Twentyfirst Page:Hananiah, pass the Hummus please!

The spread on the table was a gourmet’s delight. A mix of vegetarian and meat dishes made of high quality ingredients and with skilled preparation, many of them bearing fancy names covered the table: Semeç Masgûf, Hummus, falafel, Tahchin, Doner kebab, Kebab koobideh, Tursu,manakeesh, tabouleh,shawarma, Shish tawook, Kofta, Quwarmah Al Dajaj, Mansaf, Mezza, Biryani,Bamia,Timmen au keema.Kuba,Kebab Tashreeb,Masgouf,Quz, Dolma and   Knafeh. As for wine, there were excellent selections ranging from Tavernello,Blue Nun,Armand de Brignac,Mateus, Moutan  Cadet,Riunite and Yellow Tail to  Cristal.

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A group of young men walked into the dining hall.. This was a select batch of youth from among the captives brought from Israel to Babylon. They were“without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace” (Daniel 1:4). Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah had arrived for lunch. They had just attended the first class of course 011 of Chaldaic language and literature.

The king Nebuchadnezzar  had assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service. The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego (Daniel 1:7).

“But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.  Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you””(Daniel 1:8-10)

“Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,  “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.  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.”  So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

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At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead” (Daniel 1:11-16).

This was ages before Nutrition and Dietetics emerged as a science, and even though Daniel was wise, in his times he probably had little understanding of the food structure and the importance of Proteins as the building blocks, when he refused all manner of meat in the diet. But considering the preponderance of meat in that age, it is safe to assume that he had some general awareness that beef, poultry, fish, eggs and  dairy products were good food. And yet if he chose Vegan food, we must surmise that he also knew that nuts, seeds, and legumes like black beans and lentils and chickpeas were also rich in the building blocks  we now call Proteins. Whatever the case, here was   group men rejecting the finest of royal food and wine for  vegetables and plain water!

Was Daniel testing God? Was he dragging God into an unnecessary contest between vegans and the non-vegetarians? Years ago, King Solomon had foreseen a situation like this and warned that “When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony”(Pro. 23:1-2). This advice of course goes against the common tendency or rather  temptation, to gorge all that one can when presented with a sumptuous feast for which one does not have to pay.

Some of us who are more spiritual than Daniel might fear that our spirituality would be questioned if we do not invoke the name of God every five words. “The Lord said this” or “the Lord told me that” becomes a constant refrain, with the clincher being, “the Lord told me to ask you” which puts the other person in great discomfiture. It is another matter that the Lord quietly works in the heart of the interlocutor as He did with the  maître d’hôtel to favour Daniel and company. See Psalm 5:12. If we are close to God and are leading lives that are pleasing to him, there shouldn’t be any need for frequent vocal advertisement of that fact. It will show.

Looking at it another way, Daniel was putting his faith on line and making a bold statement for God. God did not figure in the conversation, as befits a purely secular intercourse, but given Daniel’s commitment to God, there is no doubt He was only a whisper away, unseen, looming large in the background as Daniel spoke. The Mdh was left in no doubt that in resolving not to defile himself with royal food, Daniel was depending on his God. Faith is the evidence of things not seen ( Hebrews 11:1) and in saying what he did Daniel was surely being prophetic.

Here we see how Daniel was undertaking a path of privation destined to glorify God, and how God did not let him down! It would have been easy enough to undertake nothing on behalf of the God we serve and lose  opportunities to glorify Him but here is Daniel setting an example for us to follow in the hurly burly  of secular life. Do we believe in the ubiquitous presence of the Lord? Can we bring Him into our conversation, even if we don’t mention Him by name, unafraid that God will frown on anything other than an overt and repetitive display of piety punctuated frequently by shouts of Amens and Hallelujahs? Are our moorings deep and secure? Are we confident in our God?

Think what is at stake here. Though Daniel does not state it explicitly, as we observed, it is the glory of God. Rather than lightly dropping God’s name without any cost to himself, Daniel (along with his friends) chooses to forgo the royal food, day after day for a period of ten days. Given the array of food available from the gourmet kitchen and the delightful aroma wafting in to the dining area, this was no easy task. Settling for chickpeas in place of chicken might seem a small step but that is only symbolism being played out for  an invisible gauntlet where nothing less than the glory of God is involved.

Whence comes this confidence? For an answer, let us go to Daniel 6:10. Three times a day Daniel went on his knees in communication with God. And he had such close relationship with God that he could appeal to Him any time with his petitions (Daniel 2:18-19).

Again, let us turn this  gem of a proposition made by Daniel a wee bit more to espy another gleam radiating. As we have already noted, Daniel does not take the name of God in this dialogue. Confident as he was of the outcome, there was no show of pomposity in his demeanor. No grandstanding and no lofty statements drawing in the name of God like, “the God of Abraham appeared unto me and told me” or “I say this in the name of the Lord” or anything of that sort. Why? Was Daniel unsure of the outcome? Was he sparing some embarrassment to God in case the ten day trial should end in zilch?

I don’t think so. I think Daniel does not want to be seen to be presuming the will of God. Though confident of God’s favour upon him, He is fully alive to the possibility that God may have a different plan in place that he might not be privy to. This shows the humility and the meekness of the man. “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8-9). And Daniel was careful not to put God under an obligation to fulfill his words as a human.

Another aspect that shouldn’t escape our attention in this episode, is the single mindedness of Daniel and the three others. Repeatedly we read in the book of Daniel that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are a threesome seen together time and again, while Daniel stands alone. But here we see the four of them united in purpose. Though it is said that it was Daniel who made the resolution to turn Vegan, his colleagues in captivity stood by him – a model of unity that we Christians should well note as we stand facing the world! Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah put aside their personal preferences and individual predilections in pursuit of a worthy objective.Are we united in the goal of glorifying God by our actions?

Let us consider the opposite scenario. Daniel and his friends are elated at being served from the table of the king himself; thanking God for this rare privilege they plunge into the food. So easy to have gone with the world! Food fit for a king that comes free! No difficult decisions, no tight discipline, and …. no scope for the glory of God! Are we constantly alive to the challenges of choosing the narrow way and entering through the strait gates or are we just happy going along with the majority and enjoying ourselves (all the while thanking and praising God for His largesse)!“Do not conform to the pattern of this world” says the Bible (Romans 12:2).

A full meal of fattened calf is not the only way to appear radiant.”Keep your eyes on the LORD! You will shine like the sun and never blush with shame”. (Psalm 34:5)

Hananiah, pass the Hummus please!

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