitute pulse and water for the royal viands. He determined, says Matthew Henry, to let it be known from the first day of his residence in Babylon, that though but a young Jewish slave, he was the servant of the living God. If he could not preserve his dignity as a prince, he would preserve his purity as a child of the covenant. It was no small risk. The wrath of Nebuchadnezzar, as of all Oriental despots, was as the roaring of a lion. That wrath might well be apprehended for what must appear to him, if known, an act of disobedience, and even of contempt. Unless prevented by some remarkable interposition, the act may cost Daniel and his three friends their life. Daniel had indeed already gained the favour and affection of the chief or superintendent of the eunuchs, but for him to change the diet, or even allow or connive at such a change, must endanger his life also—with Daniel a considerable aggravation of the difficulty. Still he must obey the dictates of his conscience and do what he believes to be the will of God [19]. Prayer was no doubt his refuge. The God of Abraham would open up a way of deliverance. “On the Mount the Lord will be seen.” Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. Isaac was saved at the last hour, The Lord will provide. Jehovah-Jireh still lives. To the chief officer, therefore, Daniel communicates his difficulty and his purpose. The worthy heathen expressed his distress, and his fear for the consequences, even to himself. Daniel only requests a trial. Ashpenaz can do nothing but commend him to the good graces of the subordinate whose duty it was to attend immediately upon the young men, and whose responsibility was less than his own. Observe—
[16] “A daily provision of the king’s meat.” Among the Persians, a number of persons, all the lower attendants of the court, received their support from the king’s table. This custom derived by the Persians from the Babylonians, or at least held in common with them. According to Jeremiah 52:33-34, King Jehoiachin, by the command of Evil-Merodach, received his daily sustenance from the royal table.—Hengstenberg. Dr. Rule observes that crowds of Israelites no doubt ate “unclean things in Assyria” (Hosea 9:3), defiling themselves in like manner; but a few noble souls lived above compromise. At this same time, Ezekiel, also a captive in the same land, witnessing the shame of those who “ate their defiled bread among the Gentiles” whither they were driven, could say, “O Lord God, behold, my soul hath not been polluted; for from my youth up, even till now, have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces, neither came there abominable flesh into my month” (Ezekiel 4:13-14). Their “barley-cakes” the prophet was commanded to treat with loathsome contempt. Good Queen Esther, too, is described in an apocryphal writing as appealing to God that she had not “eaten at Haman’s table, nor had pleasure in the king’s feast, nor had drunk the wine of the drink-offering.”
[17] “The portion of the king’s meat,” Heb. פַּתְבַּג הַמֶּלֶךְ (pathbag hammelek). Dr. Rule observes that what this might mean the old versions could not explain, and our English translators could only gather from the context. Some of the Rabbis understand it to be bread. He remarks, what Dr. Pusey has also told us in the Appendix to his Lectures on Daniel, that Professor Max Müller, in his explanation of words in the Book of Daniel supposed to be Aryan, says that this word is Aryan, and is equivalent to the Sanscrit pratibaga, “a share of small articles, as fruit, flowers, &c., paid daily to the raja for household expenditure.” The Professor quotes a passage from Athenæus, where a Greek word is supposed to represent the word in Daniel, namely, potibazis, said to be put for ποτιβαγις, and to denote “barley bread and wheaten toast, and a crown of cypress, and mixed wine in a gold cup, out of which the king himself drinks.” Dr. Rule, after quoting a passage from Herodotus, which shows that the Assyrians at their sacrifices “poured libations and offered consecrated barley-cake with the sound of the flute and crowned with chaplets,” remarks that “if the pathbag of Daniel and the potibazis of Athenæus be the same, if the king of Babylon drank of the consecrated wine, tasted the consecrated barley-cake, and put on the chaplet of cypress, amid the noise of music and hymns to his god; if the like consecrated food was sent to members of the royal household, to partake of it would be nothing less than a formal participation of idolatry.”
[18] “Would not defile himself” Keil observes that Daniel’s resolution arose from fidelity to the law, and from steadfastness to the faith that man lives “not by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Deuteronomy 8:3); and from the assurance that God would bless the humbler provision which he asks for himself and his companions. These ordinances in relation to food are part of the Levitical law, Exodus 22:31, Deuteronomy 14:2; Deuteronomy 14:21, where the principle of avoiding food inconsistent with holiness, only touched upon in Exodus, is expanded.
[19] “He requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” Dr. Cox remarks that, in the conduct of Daniel on this occasion, his moral triumph was complete and glorious; appearing perfectly conscientious and entirely decided while exhibiting a graceful modesty connected with his moral heroism, together with great judgment and wisdom, and a spirit of self-denial and temperance of the most exemplary kind. Dr. Rule observes that it was far more than a purpose on the part of Daniel. It was a resolve. Literally “he laid it on his heart,” וַיָּשֶׁם דּ״ עַל־ לִנּוֹ (vai-yashem D. ’al libbo), made it a matter of conscience, not contemplating any possible contingency that might shake his constancy.
