“FOOD FIGHT”

Daniel 1: 1-21

Dr. Charles J. Tomlin, Pastor

Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership
Epiphany Sunday,  January 5, 2014

2014 Winter Bible Study Sermon Series, 1/4 

In 2013, the IOC, or the International Olympics committee, voted out its oldest sport.  Starting in 2020, it said would be NO MORE WRESTLING  (That ruling has since been overturned).  The reason they made this decision?  TV ratings.  The sport does not score high enough on the Associated Press TV rating scale.  It does not sell enough tickets.  So, in these days when everything is run by dollars and cents, Wrestling doesn’t make good financial sense.   Even though wrestling was older than the Olympics, for now, it does not have a future. 

I find the ‘end’ of wrestling at the Olympics as rather ironic.  While interest in ‘real’ wrestling is fading, fake wrestling, that is, wrestling born at the circus or SIDESHOW, is a billion dollar business.  People want a form of wrestling that is more predictable, more dramatic, and more sensational, and less real, perhaps somewhat more entertaining, like Sumo Wrestlers.    By the way, there is a wrestling joke about a SUMO WRESTLER, a Scotsman, and an Englishman.   They were all preparing to commit suicide, perhaps due to too many head injuries or concussions.   The Scotsman jumps out the window and screams, “God save Scotland!”   Then, the Englishman jumps, and he shouts, “God save the Queen!”  Finally, the Sumo Wrestler jumps, and in a loud voice says, “God save the person I land on!” That’s certainly the kind of comic relief that real wrestling just can’t give!

Perhaps wrestling represents the ‘fight’ to keep on living, even when the odds can be very much against us.  PAUL EMPLOYED THE ‘WRESTLING’ IMAGE when he spoke about the ongoing struggle of good versus evil which never ends:  “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand (Eph 6:12-13 KJV).   Near the close of the Paul’s life, he again used this image of ‘fighting’ again, yet in a much more personal way.  Paul wrote to Timothy: “ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.   From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2Ti 4:7-8 NRS). 

For Paul and for us, in our changing world, KEEPING THE FAITH CAN MEAN LEARNING TO HAVE A ‘GOOD FIGHT’.   It was much the same for Daniel, the hero of faith from which the biblical book gets its name.   The book of Daniel opens with a DRAMA WHICH INCLUDES A ‘FOOD’ FIGHT.  It’s not the kind of ‘food fight’ we are most familiar with---people picking up food and throwing it at each other across the table, but it’s a ‘food fight’ where Daniel and his Jewish friends are using the refusal of a king’s food as their choice of weapon against the cultural challenge of living in a world of pagan exile.  Food is being used to fight ‘a good fight’ against changing times, against changing cultural realities and against changing social, political and religious situations that challenged their faithful way of life.

THE FIGHT IN US

Because Daniel writes about changing times and cultural threats, Daniel’s story ought to gain our attention too.  FEW BOOKS IN THE HEBREW BIBLE will GRAB US LIKE DANIEL.   Because we see so much of our own situation in Daniel, it has become a book a lot of people like to ‘fight’ over with heated discussions over the proper INTERPRETATION.     I would like to suggest that much of the fighting over Daniel is much closer to the ‘fake’ fighting or wrestling which should be rejected, versus THE ‘REAL’ FIGHT THAT IS ACTUALLY GOING ON in this book and in our world today.

THE BOOK OF DANIEL IS WRITTEN IN TWO PARTS.  It begins with 6 hero stories and concludes with 4 visions that point to God’s purposes being worked out in a changing world.   THIS FIRST CHAPTER STARTS WITH AND ENDING---the end and exile of the Jewish nation of Judah around 587 BCE.  It is within this context of exile that we are introduced to Daniel and his friends (v.6), who are rather elite and ‘endowed’ youth (v. 4) being “educated” (vs. 5) and exposed to the best Babylon has to offer.  The response of Daniel to this opulent culture opens us to the heart of the spiritual ‘fight’ that begins in chapter one, verse 8: “But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s rich food, or with the wine which he drank;…”    

The text plainly says that DANIEL DOES NOT WANT TO ‘DEFILE’ HIMSELF with ‘the king’s rich food’.     This word ‘defile’ is a very old religious word meaning to pollute, profane, or to spoil.   But it is not the simply the ‘rich’ food or drink which Daniel is worried about spoiling him, but Daniel is much more worried about how this king’s food may threaten his faith and his faith community.  Daniel has decided not to eat the King’s food not because the food was bad for him, but because eating the food might MAKE HIM START TO FORGET GOD.  By refusing to eat the King’s rich food, Daniel is EXPRESSING HIS HOPE for the future of God’s people.

