Above:   Belshazzar’s Feast, by Mattia Preti

Image in the Public Domain

Humility Before People and God

OCTOBER 24-26, 2022

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The Collect:

Holy God, our righteous judge, daily your mercy

surprises us with everlasting forgiveness.

Strengthen our hope in you, and grant that all the

peoples  of the earth may find their glory in you,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 51

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The Assigned Readings:

1 Samuel 2:1-10 (Monday)

Daniel 5:1-12 (Tuesday)

Daniel 5:13-31 (Wednesday)

Psalm 84:8-12 (All Days)

1 Peter 4:12-19 (Monday)

1 Peter 5:1-11 (Tuesday)

Matthew 21:28-32 (Wednesday)

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O LORD of hosts,

happy are they who put their trust in you!

–Psalm 84:12, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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Do not be arrogant, the readings for these three days tell us.  Trust in God instead, we read.  Daniel 5 tells us of Belshazzar, viceroy under this father, King Nabonidus (reigned 556-539 B.C.E.) of the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire.  God, the story tells us, found Belshazzar wanting.  Furthermore, we read, God delivered the empire to the Persians and the Medes, and the Babylonian Exile ended shortly thereafter.

Cease your proud boasting,

let no word of arrogance pass your lips,

for the LORD is a God who knows;

he governs what mortals do.

Strong men stand in mute dismay,

but those who faltered put on new strength.

Those who had plenty sell themselves for a crust,

and the hungry grow strong again.

The barren woman bears seven children,

and the mother of many sons is left to languish?

–1 Samuel 2:3-5, The Revised English Bible (1989)

That is a timeless lesson.  We read of Jesus telling certain professional religious people that penitent tax collectors and the prostitutes will precede them in the Kingdom of God.  Later in 1 Peter, we read of the imperative to clothe ourselves in humility, when dealing with each other and God.  As Proverbs 3:34-35 tells us,

Toward the scorners he [God] is scornful,

but to the humble he shows favor.

The wise will inherit honor,

but stubborn fools, disgrace.

—The New Revised Standard Version (1989)

Persecution might come, but one must remain faithful.  That is a recurring message in the Bible, from Jeremiah to the Books of the Maccabees to the Gospels to 1 Peter to Hebrews to the Revelation of John.  It can also be a difficult lesson on which to act, as many chapters in the history of Christianity attest.  Fortunately, God is merciful than generations of Donatists (regardless of their formal designations) have been.  That lack of mercy flows from, among  other sources, pride–the pride which says,

I persevered.  Why did you not do likewise?  I must be spiritually superior to you.

We all need to acknowledge, confess, and repent of our sins.  We all need to change our minds and turn around spiritually.  We all need to be humble before God and each other.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 31, 2016 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE VISITATION OF MARY TO ELIZABETH

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/humility-before-people-and-god/

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Above:  The New Jerusalem

Image in the Public Domain

Daniel and Revelation, Part III:  The Proper Center

NOVEMBER 24-26, 2023

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

–The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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The Assigned Readings:

Daniel 4:1-37/3:31-4:34 (November 24)

Protestant versification varies from the Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox pattern in places.

Daniel 5:1-30 (November 25)

Daniel 6:1-28/5:31-6:29 (November 26)

Protestant versification varies from the Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox pattern in places.

Psalm 110 (Morning–November 24)

Psalm 62 (Morning–November 25)

Psalm 13 (Morning–November 26)

Psalms 66 and 23 (Evening–November 24)

Psalms 73 and 8 (Evening–November 25)

Psalms 36 and 5 (Evening–November 26)

Revelation 21:1-8 (November 24)

Revelation 21:9-22 (November 25)

Revelation 22:1-21 (November 26)

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The king at your right hand, O Lord,

shall smite down kings in the day of his wrath.

In all his majesty, he shall judge among the nations,

smiting heads over all the wide earth.

He shall drink from the brook beside the way;

therefore shall he lift high his head.

–Psalm 110:5-7, The Book of Common Prayer (2004)

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The fictional stories in Daniel 4-6 are morality tales about kings who opposed God, sometimes out of hubris.  Two of the three med bad ends; the other changed his ways.  Hubris, of course, is that which goes before the fall.  It constitutes making oneself one’s own idol.

Glory, of course, belongs to God.  Thus, in Revelation 21-22, God and the Lamb (Jesus) are the Temple and the origin of light.  This is beautiful and metaphorical imagery which should influence how we who call ourselves Christians order our priorities.  God–specifically Christ–should occupy the focal point of our attentions and affections.

