Daniel (Greek) 13:47-54: a reflection

47Then all the people turned them toward him, and said, “What do these words that you have spoken mean?” 48So he, standing in the midst of them, said, “Are you all such fools, you sons of Israel, that without examination or knowledge of the truth you have condemned a daughter of Israel? 49Return again to the place of judgment; for these have testified falsely against her.” 50Therefore all the people turned again in haste, and the elders said to him, “Come, sit down among us, and show it to us, seeing God has given you the honor of an elder.” 51Then Daniel said to them, “Put them far apart from each another, and I will examine them.” 52So when they were put apart one from another, he called one of them, and said to him, “O you who have become old in wickedness, now your sins have returned which you have committed before, 53in pronouncing unjust judgment, condemning the innocent, and letting the guilty go free; although the Lord says, ‘You shall not kill the innocent and righteous.’ 54Now then, if you saw her, tell me, under which tree did you see them companying together?” He answered, “Under a mastick tree.”

Susanna has been condemned to death on the word of two respected elders, and the whole crowd has believed them. Then young Daniel stops the rush, crying out that they have condemned a daughter of Israel without examination, without troubling to find out the truth. He asks for one thing: separate the two accusers and question them apart.

Notice the simple method by which the truth comes out. Kept apart, the two witnesses cannot keep their story straight; asked under which tree they saw the crime, they name different trees, and the lie falls apart. What the crowd had swallowed whole, because it came from important men and everyone else believed it, could not survive a careful question honestly asked.

There is a caution and a call here. The caution: how easily a whole crowd will condemn on confident testimony without examining it, and how much damage a rush to judgment does to the innocent. The call: it took one person willing to slow things down, to insist on the truth, to stand against a confident consensus for the sake of someone who could not defend herself. When everyone around you has already decided, and someone vulnerable will be crushed by it, be the one who asks the honest question. God vindicates the innocent, often through someone willing to seek the truth.

Lord, guard me from joining the crowd's rush to judgment, and give me courage to seek the truth and defend those who cannot defend themselves. Make me the one willing to ask the honest question when someone vulnerable is about to be crushed.