I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. Later this month it will be my wife’s and my 16th anniversary. To celebrate this event I have decided to wish my wife Happy Anniversary for 16 days.
Thank you for being my wife.
Today, I am reading and commenting on Daniel 3-4.
One thing I had never noticed about this passage is the connection between the statue which King Nebuchadnezzar built and the statue in his dream (I have to admit that I did not notice it on my own. I had done an Internet search for information about this passage and the first article I came to made the connection). The author of that article suggested that Nebuchadnezzar built this statue as a counter-point to the one in his dream. Unlike the one in his dream, the statue Nebuchadnezzar built was all gold. However, the most important point was that Nebuchadnezzar built this statue in an attempt to overcome the flaw of the empire that formed the feet of the one in his dream. That empire was divided. Nebuchadnezzar made the statue and commanded everyone to worship it in order to unify his empire. Nebuchadnezzar did not pay attention to the fact that the kingdom which would bring unity to the world would be the Kingdom of God.
While I do not approve of the reason for why Colin Kaepernik refused to stand in honor of the national anthem, this story reminds me of it. The logic behind those who are angry about it is that it is terrible that he is not joining in the worship which is intended to unite us. My objection to what Colin Kaepernik is doing is that he is doing it in service to yet another idol. The three friends in our story did not refuse to worship the statue out of protest. They refused to worship the statue because they refused to worship anything other than God. Perhaps the reason I am most surprised that I never saw this interpretation of this story, nor even heard anyone else talk about it is that I come from a religious tradition which has always condemned civic religion as idolatry. The important lesson of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and the story of the fiery furnace is that the only government which will ever bring unity to the people of every race, nation, and language will be the Kingdom of God.