The message that I find in Daniel applies to me and my community. Like Daniel, we have one foot in this country and one foot in our homeland (the Middle East). Introduction Adan, 1 st generation Catholic Arab American Carlos Mesters (1989), in his book Defenseless Flower, identifies three features of what he labels popular exegesis : freedom, familiarity and fidelity. Mesters suggested that faith communities who read and share interpretations of the Bible with one another are familiar with Scripture because they recognize their own narratives in the mirror of the biblical stories and are free to proclaim the truth of the text and its significance for their lives. 1 The people recognize a book written for them and, unlike academic biblical critics, and do not see the need to distance their contemporary experiences from the historical experiences of the characters and recipients of the text. They allow the stories in the text and the stories of their own lives to intermingle and transform one another. A particularly poignant metaphor he drew on to describe this process was the use of salt in food: During that meeting the Bible obtained its objective and disappeared like salt in food. All that was left was the food spiced by the salt of God s word. 2 Mesters argues that the interpretations of a faith community infiltrate their lives and transform their community from the inside out. This then leads to liberatory action, a faithful living out of the message discovered there to transform the external circumstances of the people. Mesters call to facilitate a reading of the Bible that includes and prioritizes the voice of the people of God has inspired this current project. What follows is an interpretation of the first chapter of Daniel shared by an Arab American Catholic community that finds itself at home in the world of the biblical hero and 1 Carlos Mesters, Defenseless Flower: A New Reading of the Bible. Translated by Francis McDonagh. (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1989), 5-10. 2 Mesters, Defenseless Flower, 10.
is inspired by Daniel s example of courage and faith. The cultural interpretation that results will be like salt in the bread, intermingling historical critical scholarship with an interpretation born of lived experience and resulting in an enriched and authentic reading of the text. 3 This paper arose from an experimental Graduate course at LMU on Cross-Cultural interpretation. The method utilized is what Daniel Smith-Christopher, the moderator of this course and professor of Biblical Studies, labels Trans-Contextual Exegesis. St. Joseph s Arab American Catholic Community During a recent visit, the Arab American Catholic community at St. Joseph s in Pomona, California was invited to offer their interpretation of a chapter in the book of Daniel. The community has been in existence for at least 25 years and consists of first and second generation Roman Catholic immigrants from Jordan, Syria and Palestine. The community members cited their reasons for leaving the Middle East to be war in their homeland, displacement to other regions in the Middle East, and religious persecution. They celebrate a weekly Arabic Sunday Mass led by Fr. Rick Van de Water, who lived and served in Bethlehem for 14 years. Four community members, 3 women and one man, provided a commentary on the chapters. Magina, Jenny and Adan are all first generation immigrants who arrived in the 70 s or 80 s following the 1967 Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The fourth, Kristina, is a second generation high school aged teen who was born in America to Arab immigrants. Though their readings of Daniel were individually unique, there were three themes that ran across their interpretations: Daniel as 3 Tiffany Lee, notes taken at St. Joseph s Catholic Church in Pomona, CA, October 30 th, 2015 (All quotes and comments attributed to participants are taken from these notes.) One of the commentators, Adan, shared a hospitality tradition arising from Arab culture. If someone visits your home, the host is expected to offer the visitor bread. If the bread is offered with salt to the visitor, then the visitor knows that the host trusts him and they are on common ground. If salt is not provided, the visitor knows that there is no trust and that the host is either likely to betray the visitor or feels as if the visitor has betrayed him. This metaphor is applied here to give insight into the relationship between academic and non-academic biblical interpretation. See pg. 19 for its use by the St. Joseph community.