1. Religious principle sure to be tested. The gold must be submitted to the fire to prove its reality and purge it from dross. The trial of faith a rule in God’s government and the universal experience of His people. That trial may be a “fiery” one (1 Peter 4:12). May throw into heaviness for a season; but has for its issue “praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7). Believers to be, like Apelles, “approved in Christ.” Difficult situations, involving danger, trouble, or loss, the ordinary means of the trial. The favour of God and conscious obedience to His will on the one hand, with suffering and worldly loss, or God’s displeasure and a wounded conscience on the other, with the short-lived favour of the world; which shall it be? Moses must choose between the treasures of Egypt and the reproach of Christ; worldly greatness with idolaters, or “affliction with the people of God.”
2. Trial a needful preparation for future service. Daniel and his companions destined to important service in Babylon. God was to be glorified in them as His faithful witnesses. The deliverance of their captive countrymen to be ultimately effected through their influence. Hence the necessity of discipline and trial. The instrument to be prepared and polished. The faith and obedience of these font godly youths to be afterwards severely tested. The trial to commence now, even at the beginning. Smaller trials must prepare for greater ones. The faith that is to face and triumph over the fiery furnace and the lions’ den to be made strong by exercise.
3. Self-denial necessary to true religion. Daniel and his friends must choose between the dainties of the king’s table and the diet of the humblest slave. A considerable difference to the flesh between the king’s savoury dishes and delicious wines, and mere boiled beans and water. But the choice was soon decided on. Grace enabled Daniel, “instead of yielding to the temptations of luxury, voluntarily to subject himself to the humblest fare, that appetite might not betray him into sin.” Like his ancestor Moses, he “chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.” The Master’s rule, “If any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.” The part of good soldiers of Jesus Christ to “endure hardness.” Such endurance and self-denial the means of strengthening character and fitting for service in the world. The pulse itself probably made, even physically, a means towards Daniel’s elevation. Protogenes, the celebrated painter, said to have lived on lupins during the seven years he was engaged on his famous picture, “that his judgment might not be clouded by luxurious diet.” Calvin even thinks that Daniel might have desired pulse and water, on account of the injurious effects of good living. Auberlen remarks that “he who is to receive or interpret divine revelations, must not feed on the dainties nor drink from the intoxicating cup of this world.”
4. Abstinence from what is in itself lawful sometimes a sacred duty. The royal provisions in themselves good, but in the circumstances not to be partaken of by Daniel and his friends without sin and moral defilement. So even in his old age, Daniel for a special religious purpose abstained for a time both from flesh and wine (Daniel 10:3). “Every creature of God is good, and to be received with thanksgiving of them that know and believe the truth.” But there are times when, for the sake of others, if not for our own, it may be our duty to abstain from the use of some. Christian wisdom and an enlightened conscience needed to direct us in regard to such abstinence. The same Apostle who counselled Timothy to “use a little wine” for his stomach’s sake and his frequent infirmities, asserts that “it is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak;” and declares for himself, “If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend” (Romans 14:21; 1 Corinthians 8:13). The character of the wines and other intoxicating drinks used in this country, the prevalence of the drinking customs, the continued evidence before our eyes of the terrible effects of the use of these drinks, both physically, socially, and morally, slaying as they do their tens of thousands, and drawing in their train both misery, poverty, disease, and crime—these facts are believed by many to make it the duty of Christian men and women in general, in the exercise of that charity that “pleaseth not itself” and “seeketh not her own,” to abstain entirely from the use of these beverages for at least the sake of those who must, one way or other, be influenced by our example.
5. Grace made sufficient for all situations. Grace needed most in times of difficulty and trial. That grace now afforded to Daniel and his friends in their perplexity. To Paul’s thrice-repeated prayer that the “thorn in the flesh” might depart from him, the only answer vouchsafed was, “My grace is sufficient for thee; my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Believing this, Paul gloried in his infirmities and necessities. Neither tribulation, nor persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor peril, nor sword, able to separate the genuine believer “from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
6. The value of courage and resolution in the matter of religion. These needful to serve God and keep a good conscience in the world. Constantly verified in the history of the Church, both in Old and New Testament times. To be faithful to God and faithful to the end, one must, like Daniel, “purpose in his heart,” and through grace adhere to it. Joshua exhorted more than once before encountering the Canaanites, and marching in to take possession of the land, to “be strong and of a good courage, and not be afraid.” Impossible at once to be a faithful Christian and a coward. The “fearful and unbelieving” among those who are excluded from the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:8). “We have received, not the spirit of fear, but of love, and of power, and of a sound mind.” He that timidly will save his life shall lose it. The feet to be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, in order to tread on briars and scorpions, “and all the power of the enemy.” The promise, “Thy shoes shall be iron and brass.” In a world up in rebellion against God, His servants need to be “made as an iron pillar and a brazen wall.” The exhortation to Ezekiel always needed, “Be not afraid of their faces.” Reuben “unstable as water,” therefore “unable to excel.” Fear makes men deserters; but “if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” He that putteth his hand to the plough and looketh back is not fit for the kingdom of God,—neither for the enjoyment of it himself or the extension of it to others. A Christian needs to be a hero, and grace makes him one. Faith the foundation of true courage. Through faith, “out of weakness men were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, and turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” The faith that is “of the operation of God” makes men heroes, and in religion a man must either be that or nothing.
