Daniel 1

In reponse to the last post, that was written by my mother. i tried rendering a translation only to get very stuck in the first paragraph, and i kinda gave up. hahahaha! the google translation didn't help either. they changed my mom's name at least 3 times in it, and my dad's name in the translation was "cape sun" hahahaha. it took me a while to realize what/who "cape sun" was.

anyways....

i'm reading the book of Daniel with my bible reading partner, and since she's gone to Taichung (台中), and i'm up here in Taipei, we're going to communicate our thoughts thus far in our reading via blog. Since, it's hard for me to write this sort of stuff in Chinese, i'm going to write it all out in English first...and since i'm writing in English first, might as well post it for the world to see as encouragement. ;)

Daniel 1

Daniel 1 is pretty short, and i've read it before, but there's always something new to learn from the Lord. Daniel 1 introdcues Daniel and his compadres and the beginning of their journey in a new kind of world, a new kind of environment, an environment that is void of God-loving people.

A thing I observed when i first read this passage was that Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah during Jehoiakim's reign. Seeing as I have not studied 1 or 2 Kings in a while, i looked back to see just what Jehoiakim did. Little did I know, it wasn't all of Mr. Jehoikim's fault.

Starting in 2 Kings 21, Manasseh, King of Judah, Son of King Hezekiah, started leading his country into idol worship, to a path that led far from the LORD. Therefore the LORD put a curse on him:

10 The LORD said through his servants the prophets: 11 "Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols. 12 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will be looted and plundered by all their foes, 15 because they have done evil in my eyes and have provoked me to anger from the day their forefathers came out of Egypt until this day."

After that his son Amon did the same exact thing as his dad, so his cabinet killed him, but Josiah was different. Josiah destroyed all that was wrong, but that wasn't enough to supress the Lord's anger, and every king afterwards, even after Jehoiakim, were described as "evil in the eye's of the Lord." That's why kids like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were placed in Nebuchadnezzar's palace.

So, even in this event, idolatry has such GRAVE consequences. In this day and age, idolatry doesn't come in the form of graven images or worshipping nature. Nay, our idolatry comes in the form of other people, friends, family, celebrities; posessions, materials, our jobs, our time, philosophies; i would even say our own Spiritual gifts could be a form of idolatry! Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount said,"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money (my note: or maman)." Maman is the Greek word that's used in the text, and it means stuff that's important to us. most of the time it's money, so that's why it's used in the English translation.

Darrell Johnson pointed out that Maman's in and of itself aren't bad things, but they are unstable. Therefore, it's useless to put them first place in your life, and there are grave consequences to worshipping such things, for placing these things first place in your life. Look what happened to Judah because of Manasseh! Daniel and his crew did nothing wrong, and yet they had to suffer the consequences of his actions. (kind of like Adam and Eve too...sux0rs)

But despite Manasseh's mistake, Daniel and his compadres were still faithful to the LORD. granted their education was first class, but they still knew what was right in the eyes of the Lord. They were able to say no when something was wrong, and try and correct it. Which is the example they gave us in the rest of the first chapter.

These rookies come to Babylon, and they just started living there, and they're already asking for changes. But God's gracious; He really gave Daniel a way out. Instead of being scolded and kicked out, they actually gave them a chance to have the diet that they requested! What if it didn't work? man...Ashpenaz would've been killed or something! hahaha

But because Daniel really wanted to live the life that God wanted for him, Daniel was blessed. God has laws that go over every aspect of life, even what we eat because WE are the temple of God.

also, in Daniel it says "God GAVE them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams...And in every matter of wisdom andunderstanding about which the king inquired of them he found them TEN TIMES better than all the magicians and enchanters tha were in in all hs kingdom." ESV (emphasis mine) God GAVE!! even in this Daniel and his friends didn't take credit for their awesome ability. They knew that it was because of the LORD that they had the ability to perform better than their classmates and superiors.

i'm starting to get pretty excited as to how God will teach us through Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

May we worship the ONE TRUE GOD, YHWH!
May we do what is right and holy in the midst of an unholy world.
May we realize that all our great abilities and posessions are only from the Lord!