(Please read the Scripture passage before reading the homily.)
Not all Bibles have chapter 13 of the prophet Daniel. Some include it under the heading of Apocrypha (which means good book, but not inspired). At face value, it seems to be only a story of a woman falsely accused of adultery, but on a deeper level, it is a story about being faithful to God in times of persecution, such as happened in the time of the Maccabees in the last two centuries before Christ.
Daniel accused the first of the judges of using the judicial system to cheat, rob, and kill the innocent. Daniel called the other a child of Canaan, not of Judah. A child of Canaan would have been a child of the pagans who have lived in the land before the Israelites had come. Such a child would have been a pagan with pagan morals and behavior. This would not have been a compliment in the later history of the Jewish people.
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The daughters of Israel would be the people of Samaria, not a fully Jewish people. A daughter of Judah would name someone as a faithful Jewish person.
In the time of the Maccabees, the Maccabees stood for fidelity to the Law of God. They fought against the pagans who wanted to destroy the Jewish faith. They fought to restore political leaders who would aid the true Jewish people. They were very successful. They had connections with the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus’ time.
This is the message. If you see yourself as Susanna, persecuted and accused of being faithful to God, know that God can rescue you and save you. God can raise up help, like Daniel, to protect and save. The story is one meant to encourage people who are suffering for their faith in God.