Qualifications for Ministry

Qualifications For Ministry

Daniel 1:³  Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Yisrael and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles. The Hebrew word for noble here is mtrp partam – most noble, the best. The church must always take for itself, the cream of the crop of the flock from any nation, where it ministers. I believe that they were given tests to determine their IQ’s, and those selected were trained to be ministers of YAHVEH to give advise to the kings and nations. We will find that Daniel was included in this group and that the king did consult them. Most conservative scholars agree that Daniel was taken captive when he was about seventeen years old.

 He was made a eunuch, and so you can understand why Daniel never married or had any children. Some people wonder what kind of an oddball Daniel was. Actually, he was no oddball, this was something the king did, and it did not destroy the mental development of these young men. It served the purpose of making them more docile toward the king, and it also enabled them to give all their time to the studies, which were given to them. I am sure that it is true today as it was in the days of Daniel. The king, like YAHVEH, wanted these boys to spend their time studying, and his way of doing that was to make them eunuchs. Daniel was in this group.

1:⁴ young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans. I submit to you that the Bible was not written by a bunch of high school dropouts, ignorant men did not write it. Moses was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt. The Egyptians were quite advanced; they knew the distance to the sun, and they knew that the earth was round. It was a few Greeks who came along later and flattened out the earth. They were the “scientists” in that day. Daniel, too, as a young man of outstanding intellectual capability. He must have rated high on the list with the other young men who were given the test in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. The Apostle Paul, who authors a great deal of the New Testament, was a very intellectual man.

 All those who were chosen were brilliant young men who were exposed to the learning of their day. I get weary of these so-called eggheads who act as if the Bible was written by a group of ignoramuses. If you feel that way about it, you are mistaken. Daniel was nobody’s fool. He was a brilliant young man, and he was taught as few men have been taught. Don’t despise the learning of that day. There were many men who were well advanced in knowledge, in science, and in many other areas. Daniel is going to be exposed to all that.

1:⁵ And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king. Meat” could be translated “food.” This, of course, was the diet of pagans, and it would include unkosher, unclean animals. Remember that Daniel was a Jew and was under the Mosaic Law, they had been told not to eat certain meats, certain fowl, and certain fish. Three years of training is similar to the three years of training the disciples of Yahushua.

1:⁶  Now from among those of the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.  ⁷  To them the chief of the eunuchs gave names: he gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abed-Nego. These four boys must have registered the highest IQ’s of the whole group. You see, the world always wants the best brains as well as the best physical specimens from the church. These four young men from Judah are singled out and identified for training, and the reason is that they are going to take a stand for YAHVEH.

1:⁸ But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, or with the wine, which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. This Young man takes a real stand for YAHVEH, and he does it in a heathen court. Under normal circumstances, this would have been fatal. Obviously, Daniel was not trying to win a popularity contest. He wasn’t attempting to please Nebuchadnezzar. His decision did not reflect the modern softness of compromise, which we find all around us today; nor was it dictated by the false philosophies of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” and “The Power of Positive Thinking.” Daniel knew nothing of the opportunist’s policy of “When in Babylon, do as the Babylonians do.” Daniel did not conformed to this world system, but he was transformed by the renewing of his mind, and the will of YAHVEH was the all-absorbing purpose of his life.

Daniel and his friends represented in their days, that Jewish remnant which YAHVEH has had in all ages. This is the remnant of which Paul spoke in Romans 11: ⁵ “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” Now these boys don’t want to eat the king’s food; they are going to rebel against a Babylonian diet. Actually, an attempt will be made to brainwash these young men, to make them Babylonians inwardly and outwardly. They were supposed to eat like Babylonians; dress like Babylonians, and think like Babylonians.

However, Daniel and his friends were under the Mosaic system, and YAHVEH made what they were to eat very clear to His people in the Old Testament. We read in Leviticus 11:44–47: “For I am YAHVEH your YAHVEH: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that crept upon the earth. For I am YAHVEH that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your YAHVEH: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. This is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moveth in the waters, and of every creature that crept upon the earth: To make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten.” Certain meats were specifically forbidden, and they are listed in the Book of Leviticus; also, meats offered to heathen idols were repulsive to YAHVEHly Yisraelites. While eating these meats are not sin in it self, it render one unclean and they are forbidden to approach YAHVEH.

Perhaps Daniel and these other Hebrew Young men were Nazarites to whom even wine was forbidden: Num. 6: ³ “He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried”. These young men were following the injunction of Isaiah 52: ¹¹ “Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of YAHVEH”.

 

However, believers today have not been given a diet chart or menu. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:25–27: “What-so-ever is sold in the shambles [that is, out yonder in the meat market], that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: For the earth is YAHVEH’s, and the fullness thereof. If any unbelieving person invites us to a feast, whatsoever is set before us, should be eating, asking no question for conscience sake.” Then again, in 1 Corinthians 8: ⁸, he says, “But meat commendeth us not to YAHVEH: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.” These Hebrew young men were taking a stand under the Mosaic Law, and they were taking a stand for YAHVEH.

1:⁹ Now YAHVEH had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs. Now, you see, Daniel is already a favorite, and that is no co-incident. YAHVEH was working on Daniel’s behalf, even as He worked in the life of Joseph down in the land of Egypt.

