Oct 19th: Daniel 1 START TIME 10:00 EST

[[toj.cc]WildBillKickoff]

No polls this week, simply a call for any who wish to attend a study on Daniel to shoot for a 10pm start time tomorrow due to the fact that I will not be getting home until then. See you all there.

 

[azuresun]

Ahhh!

Due to the time change of the Bible Study, Outreach Night has been postponed until next Thursday, Oct. 26th.

 

[[toj.cc]WildBillKickoff]

I am so sorry about that.

On the plus side, I was researching a way to help CGA out of it's money woes (more on that later, hopefully).

Study recap:

Daniel begins after Jehoiakim is defeated and Israel begins the captivity. Babylon attempted to assimilate the Jewish people into their culture by sending the leaders to a three year Babylon training program, giving them Babylonian names, schooling them in Babylonian literature and language, and eating Babylonian cuisine. This was likely done to quickly erase any memory of Judaism from the people so as to discourage revolt, hoping the Jews would think of themselves as Babylonians. Part of the training was to eat the food from the king's table-- since the king was likely worshipped as a god, this was food sacrificed to an idol, strictly forbidden by Jewish law.

Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were four of the Jewish "nobles" selected by Nebuchadnezzar. The names mentione here are significant because Daniel is the only one to keep his Jewish name. I theorized that the reason for this is found in the lack of mention of Rack, Shack, and Benny after the fiery furnace incident-- chances are, they died unceremoniously in Babylon and were buried under their Babylonian names, while Daniel survived until the end of the captivity, thus regaining his Jewish name.

The four men declined to eat at the kings table, instead eating only vegetables and water. A contest was held where after ten days, the four were found to be in better health than the others. God rewarded the four for their courage, and gave them all the ability to understand language and literature. God also gave Daniel the ability to interpret dreams.

Clearly, in this case, God rewarded a choice made by His servants. However, we often believe that God first gives the gift, and then we perform the called task. This is sometimes the case, other times not. So, two assignments were given by me: first, to think of a way in which God might bless us for our choices, and second, to try to take a stand for God in some way in the following week.