Wednesday 10 April 2013

Background

Daniel is a member of the nobility of the Court of Judah who hasbeen carried off into exile into Shinar (the Hebrew word forBabylon) by King Nebuchadnezzar. He is being / has been trained tobe a court official (the timing is not clear between Daniel1:5, 18, and Daniel 2:1).

The first part of the book of Daniel (Daniel 1:1 - 2:4a) iswritten in Hebrew. From the point in the story when we hear theastrologers (the 'Chaldeans') answer the king in Aramaic (verse4a), the story continues in Aramaic (right up to the end of chapter7).

The point of the book of Daniel is that whatever happens toGod's people, they must still accept that God is sovereign, andthat God alone is in charge (see Daniel1:2; 2:47). Furthermore, lesser gods and deities have no truepower, and those who rely on them will reap their own downfall.This point is made to an audience, reading in the second centurybefore Christ, that is undergoing tremendous persecution forwanting to be faithful to the one true God. They are refusing tobow down to Zeus, whose image is now placed in the temple after thedesecration of the Seleucid ruler, Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

In the introduction to the story of the dreams, we see themagicians, enchanters, sorcerers and Chaldeans (and the kinghimself) recognising that their stock-in-trade prophecies andpronouncements may not be as genuine as they claim them to be:indeed they would not stake their lives on them. In a no-winsituation, they condemn themselves.

To Ponder

• If you have a faith, on what foundations have you built it? Howmuch of it is based on what you would stake your life on? And howmuch of it doesn't stand up to too close a scrutiny?

• Have you ever struggled with the meaning of a recurring dreamyou have had? Do dreams have to have underlying meanings? Why?