| Daniel 1:3-4 — Servants for the King
Nebuchadnezzar had several reasons for wanting to take young Israelite men from the royal family and the nobility back to Babylon. They would be promising, attractive and intelligent; therefore they would be trophies demonstrating his success in Judah. Nebuchadnezzar also intended that these young men serve him well. This is why he wanted them to be “showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace” (Daniel 1:4). They would need to learn the language of the Babylonians and be able to adapt to the different culture.
The king of Babylon chose the young because he assumed they were pliable and teachable and they would soon forget their own people and integrate with the Babylonians. He did not realize that those who truly loved God would not conform to this pattern! This is a challenge to us to provide for the Christian education of all of our children and young people. Have you ever asked the Lord to use you in your church as a Sunday school teacher, or in some weekday teaching activity? Proverbs 22:6 instructs us, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”
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