We are, as a psalmist said, like grass–grass which bears the Image of God and is slightly lower than the angels–but grass nevertheless.  So may we think neither too highly nor too lowly of ourselves and each other.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 5, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL AND SENATOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT BONIFACE OF MAINZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/daniel-and-revelation-part-iii-the-proper-center/

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Above:  Belshazzar’s Feast, by Rembrandt van Rijn

Image in the Public Domain

Then God Acted

NOVEMBER 29, 2023

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Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada.  I invite you to follow it with me.

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THE FIRST READING:

Daniel 5:1-6, 13-31 (Revised English Bible):

King Belshazzzar gave a grand banquet for a thousand of his nobles and he was drinking wine in their presence.  Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar gave orders for the vessels of gold and silver which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple at Jerusalem to be fetched, so that he and his nobles, along with his concubines and courtesans, might drink from them.  So those vessels belonging to the house of God, the temple at Jerusalem, were brought, and the king, the nobles, and the concubines and courtesans drank from them.  They drank their wine and they praised their gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

Suddenly there appeared the fingers of a human hand writing on the plaster of the palace wall opposite the lamp, and the king saw the palm of the hand as it wrote.  At this the king turned pale; dismay filled his mind, the strength went from his leg, and his knees knocked together.

…

Daniel was then brought into the royal presence, and the king addressed him:

So you are Daniel, one of the Jewish exiles whom my royal father brought from Judah.  I am informed that the spirit of the gods resides in you and that you are known as a man of clear insight and exceptional wisdom.  The wise men, the exorcists, have just been brought before me to read this writing and make its interpretation known to me, but they have been unable to give its meaning.  I am told that you are able to furnish interpretations and unravel problems.  Now, if you can read this writing and make known the interpretation, you shall be robed in purple and have a gold chain hung round your neck, and you shall rank third in the kingdom.

Daniel replied,

Your majesty, I do not look for gifts from you; give your rewards to another.  Nevertheless I shall read your majesty the writing and make known to you its interpretation.

My lord king, the Most High God gave a kingdom with power, glory, and majesty to your father Nebuchadnezzar; and, because of the power he bestowed on him, all peoples and nations of every language trembled with fear before him.  He put to death whom he would and spared whom he would, he promoted them at will and at will abased them.  But, when he became haughty and stubborn and presumptuous, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory.  He was banished from human society, and his mind became like that of an animal; he had to live with the wild asses and to feed on grass like oxen, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he came to acknowledge that the Most High God is sovereign over the realm of humanity and appoints over whom he will.  But although you knew all this, you, his son, Belshazzar, did not humble your heart.  You have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven; his temple vessels have been fetched for you and your nobles, your concubines, and courtesans to drink from them.  You have praised gods fashioned from silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which cannot see or hear or know, and you have not given glory to God, from whom comes your every breath, and in whose charge are all your ways.  That is why he sent the hand and why it wrote this inscription.

The words inscribed were:  “Mene mene tekel u-pharsin.”  Their interpretation is this:  mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought you to an end; tekel, you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting; u-pharsin, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.

Then at Belshazzar’s command Daniel was robed in purple and a gold chain hung round his neck, and proclamation was made that he should rank third in the kingdom.

That very night Belshazzar king of the Chaldaeans was slain, and Darius the Mede took the kingdom, being then about sixty-two years old.

THEN RESPONSE #1:

Canticle 12, Part I (1979 Book of Common Prayer):

(Part of the Song of the Three Young Men)

Glorify the Lord, you angels and all powers of the Lord,

O heavens and all waters above the heavens.

Sun and moon and stars of the sky, glorify the Lord,

Praise him and highly exalt him for ever.

Glorify the Lord, every shower of rain and fall of dew,

all winds and fire and heat.

Winter and summer, glorify the Lord,

praise him and highly exalt him for ever.

Glorify the Lord, O chill and cold,

drops of dew and and flakes of snow.

Frost and cold, ice and sleet, glorify the Lord,

praise him and highly exalt him for ever.

Glorify the Lord, O nights and days,

O shining light and enfolding dark.

Storm clouds and thunderbolts, glorify the Lord,

praise him and highly exalt him for ever.

OR RESPONSE #2:

Psalm 98 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):

1 Sing to the LORD a new song,

for he has done marvelous things.

2 With his right hand and his holy arm

has he won for himself the victory.

3 The LORD has made known his victory;

his righteousness has he openly shown in the sight of the nations.

4 He remembers his mercy and faithfulness to the house of Israel,

and all the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

5 Shout with joy to the LORD, all you lands;

lift up your voice, rejoice, and sing.

6 Sing to the LORD with the harp,

with the harp and the voice of song.

7 With trumpets and the sound of the horn

shout with joy before the King, the LORD.

8 Let the sea make a noise and all that is in it,

the lands and those who dwell therein.

9 Let the rivers clap their hands,

and let the hills ring out with joy before the LORD,

when he comes to judge the earth.

10 In righteousness shall he judge the world

and the peoples with equity.

