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Day 245: The Faithfulness of Daniel
Chapter 31:2-40: A New Covenant and the Forgiveness of All Sins
Jeremiah 31:2-6 ~ Oracle 5: The Pardoning of the Covenant People
The covenant people will atone and receive pardon for their sins as they march across the desert to their exile in Babylonia. Although Yahweh seems far from the covenant people in their exile, He never stopped maintaining His faithful covenant love (hesed) for them.
4 I shall build you once more, yes, you will be rebuilt, Virgin of Israel! Once more in your best attire, and with tambourines, you will go out dancing gaily.
Notice the continued change in the masculine and feminine in referring to the covenant people.
For example, Jacob and Israel in the masculine in 30:5-7, 10-11; 31:7-9, 10-14 but also Zion and Virgin Israel in the feminine in 30:12-15, 16-17 and 31:4-6. In the Old Testament as in the New Covenant in Christ Jesus, the redeemed people of the Church bear the image of the chaste Virgin Bride.
It is God's plan to restore His people to their covenant relationship as His Virgin Bride when they returned to the land as a redeemed people. The covenant people have played the role of the "adulteress/harlot" in running after pagan gods, and they have been humiliated and abandoned by the false gods who were powerless to help them in the conquest of the Babylonians. However, the restoration to covenant union with Yahweh is coming, even if the return from the exile is only a prelude to a full and complete restoration in the future era of the Messiah.
| Image Groups | Part I Covenant relationship | Part II Rebellion | Part III Redemptive Judgment | Part IV Restoration Fulfilled |
| Covenant Marriage | Israel Bride of Yahweh | Unfaithful adulteress/harlot | Humiliated, abused & abandoned by lovers | The Bride restored to her Bridegroom |
| [examples in Scripture] | Isaiah 61:10-11; Jeremiah 2:2; Ezekiel 16:4-14 | Isaiah; 1:21; Jeremiah 3:6-8; 13:22-23, 26; 23:10; Ezekiel 16:15-34; 23:1-12; Hosea 4:10-14 | Jeremiah 3:1b-2; 4:30-31; Ezekiel 16:23-61; 23:35-49; Amos 4:7-8; Hosea 2:4-15 | John 3:28-29; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:25-27; Revelation 19:7-9; 21:2; 9; 22:17 |
- Part I: Yahweh and his people enter into a covenant relationship similar to a marriage covenant. Yahweh binds His Bride, Israel, to Himself in the blessings of security and prosperity in return for obedience to the Sinai Covenant.
- Part II: The covenant people apostatize from the Laws of the Sinai Covenant; they are unfaithful to God by playing the harlot in running after false gods.
- Part III: God punishes His unfaithful people. The false gods/lovers abandon Israel who is left wounded and humiliated.
- Part IV: In response to the people's repentance, Yahweh forgives and restores His people to a loving covenant relationship. Israel is once again the chaste, Virgin Bride of her Divine Bridegroom.
Jeremiah 31:7-14 ~ Oracle 6: The Return of the Remnant of Israel
Oracle #6 in Jeremiah's Book of Consolation begins with Jeremiah expressing a "hope oracle" in Yahweh's name. It is the third of three "hope oracles" within the context of the book (see 30:4-7 and 31:1-6), and it is also another dialogue oracle. Jeremiah speaks first in verse 7, calling the people in exile to shout aloud with joy and praise that Yahweh promises to save a remnant of Jacob. Yahweh will answer in verses 8-9 (using the divine "I" four times), in reply to the joyous acclamation. "Jacob" in verse 7 probably refers to all Israelites; those previously exiled from the Northern Kingdom and those exiles from Judah. The use of the name "Ephraim" in verses 9, 18 and 20 supports this interpretation since "Ephraim" always refers to the tribes of the Northern Kingdom.
Jeremiah 31:15 ~ Oracle 7: The Tragedy that is Messianic Prophecy #5
Question: What site, important to the children of Israel, was at Ramah on the outskirts of Bethlehem and on the border of the tribal territory of Benjamin? See Gen 35:16-20, 24; 48:1-5; 1 Sam 10:2; Jer 40:1. What is the connection to the tribes in exile?
