Daniel 1 – 6
Verse 1:12 – 13 describes the “Daniel Fast”:
12 “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.”
Interesting that the word “fast” is never used to describe what Daniel is doing. No in this case it’s just not eating the food the king is serving since it does not meet the Hebraic Law. So this is not really a “fast” but more of a modified diet. I have “fasted” this way and other ways that really don’t meet the real intention of a “fast”.
Think about it a fast is not eating and maybe not even drinking. Often we fast foods, but include fruit and vegetable juices. Or we will “fast” sweets or “pork” or some other food that is easily substituted. The more I explore fasts I have two takes on them. The first belief is fasts are more of a healthy “reset” of one’s digestive tract. The other belief is when one fasts they honor and connect to God. I believe this aspect applies to more long term fasts, where a single day one is more God’s intention on health.
Through this reading we see a bunch of well-known stories that are great to read in context. Unfortunately each would provide a whole “Thought” in its own respect, so I will only touch on a few. You will notice multiple times the kings create laws, prompted by jealous court members that are intentionally designed to “trap” the Jews in high places.
Verse 3:25 talks about what happened when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were tossed into a furnace:
He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
They lived to glorify God! Interestingly the “fourth” is often considered Jesus because of the “son” comment, but in reality this is how the pagan culture describes angels or supernatural beings. It may have been Jesus, but there is no evidence to support that assertion. This was all done because these men would not bow down to the Nebuchadnezzar’s gods or idols, so God made a “show” to protect them for their faithfulness and to show Nebuchadnezzar who the true God was.
Verses 5:25 – 28 describe Daniels interpretation of “the handwriting on the wall”:
25 And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN. 26 This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; 27 TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; 28 PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
King Belshazzar died that very night and the kingdom began to crumble. Hence you now understand why “the handwriting on the wall” has become synonymous with something coming to an inevitable end.
Verse 6:22 describes the result of another time when King Darius’s advisors made another trap for Daniel:
My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.”
Here he was thrown into the lion’s den to be protected by God. Again this turned the heart of the king to not only spare Daniel, but to toss the advisors to the same fate. As in the fire, these men were not spared by their “gods”.
Through the book of Daniel we see a man of great faith and one who trusts God. He moves into the king’s court by his gifts and is protected by his faithful obedience. The big question is can you faithfully follow God to ignore laws that conflict with His laws to a certain death? If you did would you “expect” protection like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego received? Or would you doubt? I am sure many who went into the gas chambers in Germany remembered these stories as they were exterminated.