Daniel Invents Experimental Science and Nutrition Arguments
5th July 2010
In my never ending quest for Persuasion Truth, consider with me now, this scripture . . .
8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. 9 Now God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs. 10 And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king.”
11 So Daniel said to the steward[a] whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king’s delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants.” 14 So he consented with them in this matter, and tested them ten days.
15 And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king’s delicacies. 16 Thus the steward took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.
Daniel 1:8-16
Holy Comparison and Control! Daniel directs the King’s chief of servants (who were also eunuchs) to conduct a pre-post control group design experiment with diet as the independent variable and appearance and fatness of flesh as dependent variables. This is the oldest example of experimental research I’ve ever encountered. Even Plato, Aristotle, and those really smart Greeks missed this!
Unstated is whether the chief used randomization to assign his young men to either the Treatment (Daniel’s diet) or Control (the King’s diet). Given the Divine Inspiration here, God’s hand would have directed random selection and assignment of the King’s eunuchs to either condition, since God must understand the power of randomization even if evolutionists, economists, epidemiologists, and environmentalists don’t.
Realize, too, that Daniel uses experimental research as a persuasion Argument – information that bears on the central merits of the issue – to convince the chief of the King’s eunuchs to change the eating habits of the servants. Daniel argues his case with empirical evidence.
Hey, do the Food Police know about this? Yet another Biblical example of the importance of diet and nutrition (cf. Genesis and the Apple Diet)! The news here is better than the Garden of Eden fiasco. Daniel recommends a diet high in veggies and low in wine and the “King’s delicacies.”
P.S. This Daniel is the Old Testament prophet from the Babylonian Captivity. Not only did he introduce experimental research, he survived a meeting in the lion’s den. He also left a beautiful and wise Book of prophecy and wisdom that is another kind of writing on the wall.
Posted in HowTo, Metaphors, Religion, Science | Comments Off


