Thursday 18 April 2013

Background

As elsewhere in the book of Daniel, there are echoes here ofother biblical stories and passages, which lends it widerimplications.

If it hasn't been apparent so far in the accounts ofNebuchadnezzar's dream of the felled tree (Daniel4:1-27) then now, as Daniel's predictions come to pass, we canhardly fail to miss the same message of divine justice that isembedded in the song of Mary, "The Magnificat" (Luke1:46-55). Mary's song itself echoes that of Hannah, Samuel'smother (1 Samuel 2:1-10). Clearly, the stories ofDaniel stand in a tradition as old as the people of Israel: thepowerful and arrogant do not in fact have control over their ownstory. Human power is always temporary.

As Nebuchadnezzar walks on the roof of his palace in Babylon wemay recall, also, the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. Its builders wanted to build a cityfor their own glory and to make a name for themselves. What theyand Nebuchadnezzar forget is that God has "got the whole world inhis hands".

Nebuchadnezzar's banishment from human society (verse 32)appears to be a descent into madness. The level of detail withwhich the author describes his diminished physical appearance isstriking. And even though the king's fall from power is onlytemporary, it nevertheless embodies the fundamental hope that Godoffers us as well as the people of Israel: that God oversees alland that "all his works are truth and his ways are justice" (v.37).

And yet … the gusto with which Nebuchadnezzar praises the MostHigh at the end of his ordeal, his ability to speak (or mimic?) thelanguage of the Psalms, is just a little bit too good to be true.Has he simply learnt the right words in order to stay on the God ofIsrael's good side?

To Ponder

• The songs of Mary and Hannah, as well as the hymn "He's got thewhole world in his hands", are attempts to express the essence ofpersonal belief. What song or hymn would you choose to sum up yourbeliefs? (It doesn't have to be obviously religious!)

• The American pastor and preacher A W Tozer once wrote that"Christians do not tell lies; they just go to church and singthem". Do you think that's true? To what extent do we sometimeshide behind easy or familiar words?