Wednesday 16 September 2015

Bible Reading: Daniel 1v3-7 'Attempted assimilation'

We began yesterday, as we read Daniel, by reminding ourselves of the sovereignty of God.  He is the King who reigns, his kingdom will come.  But as we continue reading Daniel 1 we find the attempted assimilation Daniel and the others Jews in exile faced in Babylon.

Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility – young men 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. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. The king 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.
Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.

Someone in our family used to love watching Star Trek, in this case the particular strand was Voyager.  Often the crew would face the Borg, a cyborg race who overwhelmed their opponents and assimilated others races into their ever growing empire.  Adding their characteristics to their perfection but making every member part of a hive consciousness rather than individuals with distinctions.  As Daniel and the other young people are cherry picked and taken to Babylon the process of assimilation into the Babylonian way of thinking and acting begins.

One of the first things that gets changed is their names.  Why?  Because their Hebrew names were too distinctive, they spoke clearly of Jewish identity of Yahweh's rule and reign.  Daniel means 'God is my judge', Hananiah 'Yah shows grace', Mishael 'who is what God is?' and Azariah 'Yah has helped'.  You can see why in Babylon they are quickly given new names, after all you can pretty much tell the gospel just through their names and their meaning.  But to be in Babylon means being and thinking Babylonian and so they are given names relating to Babylonian god’s, almost parodies of Hebrew names. But Daniel’s name endures.

Then we see the re-education programme that they are given as they are taught Babylonian literature and language.  They are being made to think like Babylonians.  In verse5 we see that they are given privileged food.  We're not told why they refuse it and take a stand here, was it that the meat had been  sacrificed to idols? Possibly, but wouldn’t veg have been too?  Was it a means of seducing them, of making them dependents reliant upon the kings largess?  Or did they refuse it as a sign of identification with God's people and the tragedy of the exile, as a sign of mourning?  Whichever it is it is another means of putting the pressure on them to assimilate, to adopt the Babylonian culture as their own.

It is striking seeing how totally the Babylonians set out to re-educate this young men.  To shape their minds and hearts and reactions.  To make them instinctively react as Babylonians, to strip away their identity as God's people and remake them in Babylon's image.

The world has not changed, it is constantly seeking to assimilate us, either through what it teaches, or through the messages that are contained within it's arts, or simply through public opinion.  We need to be careful to get the balance right, we are not to be like those in the Cold War who saw communist collaborators everywhere, but we do need to be aware that there is a battle going on for our hearts and minds.  Where do we feel the pressure to assimilate? Are we resolved not to defile ourselves? What does that look like?

For parents, and churches with young people and children in, we similarly need to be aware that they face those same pressures, not just from peers but within school in the way they are taught about sex, sexuality, love, work, aspiration and so on.  We need to take time and talk about what they have learnt.  We need to be real and talk about the issues and how they have felt when they were discussed.  We need to help them see the tension and discord at times between the world's view and our loving heavenly father's.  We need to honestly share where we feel the same pressures, currently not just 'back in my day, or when I was a lad...'?  We need to teach them how to discern the good things we are taught and those things that run counter to the Bible.  Because we live amid a battle for the mind and heart and we must stand and encourage others to stand.

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