Answer: The tomb of Rachel, wife of Jacob/Israel and mother of Joseph and Benjamin, was located there. Joseph was the father of Ephraim and Manasseh. Their descendants were two of the ten tribes of Northern Israel. The younger son, Benjamin, was the ancestor of the only tribe of the Southern Kingdom unified with Judah. All of the children who were the descendants of Rachel are in exile. The Babylonians gathered the defeated Jews at Ramah, the site of Rachel's tomb, before sending them into exile after the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC.
Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin and was buried at Ramah, about six miles north of Jerusalem. It will be the site where the Babylonians gathered the people in preparation for their exile into Babylon in 587 BC (Jer 40:1). The prophecy anticipates Rachel, symbolizing the mothers of the people, crying for her children going into Babylonian exile. St. Matthew will quote this verse as one of his fulfillment statements from the Old Testament in Matthew 2:17-18.
Jeremiah 31:16-22 ~ Oracle 8: The Restoration of Israel and Messianic Prophecy # 6
Question: Why should the people stop their lamenting? What is Israel's "labor" that will be rewarded in verses 16-17? See 2 Chr 36:21-22; Jer 25:11; 27:7; 29:10; 30:15
Answer: The suffering of the people, described as Israel' labor in exile, is to atone for her sins. However, when Israel/Judah, symbolically imaged as a woman, completes the "labor" of her seventy years of atonement, she will be forgiven and rewarded for her "labor" by the return of the exiled people's children to the Promised Land.
Jeremiah 31:23-30 ~ Oracle 9: The Restoration of Judah
Jeremiah received the ninth oracle in a dream. The focus of the oracle is on the restoration of Judah or a united Israel and Judah (as in Jer 31:27). He heard Yahweh promise the return of the exiles to their towns and the prophecy that the people would once again invoke the blessings of Yahweh and worship on His holy mountain. The phrase in 23b can be translated two ways: either as "holy mountain" or "mountain of the Holy One."
Verses 27-30 contain three future-oriented prophecies:
- The repopulation of a united Israel and Judah in verse 27.
- The promised rebuilding and replanting of the land in verse 28.
- A promise that in the future the doctrine of retribution will be based on individual accountability in verses 29-30.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 ~ Oracle 9 continued with the promise of two Messianic Prophecies: The Promise of a New Covenant and the Forgiveness of Sins
This passage from Jeremiah is quoted and interpreted in the New Testament Letter to the Hebrews 8:8-12 and 10:16-17. The Old Testament is the story of God's dealings with individuals/families and with a united group of people (Sinai Covenant) through the family bond of seven covenant relationships:
- Adam
- Noah
- Abraham
- the Sinai covenant
- Aaronic Covenant of the priesthood
- Phinehas' perpetual priesthood
- Davidic covenant
See the chart Yahweh's 8 Covenants. It was the Covenant at Sinai that gave the children of Israel the Mosaic Law, establishing the Israelites as the vassal people of a Divine God-King. In this passage, there is a definite prediction that the Mosaic Covenant at Sinai will be superseded by another covenant: a new covenant (Jer 31:31) that will bring about a spiritual regeneration in the forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal salvation.
Jeremiah 31:35-36 ~ Israel will Endure
This section of Chapter 31 goes from prose in verses 31-34, to poetry in verses 35-37, and returns to prose in verses 38-40. The point of these verses is, if God has the power to control the cosmos, He also has the power to control the destiny of the children of Israel.
Question: What is God's promise concerning the existence of the descendants of Jacob/Israel?
Answer: So long as the heavens and earth endure, the people of Israel/the Jews will endure because they have Yahweh's divine protection.
Jeremiah 31:37-40 ~ Oracle 10: The City of God Rebuilt
Question: What amazing prophecy of hope does Jeremiah give the exiles in verses 37-40?
Answer: When they return, the exiles will rebuild the ruins of the destroyed city of Jerusalem.
Bel and the Dragon
Daniel 14
Chapter 14: Bel and the Dragon
The first commandment condemns polytheism. It requires man neither to believe in, nor to venerate, other divinities than the one true God. Scripture constantly recalls this rejection of "idols, [of] silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see." These empty idols make their worshippers empty: "Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them." God, however, is the living God who gives life and intervenes in history.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2112
(see Ps 115:4-5, 8; cf. Is 44:9-20; Jer 10:1-16; Dan 14:1-30; Bar 6; Wis 13:1-15; Josh 3:10; Ps 42:3; etc.)
Chapter 14 presents two confrontational narratives:
- The story of how Daniel reveals the fraud of the priests of Bel (verses 1-22).
