Seas and rivers, bless the Lord
December 1, 2023 - Friday, 34th Week in Ordinary Time
Daniel 3:75-81
After the Feast of St. Andrew, we are back to the song of the three young men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Today, our fragment focuses on the sky, the land, and the sea and all that fills it.
According to Genesis 1:1-2:4, the process of creation took place over six days and is arranged in pairs: day one with day four, day two with day five, and day three with day six. On the first day, God created light and on the fourth day, the sun, the moon, and the stars. On the second day, he created “an expanse” to separate the waters that until now filled everything in order so the land could appear. On the fifth day, we are told that God created all sorts of sea creatures and all kinds of birds that “fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens” (Gen 1:20). On the third day, the waters from below were gathered together into one place and were called the Seas. Now the dry land appeared and was called the Earth. God gave it the power to produce all sorts of vegetation. Finally, on the sixth day, God filled the Earth with all kinds of animals and with human beings.
The ancient Israelites had an ambivalent attitude towards the Seas. The three young men called seas and rivers to bless the Lord (Daniel 3:78) but a few chapters later Daniel had a vision of four terrifying beasts coming out of the great sea (Daniel 7:2-3). Each beast represented an empire that oppressed Israel. Those empires are usually identified as Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece. It is interesting to notice that all four empires were established near vast waters. The three Asian Empires flourished along the banks of the most important rivers of Mesopotamia, Euphrates and Tigris, and Greece is located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. But Daniel did not predict the coming of yet another empire also located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea that would turn out as oppressive and cruel as the other four - the Roman Empire.
The Gospel of Mark contains a story of a man possessed by a Legion of demons (see Mark 5:1-20). During that time, the Romans occupied Palestine and the Roman Legion was the largest military unit of the Roman army composed of approximately 5000 soldiers. In that story, Jesus set that man free by letting the “legion” return to “the abyss” (see Luke 8:31). “They” took with “themselves” about two thousand pigs - an unclean animal like all the Gentiles and the Romans in particular - and perished in the waters of the lake of Galilee.
In the book of Genesis the waters that covered everything submitted to the power of God and made space for the sky and the earth. In the book of Daniel, the vision of the four terrifying beasts was replaced by another vision of the Mighty God sitting on His throne and someone that resembles a human being comes to Him to receive everlasting power over all nations and people (see Daniel 7:9-13). In the biblical story, God can use flood to punish entire humanity for their sins and pagan empires to punish Israel for their wrongdoings. But, He can also put unruly waters and powerful nations under His control and make them submit to His holy will.