January 25, 2022 — “Funny bone” (Daniel 5:1-6, 25-31)

“King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone. Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking. This is the inscription that was written:

mene, mene, tekel, parsin

“Here is what these words mean:

Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and…it will  end. Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.      Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom. That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.”

“Funny bone”

Here, “funny” actually refers to the word’s “strange” rather than “hilarious” connotation. The ulnar nerve in the elbow creates a very bizarre, tingling sensation when the surrounding bone experiences a strike. Considering the fact that it does (appropriately enough) run past the humerus in the upper arm, this idiom could still have other origins.

There are parts of the book of Daniel that are compelling — and there are parts that sound funny to our modern minds. But when a human hand appears as an “apparition” — and writes a message to the king — well, this at first just sounds funny, if not compelling, but then it turns out to be frightening. Just like there is nothing funny about hitting your elbow, or your “funny bone”, there is nothing funny about seeing a dis-embodied hand telling us our days are numbered.

Thank the Lord Jesus has our backs — no matter how many days we may or may not have left on this earth. We do not need to wait for an apparition to tell us where we are going — Jesus is preparing a room for each one of us whenever our time is up. And that promise comes through a cross — and an empty tomb.

Let us pray,

Lord Jesus, you have the words of eternal life which are written in the bible for all to read, study, and trust. Thank you for giving us these words of truth. Help us to write them into our hearts and heads. Amen.

Pastor Dave

January 24, 2022 — “Let the cat out of the bag” (Daniel 6:16-23)

“So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!” A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed. Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep. At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?” Daniel answered, “May the king live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.” The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.” Daniel 6:16-23

“Let the cat out of the bag”

The most reasonable historical explanation for this phrase actually ties into another one involving mammals and bagging — “a pig in a poke.” Dating back to around 1530, cats often served as sneaky substitutes for their piggy peers when shady businesspeople tricked their customers. Clever consumers who exposed the deception eventually spawned our familiar idiom, which retains a similar, albeit broader, meaning today.

I am sure that if any of us were to be thrown into a “lions den” today we would not have the same luck as Daniel. But it wasn’t luck that saved Daniel — for he knew that the Lord was with him. Why was Daniel thrown into the den? Well, as the story goes, Daniel was refusing to listen to a decree made by the king: “Then they said to the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, Your Majesty, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day.” When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sundown to save him.” (Daniel 6:13-14) But, Daniel was beloved by King Darius — so much so he was soon to be set above all of the king’s administrators. This angered the administrators so much that they devised a way to trap Daniel into a “no win” situation — which is why he was given to the lions as the day’s dinner.

Look, we may not be tossed to the lions den figuratively, but if I may let the cat out of the bag, there are plenty of people in this world who would rather see anyone fail so that they can succeed — see others demoted so they can be promoted. But we need not worry about whether Jesus is with us or not — because he is always with us. The world may be against us — but G-d is for us — so much that he placed the Son on the cross so we might live into eternity.

Let us pray,

Lord Jesus, you have let the proverbial cat out of the bag through your life, death and resurrection. We are not being tricked – we are being saved, through you – and for that we give you thanks. Amen.

Pastor Dave