- The story of how Daniel destroys a dragon/snake worshipped by the Babylonians (verses 23-43).
The purpose of the two stories about Bel is to ridicule paganism. In both stories, Daniel risks his life to disprove the divinity of two revered Babylonian gods and to prove that Yahweh, God of Israel, is the only true God to whom he owes his worship, loyalty, and obedience.
Daniel 14:1-9 ~ King Cyrus and Daniel Debate the Power of the Pagan god Bel
Cyrus the Great built his empire by first conquering the Median Empire of his grandfather Astyages (r. 585 "550 BC). When Cyrus the Great became king of Media, he joined the Median and Persian Empires together under his rule. If the narratives in Chapters 13-14 take place in the first year King Cyrus conquered Persia (539 BC), Daniel is about 78 years old. If it is the third year of Cyrus (10:1), Daniel is about 80 years old and has remained in Persia after his people returned to Judah from exile in 539/8 BC.
Bel was the Babylonian manifestation of the Canaanite god Baal. The name Bel is from the Akkadian word "belu," meaning "lord" or "master" (the same meaning of the Canaanite word "baal"). However, the name in the Old Testament for this pagan god is usually Marduk (Is 46:1; Jer 50:2; 51:44). Bel was the chief god of the city of Babylon and the national god of Babylonia. Originally in the pantheon of Babylonian gods, he seems to have been a god of thunderstorms.
Observing that Daniel only worships his God, the king asks him why he doesn't also worship the chief god of Babylon, a city Daniel has lived in since his youth. Daniel makes a profession of faith in "the living God" by two affirmations: one is about his God and the other about the pagan god, Bel. First, he tells the king that his God created heaven and earth and has sovereignty over all creatures of the earth, which includes the king.
The king does not criticize Daniel's worship of his God, but he does not understand how Daniel cannot believe that Bel is also a "living god" since Bel consumes all the food and drink placed before his image in his temple.
Daniel dares to contradict the king by denying the image eats and drinks. Verse 7 is Daniel's second affirmation concerning Bel who is not a living thing but only an object made of clay and bronze.
The king interprets Daniel's denial as a challenge and calls the priests of Bel to prove the image is a "living god." If the priests can provide proof that Bel lives, Daniel will die for his blasphemies against the idol. Daniel boldly accepts the challenge.
Daniel 14:10-22 ~ The Test and Daniel's Victory
The test the priests of Bel suggested involved:
- The priests leaving Bel's temple.
- The king bringing food and drink to Bel's temple and laying out the provisions.
- Locking the entrance to the temple and placing the king's seal on the door
Mixing wine for the god either means mixing water with wine to dilute it, a common practice in the ancient world, or mixing spices into the wine to improve the flavor (2 Macc 15:30; Is 5:22). The priests agree that they will forfeit their lives if any food or drink remains in the morning, and, if there is no food left in the morning, they have proved Bel lives, and Daniel will die.
Question: Why were the priests of Bel so confident in offering their lives if the food was not consumed by the morning? See verse 12.
Answer: They had a secret entrance into the temple under the altar table.
Such deceptions did take place in many pagan temples, as attested to by Fathers of the Church like St. John Chrysostom (Homily on Peter and Helicon) and the account of a similar incident at the Temple of Asclepius at Epidaurus in a play by the Greek playwright Aristophanes (Plutus iii.2).
14 Daniel made his servants bring ashes and spread them all over the temple floor, with no other witness than the king. They then left the building, shut the door and, sealing it with the king's seal, went away.
Before they close and seal the door, Daniel takes the precaution of laying down a carpet of ash across the floor of the temple.
15 That night, as usual, the priests came with their wives and children; they ate and drank everything. 16 The king was up very early the next morning, and Daniel with him. 17 "Daniel," said the king, "are the seals intact?" "They are intact, Your Majesty," he replied. 18 The king then opened the door and, taking one look at the table, exclaimed, "You are great, O Bel! There is no deception in you!"
That night the priests and their families came into the temple from their secret entrance to eat and drink all the food. The next morning, opening the sealed door and seeing the food missing, convinced the king that Bel had indeed consumed the food and was a "living god."
19 But Daniel laughed; and, restraining the king from going in any further, he said, "Look at the floor and take note whose footmarks these are!" 20 "I can see the footmarks of men, of women and of children," said the king, 21 and angrily ordered the priests to be arrested, with their wives and children. They then showed him the secret door through which they used to come and take what was on the table. 22 The king had them put to death and handed Bel over to Daniel who destroyed both the idol and its temple.
