Daniel 3:8-12 – “Redeemers”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁸Thereupon, at that time, the men of the Chaldeans came near to denounce the Jews. ⁹They answered and [were] saying to Nebuchadnezzar the king, “O king, live to ages. ¹⁰You the king set a decree that every man who heard the sound of the horn, the pipe, zither, the lyre, harp, and pipes and the all of the sorts of the music should fall and should worship the image of the gold, ¹¹and whoever would not fall and worship should be cast to the midst of the furnace of the fire burning. ¹²There are men of the Jews whom you appointed them upon the business of the province of Babel – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego the men. Those do not set to you the king a decree, not paying homage to your gods and not worshiping the image of the gold which you set up.

There is so much to write on these verses, I almost don’t know where to start. I could comment on the fact that this list of musical instruments is again not identical to either of the previous two. I think for now I will just note it and then come back to ponder those differences when I’ve dissected the entire chapter.

Can we help but notice once again that these Chaldeans are of their father the devil and the lusts of their father they do? The very name “Satan” means “adversary” in Hebrew. He is and always was “the accuser of the brethren.” And where do we find him in the book of Job? At the throne of the very King of kings and doing what? Accusing. This “accusing” nature of his actually arises from the fact that he is “a murderer from the beginning.” Accusing is simply a subtle form of murder. Its purpose is to kill relationships.

The Chaldeans are simply “about their father’s business.” People debate whether the Chaldeans just happened to notice the guys not bowing and so they run in to “tattle” on them, or if perhaps they knew it likely they wouldn’t bow and so were watching for a chance to accuse them. Others suggest this is no different than later in the book when the same group gets the king to issue a decree specifically so they could accuse Daniel. Perhaps they were behind this idol thing from the very beginning? Haman did the same thing in the book of Esther. Any one of the above may be true, but they all have one thing in common – accusing. Hateful, mean-spirited, cruel accusing. Slander. Gossip. Mouths “set on fire by hell.”

I think this as good a place as any to just be honest and recognize this is the world you and I live and work in. Everywhere you go, everyone you talk to, one of their favorite subjects is bashing other people. Men bash their wives to each other. Women bash their husbands to each other. Get two workers together and they can bash on their boss or one of their co-workers. Get two church-people together and they bash on the pastor or on their fellow church-members. It is as common as the sunrise. But it arises from the same smoking pit that motivated these Chaldeans – hell. God is love. God says all that matters is love. God is not a murderer. He is a Redeemer. He doesn’t tear things down. He builds them up. God doesn’t destroy relationships. He encourages them.

As far back as Leviticus 19:16, He told His people, “Do not go about spreading slander among your people.”  Prov 11:12 tells us, “With their words, the godless destroy their friends …” In Eph 4:29, Paul tells us, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” We should be using our mouths to build people’s relationships, not destroy them. I’m always blessed by the story of Saul and Jonathan in I Sam 19:4-7 where Saul had resolved to kill David, but Jonathan goes to him and reminds him of all the good David had done for him. In that particular case, Saul actually listened and brought David back. All it took was one person speaking well of another and a broken relationship was restored (even if only temporarily in that case). Truly, “life and death are in the power of the tongue.”

Just like the world Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had to live and work in, our world is sadly an almost constant stream of negativity, slander, gossip, put downs, and anything and everything it takes to destroy each other’s relationships. It will happen to us at work and at church and in our families and neighborhoods. It shouldn’t surprise us. What is really important is that we don’t join them. God help us to be people who sincerely try to speak well of others, to be people who strive to encourage other people’s relationships, not tear them down. One Christian man recently said, if he ever hears one person say something nice about another person, he goes and tells them. “Did you know so and so said this about you? Wasn’t that nice?” He’s doing the exact opposite of the devil and, in our story, his minions the Chaldeans.

I honestly think, in our workplaces in particular, this is one of the things that ought to make us noticeably different than everyone else – that we are the ones who have something “nice” to say about others, that we are the ones who encourage people to respect each other and appreciate each other’s strengths, to be patient with each other’s weaknesses, to actually like each other!

May we be redeemers, not accusers!

Daniel 3:4-7 – “Commanding Hearts”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

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’ve been studying the next few verses, but I want to ponder one more thought before I move on, and that is the folly of anyone thinking that power can change hearts.

What Nebuchadnezzar is trying to do is done all day every day all over the face of the earth – not only in governments but in churches and workplaces and families and pretty much anywhere people gather. It is true, if you have the power, you can get anyone to do anything. What I mean is, if you have the power to truly hurt someone, you can get them to say or do almost anything. And if the power you have to hurt them isn’t enough to move them, you just need more power. If a fiery furnace isn’t enough to exact obedience, then fire it up seven times hotter!