connection through homeland, Daniel as model of resistance, and Daniel as model for faith in God s plan. These three themes strikingly correspond to Mesters components of popular exegesis: familiarity, freedom, and fidelity. The Book of Daniel Through an Academic & Cultural Lens The book of Daniel is a canonical text comprised of court tales and apocalyptic literature. It has been designated as belonging to the prophetic writings in some Christian scriptures and as wisdom writings in others as well as in the Septuagint. It can be divided into two major parts, chapters 1-6 and 7-12; the first half consisting in a series of court tales, and the second half apocalyptic prophesies. 4 The subject of this paper, the first chapter, introduces the book in its diaspora Judaic setting, the main character being an exiled Judahite in the court of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. Dan 1.1-4 Outline In the opening verse of Daniel, the exilic setting of the story is established rehearsing the events of the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. The text notes that God allows Nebuchadnezzar this victory and as a symbol of the transfer of power hands over some of the vessels of the temple of God (Dan 1.1-2). 5 He not only takes the sacred vessels set aside for temple rituals, he instructs his chief of eunuchs to gather up some of the young noblemen among the Israelites and bring them into the palace in order to educate them in the language and literature of the Chaldeans. The men must be without blemish, handsome, proficient in wisdom, well-informed, and insightful, and they must be capable of serving the king. He 4 John J. Collins, Daniel: A Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993), 28. Newsom, Carol and Brennan W. Breed, Daniel: A Commentary (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014), 7. 5 Collins, Daniel, 127-129. All citations from the biblical text are taken from this source.
intends to provide all that the young men need, setting aside for them food and wine from his own table. The king expects that the men will be prepared to serve him after three years of training. Familiarity: Daniel as Connection through Homeland Many of the wars that are happening in the Middle East right now happened in the same places as they did in biblical times. We know that land. We lived there (Magina, paraphrased). 6 Magina began the four reflections on Daniel with this thought. Her interpretation of the first chapter emphasized the relationship between the geography of the Bible and the geography of her homeland. The stories of the Bible resonate with immigrant Arab Americans who have lived in the very places that served as a backdrop for them. 7 Magina reflected on the abuse and kidnapping of children and young men in the Middle East currently and commented that she can see Daniel and his friends in these situations as they were taken from their families and forced into the service of the king. Kristina, the second generation high school student, explicitly related the experience of her parents being forced out of their home in Jaffa to Daniel s story. Adan, a first generation immigrant shared that Jewish people are able to understand how the stories of Daniel apply to daily life due to their cultural and geographic heritage, and because Arab Americans are from the Middle East, they can as well. 8 The relationship that most of the 6 Tiffany Lee, notes taken at St. Joseph s Catholic Church in Pomona, CA, October 30 th, 2015 (All quotes and comments attributed to participants are taken from these notes.) 7 Naim S. Ateek, A Palestinian Perspective: Biblical Perspectives on the Land in in Voices from the Margins: Interpreting the Bible in the Third World Third Edition edited by R.S. Sujirtharajah (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2006), 228: A mere count of the word land in the Old Testament...appears in the text of the Old Testament more than fifteen hundred times. 8 Ateek, A Palestinian Perspective, 233. Ateek argues that the difference between Palestinian Christians and Israelis today is that the former do not require complete political control of their homeland. They have been given the land as their watan and it should be theirs to care for and dwell on, but they don t need to claim land that is not currently theirs. It is not a religious imperative that they have sole ownership.
