Life in Exile (Daniel 1:1-7)
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We talked a little last week about stability and instability. It’s no secret that we live in relatively uncertain times. Unpredictable.
I think all of us have lived with periods of uncertainty. I can’t say that I lived in the 1940’s—but I know that if you did there was uncertainty of World War II and even some of the rebuilding afterwards.
There was the uncertainty of the Cold War that lasted all the way into the 80’s. At what point were we going to get nuked. There are bomb shelters here for a reason.
There was the civil unrest of the 1960’s and into the 70’s. The Vietnam War, Korean War. In the 90’s we started to see more unrest as well—Iraqi war. Then we had 9/11.
But things feel different, I think…from when I was a kid and now that my kids are teens (or a teen and one almost a teen). It’s different, I think.
I think it’s a bit like the difference between riding in a roller coaster and riding in a car. If you go 68mph in Outlwaw Run, you’re thinking—wow, this thing is really zipping. Whew! What a ride!
That’s not exactly the case if you hope into your Ford Taurus and get it up to 68mph. I mean it might be risky in a Taurus to go that fast…but it’s not going to be the ride of your life.
What’s the difference? It’s the physics. It’s the difference between being in an open air cart and being in a much larger and weightier vehicle.
Or I think of what G.K. Chesterton once said:
Those countries in Europe which are still influenced by priests, are exactly the countries where there is still singing and dancing and coloured dresses and art in the open-air. [Christian] doctrine and discipline may be walls; but they are the walls of a playground. . . . We might fancy some children playing on the flat grassy top of some tall island in the sea. So long as there was a wall round the cliff’s edge, they could fling themselves into every frantic game and make the place the noisiest of nurseries. But the walls were knocked down, leaving the naked peril of the precipice. They did not fall over; but when their friends returned to them, they were all huddled in terror in the centre of the island; and their song had ceased.13 (emphasis added) -Grothe, Daniel. The Power of Place (p. 39). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
We live in a time and a culture where the walls have been removed. And it has led to an insane amount of insecurity and instability. Do I need to share statistics on the rapid rise of depression amongst teen girls? Do I need to tell you that during COVID 1 in 4 adult men ages 18-24 contemplated suicide? Do we need to talk about all of the unrest?
There was a similar time in the life of the people of Israel—well actually several times—but one we will focus on is here in the book of Daniel.
Times had been somewhat decent for a few years. But there was instability around them—much like we might have said during the Cold War. A threat of invasion, but somehow at the same time there was some level of economic prosperity and enrichment in your own land. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
But spiritually speaking things were a mess. And God, through his prophets, like Jeremiah—was calling the people to repentance. But they were stubborn and they didn’t listen.
Around the turn of the century—605BC, it came tumbling down. Now, talk about instability…this would have been instability like we’ve never really known. Listen in...
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king. Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.
There are a few things here in this text that I want to point out. We’re really going to dive into Daniel, Lord willing, next week. This week we are going to notice a few things here in this text and then try to tell the story of exile.
What do I do with this instability? What do I do with this feeling that I have—and some of the fear—the unrest—the deep concern, etc.? What do I do when it feel like I don’t really belong in the world around me anymore (or maybe you never have)?
The Bible tells a story of home and a story of exile.
Last week we looked at Mark 5 and told the story of Where the Wild Things Are. We talked about the importance of placing roots and how instability is the realm of the demonic.
But we need to tell a little different story today as we begin a series in Daniel. What’s it like to be uprooted?
v1—605 BC is the date. Nebby the king of Babylon came to Jersualem and besieged it. He’s coming in and saying, “this stuff is mine...” it’s not the big exile that’s going to come a few years later. This is a smaller one. This is a gut punch, a flex, an attempt to say, “you serve Nebby now”.
v2—but we see that this is all happening because “the Lord gave”. This is not something which has caught God by surprise. In fact, this is exactly what God is doing—both as judgment and as we’ll see as a mercy.
Also note what happens here. Nebby takes the vessels of the house of God. Now normally what they would do is they would take the idols…but the Jews didn’t have idols. So, they had to settle for some of the religious symbols they did have. And they would take them into the shrine of their God. It was like a trophy. It was a way of saying, “my daddy can beat up your daddy.”
v3—Then he commands his chief eunuch…now let me try to simplify that for us. What is eunuch? The PG version we’ll just say, “they can’t have babies anymore”. They are dedicated to the service of the king.
