"Lord I have waited for you to lead us out of Babylon," "for I was just a boy when I came here." "The generation which offended you has passed away, and now their children's children yearn to see a home they have never known." "You have spoken through your prophet, Jeremiah," ""When 70 years are completed for Babylon," ""I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise and bring you back to this land."" "My heart grows with excitement that now that time has come." "An old man who comes unbidden is often a fool." "And less often come as assassins." "Perhaps a foolish assassin." "Forgive us, my king." "Do you know whom you address?" "He is the king of Babylon, ruler of the four quarters of the earth," "Kurus, in the old Persian tongue." "He has seized by might-of-arms the birthright which would otherwise have been denied him." "He is Cyrus the Great." "Leave us." "Who are you, old man?" "I am Daniel of the tribe of Benjamin, made captive nearly 70 years ago by Nebuchadnezzar." "My king, I have heard of this man." "He served Darius well after he captured the city in your name." "It is said he spent a night in the lions' den." "The beasts would not touch him." "Is this true?" "It is." "I know who you are now." "Tell me why you're here." "I seek to tell you a story, a tale of four kings:" "one great, one foolish, one who has been deceived, and one who is destined to be regarded as wise through all the ages of the world to come." "Stories from your imagination?" "No, king, for I will speak only the truth, and if you would not wish to hear it, you must bid me speak nothing." "Come." "You will give us entertainment while we eat." "Please." "My king, we're expected in Babylon this evening." "The palace will be there in the morning." "As you wish." "I cannot, oh king." "My king, the Hebrews eat and drink only their own food which is prepared according to their rituals." "To do otherwise, even from the hand of the king, is to defile themselves." "You promised me a tale, four, in fact." "I delayed my journey to listen." "I will hear them now." "So be it, my lord." "The first king I will speak of is Nebuchadnezzar," "King of Babylon." "When I was just a boy, he threw down the Assyrian empire, my people's ancient nemesis, but the destruction of Israel's enemies brought us no relief because in the 3rd year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign," "he turned his gaze upon Jerusalem and besieged it, and the Lord delivered the king of Judea into his hand along with all of his officers, nobles, and administrators." "When the exiles arrived in Babylon," "Nebuchadnezzar ordered Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to select some of the Israelites from the royal family and nobility, young men without any physical defect and showing aptitude for every kind of learning, one of whom was myself." "O Lord..." "Jerusalem has sinned greatly." "Like a widow is she." "Once great among the nations, a queen among the people, has become a slave and her children captive before the foe." "My eyes overflow with tears, for you, Lord, are righteous, yet we rebelled against your command." "Comfort me, O Lord." "Comfort me and my brothers, and restore our spirit." "I miss Jerusalem." "As do I." "I feel that we shall never see her again." "Have faith, my brothers." "I have only begun my studies, but here... the prophet, Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, has written that we shall serve the king of Babylon for 70 years" "Seventy years is a long time." "As punishment for our sins." "And even if we were to survive it, we would be very old." "Very old, indeed." "You are summoned for your meal." "Why would they only take 10,000 of us and leave the rest of our people behind?" "Yes, look at who they've taken." "The scholars, the princes, our military leaders, and our families." "It's the Babylonian way of conquest." "You take away the leaders, and the rest can easily be governed." "They've changed our names, hoping we'll forget our God;" "and our clothes so we'll look like them." "They've changed everything about us." "We need to make each other a promise, never to become like them." "My brothers, such a promise is worthless, for we are but men." "What we need to promise is to always love our God and be obedient to him, and in so doing, what we become on the outside will not matter." "Set it here." "Set it here." "Lord Steward, please allow me to as k." "What is this meat?" "Where is it from, and how was it slaughtered?" "The cattle are from the king's herd." "They are fattened along the river and strangled before the altars of Marduk before their flesh is carried to the kitchens." "The swine are from the king's pens." "They are fed on choice food, and it is rumored the king's executioner laces their feet with the entrails of his victims, so that the king's chosen may feast and grow strong on the flesh of his enemies." "It is considered the greatest of delicacies." "To some perhaps, but not to us." "We are forbidden to eat it, for the Almighty has commanded us," ""The pig is unclean." "You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses."" "Nor can we eat anything sacrificed to gods other than our own." "But the king cannot- he will not change the customs of his hall to fit your wishes." "You must know this." "And we will not ask him to." "But you must eat." "I have been charged with your well-being." "If you are seen to be wasting away," "I'm afraid of what my lord, the king, will do." "He will have my head." "And we would not wish it so." "Therefore, put your servants to the test." "For 10 days give us nothing but vegetables to eat and mater to drink." "Then compare our appearance to that of the other young men who eat the royal food." " Ten days?" " Ten days." "And if after that your appearance is found wanting?" "Then we will do as you wish." "Your request was polite." "I'm rather surprised it was honored." "I have no doubt the Lord favorably disposed his heart to hear our request." "By the end of 10 days, my companions and I looked healthier and better-nourished than the