Adult Enlightener: Young Adult Bible Study: Conviction, Determination, and Discipleship

By R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation

The Adult Enlightener is a topical Christian quarterly study guide designed for the career-oriented adult. It uses language and ideas that are meaningful to the adult learner who is primarily handling work and family responsibilities. It is a practical resource for everyday Christian living.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation
• Release date: Dec 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781681677866

Book preview

Lesson 1

LIVING YOUR CONVICTIONS

Selected Scriptures:

Daniel 1:8–21

THEME: CONVICTION, DETERMINATION, AND DISCIPLESHIP

INTRODUCTION

The book of Daniel is set in the Babylonian exile of Israel. Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah in 597 B.C. That year, a wave of captives was taken to Babylon. Among these were the Judean king Jehoiakim, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, and the prophet Ezekiel. In 586 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar returned and utterly destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, taking most of the remaining population back with him to Babylon. Those left in the land were quite poor and could not restore what the Babylonian king had destroyed. Unlike the Persians and Romans that would come after them, the Babylonians did not permit conquered people to maintain their culture or their distinct religious practices. To resist assimilation was to put one’s life at risk.

Daniel and his friends refused assimilation and resisted his captors in Babylon. As servants in the foreign king’s court, Daniel and his friends were required to undergo preparation to assimilate into Babylonian culture. They were given new names and a new diet as a part of their preparation for service in their new land. They had been chosen for this training because they were of the royal family [or] of the nobility, young men without physical defect and handsome, versed in every branch of wisdom, endowed with knowledge and insight, and competent to serve in the king’s place (Dan. 1:3–4, NRSV). King Nebuchadnezzar knew that if the best and brightest of a conquered nation could be assimilated into his empire, then the rest of the nation would surely follow.

KEY VERSE: 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. (Daniel 1:8, KJV)

Resistance is an important theme throughout the book of Daniel and is introduced immediately in the matter of Daniel versus the king’s food. God’s people in Judah failed to resist the siren call of foreign gods and foreign powers; would the people of Judah do any better in exile? Would they be able to repent of their faithlessness? If they did, would God forgive them or even restore them? The answers provided in Daniel 1 would certainly be hopeful reminders to the exiled people of God that He was in control, even in Babylon, and would honor their faith even in a foreign land.

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I. CHOOSING TO DO RIGHT

Daniel and his companions knew what was expected of them. In the thinking of the day, Yahweh had been defeated by Babylon’s gods, so it would serve the young men well to begin serving the Babylonian gods, and by extension the Babylonian king. These Jewish men did not see eye to eye with Babylonian officials on this matter. They understood that Judah had been brought into exile because God had allowed it, not because He was weak and unable to defend them. They remembered the warnings of the prophets like Jeremiah and Isaiah who had said that such a thing would happen if God’s people were unfaithful to Him, so they could not act surprised when they were unfaithful, and what God had warned them about came to be true. Though they could have wallowed in despair and believed that God had abandoned them in a foreign land, the men knew better. Instead of choosing to become like the Babylonians, Daniel and his peers chose to continue to follow the Lord. This meant that they had to refuse the king’s rations of food.

COMMITMENT TO GOD IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHOWCASE ONE’S FAITH.

BIBLICAL TEACHING EMPHASES

I. Choosing to Do Right

II. A Reasonable Request

III. The Rewards of Faithfulness

Food may seem like a small compromise to make; however, saying no to the king’s food paved the way to saying no to bowing before the king’s image and no to the king’s decrees (see Dan. 3). The issue with the food, especially the meat, does not seem primarily to be about whether it was admissible by Jewish dietary laws. However, by refusing the general diet in favor of a more restricted eating plan that was assumed to be less nutritious, the men would put themselves in a position to have God sustain them even more than the king could with his rations. The problem arose because accepting without question the king’s provision meant accepting his culture and his gods as well. Resisting the food was a form of resisting many other things that would draw loyalty away from the Lord and toward their captors.

II. A REASONABLE REQUEST

The steward was concerned about Daniel’s resistance to eating the food offered. He knew exactly what it meant to refuse the king’s food. While he might not have cared about the Jewish men risking their own lives to make a political and theological statement, the steward was not interested in sticking out his own neck for them.

For the first time, Daniel revealed his wisdom. Daniel did not seek an unlimited amount of time but just enough time to show his commitment and for God to prove that Daniel’s diet was better than the steward’s diet plan. If they were not on par with the other men, the diet would be abandoned.