Be not discouraged

The events outlined in the book of Daniel took place six hundred years before Jesus of Nazareth appeared. (Fragments of the book were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls which may indicate that the book was written at that period.) It was during a period when the Israelite nation was in disarray and its citizens forcibly removed from their homeland and transported to Babylon. A discouraging outlook indeed.

Captivity in, or removal to a "foreign" land seems to be a recurring theme in the Bible. For example, the baby Moses was removed from his family and grew up in the court of the Pharoah. Joseph came into a position of great influence under similar circumstances. Daniel's experience shows us that despite unpromising circumstances, he could shine a light on the sustaining power of God through his uprightness, obedience and consecration.

The Gospel of Luke alludes to such difficult conditions. Jesus never shied away from adverse situations, but rather was able to raise thought upwards to see the higher purpose. [Mary Baker Eddy speaks of adverse conditions in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures - "Meet every adverse circumstance as its master" (p. 419).] In Luke chapter 21 Jesus is speaking with the chief priests, the scribes and the elders, who pepper him with questions. In response to their queries about the church (in this case, the temple), he foretells the ruin of Jerusalem. The King James Version has it (verse 24): "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (my italics).

But read on, and lo, redemption: "...the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (Luke 21: 27)! Here is the joyous instruction to "...look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh" (verse 28).

This reminds me of Daniel's experience in chapter 11 when he seems at an all-time low, his strength failing him. But God had never abandoned him. Help is at hand. Behold the angels are right there to assure him: "Michael...came to help me..." (verse 13) and a messenger, "one like the appearance of a man" (verse 18)  gives him strength. I am grateful to have learned in Christian Science that the terms "man" and "son" do not indicate male or female but rather the tender relationship between God and His offspring.

Julie Swannell

More opposition for Daniel

Daniel Chapter 6

Here's an interesting thing. My New King James Version uses “satraps” in the first verse where the KJV has “princes”. The New Revised Standard Version also has “satraps”. I had to look up satrap, didn't I! The dictionary has “A subordinate ruler; especially a despotic one.” Another telling one is, “henchman.”

[Ed. Dictionary.com offers the following in their Thesaurus: governor, nabob, representative]

As I read the chapter with those definitions in mind, I thought of to-day's political scene. Perhaps nothing has changed much. I don't know a lot about lobbying of parliamentary members, but that is the practice that came to mind; and all the to-do there is about gaining power and using it.

Jealousy is illustrated in a big way in this story of Daniel and the Lions’ Den. Also illustrated is an example of using a law to bring dishonour to a “tall poppy.” But the highest authority in the land, King Darius, was able to recognise an even higher authority in God's keeping Daniel safe from the lions. The accusers had a grim fate – they were cast into the den of lions, which in their case did what lions are renowned for doing.

King Darius acknowledges the God of Daniel and makes “a decree, that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel” (Dan 6: 26). We are told that Daniel continued to prosper in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

Daniel Chapter 7

Boy! This is a deep one! I wondered if Mrs. Eddy gives any interpretation of Daniel's dream/vision. It is so interesting to find this: “It is authentically said that one expositor of Daniel's dates fixed the year 1866 or 1867 for the return of Christ – the return of the spiritual idea to the material earth or antipode of heaven. It is a marked coincidence that those dates were the first two years of my discovery of Christian Science” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany, p. 181:27).

This helps me somewhat in considering the message in this chapter.

We find that God is defined as “The Ancient of Days” (Dan 7: 9) and Christ as “one like the Son of man” (Dan 7: 13), although the NRSV gives a disappointing “one like a human being.” A footnote states that the Aramaic has “One like the Son of man.” Ah! A note in NRSV seems to indicate the human and the divine of Jesus Christ's demonstration: it says, “One like a human being symbolizes a new, everlasting kingdom” (my underlining). Well. I am satisfied that the visions predict the coming of the Messiah and of Christian Science.

William McKenzie must have had a clear idea of “The Ancient of Days” because he has given us a poem containing the idea in hymn 150 of the Christian Science Hymnal:

In mercy, in goodness, how great is our King;

Our tribute, thanksgiving, with glad hearts we bring.

Thou art the Renewer, the Ancient of Days,

Who givest, for mourning, the garment of praise.

We thank Thee for work in the wide harvest field,

For gladness that ripens when sorrow is healed;

Made strong with Thy goodness that meets every need,

We gather the fruit of the Sower's good seed.

Joyce Voysey

The writing on the wall

Daniel, Chapter 5 introduces us to another king – Belshazzar. The chapter heading in my Bible reads “Belshazzar's Feast.”

BELSHAZZAR IN ART AND MUSIC

Those interested in the Arts will know that the famous artist, Rembrandt, found this a topic to be painted – in 1635. And in 1931 William Walton's cantata, Belshazzar's Feast, was first played in Leeds. The fourth movement quotes at length from this chapter of Daniel. (A cantata is a "medium-length narrative piece of music for voices with instrumental accompaniment, typically with solos, chorus, and orchestra" Oxford Dictionary.) 

LOOT FROM THE JEWISH TEMPLE

Now, when Belshazzar's father, Nebuchadnezzar, sacked Jerusalem, he brought back silver and gold vessels from the temple so that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. It seems Belshazzar decided that his “great feast for a thousand of his lords” (Dan 5:1) where much wine was being drunk, would be an appropriate occasion to use these vessels. All this was blasphemy to the Jews, but to this was added the sacrilege of using the act of drinking from the vessels as a tribute to the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone; in a word – matter. A Biblical note says that both of these acts mock the power and sovereignty of God.

WRITING ON THE WALL

Rather than seeing images in a dream.Belshazzar sees writing on the wall. He needs someone to interpret this writing,  Again all the wise men – astrologers, Chaldeans* and soothsayers – could not figure this one. This time it is Belshazzar's wife who has the intuition to tell the king to call the “man in your kingdom in whom is the Spirit of the Holy God” (Dan 5:11) namely, Daniel. One in tune with God and listening to His voice must have superior power to those working in the occult, prophecy, numerology, and fortune-telling which the king's men were trying to apply to the puzzle.

Belshazzar's wife reminds the king of the experience of Nebuchadnezzar, relating the full story of Daniel's successful involvement. She indicates that Nebuchadnezzar suffered for his pride and warns her husband that he too must be humble. She reminds him of the wrong he has done in using the Jewish sacred vessels in a profane manner. He hasn't been getting his gods right! She is a spiritually minded woman; she speaks of the one God, who “holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways” and who he has "not glorified" (Dan 5:23).

This Babylonian court seems to have been very mixed up about God and the gods.

Although the interpretation is negative for the king, still he appreciates Daniel's work and promotes him.

However, verse 30 is succinct and rather brutal in telling us the outcome: “That very night Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, was slain.” And we are presented with a new king to think about – Darius the Mede, a sixty-two year old. 

Joyce Voysey

[Ed. Note the pronunciation is "Kal-dee'uhn" not "Ch". The Reading Room sells a marvellous, slim volume called Bible Pronunciation Guide (HarperCollins) which is very useful for all who read the Bible.]