URC Daily Devotion 1st August 2019

So the presidents and satraps conspired and came to the king and said to him, ‘O King Darius, live for ever! All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counsellors and the governors, are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an interdict, that whoever prays to anyone, divine or human, for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into a den of lions. Now, O king, establish the interdict and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.’  Therefore King Darius signed the document and interdict.

Not so for poor Daniel who, despite his impressive efficiency, provoked jealousy and ill-feeling amongst his contemporary bureaucrats (satraps and presidents.)  I see this as yet another example of early racism/antisemitism, also evident in the book of Esther, where a person of a group recognised as different or ‘other’ from ‘us’ is picked on, sidelined and discriminated by members of the majority.  

What Daniel’s colleagues did was the same evil evident in the attack on Catholics in Sri Lanka, Muslims in New Zealand, or, indeed, in random attacks such as the Manchester bombing or the Westminster Bridge atrocities.  The words of Jacinda Ahern, the New Zealand prime minister, ring true when she responded to the attacks on Muslims in Christchurch referring to those on the end of the attack, saying, ”They are us. The person who has perpetuated this violence against us is not.”  

Daniel’s enemies ultimately paid a huge price for their prejudice and I only wish they had heard the words of St. Paul in Galatians 3:28 before setting up their evil plan!