Chapter 2: Darksicktaint...

Daniel 1: 1-8

“In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.  And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god.”

“So.  Daniel.”  Moose sips his coffee, the inky blackness infecting the ship was dissipating, for now.  Moose sits at the helm, luke-warm coffee in one hand.  “If we’re going to get into Daniel, let’s start with the story.  The context.  Let’s go to 2 Kings 24.”

2 Kings 24: 1-6

“In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his nasal for three years.  Then he turned and rebelled against him.  And the LORD sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabits, and bands of the people of Ammon; He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LordRD which He had spoken by His servants the prophets.  Surely at the commandment of the LordRD this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the LORD would not pardon.  Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?  So Jehoiakim rested with his fathers.  Then Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.”

“Cool.  Now.  Let’s learn more about the context.  Chronicles next.”  Moose flips some more pages.

2 Chronicles 36: 5-8

“Jehoiakim was twenty five-years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.  And he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God.  Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him, and bound him in bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon.  Nebuchadnezzar also carried off some of the articles from the house of the LORD to Babylong, and put them in his temple at Babylon.  Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the abominations which he did, and what was found against him, indeed they are written int he book of the kings of Israel and Judah.  Then Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.”

“So Daniel take place in the middle of Jehoiakim’s reign.  It was a short reign.  A bloody reign.  It sounds to me like last straw type of reign from God.  Daniel was a kid at the beginning of this story.  Caught up in the Babylonian captivity and brought into esteem with the leader of the captivity.  Generally speaking.”  Moose rubs his chin and sits back, sipping.  “You with me, CS01?”

CS01’s circuits fire.  Sparks fly, the inky blackness is still there, seeping silently out of the ship’s frame.  Moose wrinkles his nose, watching it work as CS01’s processors work.  “Standing firm,” comes her reply, screens reading out with text, cross checks.

“The captivity allowed by God, this was a judgment.  It was a judgment on His people.  For walking away from Him.”  Moose sips.

“Yes, Moose-Captain.  You’re right.”  Q-bot blips in the corner while furiously waving a towel at the invading inky blackness.  “Babylon’s captivity was God’s gavel falling, Judah’s rebellion in 2 Kings 24: and 2 Chronicles 36 piling up like unpaid debts.  They walked away from the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1: 7), and He let them taste the consequences-exile, not abandonment.  Daniel 1: 8 shows the flip side: Daniel’s heart stayed true, refusing the king’s meat, holding fast to God’s Way.  It’s James 1’s patience in chains- cheerful endurance even in judgment.”

Moose smiles and sips his coffee.  “Now, hold on there, CS01.  We’ve got some things to think about.  Like, have you considered the action of taking that which is God’s and putting it in someone else’s temple?  What does that mean for a ruler to do?  What does that mean that God allowed it?  Have we considered that taking the temple of Daniel, if you get what I mean, and placing it in the temple of Babylon, if you get me, mirrored the physical reality of vessels being taken from temple to temple.  And have we considered it was innocent blood that caused God to move?”

CS01’s processors fire up.  She thinks.