Deeper Reflection
Daniel refused to partake the “food” and “wine” as required by King Nebuchadnezzar (v.5), so as not to “defile himself ” (v.8). He would later request for a vegetarian diet (v.12). So, the “food” here refers to meat. But why would partaking these food and wine defile Daniel?There is no Old Testament law that prohibits the consumption of meat in general (cf. Gen 9:3), or of wine, except in the law of the Nazarites (Num 6:2-3). And it was not because the meat was not kosher. ¹⁴ If it was, Daniel could have requested for permission to cook his own food in the kosher way rather than asking for vegetables only.¹⁵ The most oft-cited explanation is the food was offered to Babylonian gods. But there is no explicit association made between the food and Babylonian gods in the text. And “scholars have found evidence to show that even vegetables and fruits were regularly offered to the gods before being consumed by the devotees”¹⁶ , and this certainly includes the vegetables that Daniel requested. There was another occasion when Daniel abstained from “meat” and “wine”, but it was because he was fasting and mourning over some troubling matters (Dan 10:2-3). This implies that on “normal” days, Daniel did eat meat and drink wine.So, as to why Daniel rejected the king’s food and wine in Daniel 1, “no certainty or agreement has been reached”¹⁷ among Bible scholars on this question. While we do need to consider this question, the main point of the story is not about food, but faithfulness (cf. Rom 14:17).

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¹³ Adapted from Erasmus (1466-1536), Angela Ashwin, The Book of a Thousand Prayers (Zondervan, 1996, 2002), 275 ¹² Food prepared properly satisfying requirements of Jewish law ¹⁵ Gordon Wong, Faithful to the End: The Message of Daniel for Life in the Real World (Genesis, 2006), 2 ¹⁶ Gordon Wong, 3 ¹⁷ Gordon Wong, 1