young men who ate the royal food, and so the chief eunuch allowed us to continue refusing the wine and choice fare," "and we remained un-defiled." "The period of our instruction went by quickly." "During those many years we were living in a foreign land, speaking a foreign language, and living under a foreign king." "Despite this, our hearts belonged only to God, and at the end of that time my companions and I were presented before Nebuchadnezzar himself." "were presented before Nebuchadnezzar himself." "The king's executioner, Arioch, will be in the chamber." "If you are found unworthy, you will be executed on the spot, and so will I." "Lord, king, I present you the princes of Judah, preserved by the right hand of your mercy and tutored by the left hand of your wisdom." "They are come before you now for judgment as to their training." "They are Belteshazzar, Shadrach," "Meshach, and Abednego." "Who am I?" "You are Nebuchadnezzar, son and heir of Nabopolassar, king of Babylon." "You have destroyed Nineveh the Mighty, seat of Assyria, and taken from her hand the scepter of nations." "You are the commander of commanders and king of kings, from the rising of the sun unto its setting in the western sea, and beneath heaven there is none more powerful than thee." "You, come forth." "Why should I allow you, sons of my former enemies, to serve in my court?" "Because you have spared the lives of our people who were delivered into your hand and because the word of the prophet Jeremiah has come unto us saying," ""This is what the Lord God Almighty," ""the God of Israel, says to all those" ""carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon," ""'Build houses, and settle down." "'"Plant gardens, and eat what they produce." ""Marry and have sons and daughters." "'"Also, seek the prosperity of the city" "'"to which I have carried you into exile." ""Pray to the Lord for it, for if it prospers, you too will prosper."'" "This is good." "So now even your God commands you to serve me." "I have no need of lap dogs." "Would you dare to tell me the truth even if you knew it would displease me?" "Lord, king, it must be so." "I will speak only the truth, and when you would not hear it, you must ask me nothing." "I pronounce them worthy." "Have their names be written in the Book of the Wise." "Nebuchadnezzar's questioning showed wisdom." "A former enemy can be a good counselor." "If they can be trusted." "And a wise king is capable of choosing whom to trust, for are you not Croesus, formerly king of Lydia and once the richest man in the world whose name alone signified riches almost beyond comprehending?" "I am he." "Trusting the words of the Oracle of Delphi," "I went to war with Cyrus and was defeated." "Cyrus pardoned me and my family." "I am eternally grateful." "Worthy counselors, rare indeed, as Nebuchadnezzar came to learn at a time when his Babylonian counselors, his magi, sorcerers, diviners, magicians, and astrologers were unable to help him." "were unable to help him." "No!" "What is it, my king?" "Summon my counselors." "The enchanters, the sorcerers, or the astrologers?" "All of them!" "Oh, king!" "Your wisest subjects have arrived." "Command, and it is done." "I've had a dream that troubles me." "I need to know what it means." "Oh, king, tell your servants your dream, and we will interpret it for you." "No." "What need I have wise men who are not wise, hmm?" "Astrologers who read nothing in the stars." "Magicians who perform children's tricks." "Sorcerers who divine nothing except what I tell them." "No, it is enough for the king to dream his dreams." "It is up to you to discern and interpret them." "But, my lord, if only you would tell us your dream we could interpret it, as we have always done." "Always." "I know you're trying to gain time or trick me into revealing what I've seen." "Either may I'll have none of it." "But there's no man on earth who can do what the king asks." "No king has ever asked such a thing before." "Only the gods could know these things, and when we ask they don't answer." "Well, I suggest you try and get them to answer, or beg that they endow you with the necessary skills to divine it on your own, for as I am king I swear that when the sun rises," "if my dream is not made known to me along with its interpretation, you will all be made shorter by the height of your heads." "You may withdraw" "Now!" "Lord Ashpenaz, is it true?" "It is." "Why has the king issued such a harsh decree?" "Why don't you come along with me and ask him yourself?" " Lord, king." " What?" "Belteshazzar requests an audience." "Speak." "Oh king, live forever." "I have heard your decree, and I understand that I shall fall beneath the blade if your dream is not made known and interpreted." "I ask only for more time that I might withdraw for a while, my friends and I, to pray to our God and see if he might not make the dream known to us." "The time is fixed." "It cannot be altered." "The sentence is to be carried out at sunrise." "You may withdraw so long as you return at dawn, as your fate and that of the others is one in the same, and when you return be sure to bring your companions with you." "Shall I send guards along, my king?" "No." "No, if he says he'll pray, he'll pray not flee." "Of that much at least I'm sure." "Even if we were to flee the city the whole world would've been against us, not that it mattered" "I had given my word and intended to keep it." "I would pray and hope that the answer came." "Prepare to bind the prisoners." "Once the sun rises there can be no delay." "Bring forth the councilors!" "Oh king, live forever." "Oh king, do not execute these men, I beg you." "Belteshazzar, your death is upon you as well unless you know my dream and can interpret it." "I am, and I will." "Praise be to the God of my fathers forever and ever." "He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning." "He reveals deep and hidden things and has made plain all that you have asked, for he has shown me the vision of the king." "Then speak!" "As you lay upon your bed, oh king, you looked, and there