Day 255. Daniel 1-2

The Book of Daniel is addressed to Jews experiencing severe persecution. One of the principle themes of the book is this-- obedience to God's law, especially in the face of pressure to conform, gives blessings (1:20). God will protect those who follow his commands and maintain their Jewish identity in spite of coercion and violence. Daniel and his three companions are placed front and center as an example of faithfulness.
Together with Job and two others whose names would mean nothing to us now, Daniel was one of the four great sages of ancient world, and his words were passed from generation to generation on as part of the wisdom tradition. Both a hero and a saint, wonder stories and colorful legends clustered around him. The book the bears his name contains many of them. It was one of the last in the Old Testament to be composed, written centuries after the events it narrates, during the Greek period, following the conquests of Alexander the Great. In tone the Book of Daniel is much less like the other so-called "major prophets," Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, with which it is grouped in the Christian Bible, and much more like the Book of Esther, which it follows in the Jewish Bible.
The story of Daniel, like that of Esther, is set in history, but has a quality of romance and high adventure. It begins when Jerusalem is besieged and plundered by the Babylonians. In thanksgiving to his gods, whom he believed had given him the victory, King Nebuchadnezzar took some of the vessels of the house of God, "brought [them] to the land of Shinar"—Mesopotamia—"and placed [them] . . . in the treasury of his gods" (1:2). (This will be important to the story later.) Also part of the spoils are four noble youths whom King Nebuchadnezzar takes back with him to Babylon as hostages and to serve as pages in the royal palace there.
God, we are told, allowed the city to be sacked and the people deported, but he does not abandon these nice Jewish boys, alone in a strange country. At the Babylonian court the noble Jewish are treated well. They are "taught the literatures and language of the Chaldeans" (1:4), but at the same time are expected to conform to the pagan customs of the land. Daniel is given a Babylonian name—Belteshazzar—and the other three are given Chaldean names as well—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. All four names are filled with references to the Babylonian gods. More problematic, however, are the rations. The boys are also expected to eat the food and wine from the royal larder, which are, of course, not pure by Jewish religious standards. Daniel begs the palace master not to force him to defile himself with un-kosher food. He asks instead that he and his three compatriots be put on a diet of vegetables and water. This the king's servant does, though
reluctantly, but the boys thrive on this plain fare and are blessed by their obedience--"God gave [them] knowledge and skill in every aspect of literature and wisdom. Daniel also had insight into all visions and dreams" (1:17). And dreams and their interpretation will be central of the story of Daniel throughout, as visions are to the prophecies of Ezekiel.
King Nebuchadnezzar, we are told, "dreamed such dreams that his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him" (2:2). It is ironic--the king who has conquered the whole world is terrified by his own nightmares. He offers his own magicians, enchanters, and sorcerers great rewards if they can give him an interpretation that will set his mind at rest—at the same time he threatens them with death if they cannot. But confronted with the mystery of the king's dream, the magicians reply: "The thing that the king is asking is too difficult, and no one can reveal it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals" (2:11).
This is, of course, in essence true. Only God can open the door of the future. But it isn't the sort of truth the king of kings wants to hear, and his reaction is predictable. He flies into a rage and orders that "all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed" (2:12), and his agents set out to look for Daniel and his three friends "to execute them." But in the face of death, Daniel "[responds] with prudence and discretion" (12:14)—the wisdom to know how to bide your time and wait for inspiration—and he asks for time before "he would tell the king the interpretation" (2:16). Their request is granted. And Daniel and his friends use the time they are granted to "seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery" (2:18) and their prayers are answered—"the mystery [is] revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night" (2:19)—another dream. Then Daniel responds to the grace of God with a psalm of thanksgiving because the LORD
has "revealed to us what the king ordered" (2:23). No one can reveal the meaning of dreams but God, so when Daniel appears before the king he refuses take credit for the interpretation. Instead tells the king that "there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has disclosed to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen at the end of days" (2:28).
In Nebuchadnezzar's dream the statue represents the kingdoms of this world and their rulers. The stone cut "not by human hands" (2:24) that strikes it is symbolic of the power of God. Human kingdoms vanish "and become like the chaff of the summer threshing floor and the wind [carries] them away," Daniel tells the king. But the stone which becomes a mountain "that [fills] the whole earth" is the kingdom of God which outlasts all human kingdoms (2:35).
The golden head of the statue in the dream is Nebuchadnezzar himself (2:38)—a not unflattering interpretation—and those parts of the statue's body are the kingdoms "inferior to [his own]" (2:39) that will follow. The last of these, a mixture of iron mixed with clay, "will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay" (2:42). It will crumble into nothing when stone of divine power strikes it, and then God will establish a kingdom that shall bring all others to an end, "and it shall stand forever" (2:44).
Daniel's interpretation is inspired on several levels. Nebuchadnezzar could hardly do anything but reward one who tells him that "the great God has informed the king what shall be hereafter" (2:45). Daniel's interpretation also reveals the ultimate meaning and direction of history. The king of Babylon is more than impressed--he tries to worship Daniel as if he were a god: a humorous image to the story's first hearers, the great king groveling at the feet a Jewish boy. But the point goes deeper. Nebuchadnezzar, the pagan monarch, proclaims Daniel's God the "LORD of kings" (2:47)—which of course in every sense he is. Again prudence and bravery in the face of violence are rewarded. The king gives Daniel "many great gifts" and promotes him to be "ruler of the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon" (2:49), just as the Pharaoh of Egypt had promoted Joseph, again because he could interpret
troubling dreams. It was a skill respected and admired in ancient times above all others. (For centuries afterward the Jews of Babylon continued to be famous as astrologers and interpreters of dreams—remember the "wise men from the east" who followed to the star to find the child Jesus. They were in all likelihood Jewish sages from Babylon.) So everything came out well. At Daniel's request his three friends—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego --are promoted too, and they all might have lived happily ever after—if life were like that.