Daniel 1:8

8. Wesley suggests as reasons for Daniel’s action that many meats were forbidden by Jewish law: the meats of the royal table had been probably consecrated to idols; at any rate they would too greatly gratify the flesh and were unsuitable to the afflicted state of God’s people. The Talmud declares that after the destruction of the second temple many Israelites would not eat meat, since it could no longer be offered on the altar according to the law; but in Daniel 9:3, and Daniel 10:3, the “fasting” is a preparation for expected revelations (as Exodus 34:28). Jephet Ibu (eleventh century) represents the spirit of the second century B.C., and perhaps earlier, when he explains, “They would not defile themselves with food prepared by Gentiles.” Behrmann points out, however, that there is no indication that the vegetable food they did eat was prepared by their own hands.