Daniel’s refusal of food is first and foremost AN ACT OF RESISTANCE TO THE DOMINATE CULTURE.  This might sound strangely familiar today.   In our own world people are often called to RESIST AND RISE ABOVE POPULAR VIEWPOINTS, past PREJUDICES, political DIFFERENCES or religious EXTREMISM.   In the realm of food, we hear often about people GOING ON DIETS to improve their health or their image.   There are TV shows based solely on what we should or shouldn’t eat for our health’s sake.  I’ll never forget setting in a Restaurant in Elkin late one evening, eating ‘fast food’ and then looking up and to see what was on television.  It was the show, “The Biggest Loser”.   It was funny to me, at that time, but also interesting.  Here I was watching a show about how someone was fighting a battle over food in a fast food restaurant.   And the whole kind of TV was something brand new, called ‘reality TV’.   The ‘reality’ was that SOMEONE WAS FIGHTING FOR THEIR LIFE and right at the center of the battle was food.  Daniel and his friends too, were going on a kind of diet which was more spiritual than it was physical, but it was a diet, that by resisting the king’s food, would remind them of who they were.

But what WAS THE EXACT NATURE OF DANIEL’S FIGHT?  And why did Daniel draw the battle line where he did?  Technically, even religiously, DANIEL COULD HAVE EATEN the Kings food.  There was nothing in Jewish law which directly forbade him.  In the Law of Moses and “KOSHER” food was part of what distinguished Israel from other people, but the Israelites were NOT GIVEN SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS AGAINST EATING ‘RICH FOOD’ nor were they told not to drink wine, except for certain cleansing or dedication ceremonies.   On the contrary, God told the people that at certain times they should celebrate with food.   

So WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?   Why doesn’t Daniel just give in and eat a little?   Why does he choose not to do as the apostle Paul suggested, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it to the glory of God.”  Why didn’t Daniel just go ahead and eat and whisper a prayer of thanks to his own understanding of God?  What is going on?   Had Daniel took his stand for the sake of preserving his Kosher diet, we might have missed the point.  For certainly, what is going on here is more than just a personal diet choice, an observance of a religious fast, or even a simple act of faithfulness to God.   DANIEL HAS PICKED KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S ‘RICH’ MENU AND WINE SELECTION AS HIS BATTLE LINE and his choice of weapon TO SAY ‘NO’ to everything that was happening to his people.   Daniel is using his own discipline as HIS DEFENSE AGAINST THE WORLD THAT HAS CHANGED around him, which is threatening the very existence of God’s people.   He is fighting the ‘good FIGHT’ FOR THE FUTURE OF HIS PEOPLE.  He is not simply living or acting for what he can do today, but he is living for what he believes will come, if God’s people keep their faith.  This is why we call this story A ‘HERO’ STORY.   Daniel has decided with his own elite status, to put, as the saying goes, his own ‘dog’ in this fight in hopes to inspire the faith of his people.  

THE FIGHT OF OUR LIVES

WILL YOU PUT UP A FIGHT AGAINST THE WORLD that always threatens the people of God?  And if you do, WHAT WILL BE YOUR WEAPON OF CHOICE?   Will it be WHAT YOU EAT or don’t eat?  Will it be WHAT YOU WEAR or don’t wear?  Will it be the KIND OF CAR you drive, the house you live in, the KIND OF CHILDREN you raise, or the KIND OF PEOPLE YOU HANG WITH?   Will it be how you spend your time and what you put on YOUR LIST OF PRIORITIES?  What weapon will you choose to fight against the things that the culture of the world can take away?   Will you learn how to ‘pick you battles’ and “resist” some of the things that may be acceptable in today’s culture, but not acceptable to the purposes of God and his coming kingdom?

