Diving into Daniel: Four Sons of Judah
Daniel 1:3-7 - Looking for souls to indoctrinate, the King has his chief official select the best young men from Judah.
“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, 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 king appointed for them a daily ration from the king’s choice food and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be educated three years, at the end of which they were to enter the king’s personal service. Now among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them; and to Daniel he assigned the name Belteshazzar, to Hananiah Shadrach, to Mishael Meshach and to Azariah Abed-nego.”
Daniel 1:3-7 NASB1995
King Nebuchadnezzar II ordered the chief of his officials, Ashpenaz, to bring in some of the sons of Israel that have been brought back to Babylon after this first raid against Judea. In other translations, Ashpenaz is referred to as a eunuch, in keeping with the responsibilities of his job. I found it intriguing that some commentary I read inferred that Daniel and his friends may have also become eunuchs, because there is no mention of wives or families in the book. The point of doing this physical castration, like the Ethiopian eunuch and treasurer we met in Acts 8, is to ensure that high officials of the rulers are not distracted by the women in the harems or to actually allow them to function as the overseer of the royal women. Interesting food for thought, but in my opinion the possibility of castration being required for Daniel and his friends is completely irrelevant to the story, as scripture is not definitive in this area.
The king was looking for noble, intelligent and handsome youth from those brought back who could be indoctrinated into the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The use of the term Chaldeans really means ethnic Babylonians or inhabitants of the region of Lower Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The training would take place over three years, then they could enter the king’s service. As a special incentive, they were to be given a portion of the kings special delicacies and wine for their meals.
Some commentators thought that there were at least 50-75 young men who were enrolled in this program. Of course, the Book of Daniel focuses on the four sons of Judah who were not easily indoctrinated, in spite of the fact that their names were changed and they were part of this program. Enduring Word has good commentary on the training, the special food and the name changes:
a. The king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies: It was a given that the Babylonian government would provide for these young men in training. Yet, having the same food and wine prepared for the king was intended to be a special honor.
i. In the ancient world much more than in the modern world there was a huge difference between the food enjoyed by the elite and what common people ate.
b. To them the chief of the eunuchs gave names: Daniel tells us about four of these youths, and their new Babylonian names.
i. The name Daniel (meaning God is my judge) was changed to Belteshazzar (meaning Bel’s prince).
ii. The name Hannaniah (meaning Beloved by the LORD) was changed to Shadrach (meaning Illumined by Sun-god).
iii. The name Mishael (meaning Who is as God) was changed to Meshach (which may mean Who is like Shach, which some believe was a Babylonian goddess corresponding to Ishtar or Venus).
iv. The name Azariah (meaning The LORD is my help) was changed to Abed-Nego (meaning Servant of Nego).
c. Three years of training for them: The purpose of the food, names, and education was simple. This was an effort at total indoctrination, with the goal of making these young Jewish men leave behind their Hebrew God and culture. Undoubtedly, Nebuchadnezzar wanted to communicate to these young men, “look to me for everything.” Daniel and his friends refused, insisting that they would look to God.
i. Calvin wrote that Nebuchadnezzar knew that the Jews were a stiff-necked and obstinate people, and that he used the sumptuous food to soften up the captives.
ii. Satan uses a similar strategy against believers today, wanting to indoctrinate us into the world system. Satan wants us to:
Identify (name) us in reference to the world.
Feed us what the world offers.
Educate us in the ways of the world.
Their names were changed from beautiful Hebrew names linking them to the Lord to names that reflected the pagan culture and false gods of Babylon. Why were these four young men so devoted to the true God? It is speculated that they were youngsters during the last years of the reign of Josiah, who did what was right in the eyes of God, destroying pagan temples and ensuring the Word of God was revitalized and preached. They also heard great prophets, including Jeremiah. But it is also interesting to note, as we will see in the next passage, that the only visible rebellion against this program by the four young men is in the area of the food they consume (more on that in the next devotional).
Here’s a superb commentary from Today in the Word, quoted in Precept Austin on indoctrination and submitting ourselves to the governing authorities:
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities. - Romans 13:1 - Stella Ho lived in Venezuela for thirty years, running a shop with her unsaved husband. In January 2004, Stella was abducted by three thieves. God used her compassionate spirit and godly influence to change the hearts of her captors. In just eight days, Stella was freed, her captors' hearts were changed, and her husband accepted Christ after witnessing the outpouring of prayer and love from her fellow believers. Stella said, “Our time is short. We never know what may happen to us. We must strive to serve the Lord and discern what we can do for God.”
