Deeper Reflection
God’s call for Daniel in exile to Babylon was missional in nature. And his missional call was shaped by where he worked and who he worked for: the Babylonian king in his royal court. His call was to interpret the Babylonian kings’ dreams and visions that came from God (Dan 2, 4, 5), and by this he bore witness to God. More importantly, Daniel’s life, transformed by his faithful walk with God, was a witness for God before the Gentiles.When Daniel gave Nebuchadnezzar the content and the meaning of his dream, and proved that his God is the “God in heaven who reveals mysteries” (Dan 2:28), the king acknowledged God: “Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings” (v.47). Nebuchadnezzar’s acknowledgement of God “can hardly be taken as an acceptance of monotheism”¹⁸ . Indeed, “we must not be misled to think that Nebuchadnezzar is converted here. As a good polytheist, Nebuchadnezzar was more than willing to acknowledge the power of foreign deities. He could incorporate Yahweh into his pantheon and gave Him the credit due Him at the moment”¹⁹ . In fact, Nebuchadnezzar’s “acknowledgement of Daniel is more prominent than that of Yahweh”²⁰ , in that he “fell on his face and did homage to Daniel” (v.46). And furthermore, Nebuchadnezzar “made a statue of gold” to be worshipped (Dan 3:1).In evangelism, we need to discern if a conversion is genuine and not be too quick to celebrate. At a Passover, seeing Jesus’ miracles “many believed in His name”, but Jesus “on His part, was not entrusting²¹ Himself to them” (Jn 2:23-24).

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¹⁸ Ernest C. Lucas, Daniel, Apollos Old Testament Commentary (Apollos, IVP, 2002), 80 ¹⁹ Tremper Longman, 83 ²⁰ John E. Goldingay, 52 ²¹ The Greek word for “entrust” is pisteuō, usually translated as “believe”. So here, while many “believed” in Jesus, Jesus on His part did not “believe” in them