by Lemuel Niere
Temperance is a word that is almost frowned upon in the twenty-first century. Standards of diet in a religious context are viewed as legalistic.
We live in a culture in Christianity where you can do anything you want with your body because, after all, “it’s my body.” In the Christian community, the idea that one is saved almost gives license to eat and drink any way that one wants to. Truth be told, the idea of temperance is viewed with raised eyebrows even in our community of faith.
Yet should it be? Does temperance have a place in the Christian experience? Contained within Daniel 1 is the theme of temperance. From our cultural perspective, beginning a prophetic book with the theme of temperance is a peculiar one. Yet in Daniel 1, temperance lays the groundwork for intellectual and spiritual understanding that is critical to the rest of the book of Daniel.
Daniel did not allow Babylonian citizenship and royal privileges to turn him away from the One True God. He recognized that failure to keep God’s law had brought judgment and defeat to his people, and he was determined that he would live to please God and trust Him to keep him safe in the foreign land.
Daniel knew a portion of all food was offered to idols and a portion of all Babylonian wine was poured out on the altar of a Babylonian god. Further, he knew that the meat coming from the king’s table, probably pork, beef or lamb, would not have had the blood drained properly, as Israel’s law required. To eat it would therefore be against the Law of Moses and would mean he was defiling himself by conforming to pagan standards and ideas.
Daniel also knew the wise saying in Prov. 23:1, “When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony. Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.” So Daniel resolved not to defile himself. Taking his stand with courtesy and courage, Daniel went to the chief official to ask permission not to partake of the king’s food and wine, making it clear that his religious convictions would not allow him to do so, (read Daniel 1:8-16).
The biblical instruction of 1 Corinthians 10:31 is still relevant today. It says, “Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
