18 As soon as the doors were opened, the king looked at the table, and shouted in a loud voice, "You are great, O Bel, and in you there is no deceit at all!" 19 But Daniel laughed and restrained the king from going in. "Look at the floor," he said, "and notice whose footprints these are." 20 The king said, "I see the footprints of men and women and children." 21 Then the king was enraged, and he arrested the priests and their wives and children. They showed him the secret doors through which they used to enter to consume what was on the table. 22 Therefore the king put them to death, and gave Bel over to Daniel, who destroyed it and its temple. (NRSV)
This is the second time in our tale that Daniel has laughed -- but before we talk about the example this story sets for witnessing to our faith, let's remind ourselves that it isn't part of God's word, and why.
First, and perhaps most important of all, Bel and the Dragon does not "self-authenticate" itself. It doesn't create faith in Christ by proclaiming the gospel of forgiveness. There is simply a certain "something" missing when one reads it -- and that something is the gospel itself. The book describes how we react to unbelievers, but it doesn't really tell us anything useful about God and his love.
Second, it has never been accepted by the church as part of Scripture. Although one church council voted to include it (the one that met just after Marin Luther's death in 1546, the Council of Trent) it was far from being representative of the entire Christian Church.
Thirdly (and there are more), in the text, we will meet the prophet Habakkuk soon, who was not a contemporary with Daniel as an old man (as the story presents him). An historical flaw is an error -- and the Bible has no errors. In fact, it is possible that the author of Bel and the Dragon included the error so that people would be tipped off as to the "just a story" quality of the book, a little bit like throwing George Washington into the American Civil War, or slipping Martin Luther King into a story about Martin Luther.
Yet the story teaches us something about our faith: courage. There is no reason to be afraid to show our faith. If God wants us to suffer for some reason for our faith, then we should endure the suffering with joy. If God wants us to gain some kind of success because of our faith, then we should humbly give him thanks and credit for it, and serve him.
The Daniel character in our tale easily proved his point about the priests of Bel. Sometimes showing our faith is as simple as that: Look down at the footprints, or look up at the cross. See the footprints on the floor; or see the nail prints in his hands. We take an idol for what it is: a thing. We take God for what he is: the Creator, our Redeemer; our King. He provides for much more than our stomachs. He provides for our hearts, for our lives, for our souls. He is the way to eternal life. And that's not just a story.
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