PHIL HARRIS
Having just finished a personal study covering the book of Revelation and being aware that Ellen G. White tied her teachings in with the secular book entitled Daniel and The Revelation written by Uriah Smith, I am now wanting to study and write commentary on the book of Daniel.
I have often wondered how or why Adventists accept Uriah Smith’s book as equal with Scripture when his only claim was that he used secular history (things of the past) to explain both Daniel and Revelation. Sound Holy Spirit-led Christians do the very opposite. Scripture outlines our past, why our hope is centered solely on the work of Jesus Christ, and reveals to us what our future will be when all things are made new.
Jesus called Daniel a prophet
In modern times many have questioned whether Daniel ever existed or even was a prophet. However, in Matthew 24:15-28 and in Mark 13:14-23, Jesus calls Daniel a prophet with a warning about the coming abomination of desolation.
Current world-wide political events give us urgent reason for understanding the real meaning of the book of Daniel as contrasted against the false teaching of Adventism:
“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand)” (Matt. 24:15).
The Clear Word reveals Adventist false doctrine
It can be a challenge for someone who has never been an Adventist or is no longer one to document their teachings.
On February 7, 2020, Stephen Pitcher’s blog article titled “Is the Clear Word Official?” was posted. Even though the claim is denied within the organization, Pitcher establishes that within Adventism this book does, indeed, function as a “Bible”.
The Adventist-supported The Clear Word (TCW) book is an extreme, unjustifiable paraphrase that alters the meaning of the inspired text. The illogical claim is made that it’s simply a paraphrase and should not be called a Bible. If, however, it is no longer claimed to be a Bible, just what is it a paraphrase of?
The answer is this: the book is a paraphrase of the words of Ellen G. White printed in a book that follows the format of a real Bible.
As for myself, I’ve visited the Adventist Book Center located next to the Auburn Academy Seventh-day Adventist Church here in Washington state and verified that The Clear Word publication is, indeed, being promoted as a Bible. Therefore, this book can be used to show what is the actual belief of both the Seventh-day Adventist organization and of Ellen G. White.
The existence of this corrupt book emphasizes that it is critically important to be able to recognize true Scripture from what is false, as Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-27:
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Matt. 7:15).
Within Adventism their “health message” is claimed to be the “right hand of the gospel”. In fact, the “health message” is so important to Adventist doctrine that the first chapter of Daniel has been corrupted in The Clear Word in order to convince Adventists that the Bible teaches Ellen White’s emphasis on vegetarianism. In fact, this central teaching of Adventist lifestyle derived from their prophetess Ellen White only confirms that she was one of the coming false prophets about whom Jesus warned.
Nebuchadnezzar Attacks Jerusalem
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god (Dan. 1:1-2).
Jehoiakim the son of Josiah
Second Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 34 record that Josiah reigned for 31 years and that he did what was right in the sight of God. At his death, his son Jehoahaz, who was evil, reigned for three months only to be “deposed” by Neco king of Egypt and replaced by Jehoiakim the brother of Jehoahaz (also known as Eliakim, 2 Chr. 36:4) who also did evil and reigned for eleven years.
Daniel and other Jewish youths were also taken at the time Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem. These young men had been educated in their early years under Josiah. From these facts we can rightfully conclude that Daniel and his three friends were well-educated during the reign of godly Josiah. They would have known and lived by these words of Solomon:
For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints (Prov. 2:6-8).
Youths Without Blemish
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, 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. The 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 (Dan. 1:3-5).
Competent to stand in the king’s palace
Nebuchadnezzar commands his chief eunuch to train Israelites of the royal nobility for three years in the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king’s instructions included that they be “without blemish, of good appearance” were external attributes unrelated to the real wisdom that only comes from the one and only true God.
Forthcoming events will show that Nebuchadnezzar did not understand that these men were already more than competent to perform what he expected of them, nor did he realize that even he must bow before the throne of God.
Isaiah’s Prophecy
Stepping back to the reign of King Hezekiah we have Isaiah’s prophecy (Isa. 39 & 2 Kings 20:12-21) that was fulfilled during the lifetime of Daniel. Even though Hezekiah was a king who feared God, he had foolishly shown the Babylonian envoys all that he had:
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon” (Isa. 39:5-7).
Four Who Were Men of God
Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And 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 (Dan. 1:6-7).
Names have meaning
In these verses we meet the outstanding four among the exiled young men from Judah. For an understanding of the meaning of both their Hebrew and Chaldean names we have the following extracted from the Matthew Henry Commentary on Daniel chapter one, paragraph three:
Their Hebrew names, which they received at their circumcision, had something of God, or Jah, in them:
- Daniel—God is my Judge
- Hananiah—The grace of the Lord
- Mishael—He that is the strong God
- Azariah—The Lord is a help
To encourage them to forget the God of their fathers, the guide of their youth, they give them names that savour of the Chaldean idolatry.
