Daniel 1:17 - Meaning and Application

About Daniel and his companions, we see two things here.

First, they made great progress in learning (Daniel 1:17). They were sober, diligent, and worked hard at their studies. Their teachers likely put a great deal of effort into them because they saw unusual ability. Still, their success is credited to God alone. He gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom, because every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights. It is the Lord our God who gives people the power to get wealth, and the mind is equipped only by the One who made it.

The great learning God gave these four young men was a kind of compensation for what they had lost. Because of the sin of their fathers, they had been cut off from the honors and comforts that might have come with their noble birth. God gave them better honors and pleasures through knowledge, and so made up for what they had been denied.

It was also a reward for their faithfulness. They kept their religion even in small matters, and refused to defile themselves with the king’s food or wine. In effect, they lived like Nazirites, people set apart to God. For that, God honored them with unusual wisdom, because God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him (Ecclesiastes 2:26).

Daniel received a special measure of this gift. He had understanding in visions and dreams. He could interpret dreams, as Joseph did, not by human rules or tricks, but by the wisdom God gave him. More than that, he had a prophetic spirit, which let him speak with God and receive messages about divine things in dreams and visions (Numbers 12:6). In this book, Daniel is therefore always dealing with dreams and visions, either receiving them or explaining them. Each person who has received a gift should use it to serve others (1 Peter 4:10).

Second, they won favor with the king. After three years of training, and likely when they were already young men of some maturity, they were brought before the king with the others of their group (Daniel 1:18). The king questioned them himself (Daniel 1:19). He was able to do this because he was a man of learning, and princes should use their own judgment when choosing servants. They should not depend too much on other people’s reports.

The king tested them mainly in matters of wisdom and understanding, not just in language, speech, or poetry. He wanted to know whether they were wise in the practical direction of life and public affairs. He was asking, not whether they were clever, but whether they were sound and sensible. He found that they were better than the young men of their own age, and even wiser than all their teachers (Psalm 119:99-100).

The king was not biased toward his own people, older men, or those with established names. He openly admitted, after testing them, that these poor young Jewish captives were ten times better than all the magicians in his whole kingdom (Daniel 1:20). He quickly saw something remarkable in them, and even more, he saw that a little true knowledge of God was worth more than all the divination he had known. What is chaff compared with wheat? What are the magicians’ rods compared with Aaron’s? There was no comparison.

These four young students were better, far better, than all the old practitioners in the realm, taken together. We may be sure there were many of them. In this way, God brought shame on the pride of the Chaldeans and gave honor to his own people in their low condition. He also made the rest of the Jewish nation more respected in the land where they were held captive.

After this judgment was made about them, they stood before the king (Daniel 1:19). They served in his presence, and likely in his council as well, since “to see the king’s face” was a way of speaking about a royal adviser (Esther 1:14). This confirms Solomon’s saying: if a man is diligent, sober, and humble, he will stand before kings and not before ordinary men. Hard work is the path to advancement.

We are not told how long the other three remained at court, but Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus (Daniel 1:21). He did not always remain in the same place of favor, but he lived long enough to see the release of his people from captivity and their return to their land. Sometimes God lets his servants, who mourn with Zion in her troubles, live to see better days for the church than they saw at first, and to share in her joy.