Treasures of Darkness

Picture two doors of brass with iron bars across them. Behind them is a room with no window, because that is where a city keeps what it cannot afford to lose. The man who ends up holding the key was born in another country, and he does not know the God who is speaking about him.

The verse before today's describes that room being broken open: "I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron." Then come "the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places." The darkness and the secret places are locations. They describe where the strongroom is, deep inside the city and out of the light, and the riches in it are what a conquering army carries out of a city it has taken. This line has been printed on many posters as a promise of hidden wealth waiting for the believer. But the first verse of the chapter names the man it was spoken to: "Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus." Cyrus was a Persian king, and he is the one who later sent the Jewish exiles home to rebuild.

So look at what the treasure room is for: "that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel." Twice in the next two verses, God says that Cyrus does not know Him. First He says, "I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me." Then He says, "I girded thee, though thou hast not known me." The strongrooms of the East are handed to a foreign king who cannot yet name the hand that is giving them to him, and the purpose is that he should learn that name. The wealth is a tool, spent so that a man would come to know God. The same chapter also tells you who owns the darkness where it was stored: "I form the light, and create darkness." Even the hidden places belong to Him, and He uses what is in them to make Himself known.

Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 318 is Water for the Thirsty (Isaiah 44:3).

All 365 readings in Daily Manna, Year Two