King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. – Daniel 3:1

Today's Scripture Reading (July 12, 2020): Daniel 3

E. M. Forster, in "Aspects of the Novel," writes, "All of us, even the sophisticated, yearn for permanence, and to the unsophisticated permanence is the chief excuse for a work of art." It is a question that many of us have asked. Will I be remembered? And if so, by who? What exactly will those left behind say about me? And when it comes to those who are widely recognized, that memory is achieved about people who have done … something. Especially maybe, those who have produced a work of art. Or, perhaps, been the subjects of that art.

The reality is that more of us probably recognize the image of the "Mona Lisa" than remember that it was Leonardo da Vinci that painted the masterpiece. John Lichfield, in "The Moving of the Mona Lisa," argues that the painting is "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world." The "Mona Lisa" is now just over 500 years old, and it has achieved a kind of permanence, both for the artist as well as for the subject.

Nebuchadnezzar believed in the permanence of his reign. And as a response, he wanted to build something that would reflect his immortality. It seems likely that this incident took place about twenty years after the events of the previous chapter. And in the meantime, it appears that Nebuchadnezzar had reimagined the vision of two decades earlier. Then, it had been of a vision of the Empires as they followed the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. The Empires were represented by Nebuchadnezzar's reign (the gold head), and then the subsequent dynasties illustrated with silver, bronze, iron, and clay. And of the rock (God) that would someday bring all of these dynasties down to the ground.

But twenty years after the vision, all Nebuchadnezzar remembers is that his reign was represented by gold, and he had come to believe that he would reign forever, notwithstanding that God had said something completely different.

And so, Nebuchadnezzar builds a statue. It was likely more of an obelisk that rose from the Plains of Dura in Babylon, then the image of a man that Nebuchadnezzar had seen in his vision. And it was likely made of wood overlaid with gold, as was the common practice of the time for such monuments. But the message was clear. Nebuchadnezzar was searching for permanence, both of the way that the people remembered him, as well as in the reign of his government. The silver, bronze, iron, and clay were forgotten, as was the rock that knocked them all down. All that was left in the world was Nebuchadnezzar and his government, and a permanence represented by a work of art on the Plains of Dura.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Daniel 4