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Daniel 1:9-21 — God Proves Himself

Although God had caused Ashpenaz to show favor to Daniel, he was afraid to grant Daniel’s request for a different diet, for fear that the king would see Daniel and his friends become pale and wan. So Daniel repeated his request to the guard that Ashpenaz had appointed over them, asking for a ten-day trial period of just vegetables and water. The guard agreed to this—after ten days he would look at them and see how they had fared and decide whether to let them continue this diet. After the trial period, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better nourished than the young men who had been eating the food supplied by the king!

Daniel’s suggestion of the ten day trial period displayed great faith. Not only would the four young men have to look no worse than the others at the end of the test period, but they would have to actually look better if this Babylonian guard was to be convinced. A period of ten days was a short time for God to effect much of an improvement, but Daniel believed God would bring it about. God did bless Daniel and his friends. It took faith on Daniel’s part to believe that God would do this and God met him in that faith.

God favored these four young men with “knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning” (Daniel 1:17). They mastered Babylonian literature, science, and every other possible field of study. God gave them knowledge, skill and wisdom, but they must have spent long hours in study. God has a plan for your life, but He wants you to do all you can by His help to bring it about.

In addition to all these things, Daniel was given understanding of “visions and dreams of all kinds” (Daniel 1:20). This was a special ability given by God apart from any possible human study or effort. Daniel could have never learned to do this by himself. The Babylonians believed that one could learn to interpret dreams. Methods of divination had been devised, and Babylonia’s specialists gave serious attention to these methods. These methods had to be rejected by Daniel and the other three for God forbade them (see Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 18:9-14). They are still forbidden today. God’s Word does not change.”

Apparently an examination was given to all the young men on the completion of their three year course of study, and it was especially exciting for Daniel and his three friends as they stood before the king. In all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king inquired of them, he found them to be ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in his kingdom! In other words they were the “top four” at the graduation!

In Daniel 1:21 we read that Daniel continued in service in a high position until the first year of King Cyrus. This means that he continued to serve during all the years of the Babylonian empire until the coming of Cyrus, king of Persia, who brought the Babylonian empire to an end. Daniel continued to serve several years into the reign of Cyrus (see Daniel 10:1). Evidently Daniel held the office of a wise man until his death. Why? Because he loved, trusted, and obeyed the one true God.

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