1Nebuchadnezzar the king made
an image of gold. Its height [was] sixty cubits [and] its width [was] six
cubits. He set it up in the plain of Durah in the province of Babel.
2Nebuchadnezzar the king sent
to gather
the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the
counselors,
the treasurers, the
judges, the magistrates,
and the all of the
officials of the provinces
to
come to the dedication of the image
which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
3Then were gathered
the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the
counselors,
the treasurers, the
judges, the magistrates,
and the all of the
officials of the provinces
to
the dedication of the image
which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up
and
ones standing before the image
which Nebuchadnezzar
had set up.
4And
the herald calling in strength,
“To
you being said, peoples, nations, and languages,
5‘In
the time which you hear
the sound of the
horn, the pipe, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and the all of the kinds of music,
you will fall and you will worship
the image of the gold
which Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up;
6And
whoever does not fall and worship at the moment
will
be cast to the midst of the furnace of the fire burning.’”
7Therefore,
in the moment when hearing the all of the peoples
the sound of the
horn, the pipe, zither, lyre, harp, and the all of the kinds of music
falling
the all of the peoples, the nations, and the languages worshiping
the image of the gold
which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
I have again arranged the verses to highlight the repetitions.
As I said before, whenever ancient peoples seem to be repeating themselves, it
was usually for a reason. Whether we’ll ever figure out why is another
question, but I try to make it a point to note their repetitions and then at
least take a stab at figuring it out. If and when I do, it is usually
instructive. In this case, I’ve also highlighted the phrases that are repeated.
I’m not going to exert much effort into analyzing these repetitions, since I’ve
only progressed to v7. I don’t know that this is a good place to stop and
analyze too intently. I’d rather get quite a bit further before looking too
closely at it all.
I do want to say too, though, that within their repetition,
one also needs to be observant of their differences. Those too are usually
deliberate and intended to communicate something. Note that, “Nebuchadnezzar
the king” is repeated seven times, but the fifth time it is just “Nebuchadnezzar.”
Also note this dropping of “the king” occurs in the fifth repetition, which is
the third or middle occurrence of the phrase “which Nebuchadnezzar the king had
set up.”
The repeated listing of the nobles in v.2 and v.3 are
identical, as might be expected. However, the listing of the instruments in v.5
and v.7 are not. In v.5, there are identified six instruments and then the “and
all kinds of music.” In v.7, there are included only five -- the last one in
v.5, the “pipes” does not appear in v.7. Also of interest is that in the 3rd,
4th, and 5th instruments of v.7, each is spelled with one
letter different than the corresponding word in v.5. In each case, the letter
makes the same sound (like our “c” and “k” can do), so the word would be
presumably pronounced the same, but they are written differently.
I would suggest that these differences are just as
deliberate as their repetitions. In their day, in their language, and in their
culture, they were communicating something. If we can figure out what it was,
it may be instructive. At bare minimum, one needs to note such things and
ponder them then file them away. It may be that I see nothing now, but if I
come back years (and more maturity) later, I may then see what today I cannot.
Someone reading this might think these observations of the text are a waste of
time, but, in my mind, I am dealing here with the words of the Living God. I
want to pay very close attention to every word, even every letter, specifically
because they are ultimately His words and His letters and in the end, the order is
actually His.
As for the story itself – our friends go in to work on this
particular morning, fully intending to do their jobs and do them well, only to
have the HR director come on the company loudspeaker and announce this utterly
absurd new policy, to which everyone will comply – or you’re fired on the spot.
Oh, yeah – that’s not exactly the way it happened – but doesn’t it sound
familiar? Our friends are told they must bow down to this idol or be thrown in
a furnace and burned to death.
Here we go. Believers in a pagan workplace. Our friends have
repeatedly been applauded and promoted, as long as what was expected was for
people to do their jobs well. In that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
have excelled. And they should have.
A follower of Jesus ought to stand out in their workplace as someone who does
their job well – “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not
unto men … for you serve the Lord Christ” (Col 3:23,24). However, because the
workplace is pagan, a believer is frequently challenged by requirements that
may simply be wrong. Sometimes those things are debatable and sometimes they
are crystal clear. The book started with the guys challenged about the king’s
food. As I said back then, I’m not so sure it was really a big deal. Whether it
was really right or wrong for them to eat it I would suggest is debatable. But
this time it is not.
“Bow down and worship!” This one comes straight out of hell.
God says, “I am the Lord your God … You shall not make for yourself an idol …
You shall not bow down to them or worship them” (Ex 20:2-5). Now the believer
is faced with a situation where he or she simply cannot comply. I recall a
young woman in sales who was called in one day with her fellow salespeople only
to be told, “From now on, we want you to tell the clients anything you have to
in order to get the orders. If they want it by Friday, tell them you can get it
whether you can or not. Get their order first, then we’ll deal with the schedule.
Whatever you have to tell them, tell them. Get the order, then we’ll deal with
whatever.” Basically what they were saying was “Lie to your clients if that is
what it takes to get their money.” There you go. Same problem. Basic Ten Commandments
stuff. “You shall not lie.” She waited until after the meeting, then went in to
say to them, “My customers call me specifically because they trust me. They
know I will tell them the truth. I cannot and will not lie to them.” In her
case, they didn’t fire her on the spot. Instead what happened next was that her
sales were the highest in the entire company and she ended up being awarded for
her success. No fiery furnace for her – that time. But … one of those
situations we all have to face in a fallen world. “Comply … or else.”
Believers in the workplace ought to usually stand out for
their compliant spirits. We do as we’re told. We don’t talk back. We don’t shun
work because we think we’re “above it,” or because we don’t want to sit next to
“that person,” or because “that’s not my job.” Here in America, there are still
enough basically Christian people that some companies rarely put their
employees in situations like our friends are in – and in those companies we can
be very compliant people who do their jobs well and retire. But there certainly
are others. The company I work for today is built on honesty and a good work
ethic and is a very pleasant place to spend my time. On the other hand, I have
worked for companies that were seemingly immoral from the top to the bottom. Their
answer to every problem was to lie and you were expected to join them in it.
The immorality that went on even from the people at the very top was shocking.
They repeatedly put me in situations where I had to weigh hard whether I could
go along or not. Fortunately for me, the Lord gave me a good boss who somehow
was able to maneuver around in all the evil and still be a basically honest,
hard-working fellow. He sheltered me from a lot of trouble – perhaps more than
I’ll ever know – but it was definitely a challenge.
Of course we can’t leave these verses without noting their similarity
to Rev 13 where the False Prophet “ordered them to set up an image in honor of
the beast … He was given power to … cause all who refused to worship the image
to be killed” (vv.14-15). For now, I will simply remark that the similarity is
there because the source is the same. Whether today in the workplace or someday
in the Great Tribulation, “they are of their father the devil and the lust of
their father they will do.” The same malignant God-hating devil will fuel the
dictates of the Antichrist and where he controls people in authority, he plies
the same evil in our lives. “Comply … or else.”
The situation our friends are facing is no different than
what you and I may or may not face every day, living as the Lord’s people in
His adversary’s kingdom. What will we do? That is the very question facing our
friends. Of course we all know the story of what they did and how it turned out
… but we have to realize it’s true: We’re still writing ours!
In an evil world of “Comply … or else,” Lord give us grace
to live a story worth writing.
