Why did Daniel consider the allotment of food and wine to be wrong for him to eat?

score:16

Accepted answer

Some possibilities why Daniel refused the King's choice of food.

  1. Unclean animals: According to this source, pork was the choice meat of Babylonians. If this is true, it is certain that Daniel was ready to die by not eating nor touching the food.

    Leviticus 11:7-8 (NIV) And the pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.

  2. Cooking method: According to this source, ancient Babylonians were very advanced in cooking method unlike the ancient Jews who were eating food with simple recipes prepared in a simple way. The Babylonian food might have upset the stomach of Daniel. Eating food prepared in a way other than what we are used to is not easy.

  3. Offered to idols: Ancient Babylon was highly influenced by idolatry. They were ready to annihilate any group who did not bow down in front of their idols. The three friends of Daniel were also the victim of this. Idol worshipers have the habit of offering their foods to their idols before they eat. This is still in practice today by Hindus as this source says. Daniel was probably suspicious about the source of the food or he saw that it was offered to idols first and refused to eat it. Sacrificing food to idols was also in practice during the first century.

    1 Corinthians 8:7 (NIV) But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.

Daniel took a leap of faith towards his diet and God blessed him.

Upvote:1

Maybe how the wine was processed would shine some light on it's inappropriateness. What about how it was stored--what kind of skins did they put it in, or what kind of other vessel was used? Could it simply just be the "offered to idols" problem? The vessels of the Jewish temple were carried into Babylon and were brought into Nebuchadnezzar's temple to his god. Much later, Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar's son, commanded those same vessels to be brought for him, his princes, wives, and his concubines to drink wine out of. They praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. God punished this act! Maybe Babylonian wine was specifically used with it's vessel for idol worship.

Upvote:1

Although it doesn't state exactly what the food actually was, it leads me to question the word defiled as in the bible, defile meant unclean. Example numbers 5:38. Defile also could mean destroy, for example 2kings 23:10. look at psalm 119: 1 which says blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of God. This verse refers us to the laws of God given through Moses as in Leviticus, numbers.

Take Isaiah 24:5 which says- The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. From this scripture I understand that the word defiled is given because of disobedience of the law of God by those who inhabited the earth.

Could it be that Daniel did not wish to be separated from God by defiling (destroying, make unclean) his flesh with defiled (unclean) food. because he was determined in his heart to walk in the law of God given through Moses?

Upvote:4

My pastor preached a sermon on this exact question. There is a lot going on the that particular story but to answer your question. The reason had to do with the treatment of the food before it was served. Any of the kings choice food and drink was offered to idols before coming to the table. Thus the statement from Daniel about defilement.

More post

Search Posts

Related post