The Book of Daniel is about the ‘fight’ we need to keep fighting.  We have to ‘fight’ because this is not just a physical struggle, but we also live in a world, where Scripture says, we “are wrestling not against flesh and blood, but against ‘WICKEDNESS IN HIGH PLACES.’  If we don’t put up a fight, we can lose.  There is little space for those try to live in-between or in both ‘worlds’.  WE ARE IN THIS FIGHT AND WHETHER WE WANT TO FACE UP TO IT OR NOT, we will be either winners or losers, givers or takers, lovers or haters, end up being compassionate or being hostile.  So, if you give up the fight, you don’t just float along with ease, but you END UP STRANDED OR WORSE, SURROUNDED BY A SEA OF SHARKS.  To be born in this world puts you right in middle of the ‘ring’ of an ongoing fight.   Whether it is about your health, your rights, your dreams, your beliefs or your opinions, you must put up some kind of ‘good’ fight.   If you choose not to fight the good fight, but you get beat up.  You will suffer the consequences of doing nothing.   You might think, I don’t care what happens, but there are all kinds of people who do care, and what they care about can destroy what you care about. 

How many of you remember the HOLLYWOOD MOVIE, CHARIOTS OF FIRE?  It is a story told about a Scotsman, a very talented athletic Scotsman, who refused to run a track race on Sunday.  That Scotsman came from a missionary family and was going to be a missionary himself.   He was a going to be a missionary, but he was also a very talented athlete.  But when the Olympic committee decided to hold a race on Sunday, he refused to run in it.  This was against his faith and against his belief that Sunday should be a ‘Sabbath’ ‘day of rest’.   Such a faith sounds strange to many people today, especially to those who’ve never understand Sunday this way.   It was also strange to many then.  People urged him to go ahead and run.  The athletic committee could not understand why he refused his chance to prove himself.  Other athletes were also confused about the matter.   But Eric Liddell refused to run in that race and it made a big impact on people, especially when he went on to medal in another race.   Then, people saw Eric Liddell not just as a great athlete, but as a great person of principle, ethics and faith.  It was something many people had either left behind or still wished they had, but it was something Eric Liddell still made real in the choices of in his own life.

In a world that will fall for most anything, HERE WAS A MAN WHO ‘STOOD FOR SOMETHING’.  But Liddell was doing much more than ‘standing’ for something, he was also creating something.  HE WAS CREATING THE KIND OF PLACE where a person lived for more than their own wants and wishes.   He was living toward a world that still maintained a sacred space of God.  When Eric Liddell refused to run on Sunday, he was DEFINING WHO GOD WAS AND WHO HE WAS TO GOD.  If Eric Liddell had run on that day, he would have cheapened and lessened his life in God and eventually, it his life in God would have made no difference at all.  

This is also PART OF THE REASON DANIEL WOULD NOT EAT THE KING’S FOOD.  He could have eaten the food, just as Eric Liddell could have run on Sunday.   He and his friends could have enjoyed the freedom they had, but what they would have also done was lessened the value of God in their lives, and this would have also CHEAPENED their own lives, and who knows what other dangers and downfalls would have followed.   By drawing the line with food, Daniel was saying that FAITH WAS ALIVE AND WELL IN HIM, and this gave him and his PEOPLE GREAT COURAGE to survive and thrive in a pagan world. 

THE FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES

Psychologists, working with young people, discovered AN INTERESTING TRUTH several years ago.  Contemporary thought ASSUMED THAT FENCES ON PLAYGROUNDS MADE THE CHILDREN FEEL RESTRICTED in their recreation. A consensus was then reached TO REMOVE THE FENCES so children wouldn't feel confined.  Guess what? The opposite effect occurred. Researchers found that the children became more inhibited with their activities. They tended to huddle towards the middle of the playground and exhibited signs of insecurity. WHEN THE FENCES WERE REPLACED, THE CHILDREN PLAYED WITH GREATER ENTHUSIASM and freedom.  They needed to know have their own space well-defined.

