Daniel was prone to fainting spells, breathlessness, and weakness. Along with knowledge and skill in literature and wisdom, God had given Daniel the ability to unravel the mystery of dreams ( Dan.
Oneirology, the study of dreams, became popular in the 17th century, but Daniel studied and interpreted dreams more than 500 years before Christ. Daniel’s political career spanned more than 70 years during the reigns of several Babylonian and Persian kings.ħ. After graduating with high honors, Daniel and his three friends were appointed by Nebuchadnezzar to government positions ( Dan. “He found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom” in every matter of wisdom and understand about which he questioned them ( Dan. Forget the dean’s list and Who’s Who Among Israeli Exiles Daniel and his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego far surpassed their fellow students in a test given by King Nebuchadnezzar. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead” ( Dan. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.’ At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. “'Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. When the steward rejected his appeal, Daniel made a counter-offer. When ordered to eat foods that offended his conscience, he made a humble appeal to the steward in charge. Daniel refused, probably because the meat and wine had been offered to idols and/or conflicted with Israel’s dietary laws.Ĥ. Part of his preparation involved eating the king’s delicacies. Drafted along with other exiles of noble birth, Daniel was chosen for a three-year training course to prepare him to enter the king’s service. Yup, long before tofu was trendy and Stevia reigned, Daniel and his friends shunned meat, sweets, and wine. Daniel was a vegetarian teetotaler ( Daniel 1:12). His Hebrew name, Daniel, means "God is Judge." Shortly after his arrival in Babylon, however, probably as part of the Babylonian’s attempt to brainwash the young exile, his name was changed to Belteshazzar, which means, "Bel’s prince." Bel was the ruling god of the Babylonian pantheon.ģ. Deported as a captive when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem in 605 B.C., Daniel lived most of his life in Babylon.Ģ. Even though Daniel goes down in Jewish and Christian history books as one of Israel’s finest, he didn’t live in Israel for very long. Here are a few I find particularly interesting:ġ. It wasn’t until much later, when I read the entire book of Daniel for the first time, that I encountered many other fascinating tidbits about this inspiring Old-Testament hero. Right up there with Jonah and the whale and Noah and his ark, the story of Daniel’s brave refusal to stop praying to the God of Israel is cemented in my brain. The story of Daniel in the lion’s den was one of the first stories I learned as a child.
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