before you stood a large statue, awesome in its appearance." "The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay." "As you were watching, a rock was cutout but not by human hands." "It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them." "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were all broken to pieces at the same time, and the winds swept them away without a trace, but the rock that struck the statue became a mountain" "and filled the whole earth." "You have done what I was told was impossible." "This mystery has been revealed to me not because I am wiser than other men but because God wishes you to understand the meaning of your dream." "You know my dream as if you dreamt it yourself." "What does it mean?" "You, oh king, are the king of kings." "The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory." "In your hands he has placed mankind." "He has made you ruler over the nation, for you are the head of pure gold." "After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours." "Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth." "Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom strong as iron, for iron breaks and smashes things to pieces, but just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron," "so this people will be a mixture and not remain united any more than iron mixes with clay." "And in the time of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed." "It will crush those kingdoms and bring them to an end but will itself endure forever." "The Almighty has shown the king what will take place in the future." "The dream is true, and the interpretation is trustworthy." "I am the head of gold?" "Yes, oh king, you are the head of pure gold." "Surely your God is the God of gods, the ruler of kings, and the revealer of mysteries." "Let this man be paid honor and present him with incense." "Let this man be paid honor and present him with incense." "Thus, the king made me ruler over the entire province of Babylon, and at my request made Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego administrators." "King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold 90 feet high." "All were commanded to fall down and worship, and all did as commanded except for three." " King." " Live forever!" "A moment of your precious time." "As your dutiful servants, we know the law that when the horn sounds we all bow down." "And worship your image." "But these Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon pay no attention to you, oh king." "None." "They neither worship your gods or serve the image of gold you've created." "Nothing." "Is this true?" "Do you refuse to worship my statue?" "Oh king, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter." "Really?" "Then you shall be thrown into the furnace, and no guard will save you from my hand." "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, our God will defend us from it." "And if he does not, we want you to know oh king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the statue of gold" "Enough!" "You dare to defy me?" "Let the furnace be heated sevenfold." "Bind them, and cast them into the fire!" "There were three thrown into the fire." "Certainly, your king." "But now I see four, and the fourth" "The fourth looks like an angel of God." "The fire has not harmed your bodies." "Not a hair is singed." "Your robes, there's not even a smell of the fire on you." "Praise be to your God who sent his angel to rescue his servants." "You trusted in him." "You defied my commands." "You were willing to give up your lives rather than serve any but your own God." "Therefore, I decree any who speaks ill of the God of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, will be cut into little pieces and his house turned to rubble, for no other God can save in this way." "And for a time all was well until Nebuchadnezzar's sleep was troubled yet by another dream." "It seems like Nebuchadnezzar's life was rife with dreams and prophesies much like my own has been." "Before I was born, my grandfather, Astyages, was troubled by a dream where a flood beginning near his throne was overflowing the whole earth." "When he went to his astrologers and his diviners for an interpretation, they told him that his grandson was destined to one day usurp him." "So he sent his daughter, Mandane, into exile, and when a son was born to her he conspired to have it stolen and exposed on a hilltop to die." "But a shepherd whose wife had recently given birth to a stillborn child persuaded her husband to trade her dead infant for the living, and the shepherd raised the boy as his own." "The king, upon being presented with the dead infant, repented of his crime." "He didn't learn until 10 years later that the boy was actually alive, at which time he pardoned the boy and restored him to his rightful parents, and for a time the matter was forgotten." "Until one day, years later, when you marched into your grandfather's city at the head of your troops and seized the throne of Medea, taking the old man captive, and the prophecy was proven true." "Old Astyages, he knew of the prophecy, but he was powerless to overcome it." "As all men are powerless to prevent their fate if the prophesizing be true." "Listen then, as I tell of the prophetic vision that led to Nebuchadnezzar's madness." "For when he dreamed that great dream, his enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers were once again unable to interpret the vision." "When I was asleep" "I had a dream which made me afraid." "The images I saw terrified me." "Belteshazzar, I looked and saw before me a tree in the middle of the land." "A tree grew strong and tall." "Its top touched the sky, and it was visible to the ends of the earth." "Its leaves, they were beautiful." "Its fruit was abundant." "The beasts of the field took shelter under it, and the birds of the air lived in its branches, and from it every creature was fed." "Then I looked again, and I saw a messenger coming down from heaven, and he cried out aloud, "Cut down the tree!" ""Trim off its