The first chapter of Daniel opens with a brief summary of
the events that led up to the Southern Kingdom of Judah being exiled: Nebuchadnezzar
came, besieged Jerusalem, and won. So he took some of the vessels of the temple
of the Lord and brought them to Babylon to put in his own god’s temple.
Keep in mind that in the Ancient Near East, every war was a
holy war. The nation with the stronger god would win the war, and then plunder
the temple of the weaker God. Remember 1 Samuel 4-5? When the Philistines
captured the Ark of the Covenant they brought it into their god’s temple. Then
next morning the statue of their god, Dagan, had fallen over. So they set it
back up, dusted it off and went on with their day. The next morning, the statue
of Dagan had fallen over again, and its head and hands had been broken off in
the fall. So the head priest called the architect and engineer to lodge a
complaint. No. The Philistines were shaken, because not only had their god
fallen to the ground before the ark of
the Lord (1 Sam 5:4) and been broken, the people began to get sick. So they
say, “Dagan is our god (1 Sam 5:7),” and send the Ark of the Lord back to the
Israelites.
Fast forward to Daniel’s time, Nebuchadnezzar is plundering
the temple of the Lord because, well, because he can. The book of Daniel gives
us a new perspective on what is actually going on. Daniel 1:2 says, “The Lord
gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of
the house of God…” Nebuchadnezzar didn’t just come and take because he had a
larger army; he came and took because God
allowed it. The God of David is not the weaker god; by contrast, he is the
one who allowed the Kingdom of Judah to survive Sennacherib of Assyria’s attack
about 100 years before (2 Kings 18-19). This time, he takes his hands off, and
allows Nebuchadnezzar to come and conquer the kingdom.
Further on in the chapter, Daniel has decided that he didn’t
want to defile himself with the King’s food so he asked for a different diet. The
commander of the officials who was in charge of Daniel didn’t really want to do
this, but in Daniel 1:9, “God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight
of the commander.” God honor’s Daniel’s request and desire by turning the heart
of the commander to be favorable towards him. God is still watching over his
people because He is not conquered and weak, but just, sovereign, and faithful.
Finally, in Daniel 1:17, “As for these four youths, God gave
them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom.
Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dream.” Once again, God is
watching over His people, even in exile. Nebuchadnezzar may have the visible
victory, but God has been working, placing his people in positions so that they
can testify to His greatness and glory to the leaders of the day. God gifted
these four young men with the skills and talents they would need to serve in
the Babylonian Empire, and attain confessions of the glory, greatness, and
power of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Sometimes, we feel that God is doing things illogically. But
that’s because we don’t see what He sees, and we don’t know what He knows. God
is not most concerned about our comfort and happiness, but about our holiness.
He will do what it takes to make us holy, even if it hurts. Because God is in
control, we can trust that no matter what we are going through, can be turned
around for our own good. It’s hard to believe that sickness, disease, exile,
being disowned or abandoned by loved ones, or financial hardship is part of his
perfect plan for us. But if we claim that we are saved by Jesus Christ, then we
also believe that God is sovereign, all powerful, all knowing, and in control.
Remember our highest desire is to be like Christ, not like the Joneses. So
where is God working in your life now? What has He given you over to because of
your sin? And what is he giving you to overcome it?
No comments:
Post a Comment