Daily Retreat 11/26/07
2007 Nov 26 Mon
Dn 1:1-6. 8-20/ Dn 3:52. 53. 54. 55. 56/ Lk 21:1-4
From today’s readings: “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came and laid siege to Jerusalem.... Glory and praise for ever!... I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest....”
Daniel - Excelling in Exile
With the prophet Daniel, one of the latest of the prophets, we have a bit of familiarity at least, because there’s some well-known events in his life: Daniel in the Lion’s den, or Daniel condemned with his friends to the fiery furnace; Daniel, the fast-thinking young man who saves the beautiful Susanna from the unjust sentence of death; Daniel, the one who explains the cryptic writing on the wall, and Daniel, the one who interprets dreams.
In all these vignettes of who Daniel was and what he did, it’s important to not miss the overall vision of this book, recognizing it as one of the most sophisticated examples of prophecy in all of the Old Testament. Daniel has a spectacularly sweeping view of history and how all the pieces fit together in God’s plan. Most of the prophets are concerned about history mainly in how it pertains just the chosen people, how God is leading them, and calling them to turn away from their sins, but for Daniel, there are no limits - he’s not afraid to trace the hand of God at work in the lives of all men and all nations.
Recall, for instance, that Daniel is introduced in the first chapter as in exile, drafted to serve in the Babylonian royal court. Now rather than spitefully and wistfully daydreaming of the return to Jerusalem, Daniel is awake and aware of God’s presence and action and influence even in that dreadful deportation, and so it becomes Daniel’s prophetic mission to remind the chosen people of this, and to also demonstrate incontestably among pagans the presence of God and the universal sway of His will and law. This is an extraordinary approach: rather than calling God’s curse upon the captors, Daniel convincingly compels the conquerors themselves to confess the kingship and supremacy of God! In so doing, Daniel uncompromisingly and unabashedly asserts the universal dominion of the God of the Hebrews, a dominion which (see chapter 14!) reaches even into the temples of the gods of the heathens in that capital city of the conquerors of Jerusalem!
Dn 1:1-6. 8-20/ Dn 3:52. 53. 54. 55. 56/ Lk 21:1-4
From today’s readings: “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came and laid siege to Jerusalem.... Glory and praise for ever!... I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest....”
Daniel - Excelling in Exile
With the prophet Daniel, one of the latest of the prophets, we have a bit of familiarity at least, because there’s some well-known events in his life: Daniel in the Lion’s den, or Daniel condemned with his friends to the fiery furnace; Daniel, the fast-thinking young man who saves the beautiful Susanna from the unjust sentence of death; Daniel, the one who explains the cryptic writing on the wall, and Daniel, the one who interprets dreams.
In all these vignettes of who Daniel was and what he did, it’s important to not miss the overall vision of this book, recognizing it as one of the most sophisticated examples of prophecy in all of the Old Testament. Daniel has a spectacularly sweeping view of history and how all the pieces fit together in God’s plan. Most of the prophets are concerned about history mainly in how it pertains just the chosen people, how God is leading them, and calling them to turn away from their sins, but for Daniel, there are no limits - he’s not afraid to trace the hand of God at work in the lives of all men and all nations.
Recall, for instance, that Daniel is introduced in the first chapter as in exile, drafted to serve in the Babylonian royal court. Now rather than spitefully and wistfully daydreaming of the return to Jerusalem, Daniel is awake and aware of God’s presence and action and influence even in that dreadful deportation, and so it becomes Daniel’s prophetic mission to remind the chosen people of this, and to also demonstrate incontestably among pagans the presence of God and the universal sway of His will and law. This is an extraordinary approach: rather than calling God’s curse upon the captors, Daniel convincingly compels the conquerors themselves to confess the kingship and supremacy of God! In so doing, Daniel uncompromisingly and unabashedly asserts the universal dominion of the God of the Hebrews, a dominion which (see chapter 14!) reaches even into the temples of the gods of the heathens in that capital city of the conquerors of Jerusalem!
posted by FrPitstick | 11/24/2007
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