Daniel 12:10 “Tares and Wheat”

 Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁰Many purifying themselves and they will make themselves white and they will be refined by fire and wicked ones will cause to be evil and all of [the] wicked ones will not understand/be discerning, and the ones being wise will understand/be discerning.”

This verse is very similar to what the angel had said earlier in 11:35, “Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white until the time of the end…” As usual, if we stop and really think about this verse, there is much to observe and to learn.

First, I want to acknowledge that the Hebrew in this verse is a bit obscure to me. The verbal voices (active, passive, or reflexive?), to me, are difficult to translate. Also, it can be unclear whether to take some of those verbals as transitives or intransitives. I gave it my best shot in my “fairly literal” translation above, but I wouldn’t “go to the mat” over any of it. It is reported that, late in his life, Mark Twain was observed reading the Bible. Someone asked him, “Doesn’t it bother you all the things you don’t understand?” He replied, “It’s not the things I don’t understand that bother me; it’s the things that are all too clear!”

As a believer, of course none of it “bothers me,” but it’s very, very often true we (like Mr. Twain) have to keep our focus on “the things the are all too clear!” What is “all too clear” is that “in this world, you shall have tribulation…” Regardless of how we translate the intended verbal voices, the bottom-line is that this world will never be a picnic for us believers, and we can only expect that problem to get worse as we approach “the end.”

What has particularly struck me, however, from this verse is the final words, “…but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.” Those thoughts are strikingly similar to Rev. 22:11, “Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy.” As Jesus taught us, in this world, there will always be tares among the wheat.

In a society where the Bible has strong influence, sometimes it is hard to tell the tares from the wheat. That is how it was in America and perhaps is still – to some extent. I work in an office of about fifty people and marvel every day how nice they all are. Some I know are believers, but most I wouldn’t even want to guess whether they are or not. They are all so pleasant, it would be hard to count them among “the wicked” – among “the tares.”

Both Daniel and the Apostle John end their prophetic lives telling us, “The wicked will be wicked and the righteous will be righteous.” I think one thing we can learn from them is to expect that the difference will get more and more pronounced. As we approach the end, it will get clearer and clearer who are the righteous and who are the wicked. We’ll see less and less of those “nice” people who simply may or may not actually be believers.

I believe I’ve definitely seen this across my lifetime which has spanned the last half of the 20^th century and the beginning of the 21^st. Especially in the last 25 years and even most dramatically in the last 10, I would definitely say it’s more and more true “the wicked are wicked and the righteous are righteous.” I personally have little affection for either political party, but at least in appearances, the Democrat party has come to seemingly represent every possible form of shameless evil, while the Republicans seem to stand for the Bible, morality, law and order, and the traditional values this country was built on.

(Notice my words “seemingly.” Politicians are what I call “professional liars.” They are people who have mastered the art of telling people what they want to hear, then actually doing whatever garners to themselves the most money and power. So, again, if my assessment bothers you, please remember I said I have no affection for either party).

Political parties aside, it would seem that, more and more, evil is evil, and good is good. The distinction is growing ever sharper. If I’m correct in understanding Daniel and John, that should not surprise us. Paul warned us in II Tim. 3:1, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days,” then goes on to describe a world of evil looking too much like our today.

I think we would all agree it bothers us deeply to see evil so prevalent and even threatening in our America. However, that forces us to acknowledge what Jesus taught: The tares and the wheat will grow together until the end. I really, really don’t like it. I don’t like to even see the faces of those who, to me, deserve the name “wicked.” I wish we could see (and pray for) revival in America so pervasive it would seem the wicked could “disappear!”

However, Daniel, John, and Jesus Himself taught us not to expect it. It is strangely comforting to me to genuinely embrace this truth. I’ve known it for years, but I don’t think I have ever truly embraced it. In a sense, my soul has known it, yet resisted actually accepting it. I’ve been subtly fighting it in my heart. I feel it helps me to just accept it, to see it is exactly what the Lord long ago told us to expect – there are the wicked and there are the righteous and the distinction between them will only grow clearer as we head toward the end. The tares and the wheat will grow together.

For me, I think that spurs two thoughts. One is that it just makes me want to pray harder especially for my family and friends. The other is that it scares me to think what we might have to go through. The drive to pray is, of course, a great thing. As far as the fear, I just have to remind myself again what Daniel’s three friends taught me: The wicked can’t even burn me in a raging furnace unless the Lord allows it. As we learn from the Psalms, “A good man has no fear of bad news…he’s confident in the Lord.”

Tares and wheat.