Verse 19 oddly suggests that Daniel ridiculed the king by laughing at him. It is an action that is most uncharacteristic of the Daniel we know from interactions between Daniel and the pagan kings in earlier chapters. Then, he revealed the deception of the priests to the king who forced them to show him the secret door. The result was that the king ordered what the priests' suggested in verse 11, and they and their families were executed. Daniel's victory resulted in the destruction of the idol and its temple; however, there is no historical record concerning the destruction of the temple of Bel in Babylon during this time.
Daniel and the Dragon
The New Jerusalem Bible uses the word "dragon" as the translation of the Greek word drakon. Some translators prefer "snake" (the common Greek word for snake is ophis) since, as they point out, there were no "dragons." But it depends on what the ancients saw as a "dragon." It was common for kings to receive gifts of exotic animals from remote parts of their empires. There were no crocodiles in Mesopotamia. Cyrus's "dragon" could have been a huge crocodile or some other kind of dragon-like animal that the people of Babylon revered. This story is the last confrontation narrative in the Book of Daniel.
Daniel 14:23-30 ~ Daniel Kills the Dragon
Continuing their debate concerning Yahweh being the only "living god," the king points out that the dragon that the people of the city worship is a living creature. Once again, Daniel offers a test. If he can kill the dragon without using a weapon, it cannot be a god. The king gave his permission, and Daniel fed the beast a concoction of boiled pitch, fat, and hair. The Fathers of the Church and some modern scholars suggest that within the ball of pitch, fat, and hair Daniel concealed sharp objects like spikes of metal or nails that tore apart the beast's innards and caused its death.
According to the account, when the Babylonian people heard their dragon-god was dead, they blamed the king for its demise as well as for the destruction of the Bel image and temple. When they threaten the king and his family, he turned Daniel over to the angry mob.
Daniel 14:31-42 ~ Daniel in Another Lion Pit
Daniel's previous experience in a lion pit was in 6:17-25. In that event, Daniel was in the pit for a day, but in this episode, he remains in the pit for six days. It was common for Near Eastern kings to keep lions. They were usually kept for the sport of lion hunts and to execute criminals. Daniel's enemies wanted to ensure that Daniel didn't survive this time; therefore, the seven lions did not receive food for the six days.
In a bizarre turn of events, according to the account, Yahweh supernaturally brings the prophet Habakkuk from Judah to take a meal to Daniel in the lion pit.
Daniel received the meal and praised God for not forgetting him while Habakkuk returns supernaturally, just as he came, to Judah.
On the significant "seventh day" (a number symbolizing fulfillment and completion) the sorrowful king came to the pit where he found Daniel still alive. Oddly, there is no mention of Daniel's previous lion pit experience. The king gives credit to Daniel's God for his salvation and executes the men who plotted Daniel's death.
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A Daily Defense
Day 245 Men Becoming Gods
CHALLENGE: “The Catechism states that men can become gods (CCC 460), but this is false.”
DEFENSE: The Church’s teaching is biblically grounded and doesn’t mean we become equal to God.
The Church emphatically teaches there is only one God (CCC 200–202, 2112). There is a single, uncreated Creator, but the term “god” can be used more than one way. In addition to being used of pagan deities, it is used to refer to angels and some humans (see Day 263).
Thus Jesus quotes the statement “You are gods” (Ps. 82:6), which he interprets as a reference to those “to whom the word of God came” (John 10:34). It is thus possible for men to be linked to the divine or divinized in a way they can be called “gods” from contact with the word of God.
This theme is mentioned by Peter, who says Christians “become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4). This means that, by God’s grace, we come to share in certain of his attributes to the extent a creature can. Theologians sometimes call these God’s “communicable attributes,” and they include things like immortality, glory, and holiness.
We have begun to share in these, for in Christ we are new creations (2 Cor. 5:17) and we have tasted “the powers of the age to come” (Heb. 6:5). The process will be complete at the Second Coming, when “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). This process, known in the East as theosis and in the West as divinization, is discussed by Church Fathers such as St. Irenaeus and St. Athanasius, and theologians like St. Thomas Aquinas (see CCC 460).
Theosis or divinization means we become godlike (like God), but we will never be equal to God. That’s impossible, for we are finite and created and can never become infinite and uncreated.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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