branches." ""Strip its leaves." ""Scatter its fruit." ""Let the beasts flee from under it" ""and the birds fly from its branches," ""but let the stump and its roots," ""bound in iron and brass," ""remain in the ground in the grass of the field." ""Let it be drenched by the dew from heaven." ""Let it live with the animals of the earth," ""and let its mind be changed from that of a man to the mind of an animal."" "This is the dream that I had." "What does it mean?" "My lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries." "The tree which you saw which grew large and strong with its top touching the sky, you, oh king, are that tree." "You have become great and strong." "Your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to the distant pans of the earth." "But you saw a messenger, a holy one, coming down from heaven, saying," ""Cut down the tree, and destroy it," ""but leave the stump, bound with iron and bronze," ""in the grass of the field" ""while its roots remain in the ground." ""Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven." "Let him live like wild animals."" "This is the interpretation, oh king, and this is the decree that the Most High has issued against my lord, the king." "You will be driven away from people and live with the wild animals." "You will eat grass like cattle until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes." "The command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots means that your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that the Most High rules." "Therefore, oh king, be pleased to accept my advice." "Renounce your sins by doing what is right and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed." "Seek the Lord while he may be found, and it may be that your prosperity will continue." "But the memory of kings is often short, and 12 months later when the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon-- of Babylon" "In all the world is there anything like this?" "No, my king." "My great wall which mountain-like cannot be moved." "I've made with mortar and brick its foundations." "I've placed upon the very bosom of the underworld, its top." "I've raised mountain high." "Is this not the great Babylon that I have built as my royal palace with my mighty power for the glory of my majesty?" "His words were still on his lips when a voice came down from heaven," "Nebuchadnezzar, for your arrogance and your failure to give glory to the Most High, your authority is stripped from you." "Go now from this kingdom which you claim." "Your mind shall be reduced to that of an animal, and you will wander the land until you acknowledge the glory of God as above your own." "Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled." "The greatest of those below heaven, he sought to make himself as great as he who rules above heaven, and the Lord would not have it." "Because he insisted on being more than he was made, he became less than he was made." "Because he aspired to be more than a man, he became less than a man." "He became like the wild beasts." "How did he survive alone in the wilds?" "Even in his insanity neither the lion nor the bear disturbed him though he wandered alone and unarmed and slept naked in the places where they found their food because it had been prophesied that one day he would honor the Most High." "For 7 years he ranged the wild lands of Babylon, but it was not until the full time of his exile was completed that he turned his eyes toward heaven and declared" "Praise be to the Most High." "Honor and glory to him who lives forever." "Rise, Nebuchadnezzar." "For he is to be given his eternal dominion." "Before him all the people of the earth are regarded as nothing." "He may do as he pleases with the powers of heaven and all the people of the earth, and no one, no one, may say him, "Nay."" "No one may say him, "Navy" "Beware your place, for I am not as I was." "Let it be recorded that I, Nebuchadnezzar, do praise, exalt, and glorify the King of heaven because everything he does is right, and all his ways are just, and those who walk in pride he is able to humble." "And so Nebuchadnezzar returned to his throne, but eventually he was gathered to his fathers, and a series of new kings came to the throne, none fasting more than a short time." "You're about to tell about the downfall of Babylon, are you not?" "I am." "Well, at last we come to the pan of the tale where I have some knowledge to share." "For though I had conquered from east to west," "Babylon was the last to resist me, and I dreaded its siege, for Babylon's wealth had allowed her to lay in enough grain to last for years, and her towers, walls, and gates were so formidable" "that even untrained men could defend them with ease, walls too high to scale, with parapets wide enough for chariots to patrol them, and a river-fed moat to cross before even getting there." "It was enough to freeze the heart of even an old soldier such as I am." "Then one night as I lay on the ground courting sleep that would not come, a thought came to me." "From whence it came I do not know, like some spirit of God whispered it in my ear." "But the River Euphrates which flowed down to Babylon raised above its natural level hemmed in by dams and dikes, but if dams were opened full and the dikes were broken, the river which ran straight through the heart of the city" "would fall to nothing." "An army poised and ready to strike could march into the city on its dry riverbed underneath the gates designed to repel ships when the river was at its normal level." "And I suddenly realized I'd been given a key to defeat the mighty Babylon." "It was as though in all the world, throughout all of history," "I was the only one that had the thought." "All it required was the right moment to act." "A night when every man in Babylon, from the least to the king himself, would drink himself ill in honor of their gods who were naught but worthless idols and could not protect them." "Listen, oh king, and I will tell of the second king of my story," "Belshazzar, king of Babylon, both foolish and