Away From the Manger

Away From the Manger
By Wendy Wippel

You may remember that the nation of Judah was captured by Nebuchadnezzar and taken to Babylon as slaves, including Daniel, about 606 B.C. Persia conquered Babylon in 537 B.C. and freed the Jews to go home, but Daniel (God’s “highly esteemed”) did not. And the reason is critically important to the nativity scene on your lawn.

If you have ever read the book of Daniel, he’s be the last person you’d peg to stay around when the nation was given a green light by the Persian King Cyrus to head home. It was Daniel who was praying towards Jerusalem 50 years after it was leveled by Nebuchadnezzar. And when Daniel gets hold of a copy of Jeremiah in Daniel Chapter 9, and reads that the captivity in Babylon will last seventy years (and knowing that it was necessary for Israel to repent, or it would be lengthened), Daniel offers up what might possibly be history’s most fervent prayer. (Daniel 9)

You get the impression, in fact, that he is trying to repent enough for the whole nation:

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans- in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day-to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.

“O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.

“As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day-we have sinned, we have done wickedly!

“O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

I think it’s pretty clear from his prayer that, knowing that the Messiah is promised to come and defeat Israel’s enemies, Daniel thinks that the end of their current captivity means that the Messiah will come at the 70-year endpoint promised by God in Jeremiah and usher in the Messianic kingdom.

And I think that the fact that Daniel thinks that is supported by what happens next:

“Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God,yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.”

Translation: “Daniel, you are seriously confused, and I have been sent to straighten you out.”

Gabriel proceeds to give Daniel the famous Daniel 9 prophecy in which an outline of the whole rest of human history is laid out.

Implication: “Daniel, it’s going to be a long, long time till the Messianic kingdom.”

Supported by the fact that God spends the next three chapters giving Daniel some of that history in depth, finishing with a last injunction to His highly esteemed Daniel, to whom was given the majority of Bible prophecy:

“But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.”

History tells us that Daniel’s end did, in fact, come in Persia, and that he was buried in the Persian city of Susa, which still boasts his tomb.

Why, then would Daniel, who seemingly sought God and anticipated His restoration of Israel more than any other biblical figure, stay in the land of his captivity?

We find a hint in Daniel 2: Nebuchadnezzar has had a dream, and court advisors, the magi, were supposed to be able to interpret dreams. But this particular dream had them stumped. God reveals the meaning of the golden statue that was the subject of Neb’s dream to Daniel, who then goes to share the interpretation with the Babylonian king:

Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these: As for you, O King, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed, about what would come to pass after this; and He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be. But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes who make known the interpretation to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart.” (Daniel 2:28-30)

The dream, of course, also laid out world history, describing three successive empires that would rule over Babylon. All Neb really hears, however, is that he is the head of gold on the statue, and goes off to command that a giant statue be constructed in his realm so that all he rules can be made to bow to it.

No lack of self-esteem there.

Actually he does one other thing first, also revealed in Daniel 2:

The king answered Daniel, and said, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.” Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts; and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon.

He made him the rab-mag; the chief magus of all the magi.

The Boss.

And with Daniel in charge, apparently the magi’s focus changed a little. Because when we see them in Matthew, they are not interpreting dreams. They are astronomers, following a star. And not just any star. A star that heralded the birth of a king.

And not just any king. A King of the Jews:

Behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” Mathew 2:2

Notice that they weren’t there to debate the politics. They were there to worship Him.

And that can only be because of Daniel.

Although not really recorded in Scripture, God must have communicated to Daniel that he had a higher calling than just going home. The Persian kingdom that Daniel died in was shortly conquered by the Greek empire, which was conquered by Rome. And Israel changed hands every time.

The magi, however, now located in independent Parthia, remained intact. And it was those Parthian magi who rode into Jerusalem at Jesus’ birth, asking for the one that was BORN king of the Jews. Because Daniel had created disciples as magi, and he had taught them the Hebrew Scriptures. Including the prophecy of Balaam that predicted the appearance of a star that would herald a future Jewish ruler of Israel. The promised Messiah:

“I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel.” (Numbers 24:17)

While of the Jews, only Anna and Simeon, apparently, were waiting.

So from now on, when you see a manger scene, thank Daniel!