Stroll through Scripture for Sunday, August 25, 2024

Based on Daniel 7:1-18

The first six chapters of Daniel were stories of Daniel and his compatriots and their interactions with various kings.  They are clearly conquered people and throughout much of these stories, there are others who conspire to have them removed from positions of trust.  The stories in Daniel use fantastic elements (like an overheated furnace or a lion’s den) to talk about things familiar to oppressed peoples.  Yet these stories offer consolation to those oppressed peoples because regardless of the empire, the king, or the conspirators, it is God who always prevails and protects God’s faithful.  That doesn’t mean that life is easy of course.  

Chapter seven presents a turning point in the book of Daniel.  From here on out we will hear about Daniel’s apocalyptic visions, with heavenly creatures, and mystery.  Apocalyptic literature is a genre of Scripture that is written during times of great oppression.  It is meant to offer consolation and hope to those who are oppressed, telling them that no matter how bad the situation gets (there is no sugar coating the situation, which is why it was written in the first place), God hears the cry of God’s faithful and acts.  

Daniel’s version of apocalyptic literature is not a warning that allows for change.  Rather, the book of Daniel presents its apocalyptic language as a set-in-stone certain future – God has judged and is carrying out the judgement.  There is no way to change it.  This differs from other apocalyptic literature in Scripture which is written as a warning and gives the hearer the opportunity to change to avoid what will happen.  

Remember, Daniel was written during a time in which the Seleucid empire occupied Israel and Antiochus IV Epiphanes desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem by slaughtering a pig in an act of worship to Zeus.  Imagine someone coming into our church, using violence, trashing the altar, and changing it to become a worship site for another religion without the congregation’s say.  Now multiply that by 1000 and you will understand how upsetting the situation was for the Israelites.  And it also gives us understanding of why Daniel’s apocalyptic language isn’t just a warning, but rather a judgement that will be carried out.  

In this week’s reading, we hear about the four beasts in Daniel’s dream.  In many ways, the language and imagery draw us back to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue made of the different elements.  Like that story in which Daniel interprets the dream and shows how each element represents a different empire, and that they all fall in the end, this dream of Daniel is describing something similar.  And like the earlier dream, God’s kingdom is what remains.  

This is a powerful message and a word of encouragement.  So much of what we encounter in life is temporary.  Our faith is not things of this world that present themselves as strong and mighty – like nations, rulers, violence, force, etc.  Rather, our faith is from and in God who prevails over all. 

Questions for reflection:

• Why do you think the book of Daniel uses such wild imagery?  How does this help us understand what God is conveying in these stories?
• Violence and persecution have long been a part of human history.  How do the dreams, like in Chapter 7, help people to have hope?