Why is that important? Mainly, I think it’s important as we would remember Daniel, the man. Later, when he says he “was exhausted and lay ill for several days,” we may think, “Hmmm. The vision doesn’t seem that bad!” We need to remember that we’re only getting a snapshot of all that Daniel saw and, especially if it was harrowing, I don’t know if it’s even possible to truly convey the totality of that horror. It would be like going to a particularly terrifying horror film, then, upon arriving home, trying to describe it to someone else. At some point, you’d have to say, “You just had to be there.” Obviously, it was extremely upsetting to Daniel.
Speaking of Daniel, one other thought back to the opening verses, I noted that in this chapter, it is believed to be about the year 550 BC. We noted that Nebuchadnezzar had died in 562 BC, so it had been twelve years and Daniel would now be probably right around 70 years old. In the twelve years since Nebuchadnezzar died, Daniel had to survive through three complete changes of administration with one king taking over by killing his predecessor. That in itself is bad enough, but what I want to note is that Daniel probably knew all of these men.
As I’ve noted before, upon Nebuchadnezzar’s death in about 562 BC, his son, Evil-Merodach took the throne. After only two years, Neriglissar, who had married Evil’s sister, murdered him and usurped the throne. Neriglissar only lived four years, then was succeeded by his son Labashi-Marduk, who only reigned a few months before he was killed by Nabonidus. Nabonidus had married Nebuchadnezzar’s daughter Nitocris, and together they had produced Belshazzar, who is now Nabonidus’s vice-regent. My point is this – Daniel would have known Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Evil-Merodach and he would also have known Neriglissar who was Evil’s brother-in-law. He no doubt knew Neriglissar to be an evil, cut-throat opportunist, and it must have been a grief to know this man murdered his own brother-in-law to usurp the throne. Then, he no doubt knew Neriglissar’s son Labashi-Marduk and had to watch as he too was murdered by Nabonidus, another brother-in-law.
It would have been bad enough to live under this constant turnover of government, but then how awful it must have been to personally know the men involved, and that it’s all happening within the royal family – brother-in-laws murdering each other. Daniel had been able to enjoy serving for about 43 years under Nebuchadnezzar’s very effective leadership, but now he has to watch the royal family literally murdering each other as they grasp after the throne. Once again, let’s not forget Daniel, the man. He isn’t made of cardboard. It was certainly a wonderful thing for him to be called of God to be a prophet and to play such an important role in the Lord’s plans, but Daniel is still a man. It hurts very deeply to live in a veritable ocean of evil, to see the people he knows hurting each other, to see wicked men in the highest place of government.
You and me may not be such “important” people as Daniel, but we too are called to live our faith in the same kind of world, whether the evil be in our government or in the companies we work for or our schools or anywhere else. Let us not be surprised if we too seem to live in a world swirling with evil. That is our fallen world. One day, the “rock cut without hands” will smash it all and Jesus will reign, but, until then, may we realize we live in Daniel’s world – but that we too can know Daniel’s faith. He did it. So can we.
Last of all, I want to note the final words of the chapter, “Then I got up and went about the king’s business.” We’ve all heard the saying, “so heavenly minded, they’re no earthly good.” I want to suggest that people like that are not really “heavenly minded.” They may be “religious,” they may think they’re making “religion” important, people all around may be impressed by their seeming disregard for the things of this world – but whatever their “religion” amounts to, it is not Daniel’s, and shouldn’t be ours either. As great as was Daniel’s faith, please note how from chapter 1 on, Daniel was an exemplary worker. Right off the bat, he was valedictorian of Babylon U. and, in 6:5, though his enemies tried to discredit him, they themselves had to admit, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”
It is a twisted misconception of faith that it means somehow detaching ourselves from our responsibilities in this life – like the man who sits up on a pole for years so as not to be “contaminated” by the cares of this world, or the man or woman who neglects their family to supposedly “serve the Lord.” Our responsibilities in this world are not something we need to escape in order to be “religious.” Quite the opposite, this world, with its responsibilities – our jobs, our families, our neighborhoods, are precisely where you and I, like Daniel, are called to live our faith. There is and should be a time for us to engage in “religious” activities, like the time we spend praying and studying the Word, and our involvement in our churches, but may we be like Daniel and always be faithful to our responsibilities. They “tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs (his job!), but…they could find no corruption in him, because he was neither corrupt nor negligent” (6:4). Real faith, real “religion” is to “go and do likewise.”
I’m left, once again, in deep admiration for our friend Daniel, the man of great faith who also "went about the king's business." He has modeled for us what it means to be a man of faith in a very wicked, heart-breaking world. As I keep telling myself, he did it, so can you and I.
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