Lesson 144:
Daniel 1
Daniel,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were among the first group of Jews taken
captive to Babylon and were selected to be trained for service in King
Nebuchadnezzar’s household. While obtaining their education, Daniel and his
friends kept the Lord’s laws by refusing wine and certain foods from the king.
The Lord blessed them physically, mentally, and spiritually, and they excelled
in wisdom above other servants of the king.
---Consider
what you would have done in this situation:
VIDEO CLIP (2:57 to 5:39) “Run and Not Be
Weary” (8:18) Elder L. Tom Perry
In 1919 Creed Haymond was a
runner representing his college in an annual track meet involving 1,700 men.
The night before the meet, Creed’s coach said, “Creed, I’m having the boys take
a little sherry wine tonight. I want you to have some, just a little of
course.”
“I won’t do it, Coach.”
“But, Creed, I’m not trying to
get you to drink. I know what you Mormons believe. I’m giving you this as a
tonic [refresher].”
Creed responded, “It wouldn’t do
me any good; I can’t take it.”
His coach said, “Remember, Creed,
you’re captain of the team and our best point winner; fourteen thousand
students are looking to you personally to win this meet. If you fail us we’ll
lose. I ought to know what is good for you.”
(in
Joseph J. Cannon, “Speed and the Spirit,” Improvement Era, Oct.
1928, 1002).
---Look for
principles as we study Daniel 1 that can help you be faithful to
the Lord when you are pressured to break His commandments.
---Daniel 1:1–4 says that in approximately
605 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, besieged Jerusalem.
Nebuchadnezzar took items from the temple and a select group of Jews back to
Babylon (see 2 Kings 20:14–18). He commanded an official in
his palace to take certain captive Israelite youth and train them for service
in his household.
VIDEO CLIP (time code 0:52–3:49) covers
Daniel 1:4-7
[---Read Daniel
1:4–5 aloud looking for characteristics
Nebuchadnezzar desired the youth to have and what he provided for them.
---What characteristics did these
youth need to have?
---What did the king provide
these youth? (the word meat refers to delicacies [see Daniel
1:5, footnote b].)
---Read Daniel
1:6–7 aloud and look for the names of some of the
Jewish young men who were selected to be trained for the king’s service.]
---Read Daniel
1:8 aloud and
look for how Daniel responded when wine and certain foods were provided by the
king.
---What request did Daniel make regarding the
food and wine that were provided? Why?
---I need a
volunteer to draw a car on the board.
---What liquids do cars require to properly
function?
---Show
students a soft drink.
---What would happen if we poured this drink
into the gas tank of a car? (it would make the existing gasoline impure and
would harm the engine of the car.)
---Defile means to desecrate or make impure or
unclean. Daniel may have considered that partaking of the food and wine would
defile him because, according to custom, a portion of these items might have
first been offered as sacrifices to Babylonian gods. To consume such food would
have been considered participating in the worship of false gods. Some of the
food may also have been forbidden by the law of Moses (see Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy
14:3–21) or not prepared in accordance
with the law (see Leviticus
17:13–14; Deuteronomy
12:15–16).
---The law
of Moses included the Lord’s dietary laws for people in Daniel’s day, similar
to how the Word of Wisdom represents the Lord’s law of health for our day.
---If Daniel lived in our day, what would he
refuse to take into his body to avoid defiling himself?
---How can consuming such items be like
putting soda in the gas tank of a car?
(It defiles
us spiritually and can also defile us physically.)
---Think
about the pressures Daniel faced when he made the request not to eat the king’s
food and wine.
---What factors might have made it difficult
for Daniel to be faithful to the laws the Lord had given?
---Elder
David R. Stone of the Seventy gave a summary of the circumstances Daniel
and his friends were placed in:
“Let us clearly understand the pressures that
the four young men were under. They had been carried away as captives by a
conquering power and were in the household of a king who held the power of life
or death over them. And yet Daniel and his brothers refused to do that which
they believed to be wrong” (“Zion in the Midst of
Babylon,” Ensign or
Liahona, May 2006, 92).
---What can we learn from Daniel’s example in
this moment?
---Write the
following statement on the board:
We can be
faithful to the Lord in all circumstances.
---Elder
Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught about not
defiling our physical bodies:
“When we understand our nature
and our purpose on earth, and that our bodies are physical temples of God, we
will realize that it is sacrilege to let anything enter the body that might
defile it.”
---At the
end of Daniel 1, you will see what the Lord can
do for those who are faithful to Him in all circumstances.
---Read Daniel
1:9–10 and look
for why the prince of the palace eunuchs, or officers, was concerned about
Daniel’s request.
---What was the concern of the prince of the
eunuchs?
VIDEO CLIP (time codes 3:50–5:15 and
5:46–6:15) covers Daniel 1:11-17
---The word
pulse (verse 12) refers to food grown or made
from seeds or grains. The word countenance (verse 13) refers to a person’s
appearance.
