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By Root 1324 0

the young general’s empire. The two most prominent of these were Ptolemy, who established control over Egypt, and Seleucus, who held most of the old Babylonian empire. Like Canaan, Israel, and Judah in centuries past, Judah was now caught between these two old power bases—one in Egypt, the other in Mesopotamia. The Jews of Judah were now governed by a group of aristocrats and priestly families who controlled a senate called the Sanhedrin (from a Greek word for “council”), led by the Temple’s high priest. This was not an especially proud moment in Jewish history, as the infighting for the position of high priesthood grew intense and conspiracies flourished. It was also a time of conflict and extreme animosity among the Jews because many young men were rejecting their faith and eagerly adopting Greek customs, abandoning circumcision, trading Jewish names for Greek names, and generally viewing themselves as Greeks, rather than Jews. Even two of the competing high priests of this time had the unlikely names Jason and Menelaus. At this time, a group of orthodox, nationalistic Jews called the hasidim (“the Pious”) emerged to counter the growing “Hellenization” of Judaism, and the author of Daniel may have been one of them.

The turmoil and infighting among the Jews led the Seleucid king Antiochus IV to invade Jerusalem in 169/8 BCE, at which time he sacked and desecrated the Temple, and according to some accounts, slaughtered eighty thousand people. Then Antiochus, or perhaps the high priest Menelaus in the king’s name, enforced a series of rules aimed at eradicating Jewish customs. Circumcision, Sabbath observances, the keeping of feasts, and the purity laws were all banned. Claiming that Yahweh, the old Canaanite god Baal, and the Greek god Zeus were all the same, Antiochus dedicated the Jerusalem Temple to Zeus and then assumed divinity for himself, taking the title Epiphanes (“God Manifest” or “Revealed”). Jews were forced to attend ceremonies honoring the “pagan” deity and eat sacrificial meals of pork, which was, of course, “unclean.” During this time of extreme religious repression, Daniel’s anonymous author told this tale of maintaining the faith in the face of idolatrous, foreign tyranny.

BIBLICAL VOICES

“If our God, the one we serve, is able to save us from the burning fiery furnace and from your power, Your Majesty, he will save us; and even if he does not, then you must know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your god or worship the statue that you have set up.” This infuriated King Nebuchadnezzar; his expression was changed now as he looked at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He gave orders for the furnace to be made seven times hotter than usual and commanded certain stalwarts from his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego and throw them into the burning fiery furnace. (Dan. 3:17-20 NJB)

PLOT SUMMARY: DANIEL

Daniel is one of four young Jewish boys taken in the sack of Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar and brought up during the Exile at the royal court in Babylon. The names and dates of the Babylonian and later Persian Kings in Daniel are clearly confused, and Daniel should be read not as a work of history but an inspired allegory reflecting events in Judah in the time of Antiochus IV. All four boys have their Hebrew names replaced by Babylonian names. The boys all refuse the unclean food they are offered and amaze the court because they are in better health than those who eat the king’s food.

Recalling Joseph in Egypt, who wins favor when he explains Pharaoh’s dreams, Daniel is given the gift of dream interpretation by God and he is able to reveal to the king the meaning of several dreams. Like Joseph, Daniel and his friends gain prestige in Babylon. But when the king has a golden idol made and demands that everyone should worship it, three of Daniel’s friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego) refuse the order and are thrown into a blazing furnace. To the king’s amazement, the trio survives unharmed with God’s protection.

Daniel interprets another of Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams as a warning that the