Daniel and the tyrant

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by Margaret Killingray (Word for the Week 05-03-07)

If you do not tell me the dream, there is but one verdict for you… The Chaldeans answered the king, ‘there is no one on earth who can reveal what the king demands!’  Because of this the king flew into a violent rage and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed.  Daniel 2:9,10,12

The Last King of Scotland is a vivid portrayal of a powerful, vicious and unpredictable tyrant.  Nebuchadnezzar was probably not the first, and certainly not the last, to have filled his servants with dread and anxious insecurity.  The ‘wise’ men of Babylon, sorcerers, magicians and fortune-tellers, were commanded to interpret the king’s disturbing dreams; only he refused to tell them what they were.  This was a ‘public decree’ and failure meant death.  They would probably have told the king anything to keep him happy.  But they were caught by an impossible demand.   Desperate enough to remonstrate, they were soon herded together for execution while the king’s troops went off to find Daniel and his companions, also wise men, in order to execute them as well.  

Daniel took the initiative to attempt to avert a bloodbath. ‘With prudence and discretion’ he questioned the captain of the king’s guard, assessed the situation, and then asked for a short delay, and dared to say that he would give the interpretation.  He and the other Hebrews began a night of urgent prayer and in the night God revealed to Daniel the king’s worrying dreams.  

Daniel demonstrated faith, courage and diplomacy.  He trusted in God’s greater purposes.  But he and his friends always had a ‘but if not’ clause – they might die themselves, but God’s purposes would never be thwarted.  (See Daniel 3:18.)  He did all he could to save the Babylonian wise men.  He did not distance himself and his friends from the pagan magicians of the court, or take advantage of them.  He had taken the trouble to understand the culture and worldview round him and knew enough about the king to interpret his frightened and angry demands.  But he would only speak the truth.  He may have been apprehensive, but he was never scared witless, because he knew the living God was with him.  

Christians in some parts of the world today face similar kinds of life-threatening tyranny.  But for most of us it may be the petty tyrannies of school bullying, office rivalries, and domestic aggression.  How do we handle these?