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No Defilement!

Pastor Bill Farrow

Daniel 1:8

8But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

(Verse 8) - That he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat - The word which is rendered "defile himself" is from a word commonly used in connection with "redemption," its first and usual meaning being to redeem, to ransom. In later Hebrew, however, it means, to be defiled; to be polluted, to be unclean. The "connection" between these significations of the word is not readily apparent. It could be tied to the imagery involved. The process of redemption involved the application of blood and the application of that blood to item or individual being redeemed. That blood "defiled" the thing to which it was applied. Don't make the mistake of assign a negative connotation to the word - that idea is not a part of the foundation of the word. It could simply be saying that the thing being redeemed was no longer alone, it now was mixed with the blood of the sacrifice. The blood annointed or stained the thing redeemed.

In Daniel's case, he was taking the thing used positively, and applying it negatively. The image of blood applied to a thing to redeem it was a positive one. Daniel uses it in a negative way. His desire was to be completely unspotted by the things of Babylon. He wanted there to be no mixing of the Babylonian culture with the godliness of his heritage. Any bit of accomodation was hateful and unacceptable to his mind. That spotting was the essence of the concept of defilement. Daniel's heartfelt desire was to remain utterly clean in his walk before God and among the heathen. What an honorable and commendable desire!

The defilement here referred to in the case of Daniel probably was, that by partaking of this food he might, in some way, be regarded as lending approval to idolatry, or as lending his sanction to a mode of living which was inconsistent with his principles, and which was perilous to his health and morals.

There is a marvelous lesson here for us to learn. Separation is a serious matter. It needs to be taken very much more seriously than most believers take it. A very good argument can be made that it was Daniel's commitment to separation from the Babylonian culture that ultimately played a very large part in what drew men to God as a result of his witness.

This is a cardinal principle in God's  economy. We have made a dreadful mistake in our modern approach to evangelism. We have decided that, in order to win the lost, we reed to be like them, be relevant, be winsome so that they will see how desireable it is to be a believer and will want to become one as well. This is complete and absolute drivel; and is the categoric opposite of what the Scripture teaches. Daniel is a perfect example. He did not adapt to the culture nor did he adopt its peculiarities and integrate them into his own "brand" of spirituality. He discerned the wickedness of the Babylonian culture, knew what God expected of him, and set about doing it! It was the seperation that was the key to the whole matter. He was different than those around him, and that was winsome to the lost around him. It is that same differentness that will win the lost to Christ in your life and mine.

There is another idea here as well. We ought to separate because by failing to separate ourselves from the world and rather become like them we give approval to the very things that we are obligated to bear witness against. This is very, very dangerous. We dare not allow what we do, or what we abstain from, communicate to those around us that we think them in any condition spiritually but the condition in which they are. It is incumbent upon us to be sure that we are not reassuring unsaved people that we think they are any thing other than unsaved.

I need to take special care that I do not communicate anything to the unsaved that might give them a false assurance.