One person who sought the good of his new community in Babylon was Daniel, one of the Jews who were carried away into captivity:
“3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility,4 youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. 5The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. 6Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. 7And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. ”
(Dan 1:3-8)
Daniel accepted to be educated in the Babylonian school and to get a new name but draws the line at “unclean food”. Becoming part of the new Babylonian society was okay, but actively participating in a foreign religion was something Daniel was not going to put up with.
It is not clear exactly what was unclean with the Babylonian food, but it is known that the Babylonians often sacrificed both food and blood to their idols.[i] It may also have been that the Babylonians did not distinguish between clean and unclean food as required by the Law of Moses,[ii] i.e., they ate both cow and pig for example.
A recurring lesson in the book of Daniel is to stand up for your faith in God even in a foreign land by contributing to the common good while refraining from evil. In a foreign land with a foreign religion, there are things that believers cannot do, but there are also things that they can actively contribute to. Daniel served the Babylonian king and was part of his court, but he did not participate in everything.
In the same way, a Christian today can also engage politically in his secular society by making his talents available to society and through them seeking the good of his society. But at the same time, like Daniel, draw the line at participation in outright wickedness. As a Christian politician, for example, one can be a great blessing to both natives and immigrants by enacting xenophilic laws. As we saw in chapter 10, there was a promise of blessing in return if Israel blessed the foreigners in their land. According to this biblical principle, our country will in turn be blessed if we bless foreigners by accepting refugees, contributing financially from our abundance, and including and integrating them into our society.[iii]
Back to Babylon. Daniel refrained from defiling himself with the Babylonian food and stuck to just eating vegetables and drinking water.[iv] God blesses the faith of Daniel and his friends and allows them to be more well-fed than all the others in the king’s court.[v] Not only that, but God also gives Daniel and his friends “learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.“[vi]
The Babylonian king is so impressed by Daniel and his friends that they are allowed to serve the king directly.[vii] So Daniel uses the good of his own Jewish background, i.e., his faith, to bless his new country of Babylon.
In the same way, a refugee or immigrant in our country should actively work for the good of our society by contributing the knowledge and experience he or she has brought with them from their home country. In this way, both the native and the immigrant benefit.
A concrete example of this can be found when Babylon’s king Nebuchadnezzar dreams a dream that he wants to have interpreted by his wise men at court. When none of Babylon’s wise men succeed in interpreting the dream, Nebuchadnezzar is so angry that he orders them all to be killed, including Daniel and his friends.[viii]
But Daniel prays to God and gets an answer to the secret of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, thus saving the lives of the wise men.[ix]
What is particularly interesting in this event is that Daniel takes the opportunity to testify before King Nebuchadnezzar when the opportunity arises. When Nebuchadnezzar asks Daniel if he can really explain the dream, Daniel replies:
“27 Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked,28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.”
(Dan 2:27-28a)
Daniel must have longed to testify to King Nebuchadnezzar about his faith in God but had no opportunity. But now he seizes the opportunity to tell him that there is a God in heaven. Nebuchadnezzar is so moved that he exclaims:
“47 The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of Gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.””
(Dan 2:47)
As a result of Daniel’s bold faith, King Nebuchadnezzar “made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon” and elevated him to “chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon”,[x] something we will see in the next chapter will be a blessing for Joseph and Mary when the wise men from the East visit Jesus.[xi]
Daniel’s pursuit of the good of his new Babylonian community, while maintaining his bold faith in the God of Israel and teaching the Bible to the Babylonian scholars, led a few generations later to a blessing in return for Joseph and Mary’s family and enabled their escape to Egypt.
Living as a foreigner in a foreign country with a foreign religion can be dangerous. But when the opportunity arises, one should seize it and bear witness to God.
An important lesson from this is to stand up for your faith in God even in a foreign land by contributing to the common good but refraining from evil. In a foreign country with a foreign religion, there are things that believers cannot do, but there are also things to which they can actively contribute. Daniel served the Babylonian king and was part of his court, but he did not participate in everything.
A refugee of faith should actively work for the peace and prosperity of the new country, but at the same time must draw the line at outright wrongdoing. As believers, our primary loyalty is to God and God’s kingdom, not to Babylon, Sweden, or any other country.
In previous chapters we have seen how God instructed Israel to treat the stranger within Israel’s borders well by “loving him as yourself”,[xii] otherwise God will drive Israel out of their homeland,[xiii] something that unfortunately also happens with the exile in Babylon.[xiv] We have also seen how God wanted to extend his salvation to all the foreign peoples outside the borders of Israel “to the end of the earth” by transforming the Israelites into “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation“[xv] and thus making Israel “a light for the nations”. [xvi] In the next chapter, we will see how God sent his own Son to fulfill all that Israel failed to do. Jesus shows us how God’s people are not only to treat strangers and gentiles well within Israel’s borders but are to welcome and integrate them into God’s people fully and equally. Then Jesus sends his disciples out as missionaries to preach the gospel even beyond the borders of Israel, to the farthest reaches of the earth. But not grudgingly and bitterly like the prophet Jonah, but filled with joy and the power of the Spirit.
You have read a free chapter of my book Friend of Strangers. If you like this book, please consider purchasing the ebook through Amazon. Since English is not my native language, there may be some linguistic inaccuracies. Please contact me if you find any.
Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[i] Le 3:17
[ii] Le 11:1–47
[iii] Dt 14:28–29
[iv] Dan 1:12
[v] Dan 1:15
[vi] Dan 1:17
[vii] Dan 1:19
[viii] Dan 2:1–13
[ix] Dan 2:14–49
[x] Dan 2:48
[xi] Mt 2:1
[xii] Le 19:33–34
[xiii] Je 7:5–7
[xiv] 2Ki 25:8–11
[xv] Ex 19:5–6
[xvi] Isa 49:6