Many years ago, the Lord gave King Jehoiakim of Judah
into the power of King Nebuchadnezzar,
along with the vessels of the house of God.
Nebuchadnezzar took the smartest and most handsome
men of the royal family and nobility,
a reminder of his power over them.
The ones named “God is my judge,”
“the Lord has acted graciously,”
“Who is like God,” and “the Lord has helped”
were given names after different gods –
Bel, Rak, and Shak, Nego –
a constant reminder of the foreign gods.
Perhaps – since no one seems to really know the meaning
of these new names – the author of Daniel
“gave the names a creative twist,”
corrupting the spelling of the names
to have the last word about these false gods.
As people owned by Babylon,
Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah
were taught the literature and language,
fed its food and propaganda,
so that they might be fit to serve their new king
and become ambassadors of a new home.
Daniel asks not once,
but twice, for permission to eat other food.
The chief official shows favour and compassion to him,
so he doesn’t kill him for his impertinence,
but simply rejects his request.
A guard gives them ten days,
to test the effects and probably their food.
At the end of the ten days they appeared better
and fatter than the other young men.
So the guard kept their rations,
and they kept a little piece of themselves
separate from the propaganda machine
that desired to consume all of them,
from their names to their stories
to the choices they had
and the place they could call home.
And God blessed them,
with wisdom and understanding
but also with a permanent role of service
in a place where they would always be foreign.
So begins the book of Daniel,
a story that proclaims loudly that God is greater.
Almost too loudly, as if
those listening are no longer able to perceive much
beyond the sorrow of of being smothered in a foreign place,
of losing a home that will never again be the same.
The above gives a picture of Daniel 1, including a few insights from the text (taken from Wendy Ridder’s commentary).