Four Young Hebrews in Babylon
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Daniel
The Book of the Prophet Daniel
“… some stopped the mouths
of lions, quenched the violence of fire!” Hebrews
11:33, 34
Chapter
1:1-7 Four Young Hebrews in Babylon
1. En
el año tercero del reinado de Joacim, rey de Judá, vino Nabucodonosor, rey de
Babilonia, a Jerusalén y la sitió.
2.
Y el Señor entregó en sus manos a Joacim, rey de Judá, y algunos de los
utensilios de la casa de Dios; los llevó a la tierra de Sinar, a la casa de su
dios, colocando los utensilios en la casa del tesoro de su dios.
3.
Entonces el rey mandó a Aspenaz, jefe de sus oficiales, que trajera de los
hijos de Israel a algunos de la familia real y de los nobles,
4.
jóvenes en quienes no hubiera defecto alguno, de buen parecer, inteligentes en
toda rama del saber, dotados de entendimiento y habilidad para discernir
y que tuvieran la capacidad para servir en el palacio del rey; y le mandó
que les enseñara la escritura y la lengua de los caldeos.
5.
El rey les asignó una ración diaria de los manjares del rey y del vino que él
bebía, y mandó que los educaran por tres años, al cabo de los cuales
entrarían al servicio del rey.
6.
Entre éstos estaban Daniel, Ananías, Misael y Azarías, de los hijos de
Judá.
7.
Y el jefe de los oficiales les puso nuevos nombres: a Daniel le puso Beltsasar;
a Ananías, Sadrac; a Misael, Mesac; y a Azarías, Abed-nego.
As we begin reading the first chapter of the book of Daniel, we
immediately learn two things: 1) The Bible harmonizes with the actual events of
human history. It accurately finds its place there and confirms all the rulers,
nations, and movements, which we know to be historically true and gives the
dates, in which they played their part. Babylon had an important role in the
Bible and its history began in the book of Genesis. In our study, we enter the
time, when this empire had reached its glory. In verse one, we read of one of
the conquests of Emperor Nebuchadnezzar II, son of Nabopolassar, who destroyed
the Assyrian empire and turned Babylon into the world power that it was in the
time of Daniel.
2) Israel is always involved in some way with these predominant
forces. Almighty God, who spoke the universe into existence, chose to be the
divine King over a relatively small nation. However, these people have never
been, and are not now, insignificant on the world scene. This is due, in part, to
the fact that they always interacted with the highest powers on earth.
In the days, when Egyptian Pharaohs ruled the world, a young
Hebrew slave, by the name of Joseph, became governor and second only to the
king himself. Many years later, Egypt would make slaves of Joseph’s ethnic
nation, but their God, Jehovah, would supernaturally free them and become known
and feared by all people. Centuries later, Assyria rose to power and conquered
ten tribes of Israel in its northern territories. Babylon defeated Assyria and
invaded Judah in the south of Israel.
That brings us up to date, but Daniel will prophecy of other
great nations, with which Israel will have to do in the future… Persia, Greece
and Rome. Daniel will say more… he will reach into this 21st Century
and tell us of the most infamous empire of all, which will dominate the earth
in the last days. God, through the impotence of a small country, will reveal
His power to the world. This is always His way of manifesting His glory in its
brightest intensity… through human weakness.
Most of the readers will probably know that Israel was divided
into two nations, early in its history… Israel to the north and Judah to the
south. We already mentioned that the northern kingdom was defeated by Assyria
and ceased to be a nation. That left Judah to assume solely the role of the
people of God and from that time, their succession of kings continued with
Hezekiah.
After a few more generations of kings serve and the Judean
kingdom draws to a close, there is a bit of confusion, as to who should be
king. The Jews appointed Jehoahaz, a son of Josiah, the former king, in
preference to his older brother, Jehoiakim. However, the Egyptian king
dethroned Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim took his place.
 |
| Tablets found in Babylon, dated 595 BC and 570 BC. It lists the rations of oil and barley delivered by the royal storehouses to the deposed Jehoiachin and his entourage. It confirms the biblical account of his treatment in 2 Kings 25:27. Jehoiachin was released by Nebuchadnezzar’s successor in the 37th year of his captivity (561 BC) |
Jehoiakim was an idolater, who practiced child-sacrifice, and
the nation followed him. He persecuted the prophets, burned the first copy of
Jeremiah’s prophecies, and imprisoned him. In the darkest moment of Judah’s
history, this king lived in luxury and oppressed his subjects. How typical of
human depravity, to fail to respond to the Lord’s warning, but eat, drink and
be merry, in the face of death! However, divine principle determines the final
outcome and this is the rule, to which wise people must adhere: “He that leadeth into captivity shall go
into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword.
Here is the patience and the faith of the saints” (Rev.13:10, KJV).
Jehoiakim was killed in Jerusalem, his body was taken out of the city and left
unburied (Jer.22:18,19,30). A few years later, his 18-year-old son, Jehoiachin,
was taken into Babylonian captivity, where he remained for 37 years.
