1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. 2 And
the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the
vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to
the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure
house of his god.
3 And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he
should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed,
and of the princes;
4 Children in whom was no blemish, but well
favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and
understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the
king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of
the Chaldeans.
5 And the king appointed them a daily provision of the
king's meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three
years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king.
6 Now
among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael,
and Azariah: 7 Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he
gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach;
and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego.
8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with
the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank:
therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not
defile himself.
9 Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love
with the prince of the eunuchs. 10 And the prince of the eunuchs said
unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and
your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking than the
children which are of your sort? then shall ye make me endanger my head
to the king.
11 Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the
eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12 Prove
thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to
eat, and water to drink. 13 Then let our countenances be looked upon
before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion
of the king's meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.
14 So he
consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days.
15 And at
the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in
flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's
meat. 16 Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine
that they should drink; and gave them pulse.
17 As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all
learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and
dreams.
18 Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should
bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before
Nebuchadnezzar. 19 And the king communed with them; and among them all
was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore
stood they before the king.
20 And in all matters of wisdom and
understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times
better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his
realm.
21 And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus.
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Comments by Joan Boney
Because the children of God would not obey God, God gave them over to be carried into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon where they were in captivity 70 years as appointed by God.
At the end of the time of captivity, Darius, king of the Medes ... and Cyrus, king of Persia, conquered Babylon.
Daniel is saying he was in the captivity until the first year of king Cyrus.
In the book of Daniel, we see first hand account of Nebuchadnezzar, and later his successor of Babylon, Belshazzar.
Jerusalem had been mostly destroyed, the temple of Solomon burned to the ground and the wall destroyed around Jerusalem.
When Cyrus took over, he would order the wall to be restored around Jerusalem.
But for the time being, the Hebrew children are in the captivity, carried away to Babylon.
This is where Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego report to us in the early chapters of Daniel. These show incredible workings of God in the midst of a captive children of Israel, Judah. These are wonderful accounts by faithful servants of God.
Already we see how God has blessed Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego with great favor in the captivity by their captors ... similar to the way God greatly favored and blessed Joseph in his captivity in Egypt.
They chose not to defile themselves with the king's food ... and as a result they were in even better condition physically than all the ones who ate the kings provision.
There are many things of this present world that we, who are of God, choose to avoid, not defiling ourselves. People of this world "religiously" watch newscasts, thinking these to somehow make them wise. Those of us who understand, know all that is done by newscasts is to stir up our flesh unnecessarily. Some of us choose not to watch such and months, or even years later, we find we avoided several crises. It is like going through the Red Sea on dry ground and coming out on the other side without getting wet!
Our wisdom is from God and not from reports of this world.