Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Sunday afternoon Bible study. Today is study #7 of Daniel, chapter 1, and we are going to read Daniel 1:5-8:

And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

I will stop reading there. In our last study we looked at verse 5 where the king appointed them a daily provision of the king’s meat and the wine which he drank. We saw that the word “provision” is a word that means “word.” In other words, he appointed them “a daily word,” We discussed how Satan has long desired to be like God and he is trying to act in the role of God as we know the Lord Jesus provides our “daily word” or “daily bread.” This is the idea as the king is targeting God’s elect people that do service to God. Historically, they are the ones that came out of Judah and God would say they are the “good figs” or the “good fruit.” Spiritually, they typify those that came out of the churches and congregations and went out into the world, as typified by Babylon. Yet, Satan continues to pursue them because he also ruled over the world in the time of the Great Tribulation, the 23-year period that came at the time of the end of the world. Therefore, he appointed this “daily word.” Historically, it was “meat” and “wine” that he appointed and that is why the translators translated it as “provisions.” It was literally various kinds of meat that were not on the Jewish diet because God had given Laws in Leviticus that the Jews were to eat certain clean animals, but not unclean animals. God had also given Laws against drinking wine and strong drink. But the kingdom of Satan (the world) does not normally concern itself with the Laws of God. It wants to lay down its own laws. Satan wanted to be the lawgiver because he wants to be like God.

Today people that have jobs are often asked to work on Sunday. This is a good example of the influence of the world, doctrinally, on the child of God. God says that Sunday is His Sabbath Day, but the world has changed and they have lost sight of God’s Sabbath Day and it does not enter into their thinking when the work schedule is made and they just lay down the schedule for all the workers.

This is the idea with what Daniel and his friends are facing as the king has determined what “meat” and “wine” they will consume. It was a dangerous time and situation already for these four young men. We should recognize that because this was not a small matter when Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the kings’ meat and wine. You know, Satan would have the child of God to believe it is a “small thing.” After all, it is only a cup of wine or a plate of food: “Just eat the food and drink the wine the king appoints. Do not make it an issue. I understand you are a Jew and you have different beliefs, but wait until there is a big issue that is more important and then take your stand on something really significant and worth fighting for, but do not battle over these little points of doctrine.”

What is a little point of doctrine? If we go back to the analogy of the world and the influences that are in society today, they are putting this pressure on the child of God to work on Sunday, but is it a little thing? It is only God’s holy day. You could say that about any one doctrine in the Bible – it is only a “little thing.” But, God is concerned with these little things because if we are faithful in little we will be faithful in much. Conversely, if we are not faithful in little we will not be faithful in much. In other words, waiting to take a stand on a major point of doctrine will never come because we have “given in” and we are conforming to the ways of the world on one point and another. When the world raises the bar to a higher level, we will give in on that point, too, because there is something wrong.

Daniel and his friends realized this. They were living in Babylon and they were not living in Judah any longer. They were living in hostile territory under an evil king and in a place that had no concern for them or for their beliefs or their God. So, right away at the first point of trial, Daniel and his friends purposed in their hearts that they would not defile themselves. It is the same stand that later on Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego take when the king demanded they bow down to the golden image. If they had given in on the seemingly minor thing in regard to eating the king’s food, do you think they would have stood faithful later on and faced the burning, fiery furnace on that greater point of doctrine in bowing down to the idolatrous idol that the king set up? No, they would not have, but that is the lie that people tell themselves: “I will give in on the food. Then later when that major temptation arises (like the golden image), I will take my stand.” Where did everyone else stand, aside from Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? (Daniel must have been out of town because we know Daniel would not have bowed to the image.) But, where were all the other Jews when that golden image was unveiled and the command was given to bow the knee or die? They were there, but they had already been “trained” in the ways of the world – that was the point of the king nourishing them for three years with his own wine and meat. It was to train these young men in order to “stand before the king.” They were trained in the way of Babylon or in the way of the world.

This is exactly what the Bible tells parents in Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” This is the same idea with the king trying to transform a people that had previously served God to serving him. This is what Satan did during the Great Tribulation inside the churches and outside the churches out in the world. He was attempting to usurp God’s authority and he wanted people to obey him in matters of doctrine.

I mentioned this last time, but the word “meat” points to doctrine in the Bible. It says in Hebrew 13:9:

Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

If you look carefully at this verse, God makes identification between “doctrine” and “meats.”

