 Do not settle for the status quo. Do not settle for the world as it is being presented to us. Do not settle for the inevitability of what is said to be inevitable. We can hope for more than this. God will triumph. Because we believe this to be true and certain, we can live courageously now, and move with courage into a better future. W. Sibley Towner, Book of Daniel: Interpretation Biblical Commentary |   |
The writer of the Book of Daniel often begins his moral or ethical folktales with a historical marker situating the story in actual human history; “in the first year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,” “in the second year of the reign of Cyrus, King of Persia.” These tales of human courage and faithfulness are set within the clash between the human will for the survival and the human will for self-destruction. In each story, the interplay between the reigning tyrant and a faithful hero sets-up the narrative’s plot and ultimately the tale’s moral and ethical lesson.
Both Chapter 6 and Chapter 11 begin with the historical marker “in the first year of the reign of King Darius the Mede.” This installation draws on elements from these two chapters – a song in Chapter 6 after Daniel’s trial and deliverance from the lion’s den, and the sweeping 250-year overview of human history found in Chapter 11.
The world history outlined in Chapter 11 presents a sweeping drama of armies and kings at war in all corners of the ancient middle east. A tapestry of blood, anger, greed and self-serving tyrants from the Babylonian Empire, through Egyptian, Persian and Macedonian conquest, all finally culminating in Syrian control under the rule Antiochus IV Epiphanes. A real-life biblical Game of Thrones describing two and a half centuries of human vanity, greed and sinfulness that brings about an ongoing legacy of death and destruction.
Hovering over this global chessboard are the words to a song voicing the central message in the Book of Daniel. This liturgical canticle in Chapter 6, remarkably, does not come from Daniel but rather comes from the mouth of King Darius after Daniel’s miraculous deliverance from certain death. The words to this song give the reader an alternative way of thinking about life together in this world, as well as the certainty that God will win in the end over the destructive powers of oppression and violence. Ultimately the events of history are not ordained by God but are rather the result of free human choices centered in greed and selfishness … humanity’s ever-present sin of desiring more than it needs at the expense of its neighbor’s life and livelihood.
The various folktales of the Book of Daniel were brought together at one of the lowest points in Jewish religious and cultural history. The stories served to give direction and hope to a people of faith caught in the middle of extreme cruelty and oppression. The writer weaves together a rich sampling of hope-filled Jewish stories during a time when religious practices were outlawed, Torah scrolls were being burned, children were torn from their mothers, and the temple was being desecrated with images of foreign gods and the sacrifice of unclean animals.
The writer gathers stories of faithfulness and interweaves them with the various kingdoms from human history to remind the faithful that the struggle for survival in the time of tyrants is not new. This is an ongoing struggle within the history of all people seeking to live in covenant with their god and neighbor but find themselves caught up in some seemingly beyond their control. While the stories highlight the interplay between a faithful hero and the powerful (and often witless) tyrant, the target audience of the writer’s work are the simple people of faith who need a road map for what to do next and how to respond to evil in their midst.
Interestingly, many other unsavory characters emerge in the storytelling. The legions of sycophants who surround the king and his court plot and manipulate in order to gain favor, protection and prestige from the tyrant. Likewise, a host of compliant religious leaders who choose to ally with the king for many of the same reasons. For the writer of Daniel, the tyrant, the sycophant, and the compliant religious leaders put their faith in people or powers or systems that ultimately cannot save.
But maybe more interesting, the writer also calls the simple religious folks to accountability. In a lengthy prayer after his deliverance from the Lion’s den, Daniel first recounts how God has delivered his people in the past and describes a God whose steadfast love is both renowned and dependable. But then Daniel’s words become penitential and he declares that the faithful have also sinned and done wrong, been wicked, and rebelled. They too had forgotten how to live in right relationship with god, with each other, and with their world. The path to wholeness begins with their own confession.
Over the past three centuries, the folktales of the Book of Daniel have had an honored place in the shared canon of both Jewish and Christian revelation and imagination because humanity has too often found itself in this same pattern of death and destruction. Today, many of us find ourselves needing a roadmap for responding to evil in our midst and a world dangerously out of control. We too live in a world of saber-rattling madmen surrounded by cheering sycophants, evangelical religious leaders that equate their own economic security with god’s blessing, global economic systems that are enthusiastically endorsed but benefit the very few, extreme nationalism disguising itself as patriotism, and an intentional policies of inhospitality directed at those most vulnerable and needy among us.
