o A possible
backdrop to Nebuchadnezzar’s plan to unify the Empire: a coup attempt (c., 595/594
BC), as recorded within the Babylonian Chronicles.
2.
The Accusation of the Chaldeans (vv. 8-12).
v. 8: For this reason at that time certain Chaldeans came
forward and brought charges against the Jews.
“…certain Chaldeans came forward…”
o
“Chaldeans,”
though an ethnic term, is probably used in the sense of Dan. 2:2, as a special
priestly caste.
o
Ironically,
one of the groups saved by Daniel’s merciful intervention (2:24)!
“…and brought charges against the Jews.”
o
The
charges were probably motivated by several factors:
1) personal & professional jealousy; 2)
anti-Semitism & nationalistic xenophobia.
o
Jealousy: a powerful and frightful force and incentive
in the affairs of men.
“Abel could not stand before the
envy of Cain; nor Joseph before the envy of his brethren; nor Christ before the
envy of the Jews, his bitter enemies; and, where it is, there is confusion and
every evil work, James 3:14. An envious man is worse than an angry and wrathful
man; his wrath and anger may be soon over, or there may be ways and means of
appeasing him; but envy continues and abides, and works insensibly.”—John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible (Prov. 27:4)
o
Anti-Semitism: Note the direct reference to the ethnicity of
the offenders: v. 12.
o Doubtless, it was
repugnant that a conquered alien race of unfamiliar customs should be
elevated over the chief providence of Babylon!
o
The riddle of Antisemitism; despite their great
personal industry and beneficial influence upon Mankind in a variety of fields
(e.g., arts, sciences, commerce), the Hebrew people have always been the object
of an irrational and unreasoning hatred by the nations of the world, resulting
in much persecution.
o For example: Pharoah in
Egypt, Haman in Persia, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Emperor Hadrian of Rome,
Medieval religious-based persecution from various Christian & Islamic
sources, the pogroms of Czarist Russia, Nazi Germany, the modern Islamic Middle
East, etc.
o
The
ultimate source of such diabolical hatred: Satan, the Accuser of the
Brethren (Rev. 12:10)!
o Satan was mindful of
the prophecy of Gen. 3:15: a Deliverer, born of the Human Race, would be
the instrument of his destruction.
Gen. 3:15: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel."
Rom. 16:20: The God of peace will
soon crush Satan under your feet.
o Satan was also aware
that via the Abrahamic & Davidic Covenants, the Highway of the
Seed would pass through the descendants of Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3), Isaac
(Gen. 17:18-21), Jacob (Gen. 25:23), Judah (Gen. 49:10), Jesse (Isa. 11:10),
and David (2 Sam. 7:8-17).
o Hence, the furious
Satanic hatred for the Covenant Nation that would produce both Messiah (the
Living Word), as well as the written Word…
Rev. 12:4: And the dragon stood before the woman
who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her
child.
o
Mark
Twain (1897), on the “mystery” of Jewish survival:
"If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute
but one quarter of one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous puff of star dust lost
in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly,
the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard
of. He is as prominent on the planet as
any other people, and his importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the
smallness of his bulk.
The Jew saw them all, survived them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmaties, of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert but aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jews; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?"
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