Daniel 1:6-7 | Living With Dual Identities
Daniel 1:6-7 - Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.
The Names Of The Nobles
In the ancient world, names not only were symbols to differentiate between people but were markers of identity—shaping a person's personality and worldview. In Daniel 1:6-7, we are introduced to four individuals with overlapping yet distinct identities. Look at the names of these four men:
Dani-El (Daniel) = "God has judged."
Hanan-Yah (Hananiah) = "Yahweh is gracious."
Misha-El (Mishael) = "Who is what God is?"
Azar-Yah (Azariah) = "Yahweh has helped."
In the ancient world, "El" stood for God, the "Mighty One," and "Yah" stood for Yahweh, the pre-existent, self-sufficient God of the cosmos. Since it appeared that the gods of Babylon had defeated Yahweh-God, for in the Near East, earthly battles epitomised spiritual realities, the names of these four men were either offensive or comedic in the courts of Babylon.
New Names For A New Identity
Therefore, since their names were blasphemous or comical, and since Nebuchadnezzar wanted respectful men to serve in his courts, the four nobles were reassigned new names, alternative identities (Daniel 1:7). In the words of John Calvin, this was designed "to cause these miserable exiles to feel themselves in captivity, and cut [them] off from the race of Israel; and by this mark or symbol they were reduced to slavery, to the king of Babylon and his palace." [1] The renaming was a power play to reprogram the youth into influential men of Babylon. But there is a problem: there needs to be a mainstream consensus on the meanings of their new names. While scholars can decipher, for example, that Bel-teshazzar, for Daniel, acknowledges Bel (Baal), another name for Marduk, the chief Babylonian god, it is tough to define each name precisely.
A Tongue-In-Cheek Translation
There is a likely reason for this: "Daniel gave the new names a creative twist, preserving names that are corrupted forms of names extolling pagan gods". [2] If we remember the broader idea that God is in control, these names were more than likely corrupted for satirical purposes. While the Babylonians attempted to deconstruct their Jewish identity and proclaim that Marduk, Nebu, and Aku were the gods in charge, Daniel had the last laugh. Behind closed doors, they likely spoofed their Babylonian names and biographed their experience tongue-in-cheek.
Corrupted But Accepted Names
But what is even more surprising is this: the young nobles did not choose to fight this battle against their name change. Even though their names sought to give them a brand "new identity and allegiance" to the "Babylonian gods", they did not enact a public pushback against rebranding their identities.[3] In wisdom, they had to walk down a fine line, and the symbols men of power used to define them were not a hill worth dying on. The more significant challenge for Daniel and his friends was to not forget their true identities as bearers of "El" and "Yah", and this they did. Iain M. Duguid makes this wonderful comment:
"Daniel did not become Belteshazzar, even though he answered to that name, nor did Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah become Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They preserved their Hebrew names amongst themselves as a marker of who they were (see 1:11, 19; 2:17); they lived with dual names as a reminder of their dual identities and, more fundamentally, as a reminder of the true nature of their God." [4]
Living With Dual Identities
Like Daniel and his friends, we who believe in Jesus are also citizens of two kingdoms—residents of the world and citizens of heaven. But how do we preserve our heavenly identity in a world hostile to it? Like Daniel, we need to safeguard an alternative community as a way of being human outside of the mainstream institutions. For Daniel, it was spoofing names with his friends and remembering their true names; for us, it is gathering with the church family and remembering our true identity in Jesus. "We cannot preserve our heavenly identity on our own: left to ourselves, the pressure of the world will inevitably crush us into its mould." [5] But when we link arms with other families, shout praises to God, feast on the sacrament, and absorb the preached word, we are enveloped in the wisdom of heaven—a revelation that defies the world's conventional wisdom and testifies to our true identity.
[1] John Calvin and Thomas Myers, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Daniel (vol. 1; Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 96.
[2] Wendy L. Widder, Daniel (ed. Tremper Longman III and Scot McKnight; The Story of God Bible Commentary; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2016), 28.
[3] Tremper Longman III, Daniel (The NIV Application Commentary; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), 51.
[4] Iain M. Duguid, Daniel (ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Iain M. Duguid; Reformed Expository Commentary; Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2008), 10–11.
[5] Duguid, Daniel, 11.