Daniel 1:11-14 – “Sweet Spirits”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹¹And Daniel said to the overseer whom the chief of the court officials had appointed upon Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, ¹²“Test, please, your servants [for] ten days and give to us from vegetables and we will eat and water we will drink. ¹³And let be seen to your face our appearance and the appearance of the children eating the food of the king and according as you see, do with your servants, ¹⁴and he listened to them to this matter and he tested them [for] ten days.

An enormous amount of ink has been spilt commenting on these verses, so I’m reluctant to say anything and add to the cacophony. But, since it’s my blog, there is one thing I think worth noting and that is Daniel’s gracious respectfulness with which he conducts himself.

First of all, we don’t really know why, having been refused by the chief, Daniel resorts to the boys’ immediate overseer. The only thing we know, at least from what is recorded, is that Daniel did not become belligerent. He simply retreated, regrouped and tried again by a different route.

The next place we see his respectfulness is even how he addressed the overseer. I translated his opening words, “Test, please, your servants …” That is as close as I can get in English to what he actually said (as recorded in Hebrew – who knows what language he spoke in actually?). The word I translated “please” is the Hebrew particle “nah,” which actually has no English translation. It is a word a Hebrew subordinate would inject when speaking with a superior, acknowledging his proper place. The closest thing I know of to explain it is how in America, when a subordinate is conversing with a superior, we will give our head a little bob, a sort of hint at bowing to them, to show respect. (Maybe I’m dating myself – I don’t know if anyone does that anymore, but I certainly learned to in my childhood, and I’m just old-fashioned enough to still think it is proper.) At any rate, the “please” is as close as I can come in a translation, but I hope anyone reading this can see that the Hebrew word picture is saying much more. Daniel is not being “militant.” He is not “asserting” himself. He is not “in anyone’s face.” He rather is very politely and respectfully placing his case before a superior who has the authority to grant his request.

Another thing to admire is the fact that Daniel didn’t present it as an ultimatum. He presents it as a test, and only a ten day test at that. The king himself won’t be seeing these boys for three years! Ten days is a very, very gracious offer. I would even suggest the idea must have been either a result of divine revelation to Daniel or enormous faith, because the truth is, good diet or bad, you wouldn’t expect any significant difference to show up in ten days. Maybe a month? Three months? But ten days??? That’s very gracious because it realistically isn’t putting anyone in danger (except the boys).

It is then also interesting that Daniel proposes to leave the conclusion up to the overseer. “Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” One has to wonder what Daniel would have done at the end of the ten days, had the overseer refused their request. Would it have then been off to the fiery furnace or into the lions’ den? We don’t know. What we do know is that even this is an expression of respect – that Daniel proposes the test with the idea that the overseer will in fact have the “final say.”

I’ve probably spilt enough ink myself but I’ll conclude by saying I don’t think our modern Christian culture teaches anything like what Daniel is doing. For one thing, we don’t even mention people’s jobs from the pulpit, and churches certainly do nearly nothing to actually equip our people and prepare them to live their faith in their almost totally pagan work environments. The sum total of American evangelical teaching for Christians in the workplace is that we should all pass out tracts and start Bible studies over lunch. That’s it. Nothing about being hard workers. Nothing about being dependable, punctual, skillful, considerate, or humble. And I’m afraid rather the undercurrent promulgated is to be “militant” – which, in the workplace, translates into “arrogant,” and only further alienates our bosses and co-workers from the very  faith we think we’re trying to share.

For all the barrels of ink that have been spilt on this passage down through the centuries, it is a shame the modern church has learned little or nothing.

Rather than encouraging our people (and young people especially) to be “militant,” we ought to be teaching them that the very essence of a Christian is to be a person who accepts authority and lives respectfully even under those who may not deserve our respect. We are not belligerent and we’d rather (like Daniel) die respectfully than live in spiteful arrogance.

Daniel’s example ought to shine in the hearts of every single believer as we go to work, go to school, participate in sports, serve in our communities and in our churches – anywhere we find ourselves under the authority of others. We ought to be “adorning the doctrine of God our Savior in all things,” rather than giving unbelievers “a reason to blaspheme.”

God help me to be a Daniel and may Your Spirit move across our nation to give our people sweet spirits, no matter what they face.