Tuesday 09 April 2013

Background

Although the events of the book of Daniel are set in the sixthcentury before Christ (the siege of Jerusalem ended on 2 Adar (16March) 597BC) the book itself was written in the second centurybefore Christ. (In the same way that we would spot a'seventeenth-century' book written in twenty first-century Englishas being newer than it claimed to be).

By the second century before Christ, Jerusalem had fallen toAlexander the Great, whose successor Antiochus IV Epiphanes(175BC-164BC) was on the throne. As Nebuchadnezzar ofShinar/Babylon had done so before him (verse 2), Antiochus pillagedthe temple (following the revolt led by Jason - 2Maccabees 5:11-20). He imposed the worship of Greek gods,setting up a statue of Zeus in the temple. However, his persecutionof the Jews following the revolt was nothing short of appalling.(The full gruesome story of what happened to a family who refusedto eat pork may be read in 2Maccabees 7 - but this is not a passage of Scripture for thefaint-hearted).

How could the Jews who were suffering appalling torture fortheir desire to remain faithful to God and to keep to the practicesof the law be encouraged not to simply give in to Antiochus inorder to stay alive? The book of Daniel was written for thispurpose - by reminding the readers of an earlier time of greatpersecution which was endured by those who had faith.

Note also that the question as to whether God has abandonedGod's chosen people to their terrible fate is answered in verse 2 -it is not that a stronger god has defeated the God of Judah, butthat the God of Judah has permitted a foreign king to prevail for ashort period of time. (The writer of 2 Maccabees argues that it wasfor God to discipline God's people before they grew worse in theirsin - 2 Maccabees 6:12-17).

So in today's passage we see the way that Daniel and his friendsavoid eating meat which has been sacrificed to idols - bypractising vegetarianism and avoiding all meat.

To Ponder

• Christians of a century ago held to very strict rules about howthey kept Sundays as special. How far does a relaxation ofattitudes indicate a watering-down of faithfulness to God?

• Do you agree that God allows disasters to happen to people inorder to discipline them? Why?