CHAPTER VIII. THE EDUCATION OF DANIEL

THE Bible is treated fairly, and is given its true place in education, only when it is confidently held to be distinctly an educational book as such: only when it is held to have clearly an educational purpose, and to be positively committed to the principle of a complete education as such.PBE 77.1

That the Bible is all this is abundantly proved by the contents of the Book itself. In order to cause this to be seen most fully, and yet to do it in the briefest space, we shall approach the subject through the book that is in more than one point a pivotal book in the Bible—the book of Daniel.PBE 77.2

The book of Daniel was written especially for the last days; for when Daniel came to explain to King Nebuchadnezzar the great things of the king’s dream, he said that God “maketh known to the King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.” Daniel 2:28. In explaining to Daniel the things revealed, the angel said that he was giving understanding of what should befall God’s people “in the latter days.” Daniel 10:14. And when the writing of the book was finished, Daniel was commanded to “shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end” (Daniel 12:4); and was then told, “Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end” (Verse 9).PBE 77.3

The book of Daniel, then, being specifically designed for the last days, contains principles, as well as prophecies, which are of special importance, and have a special bearing, in the last days; and not the least of these are the principles of education. These principles are given to save the people of the world in the last days from calamities and destruction of which those that came upon Babylon are but a feeble representation. To ignore these principles, given especially for this time, is but to court a destruction as much more dreadful than that other as world-wide destruction and eternal ruin are greater than local destruction and temporal ruin.PBE 78.1

When Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon captured Jerusalem the first time, “the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel and of the king’s seed and of the princes; children in whom was no blemish, but well favored, 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 1:3, 4.PBE 78.2

“No blemish” and “well favored.” This would require that they should be physically sound, well built, and symmetrical.PBE 78.3

The words translated “wisdom,” “knowledge,” and “science,” in verse 4—Hebrew daath, madda, and chokmah—are closely related, though the second is an extension of the first, and the third an extension of the second.PBE 78.4

The word translated “wisdom” signifies “knowledge, understanding, and intelligence.” It implies the faculty to discern what is valuable knowledge, and the ability and capacity to acquire such knowledge.PBE 79.1

The word translated “knowledge” relates to “the mind or thought,” and implies knowledge acquired by thinking and application.PBE 79.2

The word translated “science” signifies “skill, dexterity, sagacity, shrewdness, ability to judge;” and is well translated in our word “science,” which signifies “skilful in knowledge.” It implies a selected and systematized knowledge.PBE 79.3

Therefore the requirement of King Nebuchadnezzar in the selecting of these youth was that they should be physically sound and symmetrically built; and that, mentally, they should be—PBE 79.4

1. Skilful in discerning what is valuable knowledge, and skilful in the ability to acquire such knowledge;PBE 79.5

2. Cunning in the acquisition of knowledge by thinking and application; and—PBE 79.6

3. Understanding how to correlate, classify, and systematize the knowledge which they had the faculty to discern was valuable knowledge, and which they were cunning in gathering.PBE 79.7

And they must have “ability” in all these things. What they knew was not to be mere head-knowledge; but they must have the faculty of observation and adaptation so trained that what they had learned could be practically applied in their experience in every-day affairs. They were to have such ability, such every-day common sense, as would enable them to use their knowledge to practical advantage in the common things of daily life, so that they would be practical men wherever they were; so that they could adapt themselves to any circumstances or situation, and be the master and not the slave of either circumstances or situation.PBE 79.8

From the specifications distinctly made in the scripture, and from the close and thorough examination that must be passed, it is certain that all that we have outlined was comprehended in the requirements of the king respecting the youth who were to be chosen. And this is no small tribute to the educational ideas of King Nebuchadnezzar. Indeed, his views of education, as shown in this verse of the Bible, were, for all practical purposes, far in advance of the educational system that prevails to-day, even in the leading colleges and universities of the United States.PBE 80.1

Yet Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were able successfully to pass such an examination. Where, then, did they get such an education, being, as they were, but mere youth? The answer to this question is worth having. Besides, we need it just now; for all this was written especially for the last days.PBE 80.2

Where, then, did Daniel and his three companions obtain the education which enabled them successfully to pass the examination required by King Nebuchadnezzar? Where did they obtain an education which made them “skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science;” and which gave them “ability” in all these things?—Without hesitation it can be answered, In a “school of the prophets,” the divinely-established schools in Israel. There was at that time a “college,” or “school of the prophets,” in Jerusalem. For in the eighteenth year of Josiah, king of Judah, which was only fifteen years before the captivity of Daniel, there is the clear record of such a school in Jerusalem.PBE 80.3

In the eighteenth year, of Josiah, while at his command the temple was being cleansed and repaired from the abominations of Manasseh and Amon, a copy of the Pentateuch, or “book of the law of the Lord of Moses,” was found by Hilkiah the priest. Hilkiah “delivered the book to Shaphan” the scribe; and “Shaphan carried the book to the king,” and “read it before the king.” “And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes,” and commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Shaphan the scribe, and others, “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found.”PBE 81.1

“And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah the prophetess. ... Now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college [margin, “in the school”]; and they spoke to her to that effect.”PBE 81.2

Here was, in Jerusalem, a college, or school, in which “dwelt” the prophetess. This at once shows this school to have been a school of the prophets; because that which gave to those schools the name schools of the Prophets was the fact that a prophet dwelt with the school, and was, under God, the head of the school. This fact is revealed in the two other instances in which they are mentioned: in 1 Samuel 19:20 “the company of the prophets” was seen, and “Samuel standing as appointed over them.” In 2 Kings 6:1-6 we meet again “the sons of the prophets,” and Elisha the prophet is dwelling with them; for they said to Elisha, “The place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.”PBE 81.3

Thus we find three schools of the prophets in three widely-separated ages,—the age of Samuel, the age of Elisha, and the age of Josiah,—and in each instance a prophet is dwelling in the school. These three passages were written to give us information as to the schools of the prophets. They show why these schools were called schools of the prophets. They show also that the college, or school, in Jerusalem, in which dwelt Huldah the prophetess, was a school of the prophets as certainly as was the school where dwelt Elisha the prophet or Samuel the prophet.PBE 82.1

It was, then, in a school of the prophets, in the Lord’s school, and in the system of education of the Lord’s designing, where Daniel and his three companions obtained the education of which we read in Daniel 1:4,—the education which made them “skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science,” and which gave to them such “ability” in all these that they were able to pass successfully the examination required for entrance into the royal university of Babylon.PBE 82.2