Weekly Bible Commentary by Wes Woodard – Daniel 1:1-7 – “Daniel and His Three Friends Go Into Captivity”

The year is approximately 540 B.C. Babylon has just conquered Judah and Jerusalem and the Temple. Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, carried off the golden vessels from the Temple and placed them in the house of his false god in Babylon. He also gathered good looking and intelligent young men from the tribe of Judah and ordered that they be taught the literature and language of the Chaldeans once they reached the land of Babylon. They were to be educated for three years and at the end of the course they were to enter into the king’s personal service. Verse six of chapter one tells us about four of these young men: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Verse seven says that their names were changed in Babylon to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Daniel’s name was changed to Belteshazzar. We do not know if there were other young men from the tribe of Judah taken. The only ones mentioned are these four and they will reappear as we work our way through the book of Daniel. We need to remember that the book of Daniel is one of the most important books in the Old Testament. The reason is that God gave some awesome ideas about Israel’s future in this book.