SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/9/2013 8:39 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 God
Gave Favor to Daniel & Friends
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Daniel
1:3-4a
Message of the
verses: It was in 605 BC that
Nebuchadnezzar came into Judah and Jerusalem to begin conquering that nation,
but he received news that his father was dying and so he had to leave to take
care of that matter. He allowed
Jehoiakim to remain the king there since Jehoiakim was a very weak king, but he
did take some of the special young men from the royal family back to Babylon
with him along with the special articles in the temple of God. There is a prophecy, actually two prophecies
in the book of Isaiah that speak of the Babylonians taking the articles from
the temple and also the young men from the royal family. “12 At that time Berodach-baladan a son of
Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard
that Hezekiah had been sick. 13 Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them all
his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious oil
and the house of his armor and all that was found in his treasuries. There was
nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. 14
Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, "What did
these men say, and from where have they come to you?" And Hezekiah said,
"They have come from a far country, from Babylon." 15 He said,
"What have they seen in your house?" So Hezekiah answered, "They
have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasuries that I
have not shown them." 16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word
of the LORD. 17 ’Behold, the days are
coming when all that is in your house, and all that your fathers have laid up
in store to this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says
the LORD. 18 ’Some of your sons who shall issue from you, whom you will beget,
will be taken away; and they will become officials in the palace of the king of
Babylon.’" (2Kings 20:12-18) This
prophecy is also seen in Isaiah chapter 39.
As mentioned in an earlier SD there were three
deportations of people from Judah to Babylon, and the first was in 605 BC which
is the one where Daniel and his three friends were taken. I have read from several different
commentators that there were probably around 75 men taken to Babylon in this
first deportation. The next deportation
was in 597 and that is when the prophet Ezekiel was taken. The last was in 586 BC and that is when the
city of Jerusalem was destroyed along with the temple of God.
A dedicated remnant (Dan. 1:3-4a): “3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and of the nobles, 4 youths in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for serving in the king’s court; and he ordered him to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.”
The word remnant is used at different times in Old
Testaments and it speaks on many occasions of those whom the Lord chose to be
His own from mostly out of the children of Israel. Many Jews believed that it would be
impossible for God to allow His temple to be destroyed, but it was in the plan
of God to both allow this to happen along with having a remnant to be taken to
Babylon, and it was in His plan for Daniel and his friends to be a part of this
remnant taken to Babylon so that the Lord could use them for His glory while
they were there. Daniel and his friends
were special young men given many talents from the Lord to be used for His
glory. Dr. Wiersbe writes and
interesting endnote about this: “The fact shouldn’t discourage
the rest of us who may not have such special gifts. God prepares and uses all kinds of people,
but in the case of the four Hebrew men, excellence was a requirement they had
to meet. Use the gifts God has given you
and don’t compare yourself with others.
Each of us is unique.”
I lost a dear brother in the Lord early Wednesday morning
very suddenly, a friend that I have known for just a few years, but very dear
to me. Ron was used by the Lord in very
special ways as he had gone into over 2,000 prisons to give out the good news
of the gospel. God enabled him with very
special gifts and opportunities to accomplish many wonderful things for the
Lord. I was speaking to another friend
of mine who knew him about his death and he told me that he wished that he
could have done some of the wonderful things that Rod accomplished to which I
replied something similar to what Dr. Wiersbe wrote in this endnote, that we
are all given special gifts and talents from the Lord to be used is the ways
that God wants us to use them for His glory, and we should use those gifts to
accomplish the things that God directs us to accomplish. I have mentioned Ephesians 2:10 in many of my
Spiritual Diaries to say that I believe that God has given all of His children
special work to accomplish before the foundation of the world and how we do the
work that He has given to us to accomplish will depend on how many jewels we
receive in our crown at the Judgment Seat of Jesus Christ. I believe that my friend Ron will receive
many jewels in his crown, especially for soul winning.
Ashpenaz is mentioned in verse three and there has been
different views as to whether this was a proper name or a title given to this
person. I think that we will deal with
him as this being his name for it will come up again in later verses. He is seen as the chief of the kings
officials in the NASB, but in the KJV he is called the chief of the kings
eunuchs and we need to better understand this word, for it can mean two
different things. The first meaning is
that of a man that many times kings would put in charge of their harems, and so
to make sure that there could not be anything going on between him and the
king’s women they would castrate him.
Now later on the meaning came to mean an official, like the NASB
uses. From our study of Genesis we know
that Potiphar was a eunuch but he was married so this would mean that he wasn’t
castrated. I have heard from different
commentators that Daniel may have been castrated but my belief is that Daniel
was not for it was against the Jewish Law, “"No one who is emasculated or
has his male organ cut off shall enter the assembly of the LORD (Deut. 23:1).”
I want to spend some time in talking about what were the
qualities of men who were chosen by the Babylonians whom they took “4 youths in
whom was no defect,
who were good-looking,
showing intelligence
in every branch of wisdom,
endowed with understanding
and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for serving in the king’s court.” We can divide these up into three categories,
the physical, the
intelligent, and the social. The
king was looking for good looking, smart, and men who could look good in social
situations, or they were to work for and be a part of the king’s men. Daniel and his three friends had all of these
qualities. Now I also want to mention
that this is how the world today looks at successful people, and they forget
mostly about the spiritual and character of people. We know that Daniel and his friends have
these characteristics too. However all
we have to do is look at who the children of Israel wanted for a king when they
chose Saul. He was good looking and
taller than any other of the men at that time, and he was smart, but the things
that he lacked caused his demise.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I desire to use
the gifts and talents that the Lord has given to me for the cause of Jesus
Christ. I do not want to be lazy or
frightened to use them, but use them for His glory so that when I meet my Lord
face to face He will say to me “well done my good and faithful steward.”
My Steps of Faith for Today:
For we are His workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 32:1-5
1 How blessed is he whose transgressions is forgiven,
whose sin is covered! 2 How blessed is
the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no deceit! 3 When I kept silent about my
sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon
me; my vitality was drained away like the fever heat of summer. Selah. 5 I acknowledged my sin to You, and my
iniquity I did not hide; I said “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”;
and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.
Turning Points Wisdom for
Today: “To sin by silence when they
should protest makes cowards of men.”
(Abraham Lincoln) “Our God whom
we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will
deliver us from your hand, O king. But
if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor
will we worship the gold image which your have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18)
3/9/2013 10:08 AM
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