The truth is the same for all of us.   WE NEED TO DEFINE WHO WE ARE AND WHO WE AREN’T and we need to LIVE WITHIN THOSE BOUNDARIES.   This means that we can’t live life to its fullest by saying ‘yes’ to everything.   WE ALSO NEED TO LEARN TO SAY ‘NO’.   We need to DEFINE THE LIMITS of what is safe, secure and sacred.  Such sacred boundaries of CHOOSING WHAT WE WILL DO AND NOT DO, don't really limit our freedom, but boundaries give a sense of freedom and provide a promise for the future. 

The Yiddish novelist ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER (1904–1991) was born in Poland to an observant Jewish family and moved to America in 1935 to escape Hitler’s rise to power. His prolific legacy captures the lost world of Eastern European Jewish life and the trials and triumphs of American Jewish immigrants. His work is permeated with reflections on God, mysticism, and the spiritual world. REFLECTING ON THE POWER OF BIBLICAL STORIES, Singer finds that their EMPHASIS ON WHAT PEOPLE DO, rather than what they think or feel, has an important lesson for humankind when facing modern dilemmas. Singer reflects,

           You are what you act. . . .

The Almighty does not require good intentions. Deeds are what counts

           . . . . If you are in despair, act as though you believed. Faith will come afterward. . . .

          Although I’ve read other books and admire them, too, the Bible, the Talmud, the Torah, I admire even more so. They not only tell me a story but really tell me how to live and how to behave.    (As quoted in a commentary on “Daniel”, by Sharon Pace, Smyth and Helwys, 2008, p. 42).

The ‘fight’ for our lives today is not any less than a fight for what we believe, who we are, and what kind of world we want to see realized.  But THIS ‘FIGHT’ FOR GOD’S WORLD does not strike a blow against the negative forces of our world UNLESS WE BEHAVE AND ACT DIFFERENTLY.    What we believe must be backed up with obedience, with duty, with action and deeds.   DANIEL’S ACTION AGAINST THE WORLD AROUND HIM was expressed IN FOREGOING THE RICHES OF THE KINGS TABLE.   By refusing to eat from that table, DANIEL WAS STAKING HIS PLACE AT THE TABLE IN THE KINGDOM STILL TO COME and he had just begun the fight.   Isn’t this also what the Christian life is supposed to be, a fight---a fight for our families, a fight for what is good, and fight for keeping our faith until the very end?  Amen.    

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

1.      In what ways is our culture changing and how is it threatening the church as the people of God?

2.     As you consider Daniel’s refusal of some of the King’s luxuries, there were other ‘pagan’ rites and rituals which Daniel not only tolerated, but participated with, such as learning the language and receiving an education.  How does Daniel’s own choices of what to resist and what not to resist say to us?  

3.     Some in our time have decided to resist the ‘world’ by resisting public education; do you see this as a good move?  Why or why not?   What do you think Daniel gained in this ‘pagan’ education?

4.     How ‘public’ was Daniel’s resistance and what does his approach say about his witness and ours?

5.     What did Daniel and his friends gain through their refusal of the Kings table?  What do we gain when we refuse certain luxuries which are afforded us by the ‘riches’ of our own world?

TEXTUAL NOTES ON Chapter 1

1.1  “The third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim”  (606 BC) may not be exact,  since it does not precisely correspond with the Babylonian record (605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar was still in Syria in 606) or the date in Jeremiah 25.1, which says it was the ‘fourth year’.   The author of Daniel may have been using a Jewish rather than Babylonian date, which were based different calendars.   This is why dates from the ancient world are seldom accurate, but only approximate.

1.1“King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.”  Jerusalem was actually destroyed in 597,      B.C.E. under the rule of Jehoiakim’s son, Jehoiachin.  It was a process that lasted several years.   

A fuller account of the destruction of Jerusalem can be found in 2 Kings 24.10-12ff.  

