Heroes of the Apocrypha, Part One- Daniel

Did you know that the Roman Catholic Bible contains a longer Old Testament than the one Protestants use? That’s because the Catholic Bible includes the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha are a set of biblical books with titles like “First and Second Maccabees”, “Tobit”, “Judith”, “Wisdom of Solomon”, “Baruch”, and “Ecclesiasticus”. They appeared in the first Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, and so they have been considered Holy by many Christians ever since. The Jews, however, later decided to exclude these books from their canon, leaving it to the Christians to preserve them. They were part of the Bible for all Christians until the Reformation, when Protestants decided to exclude them too. But in doing so, we miss out on a number of great stories and characters from these books. Perhaps the Apocrypha are to be considered less authoritative than the rest of scripture, but there is still much there to learn from and enjoy.

In a tour through the Apocrypha, you’ll meet such colorful heroes as Judith, Tobit, and Judah Maccabee, who will be covered in later installments. You’ll also find a hero who is already familiar – Daniel, who we know from the Old Testament. That’s because the Apocrypha contains a longer version of the Book of Daniel, with more stories about him and his exploits.

Daniel was a young nobleman from Judah who was taken into exile in Babylon when King Nebuchadnezzar conquered his country. He and his three friends were chosen to serve as advisors to the King’s court among the Chaldeans (magicians and astrologers), during the reign of several Kings. There, Daniel and his friends were faced with many challenges as they tried to hold on to their Jewish laws, customs, and identities in a pagan land. Daniel and his friends were even given new Babylonian names that honored pagan gods. Jews and Christians alike have been inspired through the ages by Daniel’s strong faith that if he kept God’s commandments, no matter what the challenge, God would save him.

The first challenge was dietary – Daniel had to avoid eating unclean pagan food at the court. He was able to prove that his kosher diet kept him healthier than the royal food, and so he avoided defiling himself. The second challenge came from a royal command to worship a golden statue of a pagan god, or else be thrown into a furnace. Daniel’s three friends refused, for only God is to be worshipped, and accordingly, God saved them from death in the furnace. The next King of Babylon brought the third challenge, which was to defend the sanctity of some of the Holy items from the looted Temple in Jerusalem. The King took the sacred vessels from the Temple and drank wine from them at a party, praising pagan gods as he did so. At this affront, God made strange writing appear on a wall. Daniel interpreted it for the King – that ruler’s days were numbered. The fourth challenge was a command from the next King to worship only him, or else be thrown to the lions. Daniel refused, continuing to worship God alone, and accordingly, God saved him from death in the lions’ den. So much we know of Daniel from the familiar version of the Book of Daniel.

The version of Daniel in the Apocrypha adds several chapters and expands on the legend of Daniel as a hero of faith by making him a hero of intelligence and wisdom as well. We get to see another side of Daniel as he becomes like a detective for God, solving crimes and exposing false gods. Call these added chapters: C.S.I. Babylon.

Daniel’s first case is called “Susanna”. Among the Jewish exiles in Babylon, a beautiful, God-fearing young woman named Susanna lives with her husband Joakim. Two elder judges see her in her garden and begin to lust after her. They hide and spy on her bathing alone, then confront her and demand she have sex with them. If she refuses, they will testify that she was cheating on her husband with another young man. Susanna’s choice is secret adultery with them, or being accused of adultery in public and being sentenced to death. Rather than sin before the Lord, Susanna cries out and people come running. The lying elders do indeed testify that they had seen her having sex with a young man, who ran away and escaped. Because they are judges, they are believed and Susanna is sentenced to die. She cries out to God for justice, and God provides young Daniel to help her. Daniel comes forth and demands that the case be brought back to court, because the evidence against Susanna was false. In court, Daniel cleverly separates the two wicked judges and asks each of them a question alone: under what kind of tree did Susanna and the alleged young man have sex? The two judges each give a different answer – they cannot keep their false stories straight. The assembly declares Susanna innocent and sentences the two judges to death for bearing false witness. Daniel earns a great reputation among his people from then on.

Daniel’s next case is called “Bel”, and takes place when Daniel is serving in the King’s court. A clay and bronze idol of the chief Babylonian god, Bel, is worshipped every day at the court, but Daniel only worships the living creator God of Israel. Every day, a large amount of flour, wine, and sheep is given to the idol as “food”, and the food always disappears as if the idol has eaten it. The King is Daniel’s friend, but he still demands to know why Daniel will not worship the idol – clearly it can eat, so it must really be a god. Daniel, God’s detective, says he can prove the idol is not a living god, that it eats nothing. The King, angry at this blasphemy against Bel, tells Daniel that if he is wrong, he will die. So Daniel is put to the test. The seventy priests of Bel and their families watch as the King himself sets food in front of the idol. If, in the morning, the food is still there, the priests will die instead of Daniel. Next, alone with the King, Daniel sprinkles ashes all over the temple floor. The King seals the doors for the night. In the morning, the priests are triumphant – the food is gone. But Daniel shows the King how it happened – the temple floor is covered with the footprints of the priests and their families in the ashes. Using a secret entrance, the priests would sneak into the temple and take Bel’s food, and eat it all every night. The angry King has been fooled, and he sentences the priests to death, and allows Daniel to destroy the idol.

Daniel’s last case is called “The Dragon”. After the Bel incident, the King directs Daniel to another object of court worship, this time a large snake. Unlike the idol, this “dragon” is surely a living god. Again, Daniel refuses to worship it. Daniel says the snake is not a god, and that he can kill it without striking it. The King puts Daniel to the test, and Daniel makes cakes out of pitch, fat, and hair. When the snake eats them it dies, and the King is forced to recognize that it was living, but no god.

Daniel was a hero to God’s people, especially during the struggle of the Jews against the Seleucid Greek armies and their ruler Antiochus, who wanted to destroy the Jewish religion (Antiochus outlawed the Jewish religion in 167 BCE). Several of the prophecies in the Book of Daniel are thought to be predictions of that very time period, when the Jews fought for their very way of life against a force that wanted to destroy their worship of God. The Book of Daniel is thought to have been put in its final form in that period, and the additional chapters found in the Apocrypha were also probably written down at that time. Stories of Daniel inspired the people to resist the pagans and hold on to their faith in God. Daniel never gave up, and God always upheld and saved Daniel. So, too, would the Jews prevail over their enemies (Antiochus died a mere four years later, in 163 BCE) and preserve their religion in the face of the Greek threat. From that preservation, Christianity would be born, and from then on, both Jews and Christians would be inspired by the faith and wisdom of Daniel, hero of the Apocrypha.