Daniel

Chapter 5

The story turns to several the son of Nebuchadnezzar, to King Betlshazzar and a great festival. In the revelry of the party it is suggested that the vessels from the Temple of Jerusalem that were taken by the Babylonians in the conquest. The vessels were brought that they were used to drink from in the party. There then appeared a hand writing on the wall the words: mene, mene, tekel, parsin. These are words that reflect the weights and measures – a message that says to the King you have measured and weighed and have come up short. Mene “God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; tekel you have been weighted on the scales and found wanting; peres your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.[1] The story ends with the death of the King at the hand of Darius the Mede who received the kingdom.

This is the story of arrogance and false pride at having conquered the enemy and the implements of worship of their God. The kings message is one of conquest, “I have won. I can do anything that I want.” Of course, the claim against God had been seen to be false. Israel is in Babylon because of the Lord’s doing, not Nebuchadnezzar’s. The ultimate claim of the Book of Daniel is that the Lord God is sovereign over all things and all kings – even in Babylon. The apocalyptic message to the people of Israel is that God is in charge. Even though they are in bondage in a foreign land, the Lord God reigns and nothing will happen to them. God is still their God and commands even the enemies forces.

Chapter 6

Darius also learns a lesson about rulership and his relationship to the foreign God of his captives. Daniel achieves a place of high honor in the court of Darius. He is placed at the head of the princes and governors of the region. This spawns jealousy among the other and they set a trap. They stroke the kings greatness by getting him to declare a 30 period when only the king may be prayed to. On pain of death, only the king may be worshiped. Daniel stands against the order because he may not worship any God and the Lord God. Darius finds himself caught in the equally because he doesn’t want to throw Daniel to the lions; yet he must lest he appear weak. Daniel is saved by God. The mouths of the lions are shut throughout the entire night that Daniel is in the den. Upon his release, those who set the trap are thrown to the lion and they are devoured.

The stories point is that faithfulness pays off when it is put in the Lord. Daniel serves as example of standing in the faith of the Lord against all odds – against impossible odds and dangers. The point is one of standing fast in the face of all adversity because God does not act faithlessly toward those who hold fast to commands of God – those who honor the Lord and remain faithful to him.

The Rev. Dr. Kipp W. Zimmermann

Wednesday, June 2, 2004

[1] [1] Metzger, Bruce M. and Roland E. Murphy, eds, The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, The New Revised Standard Version, New York: Oxford University Press, 1991; Dn 5:25-28, 1136 (OT).