meat = food. Hebrew. pathbag. A Persian or Aryan word. Occurs only in Daniel. wine . Hebrew. yayin. App-27 . three years . Say 497, 496, and 495 B.C. See note on Daniel 2:1 . It does not say these years were concluded before the events of Dan 2 took place. stand before the king . Reference to Pentateuch (Genesis 41:46 ). read more
Daniel 1:5. So nourishing them three years— That after they had been educated for three years, at the end, &c. Houbigant; or, And that they should be thus bred up three years, and at the end thereof they should stand, &c. read more
5. king's meat—It is usual for an Eastern king to entertain, from the food of his table, many retainers and royal captives (Jeremiah 52:33; Jeremiah 52:34). The Hebrew for "meat" implies delicacies. stand before the king—as attendant courtiers; not as eunuchs. read more
Nebuchadnezzar’s enlightened policy was to employ the best minds in his kingdom in government service, regardless of their national or ethnic origin. We do not know how many other Jews and Gentiles were the classmates of Daniel and his three friends. However, they were evidently the only ones who expressed a desire to observe the Jewish dietary laws (Exodus 34:15; Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14; cf. Deuteronomy 8:3; Proverbs 20:1)."In selecting these youths for education in the king’s court in... read more
B. Nebuchadnezzar’s training program for promising youths 1:3-7 read more
Introductory. The abstinence of Daniel and his Friends from Unclean FoodDaniel is introduced as one of a band of Jews taken captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in the third year of Jehoiakim (Daniel 1:1-2). Along with three of his youthful countrymen he is chosen to be trained during three years for personal attendance on the king (Daniel 1:3-7). As the food and drink provided for those in this position are ceremonially unclean Daniel resolves not to partake of them. After an unsuccessful... read more
(5) A daily portion.—(Comp. Jeremiah 52:34.) The meat was solid food, as opposed to the wine and vegetables which formed so important a part of Babylonian diet. The food appears to have been sent from the king’s table.Three years.—The king appears to have had sufficient insight into the extraordinary character of these youths, to enable him to prescribe not only the subjects of their studies, but also the length of their course of instruction. It appears that Nebuchadnezzar was a man of far... read more
Daniel 1:2 ; Daniel 1:6 I was taken captive when nearly sixteen years of age. I did not know the true God; and I was taken to Ireland in captivity with so many thousand men, in accordance with our deserts, because we departed from God and kept not His precepts. St. Patrick's Confessions. Daniel 1:8 The strangeness of foreign life threw me back into myself. Newman, Apologia, I. Daniel's Self-denial Daniel 1:8 We are told about a great many good men in the pages of the Bible: some who were... read more
THE PRELUDE"His loyalty he kept, his faith, his love."-MILTONTHE first chapter of the Book of Daniel serves as a beautiful introduction to the whole, and strikes the keynote of faithfulness to the institutions of Judaism which of all others seemed most important to the mind of a pious Hebrew in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes. At a time when many were wavering, and many had lapsed into open apostasy, the writer wished to set before his countrymen in the most winning and vivid manner the... read more
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Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Daniel 1:1-21
1:1-6:28 STORIES ABOUT DANIEL AND HIS FRIENDSTraining for Nebuchadnezzar’s court (1:1-21)Babylon’s first attack on Jerusalem came in 605 BC, during the reign of the Judean king Jehoiakim. In keeping with the usual practice among conquerors in ancient times, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar plundered the temple of the conquered people, carried off its sacred objects and placed them in his own temple. In this way Nebuchadnezzar demonstrated his belief that Babylon’s gods were superior to the... read more