reflections uncovered between the geography of the biblical Daniel and their own homeland communicated a sense of connection with the characters. They can see their lives mirrored in the lives of the Jewish people who suffer in exilic conditions and those who are persecuted on their own land. Closely related to this is the theme of resistance to cultural assimilation. In addition to being generated from the same land as the biblical Daniel, these commentators related to the exiled and diasporic reality shared by the hero and the intended audience of the book. For another of the commentators, the loss of language and traditions that Daniel and his friends risked as a result of leaving their homeland is common to many immigrants (Jenny). How could they maintain their identity in a foreign land? Jenny s thoughts led to faith in God and the universality of her own Catholic traditions. For Daniel and for the Arab American community of St. Joseph s, the response to a threat of culture loss is creative resistance and faith in God s plans. Dan 1.5-16 Outline The chief of eunuchs is tasked by the king with guiding the young men while they are being trained. As a part of this process, he rechristens them giving them names that will be more recognizable and suitable for their new roles as servants of the king. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaraiah are promptly renamed Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Dan 1.3). They will be known interchangeably throughout the rest of the book by their Judaic or Babylonian nomenclatures depending on the context of the narrative. The crisis begins when Daniel, who was the first among the young men specifically identified in the text, petitions the chief eunuch about the royal food and wine allotted by the king. He resolved that he would not defile himself with this food (Dan 1.8). Rather than ignore him or punish him for his request, the chief eunuch shows favor and pity for Daniel. The unexpected response is credited to God,
though the chief still expresses concern over how the king will respond if Daniel is granted his request. The chief s assumption is that if Daniel does not eat the king s food he will become weaker than the other young men in the palace, and the chief will be punished for allowing it. Daniel and his friends are granted a ten-day trial where the young Hebrews are given only vegetables (seeds or legumes) and water, after which time their appearance can be compared with the men who ate the king s food and wine for ten days. The superintendent agrees, secretly withholding the king s food from the young men and giving them vegetables instead. They passed the test, looking more beautiful and healthier than any of the other men. It is assumed that this continued for the duration of the three years during which time Daniel and his friends increased in knowledge and wisdom. Freedom: Daniel as Model of Resistance As voluntary immigrants, we face similar challenges we can understand the need to change our names (Adan). The moments in ch.1 where Daniel and his friends were forced to change, adopt different practices, or resist others were particularly poignant for the commentators. Many immigrants voluntarily take on new names in order to make their transition to a new country more smooth. Though Daniel and his friends were forced to take Babylonian names, it was not met with much resistance. Adan s comments reflect an attitude of utility, that they too adopted names that were necessary but did not compromise their identity. Daniel s rejection of the king s food on the other hand was much more significant. Adan approached it from two different perspectives. Notably, Adan described a Middle Eastern saying describing hospitality, as offering: salt and bread. If a host offers a visitor bread with no salt it is perceived as a betrayal. Adan described it is a cultural practice that guarantees support between neighbors or reveals a lack of allegiance. Through this lens, Daniel s choice is a two-edged sword. If the food
offered was impure, the king was offending Daniel. On the other hand, if the food is considered of high quality and is rejected by Daniel, he is offending the king. In any case, the distrust on Daniel s part reveals the tension between the exiles in Babylon and the empire. Adan again asserts that in Daniel s act, he is resisting temptation to be indoctrinated completely. He associated this with the experience of Arabic peoples in America who are becoming an ingredient in the melting pot. He asks whether they can resist the temptation to assimilate, citing moral issues such as divorce and abortion. Jenny pointed to the temptation of becoming materialistic in American culture, purchasing expensive MacBook Pros when cheaper alternatives are available. She also emphasized the vegetarian diets of many Arab-Americans, especially during holy days and fasts. 9 Daniel was found to be healthier than the other youths because he chose to abstain from the rich food of the court. For the St. Joseph commentators, Daniel is a model of resistance to cultural assimilation. Underlying the theme of resistance was an insight that due to their resistance, God rewarded Daniel and his friends. Kristina saw this as a form of courage born of faith. She contrasted his actions with contemporary examples and lamented over the lack of courage in people today: Daniel and his friends just refused the food and spoke up (Kristina). Daniel s passive resistance is a model of faith. This last theme was found in all four interpretations. Dan 1.17-21 Outline After the three-year period of training was complete, the chief eunuch presented all of the young men in his charge to the king. The king spoke with them and found that Daniel and his three friends (referred to by their Hebrew names in the text) were the wisest. In fact, he found them to 9 This was a shared theme among the Egyptian Coptic Christians in Los Angeles and the Arab American community of St. Joseph s.