1.2  “The Lord let King Jehoiakim of Judah fall into his power.”   Daniel reminds us that this was not according to God’s purposes, but it was according to Israel’s sin that Jerusalem is destroyed.  

1.2.  “The land of Shinar” is an ancient name for Babylon (Gen. 10.10). 

1,3  “Without physical defect and handsome” or ‘flawless’ is priestly language of Leviticus 21: 17ff., referring to animals fit for sacrifice. 

1.4  “Chaldeans” refers to the Neo-Babylonian peoples who were educated in astrology and magic and spoke Aramaic, the trade language of the day.  This was the language which the Jews spoke when they returned and also the language of Jesus.  

1.5 “Portion” from and old Persian word meaning “government-supplied food or ration”.   (2 Kings 25:30, Jer. 52.34).

1.5   “educated for three years” also fit Persian record which say, “for a period of three springtides he shall gird himself with the holy education”  (From Sacred books of the East, 2^nd ed, 4:31ff), thus this was more religious training than what we consider a secular education and still coincides with the normal time of seminary education for pastor’s today.

1.7  “The palace master gave them other names…..”   The names given to Daniel and his friends correspond to Babylonian deities, Bel, Marduk, and Nabu.

1.12  “for ten days”  is a common period for a spiritual test in that time and they prove to be ‘ten times better’ (1.20).

1.14  “appeared better and fatter”  Being fat was a sign of health in the ancient world, contrary to medical research today.

1.17  “God gave knowledge and skill”.   In the ancient world purification was a way to approach the deity and obtain favor, but in this case the “knowledge and skill” came as a gift of God.

1.20  “Magicians” is from an Egyptian word referring perhaps linking this story with the story of Joseph (Gen. 41.8) and Moses (Exodus 7.11).  “Enchanters” is from Akkadian (Mesopotamian language in Persia), meaning ‘incantation priest’ (one who is able to cast a spell) which properly links the story to its Babylonian context  (See Daniel 2.2, 4.7, 5.7).

1.21  “Until the first year of Cyrus” (538 BCE) means that Daniel served in royal court from 606 until 539, which is a considerable 68 years.  Jeremiah predicted the exile would last 70 years (25.11).

OUTLINE FOR STUDY OF DANIEL 1

1.      OPENING:    Spend some time in discussion about ‘changes’ in the world and in the church during your lifetime.  Make sure that you DISCUSS SOME AREA OF ‘SECULARIZATION’ of American society  (Like no Prayer or Bible Reading).

2.     DID DEEPER.   READ Daniel 1 in its entirety.    Have them write down any questions which they have about the flow of the story.    ANSWER: WHERE is the setting of this story: (Babylon)?   Time: WHEN does this take place?  (During Exile).  WHO are the main characters (Daniel and his friends)?  WHAT is the main issue in the story (Daniel’s decision not to eat the kings food (vs. 8)?  Finally, HOW?  How does this story point out a challenge for God’s people? (How to deal with Change, Oppression, Exile).

3.     MAKE IT REAL:   Share about the “Food Fight” and our “Good Fight” for the faith in our own time.   After the brief lecture, allow students to BREAK UP IN GROUPS OF 4 and list and share their own challenges to keep the faith and resist the world in the changing times of our secular culture.  Let them SUMMARIZE AND REPORT TO MAIN GROUP.   They could list things like: Being Faithful to Worship when others don’t go to church.   They could speak about resisting luxuries that spoil others.  They could also talk about not letting the world define who they are or trying to fight against certain negative trends (in human behavior, secular politics, and religious practice) .

4.     ANY QUESTIONS:  Many Christians today resist “Babylon” by sending their children to private or Christian schools.   The Amish resist Babylon by speaking their own language.   Why do you think Daniel not resist the ‘education’ or ‘language’ of Babylon?   What does this say about how you ‘pick your battles’ to fight for the faith in our own world?   Where do you draw the line and what helps you know where and when to draw that line? (Perhaps when it effects your children, your marriage, you prayer life, etc).

GET READY: For your preparation for next week, Read Daniel 2 -6.   We will primarily be considering chapter 3 in our discussion.