Daniel 5:17 “Faithful”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁷Then Daniel [was] one answering and one saying before the king, “Your gifts be to you and your rewards give to another, yet I will read the writing to the king and the meaning I will make known to him.”

Up to this point in the chapter, the main character has been Belshazzar the king. In our short introduction to him (and history would corroborate it), we have found him to be a selfish, arrogant, adolescent playboy, utterly unfit to manage so much as a Kool-aid stand, much less a nation. Now we get to hear from our man Daniel. In stark contrast, our Daniel is a man of absolute sterling integrity, someone we can all observe and admire.

I’m excited to pause and ponder everything our Daniel will have to say. He is a man’s man. If only there were more like him, the world would be a better place. The key, we already know, is that he is a godly man.  That, in itself, should be encouraging for the rest of us, because it means whatever is admirable in him is accessible to us as well. I can’t interpret dreams like him, but that’s not what makes him so admirable. It’s who he is that garners our respect.

First of all, let us note again that when Daniel is called, he comes. We’ve already observed how, in spite of his amazing giftedness and qualifications, he has apparently been relegated to obscurity by the Babylonian court. Such treatment would have wounded the pride of lesser men, but, not our Daniel. No matter how he’s been treated still he’s ready to do his job, to do his part, to do what he can, even for the very man who has most insulted him.

Along those lines, I would suggest Belshazzar was deliberately belittling Daniel when he asked, “Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah?” First of all, he knows very well he’s Daniel. It’s insulting to suddenly act like he doesn’t know him. Then he has to get that jab in—"one of the exiles.” Here is our Daniel, probably 80-90 years old. He’s served the Babylonian court for seventy years and yet Belshazzar has to call him an “exile.” Even under the terror of the handwriting, Belshazzar is still insolent. Even as he would ask for Daniel’s help, he has to insult him.

Yet, when he’s called, our Daniel comes. When it’s time to do his job, Daniel does it. Right off the bat, we all need to learn from him to do likewise. As we go about our jobs and live our lives, we too will be belittled, insulted, ignored, overlooked, and all the rest. When it happens, will we pull in our shingle and close up shop, or will we continue to do our job to the best of our ability? We’re surrounded by people who got overlooked and now they’ve shut down. They do the absolute minimum they have to so they don’t get fired, but they’re not contributing any more. They’re just coasting to retirement. The Lord didn’t put Col. 3:23 in the Bible for nothing: “And whatever you do, do it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men…”

Therein, I would suggest, is the “secret” to Daniel’s integrity. In everything he does, he is a servant of the Most High God. Whether people do or do not appreciate him is, in the end, irrelevant to Daniel, precisely because that’s not who he’s serving.

That is also important to see in this passage. Some people read into the story that Daniel is being cocky and even disrespectful to Belshazzar as he starts with, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else.”  I think rather Daniel is wanting to make it clear he’s not just serving for the rewards. In spite of all his mistreatment, Daniel wants everyone to know he does his job because it’s his job – not just because someone offers him rewards. “Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.” Rewards or not, Daniel wants everyone to know he’ll do his job. Daniel is a man who is faithful. He’s someone you can always count on.

This brings us back to being servants of the Most High God. This world is constantly offering its “rewards.” It offers us pleasures and possessions and applause. Its rewards are often gilded with gold and seemingly delicious. It’s fine to receive those things and fine to enjoy them but, time and again, you and I have to decide whether that’s what we’re living for. Do I do it for the gold or do I do it for the Lord? Am I or am I not a faithful man? Can others count on me, no matter what?  Like Daniel, our hearts need to always be saying, “Rewards or not, I will do my job to the best of my ability.”

This applies at work, but it also applies everywhere else in our lives. I need to be the husband I should be, the father, the church member, the community member, the friend, even simply the human being I should be, regardless of whether I think I’ll be “rewarded” or not and even if those very people insult and belittle me.

May we each be like Daniel and always being saying (at least in our hearts), “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else, nevertheless, I will...”

There is much to learn from Daniel, the man. May he first of all teach us to be faithful.

Daniel 5:13-16 “Charades”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹³Then Daniel was brought before the king. The king answering and saying to Daniel, “You [are] him Daniel who from the sons of the exiles of Judah whom my father the king brought from Judah? ¹⁴I have heard upon you that [the] spirit of [the] gods [is] in you and illumination and insight and wisdom extraordinary are found in you. ¹⁵And now, before me were brought in the wise men [and] the conjurers that this writing they might read and the meaning of it to make known to me and not ones able to declare the meaning of the word, ¹⁶and I have heard upon you that you are able meanings to interpret and problems to solve. Now, if you are able the writing to read and its meaning to declare to me, [with] purple you will be clothed and the necklace of gold upon your neck and third in the kingdom you will rule.”

