The King’s Food

An old story from the Bible, set about 2,600 years ago

The boy’s name was Daniel, and he had lost nearly everything a person can lose. An empire called Babylon had swallowed his homeland, and Daniel, young, sharp, and far from home, was marched to the capital to be trained for the king’s service.

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, along with other young men from Judah, would receive three years of training, with food and wine from the king’s table each day. Daniel decided he would not defile himself with that food and wine. To defile means to make unclean in God’s eyes. The Bible does not say exactly why the king’s food would have done that; many readers think it broke the food laws God had given his people. This wasn’t a small thing to refuse. You did not tell Babylon no thank you.

Here is the sentence the Bible uses, and it’s worth reading slowly: “But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king.” (Daniel 1:8)

Determined. Not “Daniel gritted his teeth when the tray arrived.” Not “Daniel hoped he’d be strong enough.” He settled the question before the tray was ever set in front of him, quietly, privately, in advance. Then he did something surprising: he didn’t shout, didn’t smash the tray, didn’t lecture anyone. He went to the official in charge and asked, politely, with a plan. And he was not alone in that room. The Bible says, “Now God had given the chief of staff both respect and affection for Daniel” (Daniel 1:9). Test us for ten days on vegetables and water, he said. Then look at us, and decide.