You Don’t Own Me

A commentary on the first chaper of the book of Daniel.  Read along with me… 

Those first couple of verses, that’s a heck of a thing to happen to you.  Your nation is conquered, and you are deemed of high enough quality to be included as part of the spoils.  I have to think that Daniel was somewhat internally conflicted over these events.  Here he’s been fearing and detesting the Babylonians during this whole seige, now, if he plays his cards right, he can join the winning team.  Probably was feeling a mix of anger/resentment, along with a guilty bit of opportunity.

So the king wants him to be well taken care of.  Giving him an education equvalent to an MBA.  Full scholarship, including room and board.  Not that he really had the option to decline.  I know that this was a common practice of the time, to absorb the conquered people in such a way as to dilute their national identity and cut down on the probability of mutiny. 

But Daniel won’t eat the food.  Probably doesn’t like to be called Belteshazzar, either.  This is the part I thought about the most.  Why won’t he eat the food?  The king already owns him, lock, stock & barrel.  I wonder if it was because of the kosher dietay laws.  Maybe.  But I really think this is where Daniel was sticking it back to the king.  I think he was expressing an attitude that was best captured by Lesley Gore in her 60’s pop hit, You Don’t Own Me.”  I pause for a moment to present the lyrics to this American musical treasure.

You Don’t Own Me

(Madara-White)You don’t own me
I’m not just one of your many toys
You don’t own me
Don’t say I can’t go with other boysDon’t tell me what to do
Don’t tell me what to say
An’ please, when I go out with you
Don’t put me on display

 

You don’t own me
Don’t try to change me in anyway
You don’t own me
Don’t tie me down ’cause I’ll never stay

 

I don’t tell you what to say
I don’t tell you what to do
So just let me be myself
That’s all I ask of you

 

I’m young and I love to be young
I’m free and I love to be free
To live my life the way I want
To say and do whatever I please

 

But even so, as he is in a small but significant way sticking it to the man, he does so within the rules.  These Babylonians are a curious bunch.  They keep on getting these capricious kings, yet they are all over following rules.  (Kind of like when we get a Republican president and a Democratic Congress.)  Give these guys a rule, and the will literally die to follow it.  Which is strange, as we see these kings turn on a dime in changing their mind at times.  But Daniel is smart in the way he presents this.  He’s going to refuse the food, but he still requests permission from his immediate supervisor.  This poor guy, looks like he is stuck in middle management.  He’s got to perform alchemy, taking these bitter, angry refugees, and turn them into capable, enthusiastic government employees, all while following rules handed down to him by a king who never even stops by to really understand the nuts & bolts of doing this.  Even in his response to Daniel, he’s basically saying, “Look, why are you tring to get me in trouble with my boss?”  I’ts an effective management strategy, to make the subject familiar with the immediate boss so  that a respect and possibly even friendship germinates, and then extract obedience in order to avoid that immediate supervisor getting disciplined by the faceless king.  So the Commander of the Officials has to figure out how to accomplish his end goal, while not violating the rules so much as to get noticed. 

 

A deal is struck.  Daniel, and his three friends (I wonder if they knew what Daniel was getting them into) will be vegetarians for ten days.  At the end of the ten days, they must look better than the other Jewish boys who don’t seem to have as stong of convictions, or the salad bar is closed.  And God brings it about.  Daniel, Shadrach, Meshack & Abednego are noticably healtheir than the others, so the arrangement is extended for the rest of their three year training.  And at the end of the training, the king finds them to be acceptable, so they enter the service of the king, where they distinguish themselves.

 

God affects two people here.  The first is Daniel (along with the three others).  He sees that God will have his back.  Daniel must have had a great temptation to doubt God’s providence, what with the besieging of Jerusalem and being heisted back to Babylon as a high profile prisoner of war.  It says a lot about Daniel’s faith that he was willing to go out on a limb, to cast his lot that God will keep him healthy on nothing but vegetables.  At that point in his life, he could have very well rationalized the whole thing away, reasoning that if God wanted him to stay kosher he should have kept the Babylonians from conquering Jerusalem and forcibly deporting him.  But he doesn’t.  He keeps his faith.  He doesn’t become bitter.

 

The other person affected here is the Commander of the officails; Daniel’s keeper.  I liken him to the jailer who was present when Paul stayed even though God smashed the jail doors open.  This guy really had a lot to lose here, and God goes out of his way to not get this guy in trouble.  But more importanly, this Babylonian gets to see the power of God.  There are going to be more events in the coming years centering around these Jewish refugees, and this Commander is one of the first to get a taste.  I bet during the events of the dream, the statue and the lions, he would think back to the time this foreign God saved his job and possibly his life.  I like how God cares about individuals like that, even guys who are on the other team.