Deeper Reflection
Daniel is about kings and kingdoms. And verses 1 to 2 is a tale of three kings. Who are the three kings? “Jehoiakim king of Judah”, “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon” (v.1) and “the Lord” (v.2).Clearly, Nebuchadnezzar was a more powerful king than Jehoiakim, for he “came to Jerusalem and besieged it” (v.1). The Babylonians broke into Jerusalem and invaded Israel’s most sacred place: “the house of God” (v.2). And they took “some of the vessels of the house of God”, and under the order of Nebuchadnezzar, they “brought them…to the house of his god” (v.2). This act shows – to both Babylonians and Israelites – that the god of Nebuchadnezzar was more powerful than the God of Israel. Removing the temple articles was “a sign of the victory of Nebuchadnezzar and his god over the Israelite king and his god. Wars were fought in a god’s name and plunder thus belonged to him. The temple articles are his booty”¹⁰ . This is what it appears to be. But there is more than meets the eye.All that had happened from Jerusalem to Shinar is “The Lord gave” (v.2). Nebuchadnezzar defeated Jehoiakim because “the Lord gave” him “into his hand” – and also “along with some of the vessels of the house of God” (v.2a). Then, “the Lord gave” shifts seamlessly to “he brought them…to the house of his god” (v.2b). “The house of God” and “the house of his god” in this context are theologically loaded. It appears that “his god” is more powerful than “God”, but the reality is the reverse. This is divine subversiveness.

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¹⁰ John E. Goldingay, 15