Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego Refuse the King's Meal

This starts the Daniel lessons. I have them divided into four lessons. For this lesson, I made the veggies you see above. They have Good/Bad Choices questions on them. They are on each sheet as the pair. See below to see how we will use them!

Our Bible study today is found in the Old Testament Book of Daniel 1-3. Jehoiakim was in his third year as king of Judah. King Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon, and he went to Jerusalem, and he conquered the city of Jerusalem. King Nebuchadnezzar took some items from the temple, too.

King Nebuchadnezzar told his eunuch to bring some of the young men of the land for three years of training. They had to be good-looking, smart, quick to learn and would have the ability to serve the king. After the training, they would serve the king.

Some of the young men that were chosen to be taken to Babylon were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The chief eunuch changed their names to:

Daniel=Belteshazzar but he is still called Daniel all through the book.

Hananiah=Shadrach

Mishael=Meshach

Azariah=Abednego

These three were called by their new names for the rest of the book, so these are the names I used for the lesson.

The king provided some of his delicacies to eat and wine, with 3 years of training for each of them. Daniel didn’t want those foods to eat, he asked the steward that was put in charge of the young men for vegetables and water for 10 days.

The steward asked Daniel why Daniel would ask such a thing! If Daniel and his friends looked bad, and the other young men looked better, then the king would be upset with him! His own life would be in danger! (1:10)

Daniel said to look at them after the 10 days to see if they looked better and were healthier than the young men that eat what the king provides for them. At that time, the steward could make a decision based on how healthy everyone looked. Of course, they looked better and healthier, so the steward gave everyone the vegetables.

Bible verse today: As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.  

At the end of the training period, they were taken before King Nebuchadnezzar.  The king interviewed them and there wasn't anyone like them! Because of that, they were chosen to serve the king. And the things like wisdom and understanding, they were ten times better than the king's men. 

Next week we will continue our study with Daniel and King Nebuchadnezzar. 

I created these good/bad choices vegetables to be used as discussion starters after the lesson. If you want to print them for the kids to take home, you could put them in a paper lunch bag or plastic baggie for storage.

I took in my Melissa & Doug vegetable crate that have, but you could use a basket, plate, etc. I divided the veggies into good and bad choices piles and made sure that each student was given one of each, depending on how many students and they did not have the correct answer. You could divide into groups to do this if you have a large class. I had someone read a bad choice, and the person with the good choice would find theirs and read it. Then we talked about each one. Why is it a good or bad choice and ending with talking about God wanting you to make good choices like Daniel and his friends did. When we were done with each question, they put their veggies into the crate. Click here to print this in color or black & white.

Click here to download the worksheet.

Click here to download the updated visuals.

The file includes Daniel 1-3. All are not shown.

Click here to download the pictures to color.
(These are the same as the visuals but are black & white.)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.

Used by permission.