It also says in 1Timothy 4:1-5:

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

Remember what Peter said when he was shown the vision of unclean animals and he was commanded by God, “Arise, Peter; slay, and eat.” Peter said, “Not so, Lord.” Then God said, “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” Peter was not to refuse this “meat” or “doctrine.” The refusal of the meat would actually be a refusal of the doctrine and the acceptance of the meat would be acceptance of the doctrine. And Peter did accept it. When the message came from Cornelius, a Roman, to fetch Peter and bring him back to his house, Peter obeyed and the Holy Spirit fell upon Cornelius and the others in his house and this was the point of the “change in meat.” It was a big doctrinal change from the Old Testament to the New Testament because the Word of God would now not be confined to Israel nor would God’s people be confined to Israel. Now the Gospel would go unto all the Gentiles or all the nations and they would become fellow heirs with the Jews. God is not a respecter of persons and this was the point with the “change of meat.”

But, again, the doctrine of devils would be to abstain from meat or to abstain from doctrine that ought to be accepted with thanksgiving – it is not to be refused. And we are aware that God has brought forth much change in doctrine at this time of the end, like the doctrine of the end of the church age and the doctrine of Christ having been slain from the foundation of the world or the doctrine of “hell” as eternal death. These things are not to be refused, but to be received with thanksgiving because it is sanctified by the Word of God – it is approved by the Word of God. If God has brought forth information to show a true and right doctrine that has always been there, we are not to fight against it. That is the error many fall into whenever God makes a change in doctrine.

So, meat relates to doctrine and we saw that “wine” relates to doctrine. We went to Isaiah 28 and we saw that they erred through wine and strong drink and, again, that related to doctrinal error. It also says in Deuteronomy 32:31-33:

For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

This is the “wine of Babylon” and the wine of King Nebuchadnezzar. It is not the wine of God. It is the doctrine of the world or the doctrine of the kingdom of Satan. We should not be fooled on this point. We do not normally think of the world as having doctrine, but the world has much doctrine, just as the churches have doctrine.

For instance, evolution is a doctrine of the world. We will not get into that ridiculous theory, but the world upholds that teaching about how everything came to be through evolution. It is a lie. It is false and, yet, it is a doctrine of this world, so the world accepts it but the believers accept that God created the world. The two groups are opposed to one another and there is contention between the two ideas. Some that are professed Christians attempt to reconcile the two ideas with “theistic evolution.” They say, “Yes, God did create things, but there were these long eons of time in which things evolved.” They try to appease both ideas, but God is clear regarding how the world began. The Bible is clear that the world is just over 13,000 years old.

In Jeremiah, chapter 1, God says something concerning the wine of the king of Babylon. It says in Jeremiah 1:7:

Babylon hath been a golden cup in JEHOVAH'S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

This is the “wine” of the king of Babylon that he is trying to give to Daniel and his three friends. It is the “wine” that all the nations have drunk and he wants these young Jews to drink of it as well.

It says in Revelation 17:4-5:

And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

Here, God tells us what is in the golden cup. The wine of Babylon is full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. Transgressing against God’s holy day is in the cup. Divorce is in the cup. Evolution is in the cup and all the other lies and deceitful doctrines that you can think of are in the cup – it is everything that is untrue, unholy, unjust and unrighteous. They are the things we see all around us in this world. God says in the Bible to young men, “It is better not to touch a woman.” So when young men and young women get together, they should have conversation but they are not be touching one another. But, what does the world say? The world says, “Everything goes!” You can live together and have sexual relations outside of marriage, and so forth. It is all in the “cup of Babylon,” the cup that all the nations are drinking.

And this cup is being presented to the people of God that came out of the churches. In coming out of the churches, we lost the corporate place of worship. It is no more. Yes, we still have God and we still have the Bible, but to a large degree we have been isolated from fellowship other like-minded Christians. Now we are more and more alone with God (and that is good), but the world is also all around us. The world encircles us and all the things of the world are ever present wherever we go. There is no place of escape. Just think about this. The loss of the churches was a “real loss” because every Sunday people could go and meet 50 or 150 other people and they would all have their Bibles and that was a comforting thing. We could sing hymns and pray and we could hear the Bible taught and there was reinforcement and encouragement in those activities.

Please do not get the idea that I think anyone should go back to the churches. God has commanded that the church age is over and the command of Matthew 24 is to not go back into the house. The Bible also says that anyone putting their hand to the plow and then looking back is not fit for the kingdom of heaven. Remember Lot’s wife – she looked back. We must never look back, but that does not mean that there is not truth in there being certain benefits and blessings in being part of a congregation in an evil world. It was a place that was similar to a refuge. You could go there and you could temporarily find solace and comfort in that place and you knew there were many other places like it around the world during the church age.