If Daniel had been allowed to plot the course of his own life, he probably wouldn't have picked “abducted by Babylonians” as his first choice. He didn't get to choose his circumstances, but he served the Lord by accepting the position in which God had placed him. We usually remember Daniel for his courageous stands against compromise, but the first test of his allegiance to God was one of humble submission.
Some scholars conclude that Daniel was in his early teens at the time of his abduction, and the word for “young men” in verse 4 supports that theory. For Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, submitting to Babylonian rule could not have been easy. They had been the cream of Judah's crop, members of the nobility, and among the most promising young men in their nation. But their new captors erased their Jewish names and assigned them names that would identify them with pagan gods.
Daniel and his friends could have rebelled. Along with adopting pagan names, they were to eat from the king's menu, learn the Babylonian language, study their literature, and enter the service of the king. But of all those foreign practices, these four young men would refuse to obey only the dietary guidelines. Overall, Daniel and his friends showed maturity beyond their years. Daniel's right attitude toward divinely appointed leadership gives us our first glimpse of his extraordinary character.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY - If you find yourself working for an unsavory boss or living in a town you wish you could flee, take heart. Although you may feel desperate to escape your circumstances, ask God to use you to brighten your surroundings with His glory. That can be done by standing up to people who urge you to do wrong, but it's just as likely God will ask you to perform menial or undesirable tasks as a display of obedience and humility. Making yourself subject to others is a powerful act of faith in God's sovereignty.
In this age of instant communication, social media, echo chambers, artificial intelligence, and the world’s knowledge at your fingertips, it is important to know how to distinguish between indoctrination and education. According to the Artificial Intelligence assistant on my web browser search engine, here is the definition of indoctrination:
Indoctrination is the process of teaching someone to accept a set of beliefs or ideologies without questioning them, often through repeated instruction. It can occur in various contexts, including education, religion, and politics, and is sometimes viewed negatively as a form of brainwashing.
Do you think this process occurs in our schools and universities these days? Of course it does! It was happening when I was in college 50 years ago and I majored in Electrical Engineering, which is hardly a hotbed of social brainwashing curricula. The enemy wants to make the secular world’s opinions and sciences and prejudices and sins attractive to us, so language and reinforcement in things we see and read can lead us right out of a belief (like it did for me and Steve during our lost years). The Holy Spirit led us back, and thankfully He is impervious to indoctrination. I feel free now in God’s Word, not lost or full of rebellion.
Christianity IS accused of indoctrinating people, but this belief system in our modern age cannot be compared in any way to the perilous indoctrination methods of secular totalitarianism systems. I am just finishing a second book about the Holocaust by Saul Friedlander entitled “The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews 1939-1945”. This massive tome is meticulously researched and follows his first book that looked at the persecution of the European Jews beginning in 1933. The shocking propaganda and indoctrination methods that were employed across Europe (not just in Germany) took advantage of underlying suspicions and ancient bigotries and brought forward a surprisingly large number of people in many countries who agreed wholeheartedly with the “final solution” and worked enthusiastically to ensure its success. Even those who didn’t agree were usually silent, as the indoctrination was accompanied by physical violence and threats and actual murder.
Interestingly, one of the countries that was not very cooperative in fulfilling the death plans of the Reich was their alleged Axis partner Italy; the author attributes this recalcitrance in part to the population’s shared deep Catholic faith, even though the Pope himself was silent. This was a very profound and heartbreaking history that has been repeated in our world, despite our protestations of “never again”. Indoctrination is insidious, especially if it dehumanizes a certain group of people (be careful about the echo chambers that you live in). Also, knowing when to humbly obey our leaders and when to rebel against evil is a question for the ages, but we will see how Daniel and his friends, all beloved of God, fare in this strange land.
Well, enough of my pontificating. My next devotional examines Daniel 1:8-16 - Daniel and his friends ask for different food.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - I used to look at Your Word as indoctrination. Now I know it is the ultimate source of wisdom in this fallen world. Please help others to see Your story and move away from the enemy and his indoctrinations. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Enduring Word commentary by David Guzik is used with written permission.
Precept Austin was accessed on 3/16/2025 to review commentary for Daniel 1:3-7.