Daniel 1:3
¶And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his *eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes;
¶And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes;
*:
eunuchs-[castrated] males employed as high officers, usually by an Oriental ruler.
These here called eunuchs were chief among the king’s servants, and they are called
because many of them were such of old among all the princes of the East, and at this day, but they were not all such, Jer 52:25. The word translated
signifies also
such was
Est 4:5; such were
and
Est 6:2, and
Est 7:9, and
in the text, the master of the king’s eunuchs, who had set
over Daniel and his companions, Dan 1:11.
Here was fulfilled what the prophet Isaiah had foretold king Hezekiah, Isa 39:7. Some think Daniel and his companions were made eunuchs in a strict sense, which doth not appear to be probable; but rather to be bred up in the court for officers, and thereby to alienate their minds from the religion of their country, and from seeking the welfare and return of their people; but God had otherwise appointed by this education of them, as appears in many signal testimonies of the presence and power of God with them, for the conviction of idolaters that God was above all gods.