Deeper Reflection
Daniel’s service to Gentile kings in exile spanned over some seventy years (Dan 1:1, 21). What was Daniel’s daily life like? “Much of that time was probably not very interesting at all. During those years, as far as we know, nothing special happened. There was just the difficult routine of Daniel’s faithfulness in a faraway land, trying to balance the demands of his two masters, the Babylonians and the Lord.” ⁶ But Scripture recorded the special times in Daniel’s life that God was working in and through his life in special ways.A special time came. It was Nebuchadnezzar’s order to “destroy all the wise men of Babylon” (vv.12-13). Apparently, the killing had already started ⁷ , and now it came to Daniel and his friends (v.13). They had been preserved out of the holocaust of the destruction of Judah and then miraculously protected in not eating the king’s choice food (Dan 1:1-16), and now they were condemned to death because of an insecure king’s unreasonableness. When we go through such a roller coaster experience, we may find it disorientating, unsettling and confusing with regards to God. But not so for Daniel.Daniel acted “with discretion and discernment” (v.14) – in stark contrast to the desperate and helpless Babylonian king and wise men. Anchoring in his God, Daniel had the wisdom from Above (Prov 2:6-7) to navigate through the complexities of life. When he asked the king to “give him time” (v.16), he was not accused of “buying time” (v.8). God was on Daniel’s side. For now, Daniel has no answer for the life-threatening crisis, but he will…

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⁶ Iain M. Duguid, 18 ⁷ John E. Goldingay, Daniel, Word Biblical Commentary (Word Books, 1989), 33