All to Serve

My Hebrew professor in seminary would assign verses from the Bible for us to translate. One day he assigned a passage from Daniel. It was toward the end of the semester and I spent more time on it than I usually had to get a translation because, whatever I did, the passage did not make sense. (He would hand out the passages at the end of class without chapter or verse numbers. I did ask several of my classmates and found out they, too, struggled with the text. In class we found out that our professor had played a trick on us. Daniel is one of the two Old Testament books that are written in Aramaic not Hebrew. That makes it one of the youngest of the Old Testament books. Which is a big clue telling us when it was written. While Daniel purports to be written during the Babylonian captivity, it was actually written after Alexander the Great died and his kingdom was divided up between his generals. Israel initially fell under Ptolemy I Soter who was king of Egypt and the Israelites were allowed freedom to practice their religion. When Antiochus IV Epiphanes wrested control from Ptolemy he brutally suppressed the religion of the Israelites. It was under this great persecution of the Jewish people that Daniel was written. It was written with much symbolism which the Israelites would understand and not the authorities to be about their present plight. 

Our reading for today is from one of the most quoted chapters of Daniel. It is his vision of the four beasts. Each beast represents a nation. This chapter is quoted often by those who claim to know when Jesus will return. They match up these beasts with present day countries. While the beasts do represent nations, they are not present day countries nor is it simultaneous. While much of the symbolism is difficult to discern, most scholars accept that the first beast is Babylon, the second Persia, the third the Medes, and finally the fourth, the most vicious beast, is the Greeks. It is apocalyptic literature written to comfort and assure a persecuted people that God knows their plight and is present in their lives and working to destroy those who persecute them. Revelation is also apocalyptic literature written to remind Christians that Jesus was present in their lives as they were being persecuted.

Fortunately, we do not live in a time of persecution. We are allowed to practice our religion without government interference. We have the opposite problem from the Jews under Antiochus and the early Christians. Since we can practice our faith as we wish we tend to forget about God. When things are going well, when we have the things we want, we tend to pat ourselves on our back and say, “Look what I have done.” But when trouble happens when disease or financial crisis happens, we get angry and yell at God, “Why have you done this to me?” Although, it is probably the other way around. All that you have is God’s gift. When tragedy happens we often have a hand in it. Although, sometimes, it is a random event which we have no control over. Be assured that God does not desire tragedy in your life but when it happens remember that God gave Jesus to you to comfort and guide you in those times just as Jesus does in times that are good. So no matter where you find yourself you are in God’s care. Rejoice in God’s gifts to you, especially the gift of Jesus. How you manage the things in your life, the good things and bad, will show the world God’s love. Pray that you will always see God’s hand in your life. Work so that others will see the same.