Year 0, Day 11: Daniel 11

Troublesome Accuracy

Daniel 11 is another one of these passages that gives academic folks a rise.  Daniel 11 is complete in accuracy in talking about the progression of leadership in the area of Israel (From Alexander the great through Antiochus Epiphanes IV) that many scholars cannot possibly see it as being written before it actually happened.  I understand that from a logical perspective, because it clearly takes a leap of faith to believe that God can truly know the future before it happens.  However, that does not force me personally to see this book as having to be written after the fact.  If I’m going to believe in an all-powerful God, it makes sense to accept His omniscience whether I can truly understand it or not.

Human Nature

As to what this passage tells me about the nature of humanity and the nature of God, that is a far deeper conversation.  Verses 1-19 give us a typical perspective of the straightforwardness of humanity.  Powerful people rise up, strut towards each other, and the strongest one wins.  Listening to the descriptions of kings and wars in these verses is not unlike watching the National Geographic channel when they show hippos, lions, elephants, and the like as they fight over territory.  It is human bravado at its best.  It is comforting to know that just like we see the North Koreans and the Iranians – and leaders in our own country – giving us those displays today, God saw people do the same thing back then.  Arrogance and pride has always caused leadership to posture in such a manner.

Interestingly enough, verses 20-35 give us another glimpse of human authority.  Read through those verses and count how many times it appears that the ruler described in those verses gains power through “diplomatic means” (flattery, persuasive speaking, public manipulation of facts, etc) instead of through militaristic prowess.  I consider this second style a much more dangerous style of leadership.  The leaders described in the prior paragraph – the ones who make wars – are easy to see coming.  The ones who get power by sweet-talking and by saying things that seem to make sense – those are the ones to really watch out for!  Those are the ones that can get themselves into power well before anyone perceives their ugly power-mongering side.   I am sure you can think of more modern examples of this leadership type besides good old Antiochus Epiphanes IV.  For as many power-mongering leaders as there is in the world, I think there are just as many leaders who gain power through diplomatic machinations and manipulations.

Human Corruption

Next, we see the true human character of all but the rarest of people in power.  What is it that we say?  “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  Put any human in a position of enough power without enough proper checks and balances and they will be corrupted.  I hate to say it, but that includes me, too.  Fundamentally, humanity is humanity.  We are absolutely all corruptible – because we are all absolutely already corrupted!  That’s the funny thing about original sin, isn’t it?

So how does this leader become corrupted?  Notice what is mentioned first: he no longer gives honor to the gods (much less the God of Israel).  He exalts himself over anything or anyone else.  He puts his faith in fortresses, bulwarks, and human defenses.  He honors those who acknowledge him – without giving heed to whether they really deserve to be honored or not!  Now there is a character of humanity that is truly corruptible!  How many of us so routinely accept those who show us favor without giving thought to whether the people who are showing us favor are worthy of it or not?

I realize I haven’t talked about Daniel in much terms of “prophecy” in a fore-telling sense, but I do think that we can see a sense of Daniel’s prophetic nature in his speaking in terms of kings and rulers.  Not only do these things apply to us as individuals, but they also apply to rulers and principalities in this world.  We can see this kind of behavior all around us if we look at it.  I’ve come back to it all week in personal conversation as well as in the blog, but Solomon was right.  There really is nothing new under the sun.  The acts of human beings can far too often be summarized by the internal quest for power, popularity, and influence.