The community that Daniel was writing for two and a half centuries ago would have understood our dilemma and responded … God will triumph.
Both Chapter 6 and Chapter 11 begin with the historical marker “in the first year of the reign of King Darius the Mede.” This installation draws on elements from these two chapters – a song in Chapter 6 after Daniel’s trial and deliverance from the lion’s den, and the sweeping 250-year overview of human history found in Chapter 11.
The world history outlined in Chapter 11 presents a sweeping drama of armies and kings at war in all corners of the ancient middle east. A tapestry of blood, anger, greed and self-serving tyrants from the Babylonian Empire, through Egyptian, Persian and Macedonian conquest, all finally culminating in Syrian control under the rule Antiochus IV Epiphanes. A real-life biblical Game of Thrones describing two and a half centuries of human vanity, greed and sinfulness that brings about an ongoing legacy of death and destruction.
Hovering over this global chessboard are the words to a song voicing the central message in the Book of Daniel. This liturgical canticle in Chapter 6, remarkably, does not come from Daniel but rather comes from the mouth of King Darius after Daniel’s miraculous deliverance from certain death. The words to this song give the reader an alternative way of thinking about life together in this world, as well as the certainty that God will win in the end over the destructive powers of oppression and violence. Ultimately the events of history are not ordained by God but are rather the result of free human choices centered in greed and selfishness … humanity’s ever-present sin of desiring more than it needs at the expense of its neighbor’s life and livelihood.
The various folktales of the Book of Daniel were brought together at one of the lowest points in Jewish religious and cultural history. The stories served to give direction and hope to a people of faith caught in the middle of extreme cruelty and oppression. The writer weaves together a rich sampling of hope-filled Jewish stories during a time when religious practices were outlawed, Torah scrolls were being burned, children were torn from their mothers, and the temple was being desecrated with images of foreign gods and the sacrifice of unclean animals.
The writer gathers stories of faithfulness and interweaves them with the various kingdoms from human history to remind the faithful that the struggle for survival in the time of tyrants is not new. This is an ongoing struggle within the history of all people seeking to live in covenant with their god and neighbor but find themselves caught up in some seemingly beyond their control. While the stories highlight the interplay between a faithful hero and the powerful (and often witless) tyrant, the target audience of the writer’s work are the simple people of faith who need a road map for what to do next and how to respond to evil in their midst.
Interestingly, many other unsavory characters emerge in the storytelling. The legions of sycophants who surround the king and his court plot and manipulate in order to gain favor, protection and prestige from the tyrant. Likewise, a host of compliant religious leaders who choose to ally with the king for many of the same reasons. For the writer of Daniel, the tyrant, the sycophant, and the compliant religious leaders put their faith in people or powers or systems that ultimately cannot save.
But maybe more interesting, the writer also calls the simple religious folks to accountability. In a lengthy prayer after his deliverance from the Lion’s den, Daniel first recounts how God has delivered his people in the past and describes a God whose steadfast love is both renowned and dependable. But then Daniel’s words become penitential and he declares that the faithful have also sinned and done wrong, been wicked, and rebelled. They too had forgotten how to live in right relationship with god, with each other, and with their world. The path to wholeness begins with their own confession.
Over the past three centuries, the folktales of the Book of Daniel have had an honored place in the shared canon of both Jewish and Christian revelation and imagination because humanity has too often found itself in this same pattern of death and destruction. Today, many of us find ourselves needing a roadmap for responding to evil in our midst and a world dangerously out of control. We too live in a world of saber-rattling madmen surrounded by cheering sycophants, evangelical religious leaders that equate their own economic security with god’s blessing, global economic systems that are enthusiastically endorsed but benefit the very few, extreme nationalism disguising itself as patriotism, and an intentional policies of inhospitality directed at those most vulnerable and needy among us.
The community that Daniel was writing for two and a half centuries ago would have understood our dilemma and responded … God will triumph.
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