What I Like About...Daniel

What I like about Daniel: Wisdom makes for great job security

Here's the thing about Daniel. In pop culture (i.e., Sunday school), he is usually depicted as a somewhat young guy, facing lions and coming out unscratched. He is stuck in a sort of perpetual youth, never to age. The truth is, though, that by the time lions entered the picture, Daniel was getting up in years. He was over 80 years old.

Back up a few decades, and you get the young man, coming as a captive to a new place and being thrown into a different kind of lions' den - the palace. Daniel and his closest friends navigated the intricacies of Babylonian politics while managing to obey the law, and they all rose to positions of power, Daniel most of all.

And he stayed there. He served in the courts of four kings of two empires. Daniel outlasted King Nebuchadnezzar, King Belshazzar, King Darius, and went on advising well into the reign of King Cyrus. He was the third most powerful man in Babylon, yet he was kept on as an adviser even after the Medes and Persians conquered the Babylonians. He was close to power - at that time the greatest human power in the world - for more than sixty years.

His longevity wasn't because he was a flatterer or because he knew how to make kings look good. He had been the bearer of bad news; sure, he told Nebuchadnezzar that he was the "king of kings," but he also told ol' Nebi that he would go completely insane. He predicted the overthrow of the Babylonian empire, yet he was immediately rewarded and promoted.

His wisdom and his devotion to God and to the truth are what protected his job, not his schmoozing skills or his shrewd political acumen. Coming from an education background where both political sense and schmoozing skills are highly valued, I like that about Daniel.

Verse of the post: "There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods. King Nebuchadnezzar your father - your father the king, I say - appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and diviners. This man Daniel, whom the king called Beltshazzar, was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems." Daniel 5:11-12