wicked of equal measure." "But, king." "Enough!" "We still have our threefold walls with their battlements, and within our granaries we have grain enough to endure a seed of 10 years." "Our watchmen have seen the Persians digging, my lord." "They seem quite concerned about this, my king." "Yes, yes, they will look to build a siege ramp against the city." "First, they must build a causeway across the moat." "That alone will take months." "In the meantime, let us feast and toast Marduk, patron god of Babylon." "To Marduk!" "These cups have a taste, and I will not have it so." "Bring me the golden vessels from the temple of Jerusalem." "But, my king, is it wise to use the vessels?" "My king, these cups are considered sacred, are they not, my king?" "Perhaps in Jerusalem by that pathetic desert deity of Judah," "but here they are spoil for our gods, and they would have you use them as I see fit." "Bring them!" "Yes, you see these vessels?" "In Jerusalem, they were used for the worship of their God." "Now, instead of the blood of bulls and rams, let them flow with foaming wine, for I am not a devourer of blood." "I am a devourer of drink and choice fare." "To Marduk, the god of our city!" "To Marduk!" "And to our idols of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone, partake of our pleasures, and protect our city." "Whoever reads this and tells me what it means shall be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck and be made third highest ruler in the kingdom." "And all the king's wise men came in, but they could not interpret the inscription or tell the king what it meant, so Belshazzar became even more terrified." "A Judean once told Nebuchadnezzar, your forefather, of his dreams." "He succeeded when everyone else had failed." "This man, Daniel, whom the king called Belteshazzar, he could tell you what this writing means." "Does he still live?" "He does." "Bring him to me quickly, but do not harm him." "We shall soon learn if this Hebrew can do as you say." "Nothing it would seem is too sacred not to be profaned under the influence of wine." "Nothing, oh king." "How can I be of service, highness?" "Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father brought back from Judah?" "I am he." "I am told you are able to give interpretations and solve difficult problems." "If you can read the writing on that wall, you will be clothed in purple, have a chain of gold placed around your neck, and be made third highest ruler in the kingdom." "Long ago I told your forefather, Nebuchadnezzar, that I would speak to him only the truth and that if he rather not hear it, he should ask me nothing." "Perhaps it would be better if you asked me nothing." "No, it is unseemly for a king to be baffled by a message in his own hall." "No human hand has scribed it." "No other tongue can interpret it." "Tell me what it means, be of good or ill." "Oh king, the Most High God gave your father, Nebuchadnezzar, greatness and glory, but when his heart became arrogant he was deposed from his throne and stripped of his glory until he acknowledged that the Most High is sovereign" "over the kingdoms of men." "Even though you knew all this, you should have appealed to him." "Instead, you've set yourself up against the Lord of heaven." "You had the goblets of his temple brought to you and praised the gods of bronze and iron, wood and stone, instead of him." "These vessels were made for the service of the Most High, and you have used them to pour wine for your harlots." "Would you humble the Almighty by desecrating his possessions?" "Would you bind him like a captive and beat him like a slave?" "Would you pluck out his eyes and have him beg for scraps of food beneath your table?" "This you would do if you could, and the Almighty knows it." "This is his answer to you." "The Lord God will strike you down like an enemy, for he has bidden his angel to unsheathe his sword." "These then are the words he has written." ""Mene," God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end." ""Tekel," you have been weighed in the scales and found wanting." ""Upharsin," your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians." "This very night your life will be demanded of you, and before the sun rises your flesh will grow cold." "Thus says the Lord, "Your line is ended." "Your rule is over." "Your kingship is no more."" "ls there nothing to be done?" "No, in your arrogance you have doomed not only yourself but your house, your line, your inheritance, your city, and your kingdom." "Choose now where you will spend your last few hours." "But knowing your fate, who now will love thee?" "Who now will fear you?" "Will the least of your slaves comfort you, or will they desert you, seeking to avoid the fate which is yours?" "Let it be as I have commanded." "Let this man be clothed in purple, a chain of gold placed around his neck, for I am not dead yet." "All hail, King Darius!" "I am King Belshazzar of the Babylonia." "Unhand me!" " Surrender or die!" " Never!" "Send word to Cyrus this city's taken in his name." "As he has commanded, I shall assume the crown." "Do you know who stands before you?" "You are Darius, the Mede-Persian, uncle and father-in-law to Cyrus who has by stratagem taken this city." "By right of conquest, you are now the king." "Yes, and you are an official of Babylon." "Why should I not kill you?" "It is true I served Babylon in the days of Nebuchadnezzar whom I served truly and well, but her latter kings I did not serve until tonight." "How is this possible?" "It is a reward for letting Belshazzar know that you were about to take the city." "Who told you?" "Have we a traitor in our ranks?" "It was revealed to me by my God who sent his angel to scribe the writing on that wall." "It is true." "He read the inscription and revealed the message." "He told the king that he would die this very night." "Though brought here as an exile in my youth, by birth I am a Hebrew from the kingdom of Judea, and I serve the God of my forefathers." "The Most High reveals to me what he sees fit." "Am I to believe your God