Daily Old Testament: Daniel 2 and My Own Book "Leadings: A Catholic's Journey Through Quakerism" (Part 2)

Daniel 2 – Two years into service for Nebuchadnezzar, the king has a terrifying dream and he “called in his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers, and he demanded that they tell him what he had dreamed” (2:2). They assure him that if he tells them what he dreamed they will be able to interpret it, tell him what it means; but he thinks they should be able to tell him what it was he dreamed, not just its meaning.

He threatens the sages [wise men] to tell him what it is as proof that they will be able to interpret it. He also, somewhat mysteriously, sends men to go and kill Daniel and his friends; they must also have been thought to be among the “sages” serving Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel asks for a little more time to tell the king what he wants to know. He goes and tells his friends what has happened, and “he urged them to ask the God of heaven to show then his mercy by telling them the secret, so they would not be executed along with the other wise men of Babylon” (2:18).

That night “the secret [is] revealed to Daniel in a vision. Daniel is taken to the king, and he says, “While Your Majesty was sleeping, your dreamed about coming events. . . And it is not because I am wiser than anyone else that I know the secret of your dream, but because God wants you to understand what was in your heart.” (2:30).

The dream was of a “huge, shining statue of a man” (2:31). The head of the statue was made of gold, the chest and arms were of silver, the belly and thighs were of bronze and the legs were made of iron. The feet were a combination of iron and baked clay. He tells the king, “As you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands. It struck the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits” (2:32-33). The whole statue was crushed and the wind blew it all away; but “the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth” (2:35).

Then Daniel interprets the dream as follows: “Your Majesty, you are the greatest of kings. The God of heaven has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor. He has made you the ruler over all the inhabited world and has put even the wild animals and birds under your control. You are the head of gold. But after your kingdom comes to an end, another kingdom, inferior to yours, will rise to take your place. After that kingdom has fallen, yet a third kingdom, represented by bronze, will rise to rule the world” (2:37-39). And so on down the statue. One kingdom after another will come and go. The kingdom represented by the feet, the mixture of iron and class, will be kingdoms that try to be strong through alliances and intermarriages. “But they will not hold together, just as iron and clay do not mix” (2:43).

“During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever” (2:44). That will be like the rock.

Nebuchadnezzar rewards Daniel for interpreting this dream with a “high position and gave him many valuable gifts. He made Daniel ruler over the whole province of Babylon, as well as chief over all his wise men” (2:48). He also appoints Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be “in charge of all the affairs of the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained in the king’s court” (2:49).

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From Leadings: A Catholic’s Journey Through Quakerism

Before moving on in this part of my story – ending up back in the Catholic Church - I feel I should recount a little about how I FIRST ended up being a Catholic back in 1964. For that I have to go back to earlier chapters of my book. I’ll do that for a while and then get back to my SECOND time back. This part is much more autobiographical than anything I’ve posted before, but my faith rests on the life I’ve lived.

My story is very ecumenical and has been from the beginning. My parents were very convinced atheists – Marxists, yes, even Communists for a while. But I did not grow up with them. They split up when I was two and I ended up in the care of my maternal grand-parents who were Catholics – my grandmother faithful but quiet about her faith, my grandfather long-lapsed. I wasn’t baptized as an infant or even when I started living with my grandparents. My parents would not have permitted that. 

We lived for a time with my mother’s brother and his family, and then moved for a little while to another place with just my grandparents. It wouldn’t be for long. We would soon be back with this same uncle. My mother had serious psychological problems all her early life, but when I was eight, just after the first move, two things happened that changed my life: my mother became deeply psychotic – paranoid schizophrenic and ended up hospitalized in a NY State psychiatric hospital and my grandmother died.  Another family member, an aunt – sister of my mother – stepped in and tried to be the woman caretaker in my life. Though raised a Catholic as my mother was, she had moved to the Episcopal Church several years earlier and got the OK from my father to have me baptized in that church so I could participate in that with them.

