THE KING’S BUSINESS
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The Benefits of Total Abstinence SEPTEMBER 9, 1917. LESSON XI. Dan. 1:8-20. (Memorize'vs. 19, 20) G olden T ex t : “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank.”— Dan. 1: 8 .
DAILY BIBLE READINGS Mon., September 3—Dan. 1:1-9. (The Lesson).
Tues., September 4—Dan. 1:10-20. Wed., September 3—2 Cor. 6:11-18. Thurs., September 6 —Eph. 5:6-21.
Fri., September 7—Jer. 35:1-11. Sat., September 8 —Jer. 35 :12-19. Sun., September 9—1 Peter 4:1-11. EXPOSITION AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
v. 8 . ‘But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of (omit, the portion of) the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank ; therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” The book of Daniel is one of the most remarkable and instructive books in the Bible. It has been well said that “no man is a thorough Bible student who is ignorant of Daniel, or whose study of it has beep shallow.” We are told here that “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself :” this is the key to Daniel’s life and the Secret of his power and suc cess. Daniel had a sound heart and so his whole life was sound. What a man is and -what a man does is determined by what a man is at heart (Prov. 4:23). The real purpose of a man’s heart tells what you may expect of the man. It is the heart that God looks at (2 Cor. 9:7; 8:12; Luke 16:15). There can be no steadiness of life and action without steadiness of pur pose (Acts 11:23). Daniel’s purpose was fixed and unalterable. Carrying it out involved great daily sacrifice and great peril, but there Daniel stood, and God of course stood by him. Daniel’s purpose was not only a firm one, but a good one in itself, “not to defile himself.” Happy is the young man who purposes with all his heart and in the strength of Jesus Christ not to
defilé himself. The king’s meat and the king’s wine would have been very agree able, to Daniel’s palate, much more agree able than pulse, but they had. been offered as a sacrifice and libation to false gods and Daniel would keep himself free from all compliance with devil worship. The immediate thought of the text as taken in its context is not so much total abstinence from strong drink as entire total abstinence from conformity to the world, and total abstinence from anything that would in the slightest way be disloyal to God (cf. Deut. 32:38; Ps. 106:28; 141:4; 1 Cor. 10:18-21, 28-31). Daniel’s purpose was to be abso lutely clean from any partnership with the whole miserable business of idolatry in any form. What a lesson Daniel gives us in this day of easy-going worldly conformity. He was in Babylon, but he would not do as the Babylonians did. We shall see later he lost nothing by his unwavering fidelity to God: no one ever loses anything in the long run by such fidelity no matter what it may seem to cost at the outset (Ps. 84:11). But Daniel, though conscientious and determined, was not arrogant and self- assertive in his fidelity. There was no parade of his conscientiousness, “he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” He was very modest and courteous in taking his stand. Most men who are unbending in their loy-
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