May 12, 2016: Daniel: The Story of Susanna

I.  The Story of Susanna
 1. Put at the beginning of Daniel to show Daniel as a young man who is wise beyond his years.

  2. Social Dynamics:  Susanna and her husband, Joakim, are living in exile in Babylon  Joakim is a leader of the community – so it is natural that his house is used for the gathering of the elders

                       

Susanna:  Is beautiful and “fears the Lord.”  This describes her as a good wife, one who is going to be obedient to her marriage vows.  The author establishes with the reader right away that she is not the type of married woman who would flirt with another man.  Also her parents raised her in “The Laws of Moses.”  This shows that not only is she righteous but that she comes from a good family – So characteristically we know that there is no un-Godly influence in her

Susanna is walking in her own garden – so she is not being a bad wife by parading out side the house. 

           

Corrupt Elders:  Right away we are told that these are people who should not be considered righteous or honest men.  Three things happen in their wickedness process: 1: Their thoughts are perverted.  2. Turn their eyes from heaven.  3. Forget to administer justice.    This is also a process for turning away from righteousness to wickedness.  
They each have a desire to seduce Susanna but it doesn’t become a reality until they meet up.  So they find strength in their wickedness.

Elders hide in the garden – but jump on the chance that is offered to them when Susanna is alone.  This is a cohearsed rape.  Even thought it seems that she is given a choice she really isn’t. 
Elders open the door when Susanna screams and make it seem like they are the heroes and she is the villain.

The amazing thing about this story is that no one asks the gentlemen what they were doing in the garden to begin with.  The author is begging us to look at mob stupidity.

Daniel is obviously present in the crowd – The Spirit of God Speaks through him.  Probably Daniel saw the holes in the story but was afraid to stand up to the elders.  But God gives him courage --  God is using the person who is smart enough to see what is going on.

In the judgment Daniel gives us a few interesting lines:

“Your sins have overtaken you that you committed before”  People don’t operate in a vacume

Daniel is reminding the crowd of some shady judgments that the 1^st elder has committed.

“This is how you treat the daughters of Israel, and they yielded to you through fear.”  Implication that this is just a continuation of a previous game – a serial seducer. 

The idea of the two trees – 1. Don’t take what people say at face value.  Test and see if it is true.  2.  The power of wisdom and discernment.  Also harks back to the story of Solomon and the fake and real wreath of flowers.  There is always a way to find out the truth – if you look for it.