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The Diet of Daniel

In Moses’ time God cared what his people ate and drank, but today have we advanced so much that He is no longer concerned with our diet. He who never changes hasn’t changed, He still cares. What you do to your body you do to your mind and spirit. What you do to your spirit you do to your body—as illustrated.

Nebuchadnezzar, the King of ancient Babylon, swept into Jerusalem and took captive the best of their population. These he took to Babylon. From among these, he charged one of his ministers to search out some of the best and brightest of the Hebrew children. The minister, Ashpenaz had three years to feed, fatten and instruct them in the wisdom and learning of the Chaldeans; and all this to prepare them to stand before the King. In short, these children were to be remade into Babylonians first and Hebrews second, if at all.

Among them was Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, the latter three more commonly known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Considering that these four children had just endured a terrible war and siege, and a forced march of hundreds of miles to Babylon, they may not have looked too healthy.

So determined was the King, that he appointed a menu for his protégés from his own table; the very food and drink of royalty.

“Daniel,” however, “purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with…the King’s meat.” He requested of the steward that he and his friends be given the food and drink that was in keeping with the Mosaic law. We have to admire the courage of a captive to even make such a request of his captors.

Ashpenaz liked Daniel and wanted to accommodate him, but he also feared the king. If the king looked upon Daniel and his friends at the end of the three years and they did not look healthy, Ashpenaz could lose his head.

Therefore, Daniel proposed a ten-day experiment. “Give us pulse to eat and water to drink.” He said, “Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat; and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.”

Ashpenaz agreed. At the end of ten days Daniel and his friends, on their whole grain and water diet, were already “fairer and fatter in flesh than all the” others. For the remainder of the three years they ate and drank of God’s menu, not Nebuchanezzar’s.

At the end, all the Hebrew children were brought in and interviewed by the King, and among them all was found none like Daniel and his friends…In all matters of wisdom and understanding…he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his kingdom.” These four faithful Hebrew children became the King’s personal advisers ever after.

God built our bodies and designed our minds. His intent ever and always has been to magnify and empower both. To enslave one is to damn the other. Now we have a choice; by what we eat and drink we can either be merry and damned, or have joy and be saved. With our teeth we can either dig our graves and die, or empower our bodies, open our minds, and live abundantly.

Story based on Daniel 1