Food offered to Idols

Daniel and his three companions refused to participate in the idolatrous rituals of the Babylonian ruling class and its imperial cult – Daniel 1:14.

Daniel was confronted by a serious challenge on his arrival in the imperial city. If he consumed the food and drink of the pagan king, it would threaten his ritual purity. The concern was that consuming the royal “delicacies” meant participating in the idolatrous rituals of the Babylonian court and polytheistic religion, but refusal to do so could have dire consequences.

Every believer faces dilemmas like this sooner or later, whether to compromise with the demands and expectations of the world order or remain faithful to God. Daniel objected to eating the “meat” and drinking the “wine” from the royal table. The issue was not whether to eat “unclean meats” since, according to the Book of Leviticus, wine did not cause ritual defilement. The problem lies somewhere else.

[Photo by Sam Moghadam Khamseh on Unsplash]

Daniel did not refer to the dietary regulations of the Torah. The Hebrew term translated as “defile” or ‘ga’al’ is not the same word used for “unclean” in Leviticus (‘ga’al’ appears nowhere in the five books of Moses).

• (Daniel 1:8, 12) – “But Daniel laid it upon his heart not to defile himself with the meats of the king, nor with the wine which he drank, therefore, he sought the ruler of the eunuchs, that he might not DEFILE (‘ga’al’) himself… I pray you, prove your servants ten days, and let them give us vegetable food, that we may eat, and water that we may drink.”

The Hebrew term commonly translated as “meat” or ‘pathbag; means “delicacies,” not “meat” or animal flesh, though it could include the latter. Consuming meat whether clean or unclean was not the point of this passage.

Babylonian religious customs point to a different conflict - participation in idolatrous practices. Daniel objected to consuming provisions from the “table of the king.” The stress is on the source of the food - The royal table.

The young exile proposed a “test” to the eunuch responsible for Daniel and his companions. For “ten days,” they would eat vegetables and drink water. Afterward, their Babylonian keeper could compare their appearance with the other young men who had consumed the food from the royal table.

Idols played a key role in Babylonian religious rituals and courtly protocol. Supposedly, a god was present in his or her image that was enthroned and attended in its temple. Daily meals of food and drink were offered to these idols. The king provided the required foodstuffs for the god’s “meal.” No one else present could eat before the deity had finished “consuming” it.

The remaining food was distributed for consumption at the royal table. Thus, the king’s provisions were linked to the idolatry of the Babylonian temples – (Joan Oates, Babylon, London - Thames and Hudson, 1986, p. 174-175).

IN REVELATION

The Book of Revelation alludes to this story in its letter to the Assembly of Smyrna. The congregation was told to expect persecution - “You will be tried, and you will have tribulation ten days.” The Greek verb translated as “tried” in the Septuagint version of Daniel or ‘peirazō’ is the same term used in the Greek text of the Letter to Smyrna - (Daniel 1:14, Revelation 2:8-11).

The Assembly was being “slandered by those who said they were Jews and are not, but instead are a synagogue of Satan.” Consequently, some believers were “cast into prison.” However, those who remained “faithful until death” regardless of any “trial” would receive the “Crown of Life and not be hurt by the Second Death.”

According to Chapter 20 of Revelation, those participating in the “First Resurrection” avoid the “Second Death.” At the Great White Throne of Judgment, “Death and Hades were cast into the Lake of Fire.” The latter is synonymous with the “Second Death.” Thus, the “Second Death” does not refer to the death that all men experience. We may die violent deaths for our “Testimony,” but we will not undergo the “Second Death” - (Revelation 20:6, 20:14).

If we do not eat “meat offered to idols” we will “overcome” and inherit the promises given in the seven letters to the Asian congregations when we enter the “Holy City, New Jerusalem,” including the “Crown of Life.” However, if we are unfaithful and compromise with the demands of the world order we will have our “part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the Second Death” - (Revelation 21:7-8).

The “slander” experienced by the saints of Smyrna refers to the false charges leveled against them before civil magistrates, probably for refusing to participate in the Roman imperial cult, the veneration of the emperor, and of the patron goddess of Rome, Roma. In Pergamos, Jesus rebuked believers who tolerated deceivers who taught members of the congregation “to eat things sacrificed to idols,” which was the “Doctrine of the Nicolaitans.”

Likewise, in Thyatira, the Assembly was reprimanded for allowing the false prophetess, Jezebel, “to seduce my servants to fornicate and to eat things sacrificed to idols.” The term “fornicate” is used metaphorically by Revelation for participation by believers in idolatrous practices - (Revelation 2:12-17, 17:2, 18:3, 18:9).

The issue in Daniel was not ritually “unclean” food but participation in the idolatrous religion of Babylon. Likewise, the seven Asian Assemblies in Revelation are summoned to avoid the idolatrous practices of “Babylon,” namely, the Roman imperial cult.

In the same way, we must not pay homage to the idolatrous demands of End-Time “Babylon, the Great Whore” as she entices us to give allegiance to the “Beast from the Sea” and its idolatrous “image.” We begin to bow to Babylon’s demands when we compromise our commitment to Jesus with the idolatrous demands and expectations of society and, all too often, the State.

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SEE ALSO:

• God gives Political Power - (God gave the Kingdom of Judah into Nebuchadnezzar’s hands, but He also equipped Daniel for service in the Court of Babylon)

• Overview of Daniel - (An introduction to the book of Daniel with a brief overview of how the book of Revelation applies passages from it)

• Babylon Rises Again - (n the Bible, Babylon is both a historical kingdom and symbol of the recurring rise of the World Empire)