revealed my coming to you?" "If I was to lie, would this be the lie I would choose?" "Who else could have revealed your deepest secret and known ahead of time that you would succeed or known with certainty that you would slay Belshazzar?" "And how could you have done so if the Lord had not decreed it?" "For is it not by the hand of the Most High that both victories and disasters come?" "I would have you put this gift of divination in my service, yet how do I know I can trust you, Hebrew?" "I will speak to you honestly, my king, and when you would not hear the truth you must ask me nothing." "So be it." "I see by your insignia you were made third in all of Babylon, but that is not the Persian way, for below me I have three administrators, all of equal rank." "Yet I shall name you one of the three." "What of the other counselors?" "Slay them." "If they were loyal to the former master, they are no good to me." "If they were disloyal to him, then they will be disloyal to me." "Ah, Darius." "He's twice my uncle by blood and marriage and serves me well as co-counsel to my empire." "As it pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom with administrators above them, one of whom was me, but before long I so distinguished myself that Darius planned to set me over the whole kingdom." "Which would cause great envy among the others." "Yes, oh king." "So they called a meeting in secret and planned for my destruction." " Are we safe?" " Yes." " Did anyone see you?" " No." "Why are we meeting so far from the city?" "Do you think it would be wise for this meeting to be overheard by anyone?" "Are you sure you weren't followed?" "Not unless whatever's following has wings." "We don't have much time." "Daniel being put over us, if we allow it to stand, means our demise." "Once he is in charge he'll be looking into everything we do." "Perhaps we should eliminate him." "How?" " A hunting accident." " He doesn't hunt." "A sudden illness or a drowning." "Who would believe it?" "Maybe we can ensnare him." "How?" "There is no corruption in him nor any negligence." "He is as diligent as he is skillful." "There must be some way." "He claims he's so effective because three times a day his heart inclines to the city of God." "There's a spirit of excellence in him." "In every test he has proven faithful." "No one is that honest." "On the contrary," "I had a man try to bribe him once, and a very generous bribe at that." "He would have no pan of it." "Such a man is dangerous." "How long before he learns that we've been generous with ourselves and covered the thefts with false accounts?" "We'll never be able to find any basis for charges against him unless it has something to do with that God of his." "That invisible God of his." "No altars, no shrines, no idols, laying claim to every good thing yet somehow not responsible for the bad." "I've seen him praying before his window on his knees facing Jerusalem morning, noon, and night, always the same." "Then perhaps we need to make him stop." "He won't do it." "Then perhaps we need to make sure he continues." "You say there is nothing anyone can do to stop his prayers." "No, nothing." "What if the penalty for this devotion of his was death?" "If we could forbid his prayers for an entire month under penalty of immediate execution?" "Don't be ridiculous." "He'll just stop praying." "No, he won't." "I know him." "He can't keep himself from praying to that God of his for one day, let alone a month." "I still don't see how it will ever work." "The king knows that Daniel and his people pray continuously and only to one God." "Which is why we need to disguise our purpose." "A more fitting testimony to your honesty could not have been made." "Had there been any infidelity in your record they would have discovered it." "Indeed, they could find nothing amiss in my work, neither willfully nor through negligence or lack of care, so they tried to trip me up with my prayers." "But since worship of the Most High was not prohibited by the laws of the realm, they had to conceal their purpose like poison in a cup of honey." "Oh king, it has come to our attention that- -there are those among your subjects who still cling to the old gods of Babylon in the hopes that their line of kings may yet be restored." "And have not submitted to your rule." "Who are they that I may bring them before me and destroy them?" "It is not that simple of a matter to detect them, oh king, for they are devious and work to hide their treasonous thoughts." "And have you come before me without a plan for discovering them?" "We would dare not do so, oh king." "Indeed, we have labored to construct a plan whereby the loyalty of all may be tested." "Then speak of it." "If, oh king, you were to issue an edict that none in Babylon nor anywhere in the empire may pray to anyone, be it to God or man, except to you for a period of 30 days." "But what of the gods of Persia, my servant, obey?" "Well, you alone, oh king, would be free to pray to them and offer them sacrifice." "You would stand as a priest before all the peoples and in this way ingratiate yourself to the gods themselves because for an entire month all of their worship would come from you." "Thus, their worship will continue through you, and the old gods of Babylon will be starved for worship, lessening their power." "How would you enforce such an edict?" "No one would be allowed to go before any altar or shrine for the entire period except for you." "And anyone found violating the decree would be thrown into the lions' den before sundown on the very day of the offense." "In this way their treason would be discovered and eliminated" "In a single stroke." "I approve your plan." "I, Darius, command it be made so." "In anticipation of your approval, oh king, we have taken the liberty of drafting the edict and bringing it along." "Well done." "Bring it here that I may fix my seal." "Let all the world hear and obey." "So Darius found no need to consider it further." "Darius had a great deal of experience as a soldier, but very little as a ruler until Babylon fell." "Once