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Context No. 449 of 4322 · Daniel (Greek)

Context · Reflection

Daniel (Greek) 13:60-64: in context

60With that, all the assembly cried out with a loud voice, and blessed God, who saves those who hope in him. 61Then they arose against the two elders, for Daniel had convicted them of false testimony out of their own mouth. 62According to the law of Moses they did to them what they maliciously intended to do to their neighbor. They put them to death, and the innocent blood was saved the same day. 63Therefore Helkias and his wife praised God for their daughter Susanna, with Joakim her husband, and all the kindred, because there was no dishonesty found in her. 64And from that day forth, Daniel had a great reputation in the sight of the people.

This is the triumphant end of the story of Susanna. She was a faithful woman who had been cornered by two respected elders and given a vile choice: submit to them, or be falsely accused of adultery and put to death. She refused to sin, saying she would rather fall innocent into their hands than sin against God, and so they accused her, and the whole assembly, trusting the word of these prominent men, condemned her to death. She had chosen doing right over saving her own life, and it had cost her everything, right up to the edge of execution. And then a young man named Daniel, stirred up by God, insisted on cross-examining the two elders separately, and their stories contradicted each other, and the lie fell apart.

This passage is the aftermath, and two things in it are worth holding. First, the assembly blesses God, who saves those who hope in him. Susanna had hoped in God rather than in her own scheming or self-preservation; she chose faithfulness at the apparent cost of her life, and God vindicated her at the last possible moment. Her rescue is offered as proof that hoping in God, even when it looks like it will cost you everything, is not misplaced. Second, notice what happens to the elders. According to the law of Moses, the false witnesses receive the exact penalty they had maliciously intended for their neighbor. They plotted death for an innocent woman, and death is what fell on them instead. The scheme recoiled on the schemers; the pit they dug for Susanna swallowed them.

Both halves speak to a fear most of us know well: that doing the right thing might cost us everything and no one will ever set it straight. Susanna faced exactly that and chose faithfulness anyway, trusting God to be her vindicator when she could not vindicate herself. If I were cornered like she was, do I actually believe that God saves those who hope in him, enough to choose what is right even when it looks like it will cost me my reputation or my security or more, trusting that vindication is his to give and not mine to seize?

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