For the past week I've been reflecting on Doug's sermon from Daniel 1, and have been struck particularly by the parallels between Daniel's situation and our own. No, we haven't been taken captive to a foreign land and trained for service to the king of that land, but we have faced (and continue to) the temptation of assimilation to a pagan culture, a culture not in service of Yahweh, a culture that serves many false gods, and seeks to rename us (understand our identity) in the language of those gods. And, like Daniel and his friends, God remains Jealous for our hearts. Jealousy can, of course, be a negative thing -- jealousy in the sense of envy or covetousness. This type of jealousy is not appropriate for God and thankfully not the kind of jealousy he evinces. God is rather jealous in the sense of zealous -- he desires greatly our worship and service and will not stand by idly while we misplace our affections and serve other gods, whether those gods be the gods of Babylon or the gods of 21st century America. Furthermore, while jealousy in the negative sense is usually directed ultimately at the harm of its object (there is a consistent link in Scripture between envy and violence -- Cain and Abel are one of many examples), God's jealousy is directed toward our good and our purity (As I understand Oprah -- and who can really understand Oprah -- something like a confusion between these senses of "jealous" is what leads her to reject the God of Scripture). In Exodus 34, God makes new tablets after Moses has smashed the old ones, and despite their idolatry with the golden calf, renews his covenant with Israel. He promises that He will drive out the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, and that he will do so for the good of the people of Israel. Beginning in Ex. 34:12, God says the following: "Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods." Of course, Israel fails to fulfill God's command, and what God warns them against is exactly what happens -- which is why they find themselves exiled to Babylon in the first place.
So, like Daniel and his friends, God does not want us to assimilate -- that is, to become indistinguishable from the culture around us. I take it that later on in the book of Daniel, when influential members of the government conspire against Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, and then against Daniel, something like this is their motivation. Of course they are jealous of the influence of these Hebrews (again envy leading to violence), but they are also angry about the influence of the HEBREWS -- who are distinguishable from the culture around them. A note about the influence that Daniel and his friends are able to develop -- as Doug pointed out, and as we will continue to see, this influence is the providential work of God. Daniel and his friends live by faith, not by prudence or shrewdness or political pragmatism. To do so would lead them to depend upon their own abilities for their survival (and maybe success) and to embrace assimilation. Their is an apparent connection between assimilation (being "one of the guys") and worldly success -- in business, politics, pretty much any facet of life. The one who is perceived as the outsider is rarely the one singled out for honor, fame, promotion, etc. If Daniel and his friends were looking for the easiest way to get along in Babylon, they would have sought to become as Babylonian as possible. But the life of shrewdness and the life of faith are different ways of life. While one depends upon our own ingenuity, the other depends upon the workings of a sovereign and providential God -- even, and especially when, we don't understand all of his moves. Now, of course, Daniel acts prudently in asking for the test with vegetables and water -- but his prudence is grounded in his faith in God -- not in an analysis of the ways of the world.
Notice also that Daniel and his friends are engaged in and participate in the Babylonian culture without being assimilated into it. After all, they go through the process of education (or perhaps indoctrination) that lasted three years before being placed in the kings service. But instead of being assimilated into the culture, instead of being brainwashed, they remained true to their faith and instead were EDUCATED about the culture. This education was significant, since it led to their being put in service to the king and given influence -- and this, coupled with and dependent upon the providential workings of God, allows them to influence the culture instead of the other way around. While Daniel and his friends do enter into the service of the king, they never WORSHIP him -- even under significant duress. Worship is always reserved for the God of Israel. Similarly, we may be in danger of being so distanced from the world around us that we have no impact on it for God. As Christians, there are certainly some elements of culture that we simply cannot participate in and remain righteous. But there are others which can serve as education for us not only concerning the culture, but concerning our own faith. As Christians, we are not to avoid the lost world around us -- but we must understand that world differently, Christianly -- see it through the lens of our faith.
Finally, let me remind us of something Doug also said that is particularly applicable in our situation. Doug noted that the first few chapters of Daniel can be understood as a battle over God's reputation -- and that by all outward appearances, the Babylonian gods had won. After all, Babylon had conquered Judah, just as Assyrian had conquered Israel (the northern tribes). But as the Assyrians learned, God doesn't play by their rules or evaluate things as they do -- the argument used by the Babylonians to assert their gods' dominance over Yahweh was the same argument used by Rabshekeh to Hezekiah after the Assyrians had destroyed the northern tribes -- and we all know how that turned out. God's providential work is not subject to our judgment or evaluation -- what seemed to be proof that the Babylonian gods were stronger (that they had defeated Judah) was in fact proof that Yahweh was the one true God, since it was by HIS will that the conquest took place. Similarly, the state of our world might tempt us to think that God is no longer in control, that there are "gods" that are stronger. But to do so would be the height of foolishness. Rather, we should remain faithful, trusting that just because we don't understand all that God does or allows, or the timing of any of it, doesn't mean that He doesn't have a plan. In fact, we know he does have a plan, and that he is particularly concerned for his glory and our good. What we can do is lament the state of the world, desire it to be better, and work so that it might be so -- and most of all, look forward hopefully to the day when through the power of God it WILL be so. Like those in captivity, we ought to at times sit down by the rivers of Babylon and cry -- but we should always do so with our heads up, waiting expectantly for the day when those tears will be wiped away.
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