But now the people of God have no such place and during the Great Tribulation when God’s people were coming out, Satan tried to use the fact that they had left the churches as a way of pushing his own agenda. Again, it was very underhanded and it may not have been so overt as to be obvious, but as the world is changing he attempted to change the meat and wine of the elect and to cause them to drink of his cup.

It says in Revelation 18:2-3:

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

We can see why it is that the king of Babylon is pressuring these young men to eat his meat and drink the wine he drinks – it is the golden cup that is full of abomination and fornication. He is trying to get these young men to serve him.

Let us move on to Daniel 1:6:

Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah…

We are going to look at the names of these four young men. There are four of them and not two or eight of them. God will tell us about four young men throughout the historical narrative portion of the Book of Daniel, which cover the first six chapters. Then the historical narrative ceases and in Daniel 7 and 8 we have visions. In Daniel 9 there is more revelation and the last part talks about the seventy weeks and chapters 10, 11 and 12 are also the visions or revelations, but the first six chapters lay out the history of these four young men in Babylon. The number “four” represent all God’s elect that have gone out into the world, as “four” points to universality. In a very definite way, these four young men relate to Revelation, chapter 9 where we read of four angels. It says in Revelation 9:14:

Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

The four angels were bound in Babylon and then four angels are loosed and that relates to May 21, 2011 when God set free His people through the completion of His salvation program and began the prolonged period of Judgment Day. The four angels or messengers that were bound in Babylon were loosed and in Daniel we have four young men. Where are they? They are in Babylon. Are they free in Babylon? No, they are bound in Babylon. We have four young men that are bound in Babylon and the four messengers were bound in the great river Euphrates and that river is in Babylon. We know that later on the Israelites will be loosed out of Babylon. That is the picture portrayed by the four young men. They are four messengers of God that are bound in Babylon and this is God’s purpose for His people until the end of the Great Tribulation as they live their lives bound in Babylon. What we read of these four young men is true spiritually of all God’s elect people.

As far as their names, we will take a quick look at each of their names. All their names are compound words. The name “Dan” (daw) means “judge” or “judgment” and “el” is the name for God, so we could understand Daniel’s name to mean “judge of God” or “judgment of God.” Considering the information found in the Book of Daniel, “judgment of God” fits very well. The Book of Daniel is about God’s judgment on His own people and God’s judgment on the world when Cyrus finally took the kingdom of Babylon. So the name “Daniel” matches with the information we find in the Book of Daniel.

The second young man was “Hananiah” and this word is Strong’s #2608. Again, it is a compound word and the last part of the name is the Hebrew “yaw” and you can hear the sound of the word for “Lord.” The first part of the word “khan-an” is Strong’s #2603. It means “favored” or “gracious” or “merciful.” It is found in Isaiah 30:18-19:

And therefore will JEHOVAH wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for JEHOVAH is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.

The word “gracious” is our word and this is the word that is found in Psalm 51 when David is moved to exclaim, “Have mercy upon me, O God.” It is also the word translated as “favored.” Therefore, “Hananiah” is a name that means “mercy of God” or “grace of God” or “favored of God.” We could say it another way: the Lord has favoured. Obviously, it is a name that is an excellent name for one of God’s own elect people because it is God’s elect upon whom He has bestowed His grace, mercy and favor. So, along with Daniel, Hananiah is a name that relates to the elect and declare aspects of the Gospel. They teach things that the Word of God, the Bible teaches.

Let us go on to the name “Mishael,” which is similar to the name “Michael,” which is a name that means “who is like God” or “who is God.” Again, that is similar, but Mishael could mean “who is God” or “who is after God,” but it is directing us to the Person of God.

The fourth name is “Azariah,” and the last part “yaw” also has the name for the Lord contained within it. It is combined with a word “as-ar,” which means “has helped.” It is Strong’s #5826. The word “yaw” is Strong’s #3050 and together they are the compound word that forms “Azariah,” which means “the Lord will help.” We see this in Isaiah 41:10:

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Then it says in Isaiah 41:13-14:

For I JEHOVAH thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith JEHOVAH, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

The word “help” is the word that is part of Azariah’s name. We wonder as we see these young Jews and they must have been wondering, too: “Will God help?” It seemed things were getting worse and worse for the people of God. Where was God when Jerusalem was being destroyed and the Jews were being carried away captive? Many were killed or taken captive into the land of Babylon to come under the power of the enemy. The enemy is determining their food and their drink (their meat and their wine) and this is how they must live. Surely, it was a distressing time and they must have wondered, “When will God help?” God will show that He is a God of help for His people. In just a little while these same young men will be confronted with the burning, fiery furnace and God demonstrated His help for them as He protected them in the midst of that burning, fiery furnace.

