My new ward seems to be running a bit behind, but I’d like to post a review of last Sunday’s lesson and some more insights I gleaned.
After reading through the lesson on Daniel and Esther, I found the battle over the children particularly thought-provoking. Although they wore no armor and slew no enemies, Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abed-nego were stripling warriors in their own right.
When king Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem, he took with him the city’s greatest treasure – their children. The prince of the eunuchs selected the best of the youth, “children in whom was no blemish, but awell favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans” (Daniel 1:4) These children were taken from their parents back to Babylon, where they were trained in the king’s service. While the scriptures provide no age range for these children, I assume they were old enough to show promise but young enough to be ‘retrained’. I would guess they were still young, perhaps in their early teens but I speculate that they could have been as young as six, though they probably fell closer to the eight-to-ten year old range, since they were called into the kings presence after only a year. (I found no research or talks on the subject, but if anyone knows of any, please post links or references in the comments!)
The king’s eunuchs would easily frighten most children within this range, making it understandable why almost none stood up for what they had been taught. And yet Daniel and his friends refused to break the dietary laws they knew came from God. No parent stood there or waited at home to remind them of the laws or of right and wrong, and yet they still took courage from their faith in the Lord.
I can only look at the four of them and marvel at the courage and faith in ones so young. The stripling warriors faced battle with courage, but surely took some of their strength from one another (a wonderful tie-in to last week’s Priesthood and Relief Society lesson on unity in the church). They stood strong amid a group of like-minded friends – still a great act of faith and courage, mind you. Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abed-nego took courage within a smaller group of friends – they did have each other to lean on – when surely what should have been their like-minded peers urged them not to rock the boat. Like Helaman’s stripling warriors, surely “they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.” (Alma 56:47)
I look at the faith these young boys had and, as a mother, wonder how I could teach such faith to my children. Surely their mothers taught by example and faith of their own. They probably believed – erroneously – that they had five or ten more years to prepare their sons to go out into the world, and yet their sons went out fully armed before the expected time. The dietary rules were obviously taught, but the spirit of the law was proven, as well.
I am a worrier, and having children means I worry all the more. One of the greatest sources of my anxiety is over what would happen to my children if I die before they grow up. In addition to temporal concerns, I worry most about their spiritual growth. Then I read a story about four boys who lost their homes and families as a young age, and yet grew up strong in the world. Stories like these inspire me to teach my children in their youth and trust in the lord that they will lean on Him even if they face challenges early on. They inspire me to be a ‘better’ mother, and to remember that even the youngest of children can be taught that their Savior loves them, and will love Him in return. And they inspire me to trust my children to find their own paths to His door.
Related Articles:
Gospel Doctrine: Daniel and the King
The Spirit of the Word of Wisdom