Daniel 11:36-39 “Paying Respect”
I would like to start this morning by paying my respect to any and all who took the time to read all of Daniel 11 today in preparation for this sermon. I know that there are some who have done this. It is a very difficult chapter to understand, but it is also a very important chapter as it talks about a time in the distant future to Daniel, as he is writing it down during the reign of King Darius, that has been proven to come true. Although Daniel is writing this even before the Israelites have been allowed to come back to Jerusalem to reestablish the temple there, the prophecy talks about the years after the temple is rebuilt and consecrated once more to God. This proves for us today that Daniel’s prophecy is true. What was said about the years after the rebuilding of the temple is true. Therefore, we should heed what is being said about the end times, the end of days as well.
I do not want to go through the entire history that Daniel lifts up in this chapter as his future prophecy. However, I think we do need a little context. In verses 36-39 that were read by James from the pulpit the king that is being talked about is Antiochus Epiphanes, or Antiochus IV. This king of the Northern Seleucid Kingdom came into the temple in Jerusalem and cleaned it out of everything that was of any worth. He then reportedly cooked a pig on the altar of sacrifice and told the priests to eat the pork. Those that refused were immediately slaughtered.
As the text says, he had no respect for anyone or anything. He did not even have respect for God. He did not even have respect for the gods of his Greek ancestors, much less the one true God. In the text, we read that Antiochus Epiphanes did not have respect for the God “whom women loved.” What was happening with this is that the women who believed in the one true God had already come to expect that one among them was going to bear the Messiah, the deliver from God, into the world. This is a veiled reference to Christ’s coming. They already had it set on their heart that God would send them their deliver and that one woman would bear him into the world. Amen to that. Well, Antiochus did not care about such things obviously. He paid no respect to anyone.
Just as an aside, this bad King Antiochus Epiphanes has been called the very model of the anti-Christ. He has all the attributes. But, the one attribute that Daniel brings out most strongly is that he had no respect for anything—not even God. The only thing he seems to heed is brute force. And, he is greedy and willing to sell off his own kingdom. That is to say, he is completely corrupt.
What should it mean to have no respect for anything, even God? I once was called to serve for jury duty. I went down to the courthouse. Of course, I dressed respectfully. I had my polished black shoes, a long sleeve linen shirt, and a jacket. I was going to wear a tie, but then thought that it is so unusual to wear a tie in Hawaii that they might think I was unfit to serve as a juror. Of course, the judge was wearing his dark black robe. The prosecuting attorney had a tie on. The defendant, who had obviously not been remanded wore some worn out kaki pants, a not-so-clean shirt, and flip-flop slippers. He had refused counsel and was representing himself. He spoke disrespectfully to the jurors, the prosecutor, and even to the judge. He was not prepared to defend himself and was not even familiar with the basics of voir dir jury selection.
The judge, I think, was most merciful towards the man considering his contempt for the court. As the defendant spoke, bit-by-bit it became clear that he had no respect for the law, law enforcement, the court, or even the jury members. Everything he said was seething with contempt. I thought to myself that the court proceeding would be concluded quickly. I was not chosen for the jury. I do not know what the outcome was.
Today, I think that we have to understand that we are standing in the courtroom in which we stand before God. Our assigned advocate is Jesus Christ. If we show no respect for this proceeding, then our own fate is sealed. God will have no choice but to throw us into the prison of unending despair that we call hell. If we hold no respect in our lives for that authority that is so much greater than ourselves as to be able to hold our lives in its hands, then we are simply doomed. We are foolish to think that we could hold such contempt for the authority of God and that we will somehow be able to come out of the final judgment in favor!
This last week I was teaching my daughter some German expressions and what would be expected from her when she meets family in Germany. In German, one shows respect to the elder family members by calling them by the pronoun “Du.” This is equivalent to the English “thou” that we still can read in the King James Version of the Bible but otherwise don’t hear anymore (unless perhaps we are attending a play by Shakespeare). In Germany, however, such signs of respect are still expected. I know it sounds funny in English today “O Father, hast thou enough spaghetti sauce for thy noodles?’
As I was thinking about this and trying to teach my daughter this, it struck me that every other language I have ever studied has polite forms of pronouns that are still used. I can think of only the English language that has done away with such. Spanish, French, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Bahasa Malay, Greek; all these other languages have polite forms that are used. Only in English we have trouble with finding a way to express respect—so we tend not to bother.
I know one Hawaiian lady who has come to me with a grave concern. She was concerned about pastors that come to Hawaii from the mainland and automatically assume for themselves the title of “Kahu.” She pointed out that was not correct. The term “kahu” in Hawaiian is one of respect that must be earned and appointed out of respect by the people. It cannot simply be taken to mean the same as “pastor.” You see, the term “pastor” as used on the mainland means very much that you went to seminary and got a certificate of ordination hanging on the wall in the church office. And, truly anybody can do that. In fact, you can order that certificate on-line for ten bucks now. The Hawaiian term “kahu” means that you have earned the respect as a true religious leader among the people. You cannot purchase that on the internet! It can only be given. You cannot buy respect. It has to be earned.
Also this last week, we have seen in the news what happens when respect is insincere. The general who was in charge of military operations in Afghanistan, General McChrystal was overheard and then quoted in Rolling Stone Magazine as having disrespected the President, his Commander and Chief. He is no longer the general in charge, is he? In talking with some friends about this, they did not understand what the big deal was. They did not seem to think that it mattered if the general expressed some disrespect to the President. Maybe I am just old-fashioned, but I could not imagine anyone showing such disrespect to the president much less a general in the army.
Maybe in this country, we have forgotten how to show respect. We need to re-learn it. When our older daughter was growing up and attending nursery school and then elementary school, we told her that she should go to her teacher at the end of every school day and show respect to that teacher by saying “Thank you, teacher.” This practice is still done throughout Asia by the way. The teacher has given you so much knowledge, for which you must pay back by issuing this thank-you out of respect. In English we still say “pay” respect, understanding that it is earned.
She eventually became self-conscious about doing this; none of the other children were doing it. Sometime in the second grade it stopped. I used to pick her up from her school and ask her, “Did you thank your teacher today?” But, I was thinking how wonderful it would be if we could get something like that going here in Waimea! Maybe we could teach our children how to respect their teachers by just saying “thank-you, teacher” at the end of the school day? Then, when we were done with the teachers, we could thank the police officers, the farmers, and just pay respect to everybody! Then, we might be ready to pay respect to God as we should, too.
King Antiochus Epiphanes was not going to pay respect to God. He had no respect for anyone. The people of Israel then had a choice to make. Respect the bad King or respect God. They chose God. A small band of rebel Jews was able to re-conquer the temple in Jerusalem from the Seleucids. They set up a new altar to God. They re-lit the eternal flame that had been dedicated to God before. However, they had only enough oil to burn for one day. It would take eight days to press more sacred oil and bring it to the Temple. That one day’s worth of oil miraculously lasted for eight days. This miracle of rekindling God’s light is still celebrated in the Jewish festival of Hanukah.
And, for no other reason than this, that it is God that can work miracles in this world that we should pay our respect to God. The greatest miracle of all, of course, is that God should want to save us by sending His light into the world so that we might know Him and have eternal life. Let us always pay the greatest respect to our God. Let us learn the language of respect again.
Amen.