Of course, sometimes power may first seek to control others by offering them sufficient rewards. You could almost say the opposite of my assertion is true – that if you have the power to (significantly) reward people, you also can have considerable power to get them to do or say anything you want them to.

But, either way, what we’re dealing with is “getting other people to do what we want them to.” These thoughts of course lend themselves to discussions of “leadership” – good leadership, bad leadership, etc. A “good” leader is typically thought of as someone who has an unusual ability to get people to do things. A “good” leader in the business world is someone who can rally the troops around some goal and actually see it happen. A pastor is a “good” leader if he can implement programs and ministries in the church and see people rise up and clearly, visibly implement those programs or ministries. It would be generally agreed that Nebuchadnezzar was one of the greatest administrators (leaders) in human history. He extended Babylon’s rule from India to Egypt and ruled over it all. Even this whole “golden image” episode we’re considering in Daniel 3 is an amazing illustration of leadership.

Of course, his particular style of leadership was cruel dictatorship, but, we have to admit he did get essentially the entire civilized world to submit to his rule. I will say again, if you have the power, you can get other people to do or say almost anything you want them to. The story before us is a prime example. The leaders from basically the entire civilized world are bowing to this image at Nebuchadnezzar’s command.

And they do. Nebuchadnezzar must be quite proud of himself. The whole world bows when he tells them to. He can assure himself he has the submission of his entire kingdom. There they are bowing, right when he told them to.

But, as he congratulates himself on this signal accomplishment, he is failing to realize a very, very important reality. He has not changed their hearts. Oh, yes, they are bowing. Oh, yes, they’ll exclaim, “O king, live forever!” They are doing and saying all the right things.

But does he really have their hearts?

The fact is that all the power in the world, all the outwardly demonstrated acts of obedience someone can command, all the right words verbally expressed tell you nothing about the person’s heart. Do they really agree? Do they really believe these things? Are they really loyal?

As long as you exact those expressions with power, you’ll never know what’s really in their hearts.

Power does not change hearts.

I think of a church I knew where there was a very strong leader and good administrator. And he really was. The guy was just a naturally gifted leader. And he got essentially the whole church saying the right things and doing lots of right things. But as soon as he left, it all fell apart. And why? Because the truth is their hearts were never in it. They were simply doing and saying what they were told. He had the “power” of very persuasive leadership, an unusual ability to get people to do and say what he wanted ... but he couldn’t change their hearts.

As parents, we all desperately want our children to grow up and “do well.” We do our best to guide them and teach them and correct them while they’re growing up. But I remember reading one of the old reformed preachers way back then and he made the statement, “You’ll never know how much of your teaching your children have really embraced until they are on their own, living their own lives.” What he was saying was, you may have the power as a parent to command all sorts of behaviors and even stated beliefs. But the one thing you do not have is the power to change their hearts. Their “heart” will only show once they are no longer under your power. Then you find out what they really did and did not embrace.

Just in the last few years I have come to realize from the Bible that one of the supreme dignities of the human race is our freedom of choice. What that comes down to is the plain fact that each individual has a heart of their own – that place where they ponder and consider and think over the things they’ve seen and heard, where they dream, and desire, and hope, and become convinced of what they really believe is true and best for them. And the plain, simple fact is that NO ONE can command that heart. If you have the power, you can get them to do and say almost anything, but nothing you do can touch that heart.  Someone once called it “the unassailable citadel of the human heart.”

Hearts cannot be commanded. They can only be wooed. Jesus knew that. He didn’t come to earth and say, “Believe in Me or die.” He didn’t grab His disciples by the collar and say, “Follow Me or else.” This is precisely why it was true that “a bruised reed He did not break and a smoldering wick He did not put out.” That’s why His message was “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” He was “drawing them” with “cords of love.”

When we are trying to get others to do something or believe something and find ourselves angrily demanding their compliance (like preachers screaming from their pulpits and bosses issuing fearful threats), we can rest assured the task before us is hopeless. It isn’t first of all them that needs to change. It’s us.

It is true that sometimes all that is needed is physical compliance, as in an advancing military column, and that may be all good and well. But when that same leader or we have started thinking we can command those same people’s hearts, we may rest assured we’ve embarked on a fool’s errand. Someone commenting on this passage said, “And what could be more foolish? It is attempting an impossibility. Force cannot reach the mind. Force may make cowards, it may make dissemblers, it may make hypocrites and apostates, but it never did, and never can make a convert.”

In our story, three young men didn’t bow. Three young men were seen standing. The truth is, there were a lot of hearts still standing that day – but Nebuchadnezzar didn’t know it, because he had the power to make their bodies bow. May you and I have the wisdom to know the difference.

Daniel 3:4-7 – “Comply … Or Else!”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

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 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th 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.