For whatever it’s worth, I think Belshazzar is lying. He’s acting like he has no idea who Daniel is. What he says about him here is almost word for word exactly repeating what Nitocris told him—as if that is his only source of knowledge concerning this Daniel. I strongly suspect rather his problem is he knows the apparition is a judgment for desecrating the temple vessels from Jerusalem. His boisterous insolence had been very directly intended as a mockery against the God of the Jewish people, and he knows it, and so does everyone else in the room. Yet, here he is asking one of those very Jews to interpret it for him.

When Nitocris advised Belshazzar to call for Daniel, everyone in the room knew who she was talking about. Everyone in the room knew he was one of the Jewish exiles. Even the fact that she calls him Daniel (his Jewish name) reinforced the obvious connection between him and the Jewish temple vessels they had all just desecrated. All of this has created a situation where they all are more than happy to join Belshazzar in this ridiculous pretense that “no one knows this Daniel guy.” No doubt that under such a wicked, profligate sovereign Daniel has been ignored and obscured, but I refuse to believe the Babylonian people (and especially the Babylonian court) have forgotten him. People don’t soon forget such dramatic events as Daniel’s previous interpretations of Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams or the whole affair of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s deliverance from the fiery furnace.

Also, note, later in chapter 8:1,27, we read, “In the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, I, Daniel, had a vision…then I got up and went about the king’s business…” Here we have Daniel “going about the king’s business” in the third year of his reign. I suppose someone could suggest that Daniel could have done “the king’s business” without necessarily interacting with the king himself, but I think, once again, the more obvious explanation here is simply that Belshazzar is lying. He knows very well who Daniel is, and so does everyone else.

However, just like today, if it serves their purpose, people will all join in a common and sudden pretense of amnesia. It’s the same idea behind the old children’s fable of “the emperor’s new clothes.” In a sense, what has shocked me as an adult was to realize that wasn’t just a silly “children’s fable.” It is a depiction of what people are more than ready to do, if it is what we today call “politically correct.”

Anyone who works and lives in the real world is intimately familiar with this little charade our lost world loves to play. I remember seeing this early in my career. In that case, the company kept records of how much corn they processed every day. They called it the “Grind.” One particular night, they wanted to set a new “record,” so they just left the meter running for an hour or two after midnight. The next day, the plant was all abuzz with this amazing new “record” we’d set. The company had to bring in cake and hand out hats and turned it all into a big celebration. However, the joke was that everyone knew exactly what they’d done. Everyone knew it was all a lie. But then, hey, if the company wants to serve me cake and give me a hat, I’m all in, right?

Then another time, they announced they were installing new “energy efficient” motors all through the plant. That was a huge deal as there were motors everywhere one looked in that large expansive production facility. One day I passed one of the maintenance guys changing out a motor. Trying to infuse a little positivity, I remarked to the man, “It’s a lot of work, but if it really does save energy, that will be great!” He glumly replied, “Whether it does or it doesn’t, they’ll say it did.”  The man was himself probably around 60 by that time and an excellent worker, but he’d been around long enough, he knew the games they played.

Now here I am, some 40 years later watching all the same games. Frankly, I find it all sickening. Maybe it’s because I’m an engineer and my whole career is built on truth. Engineering is nothing more than applied science—taking the laws of science and turning them into useful products and services to accomplish various tasks. The key to us is that, in our world, it had better work! There is no place for lying to each other, then pretending we succeeded. The pump either works or it doesn’t. On the other hand, maybe it’s because I am a believer, constantly studying the Bible and trying to build my whole life on truth. It is an almost constant affliction to live in this swirl of blatant lies and politically correct chicanery.

The little game Belshazzar is playing here is nothing new, nor should it come as any surprise to anyone who knows their Bible and is trying to live and work for the Lord in this twisted, evil world. One can only imagine how hard it has been for Daniel. He is now probably 80-90 years old, so he’s “seen it all.” What should encourage the rest of us, however, is to realize he did it. Daniel did it. He managed to live his entire life and career as a servant of the Most High God, even in the same fallacious world you and I must live in today.

Though you and I must live and work in this swirl of lies, and though we see through them and they sicken us, yet we, like Daniel, can go on being faithful, speaking the truth, sincerely trying to do good to the people God has called us to serve. Though Daniel is completely aware of the charade Belshazzar (and the whole crowd) is playing, yet, when they call for him, he comes. There is our Daniel, standing in the court of Babylon, with a king lying to his face, and yet here he stands—humble, faithful servant who everyone knows will tell them nothing but the truth. Here he stands amongst a people who have belligerently mocked his God, yet here he stands, ready to serve.

As always, our Daniel provides you and me with an example well worthy of our emulation, though we live some 2,600 years and half way around the world from him. May we all learn well from him!