1:3-5 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 (Exod. 34:15; Lev. 11; Deut. 14; cf. Deut. 8:3; Prov. 20:1).
"In selecting these youths for education in the king's court in Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar was accomplishing several objectives. Those carried away captive could well serve as hostages to help keep the royal family of the kingdom of Judah in line. Their presence in the king's court also would be a pleasant reminder to the Babylonian king of his conquest and success in battle. Further, their careful training and preparation to be his servants might serve Nebuchadnezzar well in later administration of Jewish affairs."29
There has been some question whether Daniel and his three friends were castrated and made eunuchs. This possibility seems unlikely since there is no direct evidence of this in the text. Josephus implied that they may have become eunuchs.
"He [Nebuchadnezzar] also made some of them [the most noble of the Jewish children] to be eunuchs; which course he took also with those of other nations whom he had taken in the flower of their age, and afforded them their diet from his own table, and had them instructed in the institutes of the country, and taught the learning of the Chaldeans . . ."30
The Hebrew word saris("official,"v. 3) can mean both "court official"(cf. Gen. 37:36) and "eunuch"(Isa. 56:3). These youths were without defects (v. 4). If Nebuchadnezzar wanted youths without defects, it seems unreasonable that he would then turn around and give them a major defect (cf. Lev. 21:17).
Josephus also wrote that Daniel and his three peers "were four of the family of Zedekiah."31This may be accurate or only Jewish tradition, but clearly they were either members of the royal family or children of Judean nobles (v. 3; cf. Isa. 39:6-7).
The three-year program of study that Daniel and his three companions underwent involved study of the literature and language of the Chaldeans (v. 4). The term "Chaldean"has a double meaning in the Book of Daniel. In some places, including here, it refers to ethnic southern Babylonians (cf. 3:8; 5:30; 9:1). In others, it describes a class of astrologers and priests that emerged from the ethnic Chaldeans (2:2, 4-5, 10; 4:7; 5:7, 11).
"The Babylonian sages combined many of the functions fulfilled by wise men, prophets, and priests in Israel, though they are to be distinguished from those cultic functionaries who were more especially concerned with the temple and its ritual. They were the guardians of the sacred traditional lore developed and preserved in Mesopotamia over centuries, covering natural history, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, myth, and chronicle. Much of this learning had a practical purpose, being designed to be applied to life by means of astrology, oneirology, hepatoscopy and the study of other organs, rites of purification, sacrifice, incantation, exorcism and other forms of divination and magic."32
Evidently what these young men studied was the history and literature of this ancient part of the world. This included the old Akkadian and the ancient Sumerian cultures from which the Babylonian had developed. Learning the language of a people is one of the best ways to absorb the world view of its people. Thus Nebuchadnezzar was seeking to acculturate these youths and to make them thoroughly Babylonian.
"In order to witness to their God in the Babylonian court they had to understand the cultural presuppositions of those around them, just as the Christian today must work hard at the religions and cultures amongst which he lives, if different thought-worlds are ever to meet."33
". . . Daniel had no physical blemish and was pleasing in appearance. Mentally, he was intelligent, knowledgeable, and quick to learn. Socially, he was poised and able to live in the king's court without creating embarrassment for himself or others."34
1:6-7 Daniel's name probably means, "My judge is God."Hananniah means, "Yahweh has shown grace,"Mishael means, "Who is what God is?"and Azariah means, "Yahweh has helped."The new names assigned them all included or referred to various Babylonian gods: Bel, Aku, and Nego (a possible variant of Nebo).
"It seems the world always tries to blot out the distinctive marks of a believer . . ."35
The practice of changing names was a way to express sovereign control over others. These new names would have also encouraged these youths to think of themselves as part of the culture in which they were living rather than the culture from which they had come (cf. Gen. 41:45).
"Like Zerubbabel and Mordecai, the four can use their foreign names without worrying about them, perhaps on the same basis that Paul can eat meat sacrificed to idols--because the idol is really nothing."36
The fact that each of their Jewish names included some reference to the Lord may indicate that they had godly parents. Perhaps their early upbringing by godly parents is one reason they stood for God in Babylon.
