Context No. 690 of 4322 · Daniel (Greek)
Context · Reflection
Daniel (Greek) 2:24-28: in context
24Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said this to him: “Don’t destroy the wise men of Babylon. Bring me in before the king, and I will show to the king the interpretation.” 25Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said this to him: “I have found a man of the children of the captivity of Judah who will make known to the king the interpretation.” 26The king answered Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation?” 27Daniel answered before the king, and said, “The secret which the king has demanded can’t be shown to the king by wise men, enchanters, magicians, or soothsayers; 28but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head on your bed, are these:
This is the turn in the story begun a few reflections back, where Babylon's wise men told the king that no one could recover a forgotten dream except gods who do not live among men. Nebuchadnezzar had ordered every wise man in the city killed for their failure. Daniel, one of the captives from Judah, had asked the king for time, and then he and his friends had prayed, and the dream and its meaning were given to Daniel in a vision of the night.
Notice what he does first. He goes to Arioch, the officer sent to carry out the executions, and says: do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; take me to the king. His first act with the answer is to stop the killing of the very men whose failure had put him in danger. Then, brought before the king and asked whether he can do what the experts could not, he does not seize the moment for himself. No wise man or enchanter or magician can reveal this, he says, agreeing entirely with the men he just saved. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has shown the king what will be. His knowledge, the moment he has it, goes to protecting his rivals and to naming its source, and neither of those is himself.
Daniel's first moves with a gift were to save the people it might have replaced and to give the credit away. When I finally have the advantage, what do I reach for first?
Sources
- Daniel 2:17-23: Daniel and his friends praying for mercy, the mystery revealed by night, and his hymn of thanks
- Daniel 2:10-11: the wise men's earlier claim that only the gods could reveal it, which Daniel now answers
- Daniel 2:30 with 2:47: Daniel disclaiming special wisdom, and the king confessing that Daniel's God reveals secrets