Biting the Thumb

Abraham, servant to Montague: “Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?”
Sampson, servant to Capulet: “I do bite my thumb, sir.”
Abr: [asking again, as if in disbelief] “Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?”
Sam: [aside, to Gregory, another servant to Capulet]: “Is the law of our side if I say, ‘ay’?”
Gre: “No.”
Sam: “No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir.”
Gre: “Do you quarrel, sir?”
Abr: “Quarrel, sir! No, sir!”
Sam: “If you do, sir, I am for you: I serve as good as man as you.”
Abr: “No, better.”
Gre: “Say ‘better’: here comes one of my master’s kinsmen.” [Benvolio approaches]
Sam: “Yes, better, sir.”
Abr: “You lie.”
Sam: “Draw if you be men [drawing his sword]. Gregory, remember thy swashing blow.” [They fight]

(Act I, Scene 1, “Romeo and Juliet,” by William Shakespeare.) Watch the clip below if the text is too dry (it’s not the best clip, but it is the most concise):



One does not have to be fully inundated in many genres of literature to know Romeo and Juliet. Even the most unread are familiar with at least one element of this famous story. Above, I present a cutting conversation between the servants of the feuding families of Montague and Capulet. The pun is intentional (“cutting conversation”) because Shakespeare began even his most dark tragedies with light moments. In this case, we eavesdrop on a rude gesture and insults as the servants pass each other on the street. Biting the thumb in those days was as offensive as other obscene finger gestures used today.

Biting the thumb is still practiced more in principle than form even today. Getting right to the point, we are surrounded by people who consider themselves religious, yet they bite their thumb (thumb the nose, or whatever you want to call it) at God for one reason or another. Some make their insults quietly while others ring their bells, bang their gongs or drums, shouting on the sidewalks their disdain for God. What did God do to deserve such derision?

Stick with me a little while and I will show introduce you to people who bite their thumb at God. Would you like meet a man who has no qualms about killing anyone who gets in his way? He knows there is a God and is aware of how God sees his heart, but would rather continue to blaspheme The One who gave him life than repent. Or would you feel more comfortable meeting the young man who would like to convince you that he is the one who died for your sins and rose from the dead?

Here’s the setting for our present study: Israel has been under the judgment of God for idolatry (they bit their thumb at God) and the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar have been deporting the Jews from their homeland to Babylon. During his reign, Nebuchadnezzar built Babylon into something (he felt) worth boasting about. The king ate grass for seven years because he bit his thumb at God until he repented and remembered God. Behind all this was God at work, having placed His obedient servants in the Babylonian courts (Daniel and his three friends). Though Babylon should have fallen the Hebrews held things together because in the greater plan of God, Babylon had to be held in place until the nation could be punished for their treatment of Israel when the barbarians came sweeping down from the North.

Daniel 5 opens with Nebuchadnezzar already off the scene. Belshazzar is king in his place and he gives a feast wherein he calls for the precious gold and silver vessels taken from the Temple in Jerusalem. The feast became a huge thumb-biting festival in the face of the true and living God as concubines drank wine from the holy vessels.

A few years ago we moved into a neighborhood that seemed to be older, quieter and fitting for our family. It was not long until we realized that despite its age and it’s aesthetic, we learned how wicked the place really was. One day I went out to my car and noticed that, etched into the paint and marked on the widows was a symbol—my car had been marked by a gang, I was told by some local teens. I had better watch out. I looked at my car and tried to keep from laughing as I thanked God for letting them mark my car. The gang symbol (of all things) was the Star of David. I asked if they knew what that symbol was. The teens reaffirmed that was a gang symbol and I’d better watch out. I told them what the symbol really was and about the Christ of David. I never had any problems from any gang the rest of our stay. I guess they saw the handwriting on the wall . . . but I’m getting ahead of myself.