signed, the order could not be changed." "That every order be upheld, for the law cannot be countermanded and the laws cannot contradict themselves, but each law be fixed, unchangeable, for the king cannot err." "And once a law is written, even the king himself cannot change it." "Such is the law of Persia." "Daniel!" "The king's seal is barely dry." "Already you have defied his law." "You made your choice." "You chose your God over your king." "Take him away!" "Oh king, it is my sad duty to inform you that someone has already defied your decree." "Bring him to me." "Bring forth the prisoner." "Daniel." "He is one of the exiles from Judah." "He pays no attention to you, oh king, or to the decree you have put in writing." "He still prays three times a day." "What sort of foolishness is this?" "Daniel is my chief advisor." "No one is above the law." "Yes, sadly, oh king, no one is above the law." "Bring forth the tablet." "Is this not the edict from the king, signed with your own seal?" ""Let it be known that for the next 30 days" ""anyone who prays to any god or man other than Darius the king" ""shall be thrown into the lions' den" ""on the same day the offense is discovered." ""By my hand and seal, Darius the king, ruler of the Medes and Persians."" "Call my counselors together." "We will begin the trial." "Oh king, live forever." "There is no need of a trial." "I am guilty." "Knowing the king's command, I have disobeyed it." "The commands of the king are immutable and once uttered cannot be changed." "I shall command my wise men to make every effort to search out some reason that the law may be found unenforceable." "I do not think they will find one." "Let them search, oh king, but only for a short time because your own law commands that sentence be carried out the day of the offense." "Already the shadows are starting to grow long, and you have only until sunset." "Darius was angry with himself for allowing himself to be fooled, seeing that their purpose was not for his honor and glory but rather for my destruction." "And so Darius had the law books searched to discover if there might be some legal way to spare my life." "It is as I expected." "Why didn't I consult you before passing that accursed law?" "Now I'm forced to abide by my own decree." "A king who will not enforce his own laws cannot be a king." "Your enemies know this and use it to their advantage." "Do not grieve, oh king." "The Most High does not want you to deliver me." "If he grants me deliverance, it will be by his own hand not yours." "It is a privilege he reserves unto himself." "And now it is time, oh king," "that I may not break your laws a second time." "I will walk with you, Daniel, one last time." "As you wish, oh king." "Of those who esteemed to bring about my death," "I will say only this." "My forefather, Abraham, came from this land, and the Most High said unto him," ""I will make you into a great nation." ""I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse."" "They have surely cursed me and may yet live to reap the fruits of that curse." "And may yet live to reap the fruits of that curse." "A cup of wine from the king's own hand." "I cannot drink it, oh king." "It is blessed to your gods, not mine." "Not so, Daniel." "I have gone to your people and asked for wine which was blessed by them." "In the cup I have poured no libation." "One last gesture of friendship." "My king." "Good bye, my friend." "Farewell but perhaps not good bye." "We have yet to see what the dawn will bring." "Hear, oh Israel, Lord our God," "the Lord has won." "He is angry with us." "It will fade." "By tomorrow morning Daniel will be a distant memory, and the king will need us again." "Have mercy on me, O God." "No, no, take it away, all of it!" "Tonight I honor Daniel in silence with fasting." "Now leave me!" "God, have mercy on me." "In you my soul takes refuge in the midst of lions, surrounded by ravenous beasts with teeth of spears, with tongues as sharp as swords." "I call upon your name, O Lord." "From the depths of the pit, hear my plea." "Come near." "You say, "Do not fear."" "O Lord, take up my case." "Redeem my life." "Oh, a divine plan, my friends." "A toast to the lions who show no partiality to a Hebrew over any other man." "I will extol the Lord at all times." "His praise be ever on my lips." "But those who seek the Lord will lack for no good thing." "A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord rescues him from them all." "You have rescued me from the mouth of lions, and I will declare your name to my brothers." "In the congregation I will praise you." "Out of my way!" "Out of my way!" "Daniel!" "Servant of the living God, has your God been able to save you?" "Oh king, live forever." "My God has sent his angel, and he shut the mouth of the lions." "They have not hurt me because I was found innocent in his sight." "Come forth." "Behold, there is no sign of wound on him, for he has trusted in his God." "Surely your God is above all men, for while you were in the lions' den you were in his hand." "How much must the man pay if he steals another man's treasure?" "With his hands perhaps." "But what if that man who is robbed is the king and the treasure his prized possession?" "Is there any penalty less than death which will do?" "If so, speak now, and let me consider it." "But, oh king, he is a Hebrew." "Why should you put such trust in him?" "This Hebrew is the greatest treasure I possess." "He speaks to his God, and more importantly his God speaks to him." "You have deceived me as to your purpose." "You fashioned my own words as a snare above my feet knowing my edict could not be reversed, but the living God, the God of Daniel, has delivered him out of my hand." "For 6 days they have hungered, but today they shall feed." "No!" "No, please!" "No!" "Please!" "Please wait, king, please!" "You fools." "Did you not think I would punish you?" "No, my king." "They have spread a net for my feet." "I was bowed down in distress." "They have dug a pit in my path, but they have fallen into it