When the Hebrew Bible came up in the Jan. 6 hearings, it wasn’t by accident
An image of former Vice President Mike Pence on the night of January 6, 2021 is displayed during the third hearing of Jan. 6 hearings. Photo by Getty Images
By Louis Keene June 17, 2022
Day 3 of the Jan. 6 special committee hearings was all about Vice President Mike Pence, and the emotional climax involved a classic story from the Hebrew Bible.
It came during nearly two-and-a-half hours of testimony from Pence’s lawyer, Greg Jacob, when U.S. Rep. Pete Aguilar of California asked how Jacob’s faith had guided him during that fateful day. The lawyer described fleeing to a secure location with the vice president as a mob chanting “hang Mike Pence” stormed the Capitol.
While they were in the bunker, Jacob said, he pulled out his Bible and turned to the story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den.
“Daniel 6 was where I went,” he said, “and in Daniel 6, Daniel has become the second in command of Babylon, a pagan nation that he completely faithfully serves. He refuses an order from the king that he cannot follow, and he does his duty — consistent with his oath to God. And I felt that that’s what had played out that day.”
That’s a pretty good summary of the background to the story. The metaphor stops working after that — King Darius quickly realizes his error and begs the prophet’s forgiveness, unlike Trump, who continued to disparage Pence and insist the election was rigged.
Pence is an Evangelical Christian, and the committee has used that to reinforce an image of the vice president as a moral leader who helped protect American democracy. Jacob’s nationally televised recollection of the day of the insurrection began with the vice president leading a prayer.
Aguilar, a Democrat from the Inland Empire, followed Jacob’s testimony about the Book of Daniel with a clip from Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff, who recalled sending the vice president a text message with a Bible verse after the drama died down.
“At 3:50 in the morning, when we finally adjourned and headed our ways,” Short said in the video clip, “I remember texting the vice president a passage from Second Timothy, Chapter 4, Verse 7, about, I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I have kept the faith.”
Aguilar underlined this for emphasis.
“He started his day with a prayer and ended his day with a Bible verse,” he said of Pence. “I’ve fought the good fight. I finished the race. I’ve kept the faith.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
