(Dan, 1:3-21.)

A lovely and instructive picture is presented to us in the opening chapter of Daniel, and one affording wonderful encouragement to faith in a scene of evil and a day of trial.

The faith of these young men was something marvelous at a time like theirs, when the whole current of things was against them; but it is at such times that faith shines out the brightest. They are in the hands of Ashpenaz, whose name is significant in this connection:"I will bring out the sprinkled," since it is clear that they are indeed the "sprinkled" in the sense of Heb. 10:22; they have set themselves apart as true Nazarites unto the Lord, and He will not fail to " bring out" all such in due time, although He may pass them through the fire meanwhile, to test their faith.

Their names appear to have been of considerable importance, since their governor sees fit to change them.

Daniel means, " My God is judge; "

Hananiah, "A gracious giver is Jah; "

Mishael, "Who is as God [is] ? "

Azariah, " Helped of Jah."

Beautiful names they are, and, it would appear to us at first sight, a serious loss to abandon them; but submission seems to be a prominent trait in the characters of these worthy youths-submission, at least, where submission does not mean insubjection to God. We must obey, but '' we must obey God rather than men." When one cannot be obeyed without disobedience to the other, then these faithful youths have a ready answer:"We are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us . . .; But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods."

How fitting is it that Daniel's name should have the first place on this brief catalogue of names, shining like a grand beacon-light upon the threshold, as upon all their path, with its encouragement and its admonition, " My God is judge." Are they torn from their homes and their possessions in the land of their fathers, the land assigned them by the God of Abraham according to promise, and carried captive to a heathen land ? " My God is judge." Are they now to find themselves in conflict with the wishes of their masters, who would require from them what their consciences forbid? "My God is judge." They confidently "commit their cause unto Him that judgeth righteously." How important, then, that this name should have first place in this connection, their guiding star through all the difficulties they are to encounter !

Hananiah comes next, confirming faith with the assurance of what kind of judge they have to do with; "A gracious giver is Jah." A righteous judge, and yet a gracious giver, are attributes which the Cross alone can unite; and are they not united for us in the wondrous "throne of grace?" (Heb. 4:16.)

Mishael. comes next, the third name, "Who is as God is ?" suggesting the complete sufficiency of God for them; a question which, if it were but the language of their hearts, as it assuredly seems to have been, was most triumphant and impossible of answer.

Azariah is the fourth (how significant that there are four!). "Helped of Jah " is the meaning of this, and suggests experience ; they have found Him true to the faith that counts upon Him, as faith ever must-" He cannot deny Himself."

But their names are changed. Daniel becomes " Belteshazzar," which is " master of the treasure of the straitened," reminding us of what the apostle says-" I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day" (2 Tim. 1:12). This change of name involves no loss, as is evident. It is a distinct gain since there is experience in it. These dear witnesses are indeed "straitened," and they have a "treasure; " it may not have been what Babylon would count treasure, but it was treasure which Nebuchadnezzar's fire could not touch, and they had committed it to His keeping. He was "master" of it, and would keep it.

Hananiah gives place to "Shadrach," meaning "the breast is tender," which at first sight does not appear to be much of a change, save perhaps from the abstract to the concrete. It is one thing to know the doctrine of the givingness of the Lord, and a precious thing too, but it is quite another to prove the tenderness of that "breast" by leaning upon it, as the "beloved" disciple of old. The change is a gain, and in the same direction as Daniel's.

Mishael becomes " Meshach," meaning "waters of appeasal." This may remind us of the "waters of quietness " of Psa. 23:2, and, as taking the place of the other name, it may speak to us of " the peace of God, which passeth all understanding " (Phil. 4:7). "Waters of appeasal" supposes conflict, but rest as to it-God for us, realized to be so; and this is indeed gain, and in the same direction as before.

Azariah is changed to "Abednego," which is "servant of brightness." This is precisely like Isaiah of old (chap. 6:1-8). The prophet had seen the "brightness," and been stricken down by it; now, as "helped of Jah," he can be the servant of that brightness-" Here am I, send me." He has learned the. lesson, now he can teach it. It is ever the Lord's way. For this purpose were these dear faithful ones left in Babylon; and for this cause, may we not say, we are left here ? Our Lord's prayer was "not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil" (John 17:15). He would have "servants of the brightness " here during His absence.

How beautifully, then, are these names changed from the mere abstract to the concrete-from the mere doctrine to the realization in the soul ! And the world changes them'! Be it so; its utmost endeavors to wipe out all that is of God in His people can only result in transforming the doctrine into practice, in making them (like the true ruminant animal) transform the food they have gathered into that which shall form the bone and sinew of their moral being.

What a definite and wondrous purpose attaches to their sojourn in Babylon! and what deep meaning in all they are to pass through! And since all this was "written for our learning," may we not say that the same, or. similar, importance attaches to our sojourn in a world which knows not God, and whose prince is the enemy of Christ ? " Servants of brightness " we shall be indeed if we have learned the lesson these worthies and their names are designed to teach, and our faith be in exercise.

Melzar appears to be the one who had the more immediate charge of these young men-their '' schoolmaster,"may we say? His name means "He straightened the circumcised," and well pictures the "schoolmaster" referred to in Gal. Hi. 24, who has important lessons to teach, if men will but listen to him. Alas, so many are filled with a sense of their own righteousness, that it may be said of them as of some stoutly religious ones of old, "Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost:. . . who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it." But these four were of the "true circumcision," which is "that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; ' whose praise is not of men, but of God" (Rom. 2:29, and see Phil. 3:3). They had "heard"their " schoolmaster," and had learned the lesson he had to teach; and now they can, in the boldness of faith, challenge him to leave them to their "pulse "for "ten days" (a significant number in this connection), and they will show a condition of things which he could never produce. "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:3, 4).

Their first test is strikingly like the Lord's temptation in the wilderness, in that it has to do with their
food, what they subsist on; and how much a man is characterized by what he feeds upon! Our blessed Lord's reply to Satan, that "man shall Hot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," was more like the reply of these worthies than is at first sight apparent. The word rendered "pulse " is from the same root as the regular word for "seed." Those who are born of the incorruptible seed must needs have it to "grow thereby" (see i Peter 1:23-25 and 2:3). If the enemy can but succeed in producing indifference to our daily food, he has gained an immense victory; but these worthies had doubtless learned from Proverbs, " Be not desirous of his dam ties :for they are deceitful meat" (Prov. 23:3). How bright and bold the faith of these four! "Prove thy servants I beseech thee, ten days ; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink," is their confident appeal to their tutor:the word of God, represented in its twofold character, as sustaining life and as refreshing, is all-sufficient for them.

May these lessons abide with us, dear fellow-believer; and in the same living faith may we too step out boldly upon the all-sufficiency of the word of our God in a world which knows not God and in a day of increasing evil; believing it to be "God-breathed" and "profitable for doctrine, for correction, for instruction in righteousness :that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3:16, 17). And let our faith, as theirs, take in all who are likewise standing for Him in an evil day:compare, as to this, Dan. 1:12 13; 2:17, 18, 23. J. B. J.