If Daniel was a man who did not eat the delicacies of Babylon, or did not drink wine,  or was a vegetarian, or used oil to appear joyful (have a shiny face) he certainly did not need to describe three weeks of his life.  Would he?

I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed. (Daniel 10:3)

One fable relates how Daniel chose to defy the king of Babylon, by eating vegetables. To be clear, MEAT = flesh.  There is no such thing as a biblical case for or against vegetarianism.   It is pure juvenile and modern nonsense to create ancient Israelite vegans.  From the top to the bottom of society, Jewish people engaged with their national heritage would be obliged to eat beef, mutton, or goat flesh.  Remember, fables are explanations people invent when they have no intention of embracing the truth or even the facts of history. So no one but Adam can claim to benefit from being a vegetatian.

Priests eat flesh in their ordination and practice

The priests of the Levitical order were obliged to eat flesh. They had no choice.

“Thus they shall eat those things by which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration; but a layman shall not eat them, because they are holy. (Exodus 29:33)

Imagine how often a priest and his family has flesh to eat in the process of their mediation and tell us how many in the Levite family could be vegetarians.

“And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall eat the flesh.

(Deuteronomy 12:27)

Then we come to the world where the priesthood and its regulations are changed, not modified, but uprooted and replaced by a new order and law. We find that food, the things one ingests, is not a measure used by God.

But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat. 1 Corinthians 8:8

The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.

(Romans 14:3)

Destructive perfection

Of course there are people who, despite evidence to the contrary, would like the world to see them as the creme de la creme. Babylonians did it and Iraqis do it. The builders of the tower of Babel did it and all the modern aspiriing superpowers do it. Persians did it, and Iranians do it. Rome did it, and keeps doing in the Pax Britannica and the Pax America. You see how perfection pervades the secular world, but then ask yourself if there was ever a world dominated by a non-secular regime, and the answer is yes, and we can identify the fact from the terms of ancient Israel’s covenant (the first covenant).

Judging people by what they eat has been explicitly rebuked by the introduction of the disciples to God’s acceptance of Gentiles. Gentiles do not need Jewish priroties to be accepted by Christ. The Heavenly Father draws people to Chriust apart from circumcision, which is the primary seal Hebrew identity, apart fropm the Law of Moses, which is the arrangement for Hebrew nationhood, and God draws people to Christ and gives them the Holy Spirit apart from the rituals and regulations regarding purity. This understanding about cleansing and purity has We have no right to judge people on the basis of these kinds of behaviours.

The followers of Christ and the followers of Moses are not one and the same. That is just bewitching silliness.  The church is not Israel, neither as kingdom or nation .  The church is not Israel, neither as race or as a people.

One bright light incontrovertibly illuminates Daniel

When you read the Hebrew Bible you will find the Book of Daniel in the ninth place with the thirteen writings. Christ’s followers are obliged to treat the book of Daniel as a prophetic work.  Daniel’s book has six instances of first person narrative (Daniel 8:15, 8:27, 9:2, 10:2, 10:7, 12:5) and the book is the only one that has a detailed account of the future international scene with figures fully explained.  For example:

“The ram which you saw with the two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia. (Daniel 8:20)

31. “You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. 32. “The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, (Daniel 2:31-32)

38. and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold. 39. “After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. (Daniel 2:38-39)

Daniel the prophet

What could be strange or destructive about a prophet who eats flesh, drinks wine and eats Babylonian delicacies?  Nothing, except that prophets are not a thing in the Covenant of Paschal Blood.  Not Daniel and not even Moses holds any ranking when the child grows up. Believers are utterly rebellious when they put themselves at the mercy of prophets, miracle workers and exorcists. At some point faith has to release the child into adulthood.  That is why the Sermon on the Mount had no reference to Law and Proohets until the Lord Christ detected the rotten thoughts of the audience.

​“The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. Luke 16:16