Babylonian deity Bel (Marduk) "Bel and the Dragon" is part of a collection of books known as the Apocrypha or "Hidden Books." These books are not part of God's Word, the Bible. They are spiritual writings that were made after the time of Malachi (the last Old Testament prophet) and were mostly completed before the time of Christ, although the last few have Christian themes and references.
Lutherans have avoided the Apocrypha primarily because they are not part of Scripture and because we often don't have access to them. But in a day when so many non-Christian and even antichristian influences dominate the radio, TV, movies, magazines, books, billboards, podcasts, the internet, and every part of our lives, it might be worth looking at a decent short story written by a believer like "Bel and the Dragon."
Although it isn't God's Word, it's a story written by a believer to talk about a part of our spiritual lives. "Bel" is about the falseness of idolatry. Instead of "Bel," we could easily substitute "Big Screen TV," or "The NFL," or "The Republican/Democratic Party," or "Big Science" or any other "thing" that people -- we -- put above God's will in our lives.
- Bel (verses 1-9)
- The Trick (verses 10-17)
- The Verdict (verses 18-22)
- The Dragon (verses 23-32)
- Daniel in the Lion's Den... Again (verses 33-42)
Daniel and the Priests of Bel
1 When King Astyages was laid to rest with his ancestors, Cyrus the Persian succeeded to his kingdom. 2 Daniel was a companion of the king, and was the most honored of all his friends. 3 Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel, and every day they provided for it twelve bushels of choice flour and forty sheep and six measures of wine.¹ 4 The king revered it and went every day to worship it. But Daniel worshiped his own God. So the king said to him, "Why do you not worship Bel?"² 5 He answered, "Because I do not revere idols made with hands, but the living God, who created heaven and earth and has dominion over all living creatures." 6 The king said to him, "Do you not think that Bel is a living god? Do you not see how much he eats and drinks every day?" 7 And Daniel laughed, and said, "Do not be deceived, O king, for this thing is only clay inside and bronze outside, and it never ate or drank anything." 8 Then the king was angry and called the priests of Bel and said to them, "If you do not tell me who is eating these provisions, you shall die. 9 But if you prove that Bel is eating them, Daniel shall die, because he has spoken blasphemy against Bel." Daniel said to the king, "Let it be done as you have said." (NRSV)
————————————¹ 3 A little more than fifty gallons.
² 4 Bel (not "Baal") was one of the names of Marduk, guardian deity of Babylon. See Isaiah 46:1; Jeremiah 50:2; 51:44.
Bel was another name for Marduk, the patron god of Babylon. The "Hanging Gardens" of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (perhaps alluded to in Daniel 4:29) were built partly as a shrine to Marduk. It was destroyed in 479 BC by Xerxes I. Cyrus the Persian (Daniel 10:1) conquered Babylon in 539 BC. Daniel, by now an old man, still held his position as chief of the Magi (Daniel 2:48).
At this point, the facts come to an end and the apocryphal story about Bel begins. The author wants us to see that believers are not always free to hold onto their faith. Sometimes we are coaxed to let it go and be like everybody else ("Why do you not worship Bel?", verse 4).
It seems uncomfortable, even a strain, for us to stand up for our faith. But the writer puts laughter (verse 7) into Daniel's mouth, reminding us of the great truth of the Bible: There is no god but the true God. Our Almighty Father in heaven is the one who gives "knowledge and understanding" (Dan. 1:15) to his people. As Babylon's Nebuchadnezzar actually confessed: "His dominion is an eternal dominion, his kingdom endures from generation to generation" (Daniel 4:34).
In the story, the King gives Daniel a test: If you can prove the statue isn't really eating all the food we give it every day, then you win. As tests go, this one isn't very complicated. The story is almost something we would expect on Gilligan's Island. But it reminds us to stand up for our faith -- and that's a lesson worth sharing over and over again. Our faith is in Jesus Christ himself, the Savior of the world, and the one whose dominion even Nebuchadnezzar recognized.
Who better to stand up for than the Savior who forgave us our sins?
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