Scripture Daily

Context No. 4149 of 4322 · Daniel (Greek)

Context · Reflection

Daniel (Greek) 14:1-5: in context

1King Astyages was gathered to his fathers, and Cyrus the Persian received his kingdom. 2Daniel lived with the king, and was honored above all his friends. 3Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel, and every day twelve great measures of fine flour, forty sheep, and six firkins of wine were spent on it. 4The king honored it and went daily to worship it; but Daniel worshiped his own God. The king said to him, “Why don’t you worship Bel?” 5He said, “Because I may not honor idols made with hands, but only the living God, who has created the sky and the earth, and has sovereignty over all flesh.”

Living in the court of the Persian king, Daniel is asked why he does not worship the idol Bel, which the king honors with lavish daily offerings. Daniel's answer is a clear and bold confession: I do not revere idols made with hands, but the living God, who created heaven and earth and has dominion over all flesh.

In a court that worshiped a lifeless statue, Daniel would not pretend; he honored only the living God. There is a sharp clarity in his confession that is worth admiring. He draws the contrast plainly: idols are made with hands, lifeless things that people have fashioned; but God is the living Creator, the maker of heaven and earth, the ruler of all. We may not bow to statues, but we are surrounded by idols of other kinds, the things people make and then serve, wealth, success, self, that are as lifeless and unworthy of worship as any carved image. Daniel's confession is a model: to honor only the living God, and to refuse, clearly and without pretense, the idols that others may serve.

Do I worship the living God, the Creator and ruler of all, alone, refusing clearly and without pretense the lifeless idols that others serve, whatever form they take, as Daniel confessed his faith before a king who worshiped otherwise?

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