Randy Green's Blog

Vegetarian Delight – Part 1 Scary Teddy Bears – Part 1

Vegetarian Delight – Part 2

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Please test your servants for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance be observed in your presence and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king’s choice food; and deal with your servants according to what you see [Daniel 1:12-13].

Daniel and his three friends were slaves to ol’ King Neb of Babylon. He fed them food offered in sacrifice to his idols, a violation of God’s commandment against idolatry. They wanted a menu of only vegetables and water, but the person in charge of their food was afraid it would leave them sickly and he’d lose his head for it. What to do? It was a toughie.

Actually it wasn’t. It just took a bit of godly wisdom on Daniel’s part. He knew the Lord would help them not to defile themselves with the king’s food because they belonged to Him first and to ol’ King Neb a distant second. So Daniel asked the king’s steward in charge if he would feed him and his three Hebrew buddies only vegetables and water.

It’s like this. The heathens didn’t offer their gods vegetables and water. Ergo, any vegetables and water eaten by Daniel & friends would not have been sacrificed to the false gods of Babylon. Hence Daniel & friends would not be defiled by eating vegetables and drinking water. They would maintain their ritual purity, thus maintaining their relationship with the one true God YHWH.

But anyone of us who has lived for more than a day knows things seldom go as planned. The steward was loath to agree to Daniel’s menu request, notwithstanding how tactfully it was presented. He feared that vegetables and water alone would leave the Hebrews weak and sickly in appearance. In that case the Queen of Hearts, er, I mean ol’ King Neb would demand, “Off with his head!”

Refusing to take “No!” for an answer, Daniel deftly offered a test to prove the validity of his request. “Allow my three friends and me, O steward, to eat only vegetables and water for ten days. Then examine us to determine if we are healthy or sickly.” The steward took the bait, and the Hebrews had their kosher food for ten days.

Ten days came and ten days went, and the steward came too. He eyeballed the four Hebrews and couldn’t believe his eyes. The Hebrews ate only vegetables and water for ten days, while all the other slaves-in-training feasted on the rich food from the king’s table. Nonetheless the four Hebrews appeared much healthier than the other slaves, sporting a ruddy complexion and a sanguine disposition.

The steward figured he just hit the mother lode! It was a free pass into the good graces of the king. By his own astute judgment and wisdom the four Hebrews excelled all the others. He was a master chef par excellence. The king would be so proud of him…or that’s the way he planned to spin the tale anyway.

So the steward persisted with fetching vegetables and water as the Hebrew’s victuals, and the Hebrews persisted in growing healthy and wise. In fact it wasn’t long before Daniel was second in command in Babylon, and his three friends were not far below him either.

The moral of the story is a good one. Serve the Lord regardless of the consequences. He alone is God. There is none other. At the same time don’t be obnoxious in serving Him. Our service to the Lord Jesus is to be done in a way which represents Him, not our bad attitudes! If we reflect Him to others, they will be given two choices: either receive Him as their Savior or else reject Him.

In any case their decision will be vis-à-vis Him, not us personally. If they refuse to receive, it will be Him they reject. And the chances of them accepting Him go up exponentially, if only we have the wisdom to keep self in the background and Jesus on the front burner.

So let’s learn the moral to this story and exalt the Lord Jesus. Sounds like a plan. Let’s do it!

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86