It wasn’t something I chose or thought about at all, but I remember walking down the aisle of the crowded church to the baptismal font near the front. I remember feeling the water on my head and hearing the priest asking what name I was to have. I attended church with my aunt and her family for a little while, but when I was nine, we moved back with the uncle we had previously been with, and I no longer had anyone to take me to church. This move was a turning point in my life, one that brought me close to God and really laid the foundation of everything that was to happen to me later on.

Daily Bible Reading: 2 Kings 24-25 and Luke 17

2 Kings 24 – King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Jerusalem Bible calls Nabu-kudur-usur founder of the Neo-Babylonian or Chaldean Empire, which succeeded Assyria from 605-562. The expedition to Palestine described here took place around 602. He defeated Pharaoh at Carchemish in 605. He comes to dominate Judah. Jehoiakim “became his servant for three years,” but then Jehoiakim rebels. “The Lord” sent against them bands of Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites and Ammonites “to destroy” Judah “for the sins of Manasseh, for all that he had committed, and also for the innocent blood that he had shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to pardon” (24:4).

When Jehoiakim dies, his son Jehoiachin (598-597) succeeds him. He was 18 and reigns three months; he did what was evil as his father had done.  The King of Babylon takes him prisoner, carries off all the treasure of the king’s house, cuts up the vessels of gold in the temple and carries off “all the officials, all the warriors, ten thousand captives, all the artisans and the smiths; no one remained, except the poorest people of the land” (24:14). He made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah. He reigned 11 years (597-587). Apparently he was Jehoahaz’ brother or half-brother.

2 Kings 25 – Zedekiah rebels against Babylon in the 9^th year of his reign (589). The city is besieged for 3 years. There is severe famine. When a breach is made in the city wall, the king and his soldiers flee in the direction of the Arabah; but the army of the Chaldeans overtakes him in the plains of Jericho. All his army is scattered. They capture the king and bring him to the king of Babylon at Riblah. “They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, then put out the eyes of Zedekiah; they bound him in fetters and took him to Babylon” (25:6-7). In 587, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, servant of Nebuchadnezzar, comes and burns all the great houses of Jerusalem; they break down all the walls of the city and carry into exile everyone except the poorest people “to be vinedressers and tillers of the soil?” (25:12) They take the chief priest Seraiah and the second priest, Zephaniah and the three guardians of the threshold. They were put to death at Riblah in the land of Manath. He appointed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan as governor. He tries to get people to cooperate but he is struck down by someone in the royal family, and they flee to Egypt. Meanwhile, in Babylon, Jehoiachin lives well, having been released from prison.

Luke 17 – Do not cause others to stumble. “It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck. . .” (17:2). If a believer sins, you must rebuke him, and if there is repentance, you must forgive—even if the sins are repeated. The disciples beg Jesus to increase their faith.  He says if it is the size of a mustard seed, they could do anything.

Jesus is just teaching them what it is their duty to do.  Who among them would welcome their own servants back from the fields with a banquet?  Rather, they would tell the servant to serve them first and then satisfy themselves later.

On the way to Jerusalem, in the region of Samaria and Galilee, Jesus is approached by ten lepers. He heals them and tells them to show themselves to the priests.  But only one turns back to thank Jesus—a Samaritan leper.

Jesus is asked about the coming kingdom and the “last days.”  He tells the Pharisees, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed . . .the kingdom of God is within you” [another translation is “among you”](17:21). To the disciples, however, he goes into other things.  He says they will look for “one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it” (17:22).  Do not pursue it. “For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day” (17:24). He must endure much suffering and be rejected “by this generation” (17:25—the 2^nd prediction of his passion). As in the days of Noah, there will be eating and drinking until the floods come.  You must be ready to follow and not look back when the time comes.  When the time does come, people will be plucked away and some will be left.  Where to? He says, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather” (17:37).