THEN THE GOSPEL READING:

Luke 21:10-19 (Revised English Bible):

Then Jesus added,

Nation will go to war against nation, kingdom against kingdom; there will be severe earthquakes, famines, and plagues in many places, and in the sky terrors and great portents.

But before all this happens they will seize you and persecute you.  You will be handed over to synagogues and put in prison; you will be haled before kings and governors for your allegiance to me.  This will be your opportunity to testify.  So resolve not to prepare your defence beforehand, because I myself will give you such words and wisdom as no opponent can resist or refute.  Even your parents and brothers, your relations and friends, will betray you.  Some of you will be put to death; and everyone will hate you for your allegiance to me.  But not a hair of your head will be lost.  By standing firm you will win yourselves life.

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The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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First I must deal with raw, documented history.  Historians from ancient times from the present agree that Cyrus II (“the Great”) became King of the Persians the Medes in the year we call 559 B.C.E., and that his forces conquered the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire in 539 B.C.E.  Cyrus, being born circa 600 B.C.E., was approximately sixty-two years old at the time of the conquest.  Thus his age matches that of the mysterious “Darius the Mede” from the end of Daniel 5.  In point of fact, the Book of Daniel is the only ancient source to mention “Darius the Mede” as an immediate predecessor of Cyrus II, who succeeded Cambyses I immediately, almost twenty years before the setting of this story.  There is a simple explanation:  The author of this part of the Book of Daniel was confused as to Persian royal succession.

Belshazzar was a son of and the viceroy of Nabonidus (reigned 556-539 B.C.E.), the last Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian king.   He (Belshazzar) was a powerful prince and a person with whom to reckon, but not a regnal monarch.  History records that he died when the Persian forces, commanded by General Gobyras, captured Babylon.  Gobyras went on to become Cyrus the Great’s governor in Babylon, so some have speculated that Gobyras was “Darius the Mede.”  This seems like a stretch to me, given my propensity for the historical-critical method and my preference for Ockham’s Razor.  It is, however, one way for those who prefer discredited theories of inerrancy and infallibility to explain away a minor (and irrelevant) inaccuracy in the text.

As Galileo Galilei observed in the 1600s, the Bible is not a science book.  And, in certain minor and occasional historical matters, it gets some quibbling and irrelevant details wrong.  This is to be expected, for people wrote many of these texts down a long time after the events the texts describe.   So some out-of-chronological-order references crept into the narrative.  C’est la vie.  Such inaccuracies do not bother me, for I am far from a Biblical literalist.  I prefer instead to focus on the main point of such texts, not permitting minor historical quibbles to become distractions from great spiritual truths.  As a spiritual mentor of mine asked of any Biblical text, “What is really going on here?”  That is where I place my emphasis.

Let us  consider the story from Daniel 5 as it is.  The son and viceroy of the last Chaldean king commits sacrilege with confiscated vessels from the late Jerusalem Temple.  He sees a disembodied hand write a text on a wall.  All the viceroy”s usual advisors cannot interpret the text, but Daniel can.  Belshazzar promises Daniel a promotion in exchange for an accurate reading, but the faithful Daniel says that such a nice act is not necessary; he is willing to interpret the text and retain his current standing.  Daniel delivers the bad news.  Belshazzar, much to his credit, promotes Daniel anyway.  The viceroy dies that night, during the Persian conquest.

This is a story about God acting to deliver his people.  History records that the Jews fared much better under the Persians than they did under the Assyrians or the Chaldeans/Neo-Babylonians.  I have covered this ground already, beginning with this post:  link.  It was not always a pleasant political situation, and not all Persian kings were favorably disposed toward Jewish interests, but the Persian Empire did facilitate the building of the Second Temple.

The reading from Luke 21 spoke of circumstances many Christians at the time of the writing that gospel experienced.  Indeed, with a few minor changes in terminology, it speaks of circumstances many Christians face today.  But, Jesus says, persecution is an opportunity to testify to him, himself a persecuted one.  By enduring, our Lord says, we will win our lives, even if we die.  Or, as Paul wrote, if we suffer with Christ, we will reign with Christ.

These are the kinds of passages which cause me to wonder how prosperity theologians can say what they do.  These men and women sell theological snake oil to those who either choose not to investigate their claims or lack enough Biblical knowledge to know where to begin.  It is rather discouraging, is it not?

This day we have two readings which speak of God acting during times of great difficulty.  In the first the good guys live, but in the second they almost certainly die.  Yet they live with God.  The Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, is honest:  Sometimes faithfulness leads to persecution, even torture and death.  It is unjust, I grant you, but not entirely unexpected.  If we do not grasp this message, it is not because of false advertising in the sacred anthology we call the Bible.

KRT

http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/05/11/then-god-acted/