In the Aramaic portions of Daniel we find an astounding idiom. Though the idiom is translated “to denounce" or "to accuse maliciously,” the literal meaning is “to eat the pieces.” Daniel 3:8 states that the “astrologers” came forward to denounce Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego because they were not bowing down to Nebuchadnezzar’s 90-foot image. Then in Daniel 6 the other leaders, jealous of Daniel’s rise to prominence, used his piety to convict him. After Daniel was delivered, the king brought the men who “ate the pieces” of Daniel before him, and threw them and their families into the lion’s den (Daniel 6:24).
This phrase, “ate the pieces,” is so stark—as though the defamers are literally removing parts of people with their words. But we have similar idioms in English:
nitpicking
tearing them a new one
picking them apart
shredding
All these phrases dealing with words carry some sort of violence being enacted upon the subject of the words. I used to scoff at the silly Public Service Announcements that tell us that “words hurt”:
But I can’t watch such things with an attitude of ambivalence anymore. Words do hurt and lead to all sorts of awful consequences. It is worse when it happens in the church—a place that is supposed to be safe and free from such attacks. And yet, as much as we try put on our Sunday Christian personas and separate our actions outside the church from those when we walk through the doors, our words still come through. After all, “From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). And when we attack each other verbally, we may as well be chopping up and eating one another like cannibals.
The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. Gal 5:14-15
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