Saturday 20 April 2013
- Bible Book:
- Daniel
Background
As the story of "the writing on the wall" comes to its climax,it is worth pausing to remember two things.
Firstly, our hero, Daniel, bears a name that in Hebrew meant "myjudge is God", or possibly "judge of God". He is God'sintermediary, expressing the way God wishes things to be. Secondly,the stories and visions in the Book of Daniel were almost certainlywritten after the Babylonian exile was over.
The tales of the first six chapters, of selfless actions in theface of execution and of powerful dreams predicting the downfall ofkings, are all cleverly crafted with the benefit of hindsight. Theydescribe times of real hardship but - through the words and actionsof Daniel and his friends - also predict the kind of world the Jewsbelieved God would achieve. For the people of Israel, following theBabylonian exile that provides the context for the Book of Daniel,it is a world that has the potential to come into being here andnow.
On this occasion, Daniel displays none of the nervousness thathe did when interpreting the dreams of Belshazzar's father (
There's an echo here of what the Moravian Peter Böhler once saidto John Wesley, "Preach faith until you have it. And then, becauseyou have it, you will preach faith." For Daniel, a slave in exile,this has never been an easy call but here he interprets themysterious writing on the wall fearlessly and, significantly, hisfearlessness and authority are recognised and respected even bythose who will suffer as the consequences of Daniel's prophecy.
To Ponder
- Where (or in whom) do you see signs of the world God desiresalready present, here and now?
- Who do you know who is respected for the way they express theirfaith, in words or in actions?
- Have you experienced moments when you have been shown respectfor your beliefs, even by those who do not share them? Whathappened?