be even more wise than all of the dream interpreters and magicians in his whole kingdom (Dan 1.20). As a result, they were all honored by the king and entered into his service, and were trusted so much that they were shown the affairs of the whole kingdom. The final verse focuses again on Daniel alone, and explains that he remains at court until the first year of the reign of the Persian King Cyrus at the time of the invasion. Fidelity: Daniel as Model for Faith in God s Plan Men of faith can resist temptation and conquer adversity (Adan). For the commentators of St. Joseph s, Daniel and his friends represented models of faith. Magina expressed amazement at the young men s maturity and loyalty in a context of captivity. Later she reflected that being faithful can be easier if you are surrounded by family and community who are living in solidarity with you. The young men most likely encouraged one another, much like the Arab-American community here in Los Angeles does. Jenny underlines the difficulty of maintaining faith in God when it seems that his plans are not for your benefit. People are so focused on instant gratification that a minor setback damages trust in God s goodness. Daniel s story reveals to her that God s plans are often better than our own and that commitment to him will result in reward. Kristina pointed to the symbolism of the ten days of testing and concluded that it must be connected with the Decalogue. Just as Daniel kept faith for the period of ten days and was strengthened and rewarded by God, if you follow the commandments, God will take care of you. Conclusion In closing, perhaps introducing a voice who speaks from the borderlands of the Palestinian culture and academia can further elucidate the cultural themes of the St. Joseph readings. In the
tradition of Edward Said, Mitri Raheb (2014) writes from a unique perspective as a Palestinian Christian born in Bethlehem who also happens to be a minister and biblical scholar. The kinship born of a common geographic, religious and cultural heritage brings his insights close to home for the purpose of this analysis. He provides a poignant reflection on the hermeneutical advantage that many Palestinian Christians have. He writes, Biblical history happens to a great extent to be the history of my country. As a Palestinian, biblical history is part and parcel of the history of my ancestry. 10 Raheb argues for a cultural interpretation of Scripture that takes into account the telling of stories, a unique gift of the Palestinian people, as neither neutral nor objective. He cites Philip Davies in his analysis of the use and interpretation of stories: Stories are never innocent of point of view, plot, ideology, or cultural values. We tell our stories of the past in a historical context, looking at the past from a particular point: the present. We cannot be objective, neutral observers...our views of the past are also affected by our geographical, political, and social location. 11 The stories in the Bible, according to Raheb, were told as a form of guidance for living in the shadow of empire and a source of creative resistance. 12 For the Arab American community of St. Joseph s, the book of Daniel is such a story, told from their historic context and for their current cultural and religious experience. The irony that Palestinian Christians, heirs of a Judaic culture and followers of a Jewish messiah, have been colonized and displaced by the very peoples who claim the same homeland and biblical heroes was an essential component of his analysis. For Raheb, it is through the contemporary context of occupation that the Bible comes to be an expression of resistance. Raheb highlights the impact of imperial occupation on the past and 10 Raheb, Faith in the Face of Empire, 10. 11 Ibid, 21. Raheb cites Philip Davies, Memories of Ancient Israel: An Introduction to Biblical History Ancient and Modern. Louisville, KY: Westminster, 2008, 11. 12 Ibid, 20. Creative resistance...works on the branding of the narrative itself. This is of utmost importance because it questions the morality of the empire and confronts it with another narrative...creative resistance is an important means of helping oppressed people to articulate their stories in new ways and forms...our forefathers and foremothers were able to articulate their faith and resistance through stories and poetry (121).
present peoples of Palestine, the control exerted by empire in the form of resettlement and movement of conquered peoples, the experience of forced exile, destruction of sacred sites as sign of dominance, observance of divine law as resistance, faith in God as response to oppression, and the creative resistance of storytelling. 13 All of these themes were covered in the scholarly commentaries in their analyses of Daniel, but the contextualized interpretations of the story and the themes of homeland, resistance to assimilation, and faith in God s plan were unique to the reflections of the community of St. Joseph. The struggle of the diasporic Arab-Christian community to maintain their cultural identity in the midst of a vastly different social context (in America and elsewhere) is reflected in how they read Daniel. Their readings reveal a shared experience with the author of Daniel and his audience, producing a cultural interpretation that does not simply add to the academic dialogue about the text. They are the salt and the bread, not adding flavor to the academic interpretations, but constituting an interpretation of their own that is seasoned by authenticity and relevance. The community s familiarity with the themes in Daniel 1 allows them to remain faithful to the spirit of the narratives, and the sharing of their interpretations grants them a measure of liberation through solidarity with their hero. 13 Ibid, 52-121.