But, of course, at this point, this help has not yet happened and this is a sort of “orientation day” to Babylon as these four young men are being brought into the system of the world and of the evil king. “Here is your food. Here is your drink. You have to get accustomed to our system and you have to do things our way.” That was expected because Babylon was the victorious nation, but what the world does not understand is that God’s people cannot do things Babylon’s way when it comes to certain things. Yes, we will go along and fit in with what is permissible as we live in the world and we will do as the world will have us to do, but it never fails that we will be brought to a point where the world expects us to “give in” to their evil ways, but the child of God cannot do it. The Spirit of God within us will not permit us to do so. No matter what the consequence, the true believer will seek to do things God’s way.

Let us move on to Daniel 1:7:

Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego.

Here, we are not surprised. It just goes to show how bad things had gotten and how much the Jewish nation had lost. Now the king of Babylon was even attempting to take away their names. As a matter of fact, as far as Babylon was concerned, their names were taken away. They had taken away their nation. They had taken away everything out of their land of Judah and they had placed them in the city of Babylon and they even took away their food and drink. Now they wanted to take their very names. We just looked at their names and we saw that each name had purpose and meaning. It had identification with God. Daniel meant “judgment of God." Hananiah meant “favored of the Lord.” Mishael meant “after God.” Azariah meant “the Lord will help.” Now they are stripped of their names and given new names: Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. We wonder, “What was the point of giving them new names?” It goes along with taking away their identity as Jews, but it also had to do with taking away their identification with the God of the Jews. It says in Numbers 6:27:

And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.

The Israelites carried the name of God. We saw that in each of their names there was either the word “el” or “yaw.” It says in Deuteronomy 28:9-10:

JEHOVAH shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of JEHOVAH thy God, and walk in his ways. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of JEHOVAH; and they shall be afraid of thee.

We are called by JEHOVAH’s name and they will be afraid. The Babylonians were taking away the name of the God of the Jews. It says in Isaiah 43:1:

But now thus saith JEHOVAH that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

This gets to the heart of the issue. God has called them by name and they are His. The king of Babylon is going to change their names and in doing so he is trying to make them his own. He is trying to make them belong to the king of Babylon and the Babylonian gods. He is going to bring them under the rule of Babylon and service to his god. That is his goal. He wants no remembrance of the name of God. It says in Psalm 44:20:

If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;

From the kingdom of Babylon’s point of view, it is all designed to cause these Jews to forget who they are and who they belong to and to cause them to forget the Lord. How could they forget the Lord if their very names are a reminder? So, they wanted to remove their names and give them new names. Concerning that new name, it says in Daniel 4:8:

But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and before him I told the dream,

So Daniel was given a name of Belteshazzar after the name of the Babylonian god and, therefore, it is a name that would identify with Satan because there is no other God. It would identify with the way of the world. We can be sure that the other names that were given would also identify with the world. We do not need to know the meaning of the names of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And we do not know because the Bible does not reveal the meaning of these names as it did with their original Hebrew names, but we know they were names given after the god of Babylon and that relates to what God says in Micah 4:5:

For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of JEHOVAH our God for ever and ever.

We are living in that time when all people walk in the names of their gods. The Babylonians removed the names of these four young men and the name of their God and they substituted names for Babylonian gods and, yet, these men kept the real significance of their original names because they did not change within even though they were called by other names. These young men kept the meaning of the names God had given to them.

In Revelation, chapter 13 we see the spiritual reason of the giving of the name of the god of Babylon. It says in Revelation 13:15-17:

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

It is the name of the beast and the beast is Satan, who is typified by the king of Babylon. The name of the beast would relate to the name of a false god of Babylon. The four young men were given names that would be in accord with the names of the beast (Satan) during this time of Great Tribulation. God’s people went into the world at the commandment of God. It was not of our own choosing or of our will, but according to the timeline of history and according to God’s will for His people. We left the churches and congregations and went out into the world and while in the world we continue to serve God by God’s grace. Through His Spirit, He will keep His people from defiling themselves, just as Daniel and his friends were kept from partaking of the king’s meat and wine. Even though we are no longer part of the churches, this is where God would have us to be and it is here that we must continue to serve God. It is here that the people of God did service throughout the Great Tribulation and we continued to do service throughout the period of Judgment Day. We continue to be severely tried and tested and it is always on this point of being pressured to cease serving the Lord and to conform to the Babylon of this world and the ways of this world. Again, by God’s grace, the people of God may suffer many trials, tribulations and difficulties, but they do not conform to this world and they continue to faithfully serve God.