The complation
of Book of Danial19
Thursday, August 17, 2006
It is better to live a spiritual life with God and
die a physical death (through persecutiou) rather
than die spiritually and live physically. Susanna cried out to God then awaited
his salvation. “Then you shall call and the Lord will answer; yon shall cry
and, lie will say, “Here I am”. (Isiah 58;9).
By not committing that sin Susanna saved herself from an everlasting
death. Sin is a separation from God and death to the spirit. In the Old
Testament, the physical punishment for adultery was death by stoning
(Levi 20:10).
“And one of them ran and opened the garden doors.” (25)
The wide gate which leads to death and destrnctiou
has been opened (Mat 7:13). Surely anyone who follows the two jndges’ example will also be destined for the death which
they deserve.
“And when the elders told their story, the servants felt very
much ashamed, for nothing like this had ever been said about Snsanna. The next day when the people had gathered
at the house of her husband joakim, the two elders caine, full of their wicked
plot to have Snsanna put to death. In the presence of
the People, they said, “Send for Susanna, daughter of Hilkiah,
the wife of Joakint” So they sent for her. And she
came with her parents, her children, and of great refinement and beautiful in
appearance.” (27-31)
It must have been extremely difficult for Snsanna’s
husband to have her tried in his own home as he was a rich and highly
influential man. This situation was also very painful for her family who
watched as their danghter was falsely accused and sentenced
to death.
“Now Susanna was a woman of great refinement and beautiful in appearance. As
she was veiled, the scoundrels ordered her to be nnveiled
so that they might feast their eyes on her beauty.” (31, 32)
Susanna’s inner beauty, chastity and faith outweighed her external beauty. The
scoundrels were not ashamed or embarrassed to order that Susanna he unveiled in
front of her husband and family. Even when they were committing another
extremely serious sin — namely injustice injudgement
(Levi 19:15) -, they were still obsessed about fulfilling their lustful desires.
“Then the two elders stood up before the people and laid their hands on her
head.” (34).
In so doing, the two elders were declaring that they had found her guilty.
“Through her tears she looked np toward Heaven, for
her heart trusted in the Lord.” (35)