---What proposal did Daniel make?
---If Daniel lived in our day, what would he
likely choose to take into his body to comply with the Lord’s law of health? (See D&C
89:10–17 and “Physical and Emotional Health” in For
the Strength of Youth [booklet, 2011], 25–27.)
---How did their countenances compare to
those of the other youth?
---What principle can we learn from their
experience?
If we keep
the Lord’s laws, then He will bless us physically and spiritually.
---Read Doctrine
and Covenants 89:18–21 look
for blessings promised to those who keep the Word of Wisdom that are similar to
blessings that Daniel and his friends received.
---How are the promised
blessings for keeping the Word of Wisdom similar to the blessings Daniel and
his friends received?
---It is
important to remember that the physical blessings for keeping the Lord’s laws,
particularly the Word of Wisdom, do not
always include protection from poor health, but they can include other physical
blessings.
---President
Boyd K. Packer taught about the purposes of the Word of Wisdom:
“I have come to know … that a
fundamental purpose of the Word of Wisdom has to do with revelation. …
“If someone ‘under the influence’
can hardly listen to plain talk, how can they respond to spiritual promptings
that touch their most delicate feelings?
“As valuable as the Word of
Wisdom is as a law of health, it may be much more valuable to you spiritually
than it is physically”
---In what ways might the Word of Wisdom be
much more valuable to us spiritually than it is physically?
VIDEO CLIP (5:39 to 11:15 ) “Run and Not Be
Weary” (8:18) Elder L. Tom Perry
---The
summary of the conclusion of Creed Haymond’s experience. Listen for how he was
blessed by keeping the Lord’s law of health.
Creed believed in the greatness
of his coach and knew that the other coaches felt a little wine was useful when
men have trained muscles and nerves almost to the snapping point. He deeply
wanted to give his best efforts for his team, but he looked his coach in the
eye and said, “I won’t take it, Coach.”
The coach replied, “You’re a
funny fellow, Creed. You won’t take tea at the training table. You have ideas
of your own. Well, I’m going to let you do as you please.”
Creed was left in a state of
extreme anxiety. He worried what he could say to his coach if he performed
poorly the next day. He was going against the fastest men in the world. Nothing
less than his best would do. His stubbornness might lose the meet for his
college. His teammates were doing as they were told. They believed in their
coach. What right had he to disobey? Only one reason: he had believed all his
life in the Word of Wisdom. He knelt
and earnestly asked the Lord to give him a testimony regarding the source of
the revelation he had believed and obeyed. He then went to sleep.
The next morning, all the boys on
the team except Creed were sick. Creed’s coach was unsure why. Creed suggested,
“Maybe it’s the tonic you gave them.”
“Maybe so,” answered the coach.
As the events of the track meet
got under way, it was plain that something was wrong with Creed’s team. In
event after event, his teammates performed well below what was expected of
them. One teammate was even too sick to participate in his event.
Then the 100-yard (91-meter) dash
was announced; it and the 220-yard (201-meter) dash were Creed’s races.
The starter shot the pistol for the
100-yard dash, and every man started running except Creed. The earth gave way
under his foot because of a hole made by a previous runner, and Creed came down
on his knee behind the starting line. He got up and ran his hardest. At 60
yards he was last in the race. He then began passing other runners, and at the
last moment he swept past the leader to win the race.
Through a mistake in planning,
the finals of the 220-yard dash came five minutes after the last heat of the
semifinals in which Creed had just run. Creed had already run in three races
that day, but he would not be allowed any more time to rest.
This time Creed shot from his
marks and soon sprinted away from the crowd of runners. Creed was the first
across the finish line with a time of 21 seconds, the fastest time the 220-yard
dash had ever been run by any human being.
As Creed Haymond was going to bed
that night, the question he asked the night before about the divinity of the Word of Wisdom came back
into his mind. Events of the previous day passed before his mind: his
teammates’ decisions to take the wine and their failure in their events, and
his decision to abstain from the wine and his victories. As he lay in bed
contemplating, he received the assurance he had sought about the Word of Wisdom
being from God (see
Joseph J. Cannon, “Speed and the Spirit,” Improvement Era, Oct. 1928,
1001–7).
---How was Creed Haymond blessed for keeping
the Lord’s law of health?
---When have you or someone you know chosen
to keep the Lord’s law of health in the face of an opportunity or pressure to
break it?
---What are some of the physical and
spiritual blessings you have experienced by keeping the Lord’s law of health?
---Set a
goal to keep this law.
---Read Daniel
1:18–20 aloud and
look for how the Lord blessed Daniel and his friends for being faithful to Him.
---How did the Lord bless Daniel and his
friends for being faithful to Him?
---From the example of Daniel and his
friends, what principle can we learn about how the Lord will bless us if we are
faithful to Him?
---Adjust
the statement to read as follows: If we are faithful
to the Lord in all circumstances, then He will magnify us.