1:¹⁰ And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king. The chief of the eunuchs did not want to force the diet upon them; he was really on a hot seat. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. He liked Daniel, but what was he to do?

1:¹¹ So Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, ¹² “Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. Actually, it was a grain they wanted to eat. To tell the truth, what Daniel was saying was, “Let us have our vegetables, and in a few days we’ll show you that we are all right, that we are in just as good physical condition as the others are.

1:¹³ “Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king’s delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants.” In other words: Test us, and put us on this diet for a few days to see if we are not in as good a condition as the other young men. Well, YAHVEH had brought favor from this man Melzar to Daniel, and so Melzar is going to make the test.

The Bible tells us that Daniel’s decision to refuse the Babylonian diet was something he “purposed in his heart.” I want to comment for a moment on this issue of making Redeemed living and separation from the world a matter of a few little rules that have to do with eating and with conduct. There is always a tendency in this area to be dogmatic and forbid certain questionable things, which are actually debatable.

In the history of the church we can see times when people set up a system of doing things and not doing things—systems that actually were good at first. For example, the monasteries, which began in the Roman Empire, were actually a protest against the licentiousness of their day. But before long it was worse on the inside of the monastery than on the outside.

Remember that Christ said to the Pharisees.  Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness” (Luke 11: ³⁹). In other words, “You make the outside of the cup clean, but inside it’s dirty. It is just like a white washed tomb.” Today it is “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3: ⁵). In order to live a life of holiness, we must first receive new life from YAHVEH—we must be born from above.

“Daniel purposed in his heart” it all began in the heart of Daniel. He was not a papier-mâché; he had a heart, and his convictions came from his heart. That should be our experience also. We are captives in this world in which we live; gravitation holds all of us by the seat of our pants, and we cannot jump off this earth. YAHVEH Jesus said that we are in the world, but not of the world. And He said, “… Ye cannot serve YAHVEH and mammon.” However, we cannot serve YAHVEH by following a set of rules; we must have a purpose in our hearts. Jesus said that it was out of the heart that the issues of life precede, the things, which we put into our bodies, are not the most important. Daniel purposed in his heart that he would obey YAH’S law given to YAH’S people Yisrael; this was to be his testimony.

1:¹⁴ So he consented with them in this matter, and tested them ten days. The prince of the eunuchs was rather reluctant to go along with Daniel’s suggestion because he had been brought up in Babylonian culture and believed that this diet was the thing, which produced geniuses. However, he liked Daniel and gave them ten days to test it out.

1:¹⁵ And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king’s delicacies. Daniel’s diet worked in their behalf. This ought to tell us something. YAHVEH wanted His people Yisrael to be different from the surrounding nations, but He did not give them a special diet just to make them different, there was also a health factor involved. I firmly believe that if we followed the diet outlined in Leviticus, we would be healthier than our neighbor who eats just anything. But we can eat anything we want; we are not under the law. I have found, though, that it is a matter of health. I have had a number of physical problems and have discovered, among other things, that pork just isn’t the best thing for us. Yisrael’s YAHVEH-given diet was very meaningful health wise, and it had more than just a ceremonial basis.

1:¹⁶  Thus the steward took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink, and gave them vegetables. ¹⁷ As for these four young men, YAHVEH gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.  Just as YAHVEH blessed Solomon, YAHVEH is blessing these Hebrew children who were in a foreign court. Daniel will eventually become prime minister to two great world empires.

“Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.” Daniel was still in the time of revelation, the time in which YAHVEH used dreams and visions. For a great many people it is easier to dream about the Word than it is to study it. I used to have students in a Bible institute who would very piously pray the night before an exam. They didn’t study much, but they were very pious about it all. One student told me that he stuck his Bible under his pillow the night before an examination! I asked him, “Do you really think the names of the kings of Yisrael and Judah will come up through the duck feathers and get into your brain?

 The Holy Spirit is not a help and a crutch for a lazy person. You are going to have to study the Word of YAHVEH. YAHVEH speaks to us through His written Word today. However, YAHVEH is speaking audibly to Daniel, for he is now writing one of the books of the Bible. In spite of what the critics say, Daniel wrote it—it was not written three or four hundred years later.

1:¹⁸ Now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar is going to look at the training, which was given to them to see if it has been the proper training. I honestly believe the Communists have been very stupid in their methods of brainwashing. They attempt to break a man down. You can break down any human being; he will finally give in, of course. A man can only take so much. But this man Nebuchadnezzar really knew how to do it. He gave them a lot of food, he tested them, and finally he placed them in a fine position. He did all this in a friendly way. This was his philosophy, his way of making friends and influencing people.

1:¹⁹ Then the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they served before the king. Nebuchadnezzar talked with those four Young Men and found they were geniuses, and so he gave them good positions in his kingdom.

1:²⁰ And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm. Why is the wisdom of today’s Redeemed community not ten times better that those of worldly wisdom, because we have not conform to the ways of Adonai.

1:²¹ Thus Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus. Longevity in ministry is a result of dedications to the statues of YAHVEH. Psalms 119: ⁹⁷ Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. ⁹⁸ You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me. ⁹⁹ I have more understanding than all my teachers; For Your testimonies are my meditation. ¹⁰⁰ I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Your precepts. ¹⁰¹ I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Your word. ¹⁰² I have not departed from Your judgments, for You Yourself have taught me. ¹⁰³ How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!¹⁰⁴ Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way.