While Belshazzar and company were biting thumbs at God inside the palace, the Medes and the Persians were invading outside. Following in his father’s steps, Belshazzar was guilty of the same pride that got Nebuchadnezzar a seven-year salad bar, a mullet that wouldn’t quit and a horrendous manicure. As the pride party raged on, God got everyone’s attention by causing His hand to be seen writing His judgments against Belshazzar on the wall for everyone to see. Obvious to everyone was the true King and his sword was drawn (as it were) against the servant who failed.

J.R.R. Tolkien pictured this perfectly for us in the Two Towers of the Lord of the Rings through the Steward of Gondor. He was not the king, but was to occupy the throne in Gondor until the King returned. The problem was that the King had returned in the heir of Isuldur (Aragorn) and the Steward was not about to budge; that is, until the hosts of Mordor stood outside the city. The Steward (having gone quite mad) threw himself from the parapet during the invasion.

Following in his father’s steps, Belshazzar was troubled by what he saw on the wall (the declaration that he had been tried, weighed, counted, measured, and found to be woefully lacking) and sought consolation. Ultimately, Daniel was the one brought in to interpret what was happening (the declaration that he had been tried, weighed, counted, measured, and found to be woefully lacking). Why Daniel? Short version: the court magicians, astrologers and soothsayers had a reputation for being wrong and Daniel had a reputation for being right. Daniel also had a reputation for not serving someone else’s idea of God be they of gold, silver, wood or stone. His firefighting friends had the same reputation as well—and they were all rulers in the kingdom (over three waves of imported captives?). The Hebrew men in the Babylon court humbly sought first God’s kingdom and His righteousness and everything else was added to them.

It’s been observed that the greatest leaders are not the arrogant and greedy, but the servants. Did not our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ model this for us as He backed up His words (that He came not be served but to serve) with His works (to give His life as a ransom)? Andrew Murray said, “Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble.”

Ezekiel 28 contains this remarkable declaration:

“The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, ‘Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Because your heart is lifted up, And you say, “I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods, In the midst of the seas,” Yet you are a man, and not a god, Though you set your heart as the heart of a god . . . Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Because you have set your heart as the heart of a god, Behold, therefore, I will bring strangers against you, The most terrible of the nations; And they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and defile your splendor. They shall throw you down into the Pit, and you shall die the death of the slain In the midst of the seas. Will you still say before him who slays you, “I am a god”? But you shall be a man, and not a god, in the hand of him who slays you. You shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of aliens; for I have spoken,” says the Lord GOD.’”

The prince of Tyre, the king of Babylon and my two downtown friends suffer from the same ailment of pride—as does anyone else who will not step off their throne and give God the place that is His. Humility bites no thumb, but holds it out.

I have no reason to believe Daniel was timid or apologetic when he told Belshazzar before all his guests, “And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified.” The contrast was against his own father, who lost his kingdom then repented. Belshazzar clearly would not repent, so his kingdom would be removed from his as well.

Isn’t that the way it is? “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. The righteousness of the blameless will smooth his way, but the wicked will fall by his own wickedness. The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the treacherous will be caught by their own greed.” (Proverbs 11:4-6)

So Daniel 5:29 should come as no surprise. Of course, neither should 5:30.

Think of it—even unbelievers respect the righteous. One may try to rationalize God away, or preserve himself in his own platitudes—one may even go so far as to excuse himself from any crime or wrongdoing on the basis of his own supposed goodness. Contrariwise, should a crime be committed against such a person, he will seek justice and will speak venom against the judge who lets the criminal go. Even unbelievers demand righteousness! Moreso, consider how much respect one gains among any people (pagan or otherwise) when he tells the truth.

But what happens when we have the privilege of speaking truth, especially to someone who does not want to hear it? The truth can be received with joy (in which case both message and messenger are generally embraced); or, the truth can be rejected (in which case the messenger is “shot” and the message is disregarded). Is it the task of the messenger to determine whether or not someone needs to hear it, especially when the message is “Thus saith the Lord?” There may be times when the truth must be delivered bluntly, while there are other times that require compassion. Those times may depend on the state of the person who needs to hear it. Pride cannot hear grace.