Year 9, Day 345: Daniel 11

Theological Commentary: Click Here

In this chapter of Daniel, we see the ugly side of humanity.  This chapter is all about war.  One king rises to power and makes war against another.  Another king rises up and comes against the first.  It continues again and again and again.  Human beings struggle against one another to try and dominate over them and make their resources available to them.

Notice, though, that this chapter shows us two means of gaining the advantage.  First, there is the frontal warfare mentioned before.  Second, and more deceptively, there are the diplomatic means.  Some of the kings seek to gain an advantage through flattery and friend-making.  This is the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing.  People come to others looking like friends, but they have their secret agenda acting as an undercurrent to their actions.

I find this aspect of human leadership obnoxious.  It is this very sense of power-mongering that makes human leadership so untrustworthy.  There are some good leaders among mankind, but most leaders want something for themselves.  There are few leaders who truly lead while seeking what is best for the community at large.

Worse than all of that, though, is what the power-mongering leads to.  When we teach generations of power-mongering, the result is ultimately a mentality that causes us to challenge the position of God in our life.  When we grow accustomed to challenging each other for power, the next logical step is to challenge God.

We’ve seen this before.  This is the pattern we saw among the native leaders of the Promised Land and it is why the were deposed by the Hebrew people after the exile.  This is the pattern of the Hebrew kings, which is why God brought Assyria and Babylon against them.  This is the pattern we saw in the Assyrian and Babylonian kings, which is why Daniel now stands before Cyrus, a king of Persia.

We love power.  We love recognition.  We learn how to grab for it and take it.  We learn to enjoy what it brings to our life.  Then we learn to take more.  We even take from God.  That is the breadth and depth of our rebellion against God.

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