Influencing a Generation

Select only strong, healthy, and good-looking young men,” he said. “Make sure they are well versed in every branch of learning, are gifted with knowledge and good judgment, and are suited to serve in the royal palace. Train these young men in the language and literature of Babylon. – Daniel 1:4 (NLT)

What influences you? Who influences you? Could conspiracy theories about Big Brother and plans for world domination be valid? Are they just modern urban legends or are such plans devised behind closed doors?

There was a royal plan to influence an entire generation.  They wanted to turn the young ones against their own culture and heritage.  They wanted to take a select group of captives and make them versed in the culture and teachings of their captors.  They would assimilate into the culture of where they were being held captive.  It was a royal plan.

The Royal Plan

• The Recipients Picked: These were to be the captives who were “young men of Judah’s royal family and other noble families” (verse 3).  According to verse 4, they were to pick “only strong, healthy, and good-looking young men.” In addition, the same verse said: Make sure they are well versed in every branch of learning, are gifted with knowledge and good judgment, and are suited to serve in the royal palace.  These would be the recipients.
• The Recipe Prescribed: The recipients were to be trained in the language and literature of Babylon and provided food and wine.  Keep in mind that these are the very things that make up any group’s culture; what they read and write, what they eat and drink, and how they interact with each other and outsiders.  The recipe would acculturate these young men in alignment with their captors.
• The Results Predicted: They were to be trained for three years, and then they would enter the royal service (verse 5). The king anticipated how long it would take to “train” these young men and predicted them being able to enter royal service.

Let’s be sure that we keep in mind who is supposed to be influencing our children and youth.  Sociology tells us that a child’s first teachers are the parents.  The Bible teaches us in Proverbs to “train up a child.” We have to be sure that we invest in our young ones before the world gets a hold of them.  Otherwise, they may be easily influenced by all of the trappings of what the world has to offer.

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.- Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)