Daniel in Exile
Daniel in Exile by Rev. L. John Gable
JUne 23, 2019
(Daniel standing as a prisoner, wearing a simple robe with bands around his wrists)
Perhaps you have heard it said that “all gods have clay feet, save one.” I learned that lesson early in life and it has been repeated often. When you live in a foreign culture, among a people who are hostile to your beliefs, who will tempt you to abandon your faith and follow after gods who are no gods at all, it is important to remember that all gods have clay feet, save one.
My family and I were part of the first wave of exiles when King Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian armies conquered Jerusalem and our homeland of Judah. We were brought here to Babylon and several of my closest friends and I were hand selected to be trained and educated, indoctrinated really, to enter in to the King’s service. We were chosen to participate in a three year program during which we learned the literature and language and culture of the Babylonian people. We were even given Babylonian names: I was called Belteshazzar, but you can call me Daniel, and my friends were called Shadrach, Meshach and Abedego. We lived in the King’s palace and were invited to eat and drink at the King’s table, which of course we refused to do. His food was not kosher, and we suspected that the meat we were being offered had first been offered to idols, so my friends and I persuaded our handler to allow us to eat only vegetables and water. At first he refused, but we finally convinced him to allow us to try it as an experiment for 10 days, and at the end of those days we were found to be healthier and sharper than any of our other classmates, and at the end of our course work we had risen to the top of our class, ten times better than any of the others, so we were given positions of leadership in the King’s service.
One night King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream which terrified him, so he called his magicians, his sorcerers, his wise men (who were not wise men at all), to have them interpret his dream, but most unusually he refused to tell them what his dream was. Of course they were not able to do as the King requested, even under penalty of death, but when I heard about it, I offered to help. After praying and visiting with my friends, God gave me an insight in to the King’s dream and its meaning, so I requested an audience. He asked me if I was able to interpret his dream and I said, “I am not, but the God I worship can.”
I told the King the vision I had been given of his dream. There was a great statue: the head was made of gold, the chest and arms of silver, the torso of bronze, and the legs and feet were made of iron and clay. Then a stone, not made with human hands, struck the statue on the feet and the statue crumbled, then the stone grew to be the size of a mountain and filled the whole earth. The King nodded in agreement and amazement, then asked me what the dream meant. I know he was expecting me to flatter him and to speak of his greatness, as his other “wise men” always did, but instead I told him the truth. I told him the statue represented four succeeding empires: his was the head made of gold; the Persians, the chest made of silver, would conquer his empire; then the Greeks, the torso made of bronze; and finally the Romans, the feet made of iron and clay. The stone which destroyed them all was the God I serve who one day will set up a Kingdom that will never fail or fall. Now you get what I mean when I say, all gods have clay feet, save one.
I would have thought that King Nebuchadnezzar would have gotten the message and heeded the warning, but he did not. Shortly thereafter he erected a 90 foot tall statue of himself and insisted that all the citizens of his kingdom bow down to worship it when they heard the trumpets sound, with the warning that any who do not bow down would be thrown into the furnace. Of course, neither I or my friends would bow down to such an idol. We bow down to only one God, the One who does not have clay feet.
I was away doing the King’s service when the trumpets blew for the first time, but my friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, were not. As the people knelt they stood standing, so they were arrested immediately and brought before the King who was furious. Just to prove his point and make an example of them he insisted that the furnace be made seven times hotter than normal. It was so hot that when his soldiers opened the furnace door they were consumed, but my friends were undeterred. They told the King, “If God will deliver us, let it be so; but if not we will not bow down before any other” and with that they were tossed into the furnace. Yet as the King looked on suddenly he saw, not the three, but four men walking around inside the furnace unharmed and when he brought them out their hair was not singed and their clothes did not smell of smoke. That day King Nebuchadnezzar paid tribute to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and promoted them to new offices. They actually benefitted from holding fast to their faith and defying the orders of the King.
After the death of King Nebuchadnezzar his son, King Belshazzar had a bizarre experience which terrified him as well, and well it should. He was hosting a festival for his friends and told his servants to get the holy vessels which had been taken from the Temple in Jerusalem. Liken that to using this communion ware for your party at home. His actions defiled our faith and defamed our God, so judgment came quickly. During the party a human hand appeared and began to write unfamiliar words on the plaster wall: Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsen. The King saw the hand and was frightened, so called me to come and interpret its meaning. When I read the words I told the King, “Mene” means “God has numbered your days and brought it to an end” and since it is written twice it is assured to happen. “Tekel” means “you have been weighed on the scales of justice and been found wanting.” And “parsin” means “your kingdom will be divided in half.” And that very night King Belshazzar died and King Darius assumed the throne.
Darius is a good man who has showed favor to me and my friends. We have continued to be given places of honor in the King’s service. But just because one is on the right side of the King does not mean they are not on the wrong side of those closest to him. Perhaps out of jealousy, and playing to the strength of his ego, his closest aides encouraged him to issue an edict that anyone caught worshiping or praying to a God, other than Darius himself, would be arrested and thrown in to the lion’s den. When Darius signed the edict, the trap was set. His aides knew that I prayed three times a day always facing toward my homeland and Jerusalem. So the very next day, yesterday, I was caught praying and was arrested immediately. Last evening I was brought to King Darius for sentencing and he was helpless to do anything on my behalf, he could not go against the edict he had signed, so as I was being sent to the lion’s den the King’s last words to me were, “May your God, whom you faithfully serve, deliver you.”
So now I stand before you, shackled and about to be sent to the lion’s den. I am about to become breakfast for some very hungry beasts, unless of course the King changes his mind, which he is not likely to do; or God determines to deliver me, which He is more than able to do. Either way, I am fine. Like my friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, “If God delivers me let it be so; but if not, I will not bow down to any other.” When you live in a culture which is hostile to your beliefs, among a people who will tempt you to abandon your faith and follow after gods who are no gods at all, it is important to remember that all gods have clay feet, save one. I know in whom I have put my trust and He is faithful still. I trust in the One true God, the only God who does not have clay feet.
This is the story of the prophet Daniel.
(The rest of the story: spoken just before the benediction.)
Perhaps you are wondering how the story ends. King Darius spent a restless night worrying about Daniel, so early the next morning he ran to the lion’s den and was relieved to discover than God had indeed spared him. An angel of the Lord had shut the mouths of the lions, at least until the King had Daniel removed and his own advisors thrown in to the den.
After this experience King Darius wrote a second edict which was to be read to all the people throughout his kingdom. It read, “I make a decree that in all my royal dominion people should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel:
For He is the living God, enduring forever.
His Kingdom shall never be destroyed,
And His dominion has no end.
He delivers and rescues,
He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth;
For He has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.”
May we, like Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, live our lives bearing witness to the One true God, the only God who does not have clay feet.