I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves. – Daniel 10:7

Today's Scripture Reading (September 23, 2023): Daniel 10

One of my favorite shows as a kid was “The Hilarious House of Frightenstein.” The Canadian Children’s Show starred Billy Van in many roles but also starred Vincent Price, among several others. One of the Characters that appeared on the show was that of “The Librarian,” played by Billy Van. The Librarian would tell children’s stories like “Humpty Dumpty” or “Mary Had a Little Lamb” as if they were horror stories designed to scare young children (“Are you scared yet?”) and is mystified when his audience doesn’t seem to be disturbed by the stories he tells. Ah, but in the end, the act of reading is what is important, regardless of whether the story being read scares you.

When I was young, nothing seemed better than huddling around a fire outside at night and telling ghost stories. I still remember some of the stories that were told and have been passed around by generations around similar fires. Oh, maybe some updates have been included that were missing when the story was told a hundred years ago, but the main plot points remained the same, along with the intention of the story to scare people when there is really nothing of which to be frightened. It is another version of the Librarian all over again.

Daniel was in a state of mourning when he received this vision. The vision pertained to a great war. Daniel looked out over the landscape and saw what looked like a man standing on the banks of the Tigris River. But Daniel stresses that this was a vision that had been given to him. Those who were with him did not see the vision. The vision did not appear on the landscape in any communal way. It was a dream that had been given exclusively to him.

However, those who were with him were scared, even though they saw nothing, and went and hid. One biblical authority commented, "Of course they couldn’t see the vision if they were hiding from it.” But that misses the point. They weren’t children hiding from a scene they didn’t want to see. There was nothing to see, yet they were still terrified. They ran and hid but had no idea what it was from which they were hiding. For Daniel, this was proof of the validity of the vision; not that his friends saw what he saw, but they felt a terror in their chests that caused these adults to run and hide like children.

It was the scare of the Librarian or the campfire without the story because no story was needed, only the presence of something they couldn’t see or understand. The presence of this something was enough to send them running to places where they hoped they would not be found, but it also testified to the authenticity of Daniel’s vision.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Daniel 11