7. Fidelity to God the best way to favour with men. “When a man’s doings please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” Psalms 106:46 verified in Daniel and his companions: “He made them to be pitied of them that carried them captives.” True religion commends itself even to worldly men. Grace a winning thing. Includes “whatsoever things are comely and of good report.” Favour with men not to be bought at the expense of religious principle, and need not be. Daniel found favour with the chief of the eunuchs and yet kept his religion, and indeed by keeping it. Daniel made God’s love and favour the first and chief thing, and God gave him in addition the love and favour of men. “The hearts of kings are in the hand of the Lord, and He turneth them as the rills of water.” True religion consists in love, and love naturally begets love. Jesus, the embodiment of that religion, “grew in favour with God and men.” The experience of Daniel in Babylon that of Joseph in Egypt. The chief of the eunuchs, like the keeper of the prison, won by the becoming behaviour and sweetness of disposition in a youthful Hebrew slave. The youth who pleases God likely to find acceptance with men.
8. The importance of faithfulness in little things. An apparently small matter, the kind of food Daniel should eat or not eat; but God’s law made even that a matter of conscience. Fidelity to God and His worship involved in it. Daniel was faithful to his conscience, and desired to be excused from eating what he could not partake of without sin. Thus prepared for proving faithful in greater things—faithful to all his duties and trusts under the king, and faithful to God at the peril of the lions’ den. “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.”
9. The necessity of decision in the matter of religion. A distinct and settled purpose often our safety and preservation in the world. Daniel’s purity in Babylon due to his “purposing in his heart.” A firm purpose in God’s strength to do right, the girdle that binds the spiritual armour together. “I have said that I will keep Thy word.” “One shall say, I am the Lord’s.” “I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep Thy righteous judgments.” Jesus Himself an example of such decision. He “steadfastly set His face to go up to Jerusalem.” Temptations to turn aside are to be resolutely answered as He answered Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan; for thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men.” “When people are in Babylon they have need to take special care that they partake not in Babylon’s sins.”—Henry. Safety often in a decided “No.”
DANIEL A NOTABLE EXAMPLE OF RESOLUTION
“Daniel purposed in his heart”—(Daniel 1:8)
Resolution both an act and a habit. As a habit, it marks the character of the man who makes a resolution and acts upon it. The habit formed by frequent acts of resolving and acting accordingly. As a habit, resolution a most important part of character. Gives a man moral strength, energy, backbone. Constitutes force of character. Makes a man strong. Forms the hero, the scholar, the statesman, the artist. Makes the successful merchant, the man of science, the philanthropist, and the benefactor of his kind. “I will be a hero,” the turning-point in Nelson’s history. Reynolds resolves at Rome to study the works of the old masters till he has understood their excellence, and becomes a master himself. Paley at college resolves to shake off his habitual indolence and rise at four o’clock to his studies, and produces works that cannot die. Daniel’s resolution in regard to his diet one of the means of strengthening his character and fitting him for future greatness. Each resolution carried out in spite of difficulty or natural reluctance makes a man stronger. An irresolute man a weak man. The part of weakness either to make no resolution, or to make it and fail to keep it. “Resolves and re-resolves, and dies a fool.” Broken resolutions leave a man weaker. One resolution kept prepares for keeping the next. A resolution manfully carried out often the turning-point in a man’s life and the determination of a man’s character. Resolution as an act should be—
1. Made deliberately. Rash resolutions often both foolish and dangerous. Resolutely to carry out such, worse than the making of them. Resolution not to degenerate into obstinacy and wilfulness, as in Herod the Tetrarch, and Pharaoh at the Red Sea. Daniel thought before purposing in his heart. “Ponder the path of thy feet.”
2. Directed to what is right. A resolution should be to pursue a right course—to act right, speak right, feel right. Daniel resolved to do what he saw and believed to be his duty. Resolution noble when it is to serve God, do good, and sin not; to be truthful, honest, industrious, kind, obliging; to avoid temptation as far as possible, and to resist it when it comes; to say “No “to every evil suggestion. If still with our back to God, our resolution to be that of the prodigal,—“I will arise and go to my Father.” The diseased woman’s resolution to press through the crowd and touch the hem of Christ’s garment brought health to her body and life to her soul. The Syrophenician mother pressed on with her suit till she obtained a favourable answer, notwithstanding discouragements and repulses, and she succeeded. So Esther resolved, at the risk of her own life, to plead with the king for the lives of her countrymen: “If I perish, I perish.”
3. Made in dependence on divine assistance. To make a right resolution needs divine aid; much more to keep it. The spirit willing when the flesh is weak. To will may be present, but how to perform that which is good we find not, and needs divine strength. Resolution to be linked with prayer. Strength given to them that ask for it. Daniel a man of prayer as well as purpose; the latter because the former. Peter resolved to follow his Master even unto death, but, trusting in himself, he denies Him at the challenge of a servant-girl. Neglect of the Saviour’s caution, “Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation,” likely to be followed with a fall. “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.” David’s prayer, “Hold Thou me up and I shall be safe.”