And so he goes into Israel and finds some of the best and the brightest. The nobility. You’d do this…you’d take them and try to make them part of your own kingdom. Take them as they are youths—likely at least 13—and you’d train them up in your ways. And so what you’re doing is strengthening your kingdom and crippling that of your opponent.
v4—youths without blemish, good appearance, skillful in wisdom, knowledge, learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace. He went into the high school and said, “give me your valedictorians. Give me your honor roll students. Give me the ones from the wealthy families. Give me the ones who are in the extra-curricular actives, and we’re going to take them to the school of Babylon.
We are going to educate them in our ways…and we’ll make the good little Babylonians.
We will circle back to this later. The king gives them a daily portion of food…they were educated for three years…and this point they would then stand before the king.
Their life is not their own. They have a new life. A new identity. New home. They are uprooted.
Want to know what it would feel like? Let me read you one of the psalms. Hear the bitterness. Hear the pain. This is R-rated.
By the waters of Babylon,
there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there
we hung up our lyres.
For there our captors
required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
How shall we sing the Lord’s song
in a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget its skill!
Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy!
Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites
the day of Jerusalem,
how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare,
down to its foundations!”
O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
blessed shall he be who repays you
with what you have done to us!
Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones
and dashes them against the rock!
Now, God’s not supporting this. This isn’t God saying— “Yeah, let’s get ‘em. You ought to be this angry and hate them like this.” No, this is God saying, “Talk to me. Let me know how you’re feeling. Give me all the ugly of what you are thinking and feeling.” And they tell Him.
That’s what life is like for these exiles. The Babylonians want them to use their gifts—gifts that they know are supposed to be for God’s glory, gifts that are supposed to be in their home land, the stuff that springs out of stability—art that flows from being grounded---yeah, we can’t do that in Babylon.
But they are forcing them to. And that little bit about the chief of the eunuchs giving them names…it’s quite likely that these young men would have been made eunuchs themselves.
They’ve lost everything. This isn’t a vacation. This is forced slavery. This is being forced to do art, use your wisdom, use your things not for yourself but for the empire of someone else.
But we need now to leave our friends in Babylon and take up a big picture view of exile.
Remember last week how we talked about the Garden of Eden. God placed Adam and Eve into an enclosure—they were safe—they were in a place where the wild things are not. But they sinned…and because of that they introduced wild things into the Garden of God. And that cannot be. So God cast them out…he exiled them.
And part of the story of the Bible is really one about home, exile, and getting back home. Stability, instability, stability if you will. We saw that last week.
But I want to show you one more thing here about exile. I want to read you another psalm that came from the exilic period. But we have to start in Deuteronomy 28. Here God threatened curses for their disobedience. You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. They’ll be cursed with diseases…defeat before enemies…your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand…The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors…You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the LORD will drive you....The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower....
“And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. And among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot, but the Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and a languishing soul. Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and the sights that your eyes shall see.
That’s some pretty heavy stuff…and I left out a good deal of it. But can you imagine what it would feel like to be living IN those curses. But this isn’t something of mere feelings. It’s not as if they just feel cursed but in reality they aren’t. No they really are living in the midst of this curse and it’s because of their own disobedience. I’m not sure we can relate to this. But one place in Scripture which might help is Psalm 88.
A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
O Lord, God of my salvation,
I cry out day and night before you.
Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry!
For my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draws near to Sheol.
I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am a man who has no strength,
like one set loose among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
for they are cut off from your hand.
You have put me in the depths of the pit,
in the regions dark and deep.
Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah
You have caused my companions to shun me;
you have made me a horror to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call upon you, O Lord;
I spread out my hands to you.
Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
Are your wonders known in the darkness,
or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
But I, O Lord, cry to you;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
O Lord, why do you cast my soul away?
Why do you hide your face from me?
Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.
Your wrath has swept over me;
your dreadful assaults destroy me.
They surround me like a flood all day long;
they close in on me together.
You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
my companions have become darkness.
Now when this is THE Psalm…the heart cry of the people of God who have gone astray…who have been cursed…and all of this from Dt. 28 has fallen upon them and their drinking dust. There are two questions which are crying out.
If the curse of the Law has fallen upon them—has their sin cut them off from God forever? How can an unholy people EVER expect to return to a right relationship with God? Could they ever come back to the land? I mean there is nothing in the history of history where a people scattered and taken off into exile would ever come back to their land. But wait…God promised that He would do this thing. Has their sin cut them off from that promise forever? Or an even more pressing question…are the gods of Babylon actually more powerful? Are they the victors?
