Daniel and the Twelve Prophets for Everyone

John Goldingay

• Publisher: SPCK Publishing
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780281061402
• eBook ISBN: 9780281067893
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

The Book of Daniel begins with the trials of the Judahites in the aftermath of Jerusalem's destruction by the Babylonians in 587 BC, when many were forced to live as immigrants in a strange land. It continues with visions relating to the trials of Judahites back in Jerusalem in a time of persecution four centuries later, visions that promise them God's deliverance.The twelve shorter prophets are situated between the eighth and fifth centuries and speak both warnings and instructions to God's people. For instance, Amos's visions warn of Israel's downfall, Jonah speaks to a wayward generation in Nineveh, and Haggai encourages the people to rebuild God's temple in Jerusalem. Although these prophets appear at different times and preach to different audiences, they all have at their core an understanding of God's overwhelming desire to connect with and reconcile himself to his people.Using personal anecdote, a witty and lively style, and drawing on his considerable theological knowledge, John Goldingay takes us deep into the unfolding story of the Old Testament.

Daniel 1:1–21

On Drawing the Line

1In the third year of the reign of Jehoiaqim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and blockaded it. 2The Lord gave into his hand Jehoiaqim, king of Judah, and some of the accoutrements of God’s house, and he brought them to the country of Shinar, to his god’s house. He brought the accoutrements to his god’s treasure house. 3The king said to Ashpenaz, his chief of staff, to bring some of the Israelites, both some of royal descent and some of the important people 4(young men in whom there was no defect, of good appearance, skillful in all expertise, proficient in knowledge, insightful in knowledge, and in whom there was capacity to stand in attendance in the king’s palace), and to teach them the learning and language of the Kaldeans. 5The king assigned to them a daily allocation from the king’s supplies and the wine he drank. [Ashpenaz was] to train them for three years, and some of them would stand in attendance before the king. 6Among them were some Judahites, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 7but the chief of staff determined on names for them. He determined for Daniel “Belteshazzar,” for Hananiah “Shadrach,” for Mishael “Meshach,” and for Azariah “Abed-nego.”

8Daniel determined in his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s supplies and the wine he drank, and asked the head of staff that he might not defile himself. 9God gave Daniel commitment and compassion before the head of staff, 10but the head of staff said to Daniel, “I’m afraid of my lord the king, who assigned your food and drink: what if he sees your faces thinner than the [other] young men of your generation and you risk my head with the king?” 11Daniel said to the guard whom the head of staff had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12“Could you test your servants for ten days. They could give us some legumes to eat and water to drink, 13and our appearance and the appearance of the young men who eat the king’s supplies will be visible before you. Act with your servants in accordance with what you see.” 14He listened to them regarding this matter, and tested them for ten days. 15At the end of ten days their appearance looked better and they were heftier in body than all the young men who were eating the king’s supplies. 16So the guard would carry away their supplies and the wine they were to drink, and give them legumes.

17These young men, the four of them: God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and expertise, while Daniel had insight into every vision and dreams. 18At the end of the period that the king had said to bring them, the head of staff brought them before Nebuchadnezzar. 19The king spoke with them, and from all of them there was not found anyone like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they stood in attendance before the king. 20Every matter of insightful expertise that he asked of them, the king found them ten times superior to all the diviners and chanters that were in his entire realm. 21Daniel was [there] until the first year of Cyrus the Persian.

Near where I live in the United States, there’s a British store that I like to visit every few weeks. It has an aisle full of British teas, one full of British cookies (biscuits), one full of British candies (sweets), one full of British jams, one full of British cereals, and a refrigerator stocked with British bacon, pies, and cream. I’d like to claim that the fact that they do taste good is the reason why I buy most of these items, but of course part of the reason they taste good is that they remind me of home. On one occasion I got involved in a conversation with other British people in the store, including the owner, and then panicked at the checkout because I realized I didn’t have any British money, which of course I didn’t need; but entering the store had been like going through an Alice in Wonderland door straight into the U.K.

I’m in California voluntarily. I’m not in exile, like Daniel and his three friends. I love it here, and I want to die here. Yet I’ll never be able to feel American. I’ll always know I’m a resident alien, by choice (I haven’t sought citizenship). Maybe subconsciously I want to preserve my Britishness. Daniel and his friends wanted to preserve their Judahite identity. They weren’t obliged to avoid eating what the king ate; it was not inherently defiling. But food links with identity. It’s odder that they accepted Babylonian names, even though the names make connections with Babylonian gods in the same way that the four young men’s Hebrew names make connections with the God of Israel. (But significantly, as the names are reported, at least some of them make fun of the Babylonian gods. For instance, Abed-nebo would mean “servant of Nebo,” but Abed-nego doesn’t mean anything.) Maybe what’s important is that you draw the line somewhere. You have to avoid the defiling effect of a culture that worships different gods. The Babylonians “determined” on names for the young men; but Daniel did some determining of his own in this connection.

It required God’s support if it was to work. And it got that support. At the beginning of the story God “gives” Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar, but less oddly, later in the story God “gives” Daniel favor and “gives” all four men wisdom. They didn’t attempt to evade education in Babylonian learning, the kind of learning that would fit them for jobs in the administration. Perhaps they were confident that their God could give them superior insight to that possessed by the Kaldeans. It would be quite an expectation, given the breadth and depth of Babylonian learning, in which the diviners and exorcists were experts. The fruits of God’s doing so will emerge in the stories that follow. This first story introduces the various issues that will arise in the stories.

Its opening and its conclusion form a chronological bracket around them. At the beginning of Daniel’s life, God does something strange in giving Jerusalem over to the Babylonian king. There’s no allusion here to the way Judah had deserved this fate. Among its horrifying consequences were not merely the transportation of some people, but the appropriation of some of the objects used in worship in the temple (objects such as platte...

Table of contents

• CoverImage
• Title
• Series title
• Title page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Text
• Glossary
• Reinstate charity