Jehoiakim was still alive, when the siege of Jerusalem began; he
was bound by Nebuchadnezzar, but then killed. At this point, the 70 years of
captivity, prophesied by Jeremiah, began with the first captives taken to
Babylon. Daniel saw the beginning and end of those 70 years.
Daniel knew the importance and wrote about Nebuchadnezzar taking
possession of vessels from Jerusalem’s temple. The emperor was highly religious
and he saw more than items, which could be added to his treasury, simply to enrich
his personal fortune or that of his country. They were tokens to show that,
which he took to be another victory for his god, this time over the God of
Judah. He placed them in his god’s treasure house.
The chief god of Babylon was Bel or Baal. Two other important
deities were Nebo, after whom Nebuchadnezzar
was named and Astarte or Astaroth. In Revelation, Babylon is called “the mother
of harlots” and that name speaks of its origin and influence upon the idolatry
and religions of the world. It dated back to the tower of Babel and spread
throughout the Middle East to Phoenicia (Tyre, Jezebel’s home, and Sidon),
Chaldea, Moab, Canaan and other nations. It became the idolatrous downfall of
Israel time and again. It lived on in Roman times, where Bel became Jupiter,
Nebo became Mercury and Astarte became Venus. We can surmise that it exists in
some form today and will live on to the end-times.
Of course, Nebuchadnezzar had no idea concerning the Lord’s
discipline of His people. Had he known that, he would have seen, beyond the way
things appeared, that he had nothing, for which to give glory to his god. God’s
sovereign hand was over the entire situation: “The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of
Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God.”
Nebuchadnezzar ordered his chief eunuch, Ashpenaz, to round up
young men from the royal family of David’s descent and others of the nobility. He
obviously wanted them to serve in some capacity in his government, but we don’t
know specifically what service he had in mind. It seemed to include spiritual
and religious positions. We will be able to study the high and eternal purposes
that God intended.
The emperor was looking for noble bloodlines and training, youth
without handicaps or physical defects, handsome, highly intelligent boys,
mentally alert and schooled in logic and common sense. The greatest resource of
any nation is its people and in Jewish young people, he surely found far more
than he had expected. Jews thought that Daniel was a descendant of King
Hezekiah.
The young men were put into a three-year program, in which they
were taught the literature and language of the Chaldeans. Their names were
changed and Daniel’s new name was a derivative of the Babylonian god. The name
of Daniel, Judge of God, was changed
to Belteshazzar, Prince of Bel. Hananiah,
Whom Jehovah Has Graciously Given, was
called Shadrach, Young Friend of the
King. Mishael Who is What God Is?, became
Meshach, A Little Sheep and finally,
Azariah, Whom Jehovah Helps, was
changed to Abednego, A Servant of Nego or
Nebo, the god that the Romans called Mercury.
They even were supposed to accustom themselves to a new Chaldean diet.
I do not have to stretch the facts at all to show that
Nebuchadnezzar’s methods were the same that are used to manipulate people in
our times. I have seen some of these tactics, even in missionary work, in which
converts were almost forced to conform to a missionary’s prejudices, thinking,
style of music, choice of instruments and order of service. A Native American
lady, that I knew, went to live in a missionary boarding school, years ago as a
little girl. The students were forced to speak only English and were physically
punished, whenever they were heard speaking their native tongue. Our son,
Steve, living in Alaska, told of Eskimo people, subjected to similar treatment
by missionaries only a generation ago.
Before Daniel and his companions could be of any value to Nebuchadnezzar,
they must go through the Babylonian system of deprograming and reprograming… in
simple terms, they had to be brainwashed and retaught Babylonian ways and
culture. The Nazis and Communists also concentrated on the youth, ignoring
adults. Let me sternly warn Christian parents that the world system everywhere is astutely
targeting our youth, and behind it is the diabolical power of hell! There are
teachers and professors in the world’s education systems, who are hell-bent on indoctrinating
Christian young people to accept its mentality.
From the world’s point-of-view, these four teenagers were
offered the privilege of a lifetime. In its day, Babylon possessed the best
literature and language study that the world had to offer. They were enrolled with a full scholarship at the highest level in the “University of Babylon”. Their minds were cultured
and sharpened at the hands of the world’s greatest educators. They were also
offered the very best cuisine available, fit for a king. In fact, it was the
same that was served to the king himself. The wine was the finest and the
lifestyle was luxurious. At the end of that period, they could look forward to
serving in an important official position.
Those who are in this earth’s learning institutions and
universities should be well-grounded in God’s ways and maintain constant
vigilance through the Word of God. It is imperative that they not be careless
or minimize the danger! Tremendous worldly,
psychological pressure is put on Christian young people in these places. Many
lose their faith and others testify of their faith being brought to the edge of
the abyss. None of these four Hebrew boys, nor their parents, would have chosen
this fate. From the Lord’s standpoint, they were not in Babylon to learn a
trade or further a career. God, in His
sovereign plan, put them there for eternal purposes. Because this was so, He
gave them the strength, not only to exist, but to stand triumphantly and
influence others, rather than being influenced by them. He will do the same
today for those that He calls into similar situations.
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