I mean when you’ve been sitting in the dust for all these years how can you hope? When it seems and feels like you’re too broken for redemption....
Ever feel that way. Ever think that is your reality. Maybe it’s because of your own sin. Maybe it’s because of all the stuff that’s happened to you. Is it even possible to get back up?
That is what is confronting Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego at the beginning of Daniel. Will there be hope? When you get booted out can you ever come back?
Friends, that’s not only their question. It is our question. We too, inherit the sentence of Adam and Eve. Their rebellion is our rebellion. We too are kicked out of the Garden. We too need be brought back home.
Is there hope?
There’s a little verse in the gospel of Mark that I want to draw your attention to. This is one of those places where I wish we didn’t have those section divisions in the Bible—because this verse isn’t meant to start a story—it’s meant to be a jarring transition.
Mark 1:12…but right before this verse is Jesus’ baptism. The Spirit descends and the Father proclaims “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.” This is meant to draw us to Psalm 2. And there in Psalm 2 it seems that once the “beloved Son” is placed upon the throne he begins his quest of world domination—of kicking tail, bearing the sword, bringing judgment.
But that’s not what happens. The shift in Mark is jarring,
“The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.” –Mark 1:12📷
The word for “drove him out” is ekballo. It’s a word that is most typically used by Mark of Jesus driving out a demon. When you’re a bouncer and you need to remove some dude who doesn’t belong, you’d use ekballo to say you booted the guy out.
Matthew and Luke use a different word. It’s less jarring., not violent. It has the Spirit leading—or guiding by the hand—into the wilderness. Mark uses a word that would bring to mind a whip instead of wooing.
At this point commentaries and sermons tend to get caught up on the dynamic between the Spirit and the Son. Did the Son not want to go and so had to be driven? Of course not, but that’s getting sidetracked from what Mark is actually telling us.
Jesus’ baptism is a moment of glory. Then the Spirit enters in, like a bouncer, and throws Jesus out into the wilderness. It’s almost as if the Spirit is saying, “The Son doesn’t belong in this locale (pointing to glorious things) but in that (pointing to the place of the jackals and all things barren).
That is what Mark is doing here. But why? Why is he doing something a little different than both Matthew and Luke. I would propose that part of the reason is because Mark’s audience is largely Roman and they have a certain glory-bent that would grab hold of this beloved Son and make him a warrior king instead of a Suffering Servant.
Mark’s whole gospel is driving to one beautiful declaration, “truly this man was the Son of God!” But what kind of Son of God is he? Mark labors for sixteen chapters to show us that he is the kind of Son of God who will choose a cross over a crown, spittle over splendor, pain over pomp.
Don’t mistake Mark’s message, though. Jesus does belong in glory. But the Spirit drives him out into the wilderness (fully in accordance with His own pleasure) because this is where humanity has placed themselves. We are “where the wild things are”. Therefore he must conquer our enemy in the wilderness.
It’s also worth noting that the Spirit never abandoned Jesus while in the desert. “Angles were ministering to him” is what Mark says. He wants us to know that Jesus—though thrust into the darkness by the Spirit—was not abandoned by the Spirit. In the same way the Spirit will always go with us into these darkest places where we are following the footsteps of Jesus.
The Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness so that Christ could drive the wild out of the wilderness. He is redeeming all the broken things. That means us. He makes all things new—not by coercion but through suffering. He crushes the head of the serpent (dashes him to pieces) through a bloody cross and not a bloody sword. It is the Suffering Servant who rules the nations.
Jesus has conquered the wilderness. He is our way back home—our only way back home. But we presently live in the already, not yet of redemption. In one sense we are already back home—but in another sense, it’s more like we’ve been rescued from enemy territory and we are in the middle of a march back home.
That means there is still a sense in which we are in exile. There is still a sense where this world system is most definitely not our home. This is what Peter says,
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
So what do we do as exiles. How are we supposed to live? Do we just burn it to the ground—this world is not my home…let it burn? Do we labor to get ourselves back home? Fight the exile…fight the instability…fight the place where the wild things are? Well, yes and no.
We become part of Babylon but Babylon can’t be a part of us. I’ll close here with the words of Jeremiah to those like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
Seek the welfare of Babylon. Redeem the place where the wild things are…live there…love there…because...
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
God is leading you back home. And as we’ve seen the only way back home is through the Lord Jesus. That is what this is pointing to.