Stolen from God

Deb introduced our new series on the book of Daniel. Daniel 1 begins with a catastrophe for the people of Israel: conquest by the empire of Babylon. For God’s people, exile wasn’t just an effort to take them away from their land, but to take them from their God. Deb called attention to the names of the characters:

Many Hebrew names end in -el, such as Daniel, or -iah, such as Isaiah and Jeremiah. The Hebrew meaning of El is God, and -iah is the first syllable of God’s name, Yahweh. So, just as the Temple bears God’s name, so his people also bear his name. Daniel’s name means God is my judge. Hananiah means Yahweh has been gracious. Mishael means who is like God, and Azariah means Yahweh has helped. The Babylonian names they were given made reference to Babylonian gods. By replacing their Hebrew names, their captors were taking away their Hebrew identity and pushing them to assimilate into the Babylonian culture, including its religious practices.