Graduating from Babylon U—With Honors

Daniel 1 tells the first of six stories about how Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah navigated Babylonian culture. Their reactions to their “wise man” immersion education program hold some surprises — in some situations, they decided to conform to the culture of their captors; in others, they temporarily demurred. But God blessed them and honored their faith as they participated in a toxic culture.

Daniel must be read in light of the historical context that brought the Judean men to Babylon. The year was 605 BC, and Nebuchadnezzar had just succeeded his father, Nabopolassar, as king of the rapidly expanding empire. Babylon had recently finished off the remnants of the formerly all-powerful Assyrians, who had been collecting tribute from Judah’s kings.

Nebuchadnezzar moved his army against Judah and demanded tokens of submission, including young men from the royal family. These young men would go to the heart of the Babylonian empire and be subjected to a process that might be called “Babylonization.” They would be trained to serve as agents of the empire either by returning home or, in the case of Daniel and his friends, by staying in Babylon and serving in the government.

Nebuchadnezzar put the captives on a course of study and a diet to make them educated and attractive for service in his kingdom. (Thin men were not considered good-looking; the art we have from this time period shows muscled warriors and pudgy wise men).

It’s marvelous just how far Daniel and his friends were willing to go without recorded complaint or protest. Upon arrival, Nebuchadnezzar ordered that they be trained in the “language and literature of Babylon” (1:4). This seems innocuous—but take a look at what they studied. Archeological discoveries have revealed the curriculum for “wise men” in this period of time. Besides the pagan creation and flood stories, the bulk of their education (after learning the incredibly difficult Akkadian language), would have been divination texts. They studied how to tell the future by watching the stars, pouring oil into water, reading omens from the livers of sheep, and many other ways.

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah not only did not protest; they graduated summa cum laude (1:20).

The four men also had their names changed. Again, this may seem innocent enough to us whose names often have no deep significance, but in the ancient world, names meant something. Daniel’s name was a statement of faith: “God is my judge.” Nebuchadnezzar changed his name to Belteshazzar, which in Akkadian means, “The divine lady protects the king.”

It is more than likely that Daniel and his friends did not like these new names and did not refer to each other by them. They would have rather studied the Torah than the Enuma Elish, Babylon’s creation account. But the text records no protest.

However, when it came to the food that Nebuchadnezzar provided for them (“a daily ration of food and wine from his own kitchens,” 1:5), they would have nothing to do with it and worked out a deal where they could substitute it with a diet of vegetables and water. Why? What was so important about what they ate?

All the obvious answers are wrong. Their diet was not a matter of observing the food laws of the Old Testament (Lev. 11). For one thing, wine was kosher. Also, it appears that this new diet was a temporary measure, since Daniel 10:3 mentions that after being disturbed by a vision, Daniel stopped eating choice food and meat and drinking wine for three weeks. The fact that the Judean men’s abstinence was temporary shows that they didn’t balk at food offered to idols. From what we know about Babylonian practice, even the vegetables would have been offered to the idols.

If ceremonial laws weren’t the pressing concern, what was? Daniel and the other young men were giving God room to work so that the success they achieved could only be attributed to him.

At the end of the course, they were pronounced the best in the class as well as the best looking. They were “healthier and better nourished than any of the other young men who ate the royal food” (1:15). The witnesses (and readers forever after) knew that this result was because of God and not the food. Daniel 2 demonstrates that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah’s wisdom, too, was a divinely given wisdom and not a result of the classes they took at “Babylon University.”

This story is not just a record of a past event; it was recorded to help God’s people in later times know they can live in a culture that is toxic to their faith and not only survive, but succeed.

The story does not provide a formula for determining what activities God’s people can participate in. Sometimes Christians will have to abstain from certain activities. Sometimes we will have to protest (though note that Daniel and the three friends’ actions were totally private). But there will also be times when Christians can participate in a pagan culture’s activities. Christians must prayerfully consider these questions and not just mindlessly play along with—or mindlessly oppose—contemporary culture.

Tremper Longman III is Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies at Westmont College. He is the author of Literary Approaches to Biblical Interpretation, and most recently editor of the Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms, vol. 2: Psalms 42-89.