God and Nebuchadnezzar: Daniel 1:3-7
God is sovereign over the whole world, not just His people. God works through people all over this world, not just His followers. His wisdom is so great He can use anyone to accomplish His will.
Once Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Hebrew people and made them vassals to his kingdom, he commands the young noble men to be brought into his presence. Nebuchadnezzar shows his genius with this move. This is one of the aspects that made him a good king – albeit completely secular one. Nebuchadnezzar is shrewd in his leadership.
Nebuchadnezzar was king in Babylon, but he was a Chaldean. The Chaldeans were nomadic people who eventually settled near Babylon. As Babylon diminished in power, the Chaldeans rose up and took over, creating the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Being a Chaldean leading Babylonians, though, Nebuchadnezzar understood how difficult it was to manage people from different heritages. As the Neo-Babylonian Empire grew and took over more territory, more heritages needed to be brought together.
One of the things Nebuchadnezzar did was to take the nobility of conquered people and allow their young people to rise in power in his regime. This way, conquered people got used to seeing people of their own heritage in power. That helped them feel like they belonged and could get someplace in life. In general, it made them easier to control.
Furthermore, taking the noble children into the royal court made the conquered nobility easier to control. If some king had your son or daughter in their palace, you certainly wouldn’t revolt against them. If you caused trouble, the king could easily execute your son or daughter. Nebuchadnezzar brings Daniel and his friends into his house to make the nobility among the Hebrew people less likely to revolt.
Finally, Nebuchadnezzar knew these young nobles were educated. They could bring ideas from the Hebrew people to the Babylonian Empire. Nebuchadnezzar also knew these young people were impressionable and still trainable. As Nebuchadnezzar gleans ideas from them, his own leaders teach these young impressionable people how to become Babylonian.
In the end, Nebuchadnezzar demonstrates phenomenal ability to lead well. It doesn’t surprise me at all that God chose Nebuchadnezzar to bring His own people into exile. Nebuchadnezzar had his problems for sure – we’ll hear about some of them as we go through this book – but considering his status as a Gentile king his policies are remarkably open to God’s hand at work through him.
God had a plan. His people needed to be chastened, so God found a nation capable of chastening them respectfully. God found a Gentile king who would provide an environment for Hebrew leaders like Daniel to grow and prosper. We often think of the world as existing in antagonism to God’s plan. While there can be truth in that, God can still work through the world to accomplish His purposes. God is sovereign over the whole world, not just His people.
