Gluten Free & God Seeking: Overcomers in Babylon - Why Didn't Daniel & His Friends Eat the King's Meat in Daniel 1?

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Overcomers in Babylon - Why Didn't Daniel & His Friends Eat the King's Meat in Daniel 1?

Why did it matter that Daniel and his companions not eat off the palace menu? They realized long before dieticians coined the phrase you are what you eat that it mattered what they ate. As I was thinking about this, I saw that we're all consumers on all 3 levels--physically, psychologically, and spiritually. What we read and view becomes a diet of sorts and impacts us whether we realize it or not.

These four young Hebrew men understood that if they ate meat offered to idols, it would link them to idols. I was enlightened by what I read on pages 9-10 of chapter 2 of the Life-Study of Daniel:

"Nebuchadnezzar's devilish temptation was first to seduce Daniel and his three companions, the four brilliant young descendants of God's defeated elect, to be defiled in partaking of his unclean food, food offered to idols....For Daniel and his companions to eat that food would have been to take in the defilement, to take in the idols, and thus to become one with Satan. If they would have done this, God would have been finished and would have had nothing on earth for Himself and His interest. Then Satan could have boasted and said, 'God, You have been completely defeated. You have nothing on earth to represent You and to be one with You.'...But Daniel and his companions were for God....I am concerned that you may be eating the choice food provided for you by today's Nebuchadnezzar. If we are careless in our eating, in our shopping, in where we go, and in what we do, we may take in something related to idols, something demonic. We are what we eat. If we eat godly food--that is, if we eat God-food, God as our food--we will be one with God" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Daniel. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1991, Print).

         I saw that it was a big deal what Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaraiah did.  God's purpose was hanging in the balance. Would they eat the meat without any reservation and cause God's defeat or would they reject that meat and take a stand? It touched me when I read that these four were God's overcomers in Babylon and through them God preserved His worship and testimony on earth!

     And that's exactly what God needs us do today. I really like these two songs about being an overcomer put out a few years ago by the New York City Young People--Choose To be a Living Overcomer  and God Needs the Overcomers.

Other posts on the Major Prophets:
Life-Study of Isaiah:

You can listen to excerpts of Witness Lee's speaking the Life-Study of Isaiah on Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee. You can also read the online Life-Studies of Isaiah and check out other resources available to enhance your study of the Bible on Living Stream Ministry's website.

How Can the Son in Isaiah 7:14 & 9:6 Be the Mighty God?
Seeing Christ as the Great Light in Isaiah 9:2
Why is Christ Called the Cornerstone in Isaiah 28:26?
Taking a Closer Look at Isaiah 53 - Christ's Crucifixion Foretold - Part 1

Taking a Closer Look at Isaiah 53 - Christ's Resurrection &Ascension Foretold - Part 2 of 2

Life-Study of Jeremiah & Lamentations: