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Read Introduction to Daniel

 

11 “So Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12 ‘Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king’s delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants.’ 14 So he consented with them in this matter, and tested them ten days. 15 And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king’s delicacies. 16 Thus the steward took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.”

 

 1:11

“So Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

Daniel acts on his convictions by offering a ten-day test to his immediate supervisor. 

1:12

‘Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.

Apparently, Daniel’s request not to eat of the food of the king’s table was denied, so he offered a test to determine whether eating kosher food of vegetables and water would work.   “Vegetables” may include grain because the original carries the idea of grain as well as vegetables. 

1:13

‘Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king’s delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants.’

Daniel offered an experiment to see if his proposal would work. 

1:14

So he consented with them in this matter, and tested them ten days.

The steward agreed to the test and examined the four young men in ten days. 

1:15

And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king’s delicacies.

At the end of the ten-day trial, the four young men were in better health than before. 

1:16

Thus the steward took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.”

Since the trial proved successful, the steward allowed them to continue on the diet of vegetables and water. 

PRINCIPLE: 

Personal revival can make a person strong in adversity. 

APPLICATION: 

Daniel was born at about 625 B.C.  This was the year that the Neo-Babylonian Empire began.  He lived through the reign of Nebuchadnezzar and his successors until the Babylonian Empire fell by the conquest of Cyrus, king of Persia.  Many of the great events of history occurred during Daniel’s time, including the fall of Nineveh in 612 B.C. that made Babylon the new power of Western Asia. 

Daniel was of the royal house of Judah; he was an aristocrat.  The good king Josiah had ruled fifteen years when Daniel was born.  King Josiah led his nation into a great revival by the reading of God’s Word (2 Kg 23:2).  This revival impacted Daniel greatly.  Daniel saw the outpouring of God’s grace during Josiah’s reign. 

The impact of this revival gave Daniel spiritual strength that carried him through the tragedy of his deportation to Babylon.  Daniel refused to compromise.  As he was in Jerusalem, so he was in Babylon.  The impact of that revival carried him through adversity throughout his life. 

Has there been a time in your life when you gave yourself to God and His Word unreservedly?

1 Pe 4:19 “Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit [yield] their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.”

Dare to be a Daniel,

Dare to stand alone;

Dare to have a purpose firm!

Dare to make it known. 

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