Daniel’s decision

Daniel 1:5
The king assigned
them a daily amount
of food and wine
from the king’s table.
They were to be
trained for three
years, and after that
they were to enter
the king’s service.
Daniel 1:8
But Daniel
resolved not to
defile himself
with the royal
food and wine,
and he asked
the chief official
for permission
not to defile
himself this way.
There were many reasons for a Jewish to
avoid eating the royal food.

1. The Babylonians, as other pagan nations,

used to eat filthy meat. (see CRA 33-34);

2. The animals had not been killed according to

the Levitical law (Lev. 17: 14-15);
3. A portion of the animals destined for food was offered
first as sacrifice to the pagan gods. (see Acts 15: 29).

4. The consumption of unhealthy food and drinks was in

opposition to the strict temperance principles.

5. For all these reasons Daniel and his Friends avoided

eating meat. These young men decided not to do
anything that could harm their physical, mental and
spiritual development.
Daniel 1:12
Please test
your servants
for ten days:
Give us nothing
but vegetables
to eat and
water to drink.
Flesh was never the
best food. People are
continually eating
flesh that is filled
with tuberculous and
cancerous germs.
Tuberculosis, cancer,
and other fatal
diseases are thus
communicated. (The
ministry of Healing
p.205)
Flesh food is
injurious to health,
and whatever
affects the body has
a corresponding
effect on the mind
and the soul.
(The ministry of Healing p.)
The intelligence
displayed by many
dumb animals
approaches so closely to
human intelligence that
it is a mystery. The
animals see and hear
and love and fear and
suffer. (The ministry of
Healing p.207)
Teach your children to
practice, mercy toward
the dumb creatures
that God has made
and has placed under
our dominion. (The
ministry of Healing
p.208)
Again and again I have been shown that God is
trying to lead us back, step by step, to His original
design, that man should subsist upon the natural
products of the earth.
Vegetables, fruits, and grains should compose
our diet. Not an ounce of flesh meat should enter
our stomachs. The eating of flesh is unnatural.
We are to return to God’s original purpose in the
creation of man.
(Counsels on diet and foods p.380)
Among those who are waiting for the coming
of the Lord, meat eating will eventually be
done away; flesh will cease to form a part of
their diet. We should ever keep this end in
view, and endeavor to work steadily toward it.
I cannot think that in the practice of flesh
eating we are in harmony with the light which
God has been pleased to give us.
(Counsels on diet and foods p.381)
Daniel 1:15
At the end of the
ten days they looked
healthier and better
nourished than any
of the young men
who ate the royal
food.
Daniel 1:20
In every matter of
wisdom and
understanding about
which the king
questioned them, he
found them ten times
better than all the
magicians and
enchanters in his
whole kingdom.