rpstoledosj posted: " Daniel 2, 31-45 Today's first reading from the Book of Daniel is full of powerful imagery. Here we are shown the description of the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Its head was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs bronz"
Today's first reading from the Book of Daniel is full of powerful imagery. Here we are shown the description of the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream.
Its head was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs bronze, its legs iron, its feet partly iron and partly clay. While you watched, a stone was hewn from a mountain without a hand being put to it, and it struck its iron and clay feet, breaking them in pieces. The iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold all crumbled at once, fine as the chaff on the threshing floor in summer, and the wind blew them away without leaving a trace. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
Daniel 2, 32-35
The statue is not of the same material throughout. The head is made of gold, the chest and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of bronze, the legs of iron, the feet part‑iron, part‑clay.
Our first observation is that the value of the materials decreases from the head to the feet[1]. The first material was gold, used for the head; the final material for the feet, part-iron and part-clay.
Our second observation is that the statue is top-heavy.[2] How so?
Silver is almost twice as light as gold at 0.38 lbs per cubic inch.[4]
Bronze is lighter than silver at 0.31 lbs. per cubic inch[5][6]
Iron is 0.28 lbs. per inch[7]. Iron mixed with brick formed as fire clay weighing 0.09 lbs. per cubic inch,[8] and assuming equal amounts used, the material would weigh in at approximately 0.18 lbs per inch.
The stone broke the statue to pieces. It struck its weakest part. When the figure collapsed, nothing but dust remained of it. And that dust was quickly dispersed by the wind.
Historically, the statue represents four kingdoms. Some scholars would say that the four are the Babylonian, the Median-Persian, the Greek, and the Roman empires. Others would say that the kingdoms were Babylon, Media, Persia, and Greece.
The Book of Daniel that refers to these kingdoms was written sometime during the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (167-164 B.C)[9]. Under his rule, a fierce persecution of the Jews who wanted to be faithful to the Law and their traditions took place. A description of the Jewish Resistance against that king is written up in the Books of Maccabees. We have been reading portions of these books these past weeks.
Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom existed 600 years before the time of Christ. The Book of Daniel shows the fall of these kingdoms as prophecy. By the norms of modern historiography, the book would be a form of history. The hero of the book is Daniel, a Jew who was among those deported to Babylonian about 600 years before the birth of Christ. The book is a collection of traditional stories intended to encourage the Jews by reminding them of important lessons.
These were:
A believing person can fight off temptation and win over adversity.
While powerful nations strive to fight against God, His Kingdom will prevail over them and, in the end, rule forever.
The dead will be raised in the future for reward or punishment.
A person who took these lessons to heart would act according to the following norms:
A person must live according to what is right.
God is in control over events. History unrolls under His watchful eyes.
God will deliver and reestablish His people.
The lessons --- it seems to me then --- are crystal clear. Just as the Book of Daniel encouraged the Jews in their time of trial, we too are being strengthened.
In place of these kingdoms, we can put in the greatest evils we recognize in our time. Some of them would be:
Companies that care nothing for truth and justice in their drive for profit,
Countries that seek to bully other countries into bending them to their will, controlling their people, stealing their resources,
Politicians and governments who use every trick in and outside the book to perpetuate their power,
The list is endless.
It is important to remember:
A person must live according to what is right.
God is in control over events. History unrolls under His watchful eyes.
God will deliver and reestablish His people.
Today's blessed, Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez presents us with an example today. He refused to be cowed by an oppressive government. His triumphant cry as he was executed by firing squad was "Viva Cristo Rey!"
The stone hit the feet of the statue. Blessed Miguel Pro was killed in 1927. By 1999, the political party responsible for his execution lost the presidency after 71 years of uninterrupted rule.
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