Old Sandals

O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed, happy the one who repays you as you have served us! Happy the one who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock!   Psalm 137:8-9

Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.  Isn’t that true?  How does that square with a verse like this?  Are these just the bitter words of a captive, vindictive Jew?  Happy the one?  Aren’t these little ones innocent?  What did they do to deserve death?

Of course God loves the little children of the world. Of course they are precious in His sight.  So, unless we want to say this verse is divinely-inspired precisely to show us how not to think and react, we need a more comprehensive interpretation.  St. Benedict of Nursia, in his Rule for young monks, admonished them to take hold of bad thoughts and desires while they were still sprouting, and to dash them against the rock which is Christ.  This is certainly an allegorical interpretation that has application for us today. 

Joshua, as leader of the ancient people of Israel, was indeed commanded to kill all the enemies of God—men, women and children. Why? Because He knew if any of them were spared, they would lead the people of God into idolatry.  And that is, sadly, exactly what happened.  Christ will someday destroy all His enemies.  Until that day, we are called to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (and then quickly dash it to pieces!).

And from the time  that  the daily  sacrifice  is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.   Daniel 12:11

We can’t know everything.  Great is the mystery of godliness. That’s what eternity’s for.

At the appointed time he shall return and go toward the south; but it shall not be like the former or the latter.   Daniel 11:29

Much has been written about this amazing chapter, how it accurately, albeit cryptically, predicts world events leading up to the coming of the Messiah.  So much so, in fact, that some scholars insist the chapter was written after  the events took place. 

God certainly knows the future.  He is the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. He is the King of kings.  In the words of Isaiah, “He brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless.”

Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.”   Daniel 10:12-13

There is given to us in these sacred words some little insight into the unseen struggle between good and evil, between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness.  That it all seems so strange to us may be because we are so far from the front lines, so to speak, and are otherwise preoccupied.  Being thus disengaged, we hear the thunder of battle in the distance, but can’t make out what is really going on.

On your guard, Christian soldier!  There is fight enough for all of us.  We are to take every thought captive.  We are to stand for truth, whatever our post, “stand like a beaten anvil”, as St. Ignatius used to say.  Sharpen your sword—your knowledge and understanding of the word of God—and be engaged.  Pray hard.  The battle is the Lord’s.

O my God, incline Your ear and hear…for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies.  O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act!   Daniel 9:18-19

The saints through the ages would all testify that it is incumbent upon us to give the Lord our very best, all the while understanding that our very best does not earn our salvation.  But it needs to be said that our salvation is not a commodity; it is not a thing to be earned, or even received as a gift.  Our salvation is a Person, a relationship with the Lord Himself made possible because of His great mercy.

And the vision of the evenings and mornings which was told is true.  Therefore seal up the vision, for  it refers  to many days  in the future.  And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick for days; afterward I arose and went about the king’s business. I was astonished by the vision, but no one  understood it.   Daniel 8:26-27

None of us knows the future;  none of us could handle it if we did.  Fortunately, the Lord does not ask us to.  “Sufficient unto the day…”

It is a sin to worry about the future, about what might be.  Anything might be.  The Lord does not give us grace to deal with what might be.  He only gives us grace to deal with what is.  And that’s today.

I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated.  His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire.  A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him.  A thousand thousands ministered to Him, ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.   Daniel 7:9-10

The Scriptures warn of the judgement seat of Christ,  where each of us will have to give an account.   St. Ignatius issues an admonition as well, in his epistle to the Ephesians:

“For let us either stand in awe of the wrath to come, or show regard for the grace which is at present displayed—one of two things.  Only [in one way or another] let us be found in Christ Jesus unto the true life.”

Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; and no musicians^[b] were brought before him. Also his sleep went from him.  Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”

Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever!”   Daniel 6:18-21

How long did the king have to wait for Daniel to answer?  The pause, however brief, between his question and Daniel’s response was very weighty indeed, and must have seemed like an eternity.

One is reminded of the pause at the conclusion of Handel’s Messiah, just before the final ‘Amen’ in the Amen Chorus.  It isn’t a long pause, but it is so very weighty, so very sacred.

From an eternal perspective, you and I are living out our lives during that sacred pause between our Lord’s first and second coming.  Its silence will soon be broken with the glad shouts of saints and angels echoing Daniel’s words of long ago, “O King, live forever!”

O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom and majesty, glory and honor….But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. Then he was driven from the sons of men, his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys….till he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses.  But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this.  And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified. Then the fingers of the hand were sent from Him, and this writing was written….MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.   Daniel 5:18-25

It is not about knowing certain facts.  It has always been, always will be, a matter of the heart.  Do not say, “If only God would do this or that, if only I could see with my own eyes, I would believe.  I would change.”

He has shown you, O man—however lofty or lowly your station may be—what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  Your heart knows.

All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar.  At the end of the twelve months he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. The king spoke, saying, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?”  While the word was still in the king’s mouth, a voice fell from heaven: “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you! And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.” That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.   Daniel 4:28-33

Whether seven days, seven months or seven years, Nebuchadnezzar’s lycanthropy lasted, as Calvin put it, “long enough” for the king to realize that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men.

I have built…by my mighty power…for my majesty.  Really?  What do any of us have that we did not receive from the Almighty?