themselves." "I, Darius, issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel," "for he is the living God, and he endures forever." "His kingdom will not be destroyed." "His dominion will never end." "He rescues, and he saves." "He performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth." "He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions." "And so I served Darius throughout his reign." "However, my heart stiff longed to see Jerusalem." "For 70 years I had waited, and I knew our time was near." "Lord, through your prophet, Jeremiah," ""When 70 years are completed for Babylon," ""I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise and bring you back to this land."" "My heart grows with excitement that now that time has come." "And so your journey has led you here." "You have spoken of three kings:" "Nebuchadnezzar, the mighty;" "Belshazzar, the foolish;" "Darius, who was deceived." "Who is this fourth king?" "It is he of whom these scrolls speak of." "It is one chosen by the Most High to perform great and mighty deeds before he was ever knitted in his mother's womb." "Hear then, oh king, the words which were Mitten more than 150 years ago, for these are the words of the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz." ""From the east I summon a ravenous bird of prey" ""from a far off land to fulfill my purpose." ""When I have said, I will bring about;" "what I have planned, that will I do."" "A bird of prey?" "The Lord's chosen will carry out his purpose against Babylon." "His ann will be against the Babylonians." "He pursues them unscathed by a path he has not travelled before." "True, I had never saw the regions of the Euphrates or further westward until I came in conquest." "And yet you chased your enemies uninjured." "They had no power to rally." "You were not led into ambush, and you were safe as far as you chose to pursue them, were you not?" "That's true." "This is what the Lord says to his anointed." ""Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of-"" "Cyrus?" "It mentions me by name?" "It does." ""To Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of" ""to subdue nations before him," ""and to strip kings of their armor," ""to open doors before him" ""so that gates will not be shut." ""I will go before you and will level the mountains." ""I will break down gates of bronze" ""and cut through bars of iron." ""I will give you the treasures of darkness," ""riches stored in secret places" ""so that you may know that lam the Lord God of Israel who summons you by name."" "And when you captured Babylon, their treasures were the richest in the world," ""were they not?" "Oh, indeed they were, and Croesus will testify." "Yes, quite the most magnificent." "Oh king, if I may." "Please continue." "Please continue." ""Cyrus, for the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen," ""I summon you by name and give you a place of honor." ""Though you do not acknowledge me, I am the Lord." ""I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me," ""so that from the rising of the sun" ""to the place of its setting," ""men may know there is none beside me." "I am the Lord." "There is no other."" "And do you understand that the Most High has the power to raise up kings and to throw them down?" "Yes, I do." "I profess it." "And that you, oh king, are like a polished arrow hidden in the quiver of the Almighty, carefully preserved for its day of use?" "Yes, how else to ex plain my unlikely birth or my survival or successes?" "How else might it be explained?" "All my life I had always thought of myself as favored by my gods." "Is it possible that I've been favored by yours?" "You have answered your own question, oh king." "For nearly 2 centuries the message in this scroll has awaited your coming." "This is what the Lord says." ""I am the Lord who has made all things," ""who alone stretched out the heavens," ""who spread out the earth by myself," ""who foils the signs of false prophets" ""and makes fools of diviners," ""who overthrows the learning of the wise" ""and turns it into nonsense," ""who says of Jerusalem, 'It shall be inhabited." ""'Of the towns of Judea, they shall be built," ""and of their ruins, I will restore them.'" "'Who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd," ""'and I will accomplish all that I please." ""'He will say of Jerusalem," ""Let it be rebuilt," and of the temple," ""Let its foundation be laid.""'" "He even calls me a shepherd," "I, who was saved by a shepherd's hand?" "And I was raised in a shepherd's house." "It's I who refer to myself as a shepherd of my people." "Who else could have known this but the power of God or his prophet?" "Seventy years are over, my king." "Seventy years since I was taken from the land of my birth." "Babylon has been punished." "You have punished her." "Only one thing remains:" "For you to free her." "Oh king, the words of the scrolls are in a tongue foreign to us." "Should we not at least confirm them?" "No." "Old friend, have you heard nothing?" "Do you not recognize the truth when you hear it, or do you suppose this Daniel has spent a lifetime arranging events in the hopes of one day deceiving me?" "Your God has called me a shepherd, and so to your people I shall be, to rescue them from wolves and tyrants, to gather them gently and to relieve them from bondage and provide for their return." "And so say I, Cyrus, king of the Persians, let Jerusalem be rebuilt." "The Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed for me to build a temple in Jerusalem in Judea." "Any one of his people among you, may his God be with you." "Let him go to Jerusalem in Judea and build a temple of the Lord, the God of Israel" "In all my years I had never known envy, but that day I came closer to tasting it than I ever have, for I would never see the temple I so yearned to see." "However, my heart was joyous as my brothers and sisters departed on their journey home while I remained in Babylon awaiting the day when I, too, would be gathered to my ancestors." "And remember me also, O Lord, and show mercy according to your great love."