Introduction to Daniel

How can you follow God and thrive in the secular world at the same time? Almost every workplace Christian faces this question daily, and many find the answer so difficult they are tempted to give up. Daniel, the central character of the Book of Daniel, faces the question under extreme circumstances. Exiled from Jerusalem when God’s people are conquered by the Babylonian empire, he must live out his life in an environment very hostile to the Most High God. Yet circumstances bring him to a position of high opportunity in the service of the Babylonian king. Should he withdraw from the corrupt and profane Babylonian government and seek a life pleasing to God in an enclave among other Jews? Should he relegate his faith to a private, personal sphere, perhaps praying to God in his closet, while living the life of Babylonian power and influence indistinguishably from those around him? Daniel chooses neither. Instead he embarks on a promising career while remaining publicly devoted to God. The story of how he navigates these treacherous waters is both guidebook and case study for today’s workplace Christians.

The Big Picture of the Book of Daniel

The Book of Daniel can be perplexing. It begins straightforwardly enough, with Daniel and his companions facing pressure to assimilate to the pleasures and vices of the Babylonian royal court. But the narrative becomes increasingly strange as dreams, visions and prophecies come into the picture. At the halfway point (chapter 7), the book becomes unmistakably apocalyptic, portending the rise and fall of future kings and kingdoms, using imagery of bizarre events and creatures.^* The apocalyptic genre is notoriously difficult to interpret, yet this material does contribute a few points to our understanding of work. In any case, Daniel, like Revelation — the other book-length apocalypse in the Bible — provides much valuable material relevant to work, and it is worth trying to make sense of it for a theology of work.

As it happens, the Book of Daniel offers a ready-made framework for unpacking its meaning in the workplace. That framework is a nested parallelism structure (in technical terms, a “chiasm”). This structure consists of multiple themes, introduced in the order ABC…, then revisited in reverse order, forming a structure like this:

• Theme A, Part 1
  • Theme B, Part 1
    • Theme C, Part 1
    • Theme C, Part 2
  • Theme B, Part 2
• Theme A, Part 2

To help the reader keep track of which theme is which, the writer highlights parallel elements in both Parts of each theme. For example, Theme A in Daniel consists of a vision in Part 1 and a parallel vision in Part 2, while Theme B has sufferings in part 1 and more sufferings in part 2.

This structure is common in many books of the Bible. In Daniel, the Part 1 of each theme is relatively straightforward. Part 2 of each theme is more difficult, but referring back to the corresponding Part 1 makes it easier to make sense of the more difficult passages. In Daniel, chapter one is an introduction, and then the nested parallels begin:

A. Vision of the future overthrow of pagan kingdoms and their replacement by God’s rule (chapter 2) B. Sufferings, yet rewards, for faithful witnesses to God in the meantime (chapter 3) C. Humbling/overthrow of the pagan king (chapter 4) C. Humbling/overthrow of the pagan king (chapter 5) B. Sufferings, yet rewards, for faithful witnesses to God in the meantime (chapter 6) A. Vision of the future overthrow of pagan kingdoms and their replacement by God’s rule (chapters 7-12)

This structure makes the big picture of Daniel clear. God is coming to overthrow the corrupt and arrogant pagan kingdoms where God’s people are living in exile. Although his people are suffering now, their faithful suffering is one of the chief means by which God’s power moves. This gives them a surprising ability to thrive now, a bright hope for the future, and a meaningful role to play in both present survival and future promise. We will explore the implications and applications that this big picture has for Christians in today’s workplaces. To do so, we will examine how each of the six movements outlined above are orchestrated into the overall theme.

Introduction to Daniel, Theology of Work Project, Copyright © 2014 Theology of Work Project, Inc. Also find this article in Theology of Work Bible Commentary, Volume 3: Isaiah through Malachi. For additional resources, please see The Theology of Work Project Series.