May 3: TAKEN CAPTIVE!
Then the king [Nebuchadnezzar] instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles. Daniel 1:3
Bear in mind that these captives, some of the children of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles, had witnessed the horrors of their families, friends, neighbors, and nobles being murdered – people of all ranks. Those taken into captivity included descendants of the Hebrew royal line and high-ranking officials. The poor who had not been killed were customarily left behind as vinedressers and farmers of the land under the supervision of an appointed governor. (Examples can be found in 2 Kings 25:12; Jeremiah 39:10; 52:16).
Nearly a hundred years earlier, Isaiah spoke to King Hezekiah of this very scenario. After Hezekiah had shown the treasures of Judah to the visitors from Babylon (see Isaiah 39:3-4), the prophet said: “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the LORD. ‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” (vv.5-7) Such terrible news of what was to come! Hezekiah’s reaction (v.8) is surprisingly shortsighted and foreshadows a similar condition among believers today.
It is interesting that Daniel wrote a Hebrew name for the master of [Nebuchadnezzar’s] eunuchs, for surely this player among Nebuchadnezzar’s cast of characters was Babylonian. It may be that this is Daniel’s harmless way of “turning the tables” on the name-changing business. As we will see, the Babylonians assigned Babylonian names to their Hebrew captives (more on this later). Making eunuchs of the male captives was a cruel practice indeed, but the Babylonians thought little of robbing their conquered people of the joy of having families. It was a decision that would prevent any interruption in the royal line of Babylon. Historians believe that this practice had existed among the ancient Egyptians and was adopted by the small city/state of Babylon when they began to conquer other peoples. You may recall that the killing of male babies had been ordered by the king of Egypt (see Exodus 1:16).
The name Ashpenaz is a Hebrew word that means horse nose. Is it possible that Daniel was making a reference to a physical attribute? The Bible does not specify, most likely because the meaning of the name speaks for itself. It is good that Daniel makes no reference to the other end of a horse.
The 605BC attack by the Babylonians was the first of three Babylonian attacks against Judah. It was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule, and the beginning of the seventy-year prophecy of Jeremiah (see Jeremiah 25:1,11-12).
“Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans…I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.” Jeremiah 24:5,7