SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/9/2013
8:39 AM
My Worship Time Focus: God Gave
Favor to Daniel & Friends PT-1
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 a 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 he 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 Genes 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 has 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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