- Belteshazzar signifies the keeper of the hidden treasures of Bel
- Shadrach—The inspiration of the sun, which the Chaldeans worshipped
- Meshach—Of the goddess Shach, under which name Venus was worshipped
- Abed-nego, The servant of the shining fire, which they worshipped also.
Their Resolve
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. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs, and the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king” (Dan. 1:8-10).
What defiles a Jew?
The biblical text doesn’t tell us in what way the food or drink of the king’s palace would defile Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. However, Daniel would have known what defiles any Jewish person because they were bound by the Mosaic covenant.
Daniel’s Diplomacy
Next we see Daniel’s firm yet gentle, steady disposition which would soon lead to his advancement, as we will see later in Daniel 2:48:
Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.” So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food. So the steward took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables (Dan. 1:11-16).
Better in appearance and fatter
The fact that Daniel and his friends were better better in appearance and fatter in flesh could only be by the power of God. Ten days of eating vegetables and water would not cause these young men to be fatter and more healthy that the Babylonian men. Such a result could only be by the intervention of God.
Adventist health message refuted
Here is a quote taken from the The Clear Word that adds to and alters the meaning of Scripture and demonstrates that the health message is so important to Adventists that it is written into their biblical paraphrase. In fact, it is so important that they do not flinch at selling this book marketed as a Bible with falsehoods written into the text:
“Test us for ten days by letting us eat our simple Hebrew diet of vegetables and water. Then compare us with the others and see if we don’t do better than those on the king’s diet. After that, which ever diet you decide, we’ll stay with it” (Dan. 1:12-13 TCW).
There is no such things as a “simple Hebrew diet of vegetables and water”. Furthermore, the inspired text implies that after the ten-day test proved convincing, they were only on the this diet for three years during the time of their training. Although not stated, it should be obvious that, when they were free to do so, they would return to a normal Jewish diet that included both clean meats and wine along with vegetables of all kinds. For information on what meats are part of a normal Jewish diet, read Leviticus chapter eleven.
There simply is no such thing as a Jewish vegetarian diet recorded in the canon of holy Scripture. In the course of his life, Daniel would have be free to return to a nutritionally balanced Jewish diet of both meat and vegetables that would include the drinking of wine.
Furthermore, as we delve into the rest of the book of Daniel, it is clear that Daniel and his friends were prepared to die rather than be defiled by the the king’s food and drink. It is therefore congruent with the text for us to conclude that their initial vegetable diet demonstrated their refusal to compromise with pagan religion, but the rest of their lives included eating the meats approved by the levitical food laws.
Since the king’s food was almost certainly offered to pagan idols before being served, the four men’s refusal to eat it was a statement that their loyalty to Yahweh was their ultimate loyalty.
God Gave Skill In All Things
As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom. And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus. (Dan. 1:17-21)
- God gave them skill in all literature and wisdom.
- God gave Daniel special skill in all visions and dreams.
- “The end of the time” simply means their three years of training was complete.
- When brought before Nebuchadnezzar the king found that none else were like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.
- Therefore these four Jewish men stood before the king who found them ten times better in wisdom and understanding than anyone else in his kingdom.
- Throughout his life exiled from his homeland Daniel served both God and Nebuchadnezzar and finely Cyrus of Persia (modern day Iran).
SUMMARY
- Current worldwide political events gives us a warning that there is an urgent need to study and understand both the biblical books of Revelation and Daniel.
- The primary purpose of doing a study of this book is to understand what God revealed to the prophet Daniel. For those with an Adventist background, this means to expose the heresies of Adventist official dogma. The use of Adventist publications documents what those beliefs are as contrasted with what Scripture really says and means.
- The spiritual growth and maturity of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah under the rule of godly King Josiah prepared them for their coming captivity by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. God had foreknown and prepared them for his purposes.
- Daniel and the three others with him made it clear that they would not defile themselves. Their Hebrew names showed show that they fully trusted God in whatever would happen to them. Daniel’s “suggestion” to give them a ten-day trial on nothing but vegetables and water resulted in their being far superior, at the end of their three years of training, to those who were on the king’s diet. This outcome demonstrated the power of God because in a normal situation, a steady diet of only vegetables would have been very unhealthy. Their loyalty to Yahweh resulted in God’s blessing them with success and honor for His glory.
- When these noble Jewish men appeared before Nebuchadnezzar, the king found them to be ten times superior to all others in all things within his administration. Daniel became so well-respected he held his position of leadership onward to the reign of Cyrus king of Persia.
- The perverted Adventist-published and supported book The Clear Word reference quoted in this commentary documents Ellen G. White’s non-biblical claim that Daniel’s three-year diet of vegetables and water supports the Adventist so-called health message.
All biblical quotes taken from the ESV
- Daniel 5: Babylon Is Fallen! - April 25, 2024
- Daniel 4: The Stump Bound By Iron and Bronze - March 7, 2024
- Daniel 3: The Fiery Furnace - December 21, 2023