---What do you think it means to be magnified
by the Lord?
---In their
study of the remainder of the book of Daniel please look for additional
examples of how the Lord magnified Daniel and his friends because they were
faithful to Him regardless of their circumstances.
Quotes:
1.
In 1919
Creed Haymond was a runner representing his college in an annual track meet
involving 1,700 men. The night before the meet, Creed’s coach said, “Creed, I’m
having the boys take a little sherry wine tonight. I want you to have some,
just a little of course.”
“I won’t do
it, Coach.”
“But, Creed,
I’m not trying to get you to drink. I know what you Mormons believe. I’m giving
you this as a tonic [refresher].”
Creed
responded, “It wouldn’t do me any good; I can’t take it.”
His coach
said, “Remember, Creed, you’re captain of the team and our best point winner;
fourteen thousand students are looking to you personally to win this meet. If
you fail us we’ll lose. I ought to know what is good for you.”
2.---Defile means to desecrate or make impure or
unclean. Daniel may have considered that partaking of the food and wine would
defile him because, according to custom, a portion of these items might have
first been offered as sacrifices to Babylonian gods. To consume such food would
have been considered participating in the worship of false gods. Some of the
food may also have been forbidden by the law of Moses
3.---Elder
David R. Stone of the Seventy gave a summary of the circumstances Daniel
and his friends were placed in:
“Let us clearly understand the pressures that
the four young men were under. They had been carried away as captives by a
conquering power and were in the household of a king who held the power of life
or death over them. And yet Daniel and his brothers refused to do that which
they believed to be wrong” (“Zion in the
Midst of Babylon,” Ensign or
Liahona, May 2006, 92).
4.---Elder
Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught about not
defiling our physical bodies:
“When we understand our nature
and our purpose on earth, and that our bodies are physical temples of God, we
will realize that it is sacrilege to let anything enter the body that might
defile it.”
5.---President
Boyd K. Packer taught about the purposes of the Word of Wisdom:
“I have come to know … that a
fundamental purpose of the Word of Wisdom has to do with revelation. …
“If someone ‘under the influence’
can hardly listen to plain talk, how can they respond to spiritual promptings
that touch their most delicate feelings?
“As valuable as the Word of
Wisdom is as a law of health, it may be much more valuable to you spiritually
than it is physically”
6.
Creed
believed in the greatness of his coach and knew that the other coaches felt a
little wine was useful when men have trained muscles and nerves almost to the
snapping point. He deeply wanted to give his best efforts for his team, but he
looked his coach in the eye and said, “I won’t take it, Coach.”
The coach
replied, “You’re a funny fellow, Creed. You won’t take tea at the training
table. You have ideas of your own. Well, I’m going to let you do as you
please.”
Creed was
left in a state of extreme anxiety. He worried what he could say to his coach
if he performed poorly the next day. He was going against the fastest men in
the world. Nothing less than his best would do. His stubbornness might lose the
meet for his college. His teammates were doing as they were told. They believed
in their coach. What right had he to disobey? Only one reason: he had believed
all his life in the Word of Wisdom. He knelt and earnestly asked the Lord to
give him a testimony regarding the source of the revelation he had believed and
obeyed. He then went to sleep.
The next
morning, all the boys on the team except Creed were sick. Creed’s coach was
unsure why. Creed suggested, “Maybe it’s the tonic you gave them.”
“Maybe so,”
answered the coach.
As the
events of the track meet got under way, it was plain that something was wrong
with Creed’s team. In event after event, his teammates performed well below
what was expected of them. One teammate was even too sick to participate in his
event.
Then the
100-yard (91-meter) dash was announced; it and the 220-yard (201-meter) dash
were Creed’s races.
The starter
shot the pistol for the 100-yard dash, and every man started running except
Creed. The earth gave way under his foot because of a hole made by a previous
runner, and Creed came down on his knee behind the starting line. He got up and
ran his hardest. At 60 yards he was last in the race. He then began passing
other runners, and at the last moment he swept past the leader to win the race.
Through a
mistake in planning, the finals of the 220-yard dash came five minutes after
the last heat of the semifinals in which Creed had just run. Creed had already
run in three races that day, but he would not be allowed any more time to rest.
This time
Creed shot from his marks and soon sprinted away from the crowd of runners.
Creed was the first across the finish line with a time of 21 seconds, the
fastest time the 220-yard dash had ever been run by any human being.
As Creed
Haymond was going to bed that night, the question he asked the night before
about the divinity of the Word of Wisdom came back into his mind. Events of the
previous day passed before his mind: his teammates’ decisions to take the wine
and their failure in their events, and his decision to abstain from the wine
and his victories. As he lay in bed contemplating, he received the assurance he
had sought about the Word of Wisdom being from God. (Adapted from
Joseph J. Cannon, “Speed and the Spirit,” Improvement Era, Oct. 1928,
1001–7.)
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