aspects, it may also be considered the more perilous. Daniel’s whole life from the time of his captivity at the age of sixteen was spent in the great and glamorous city of Babylon. He spent sixty-nine years in a vile court. There he lived a life without blame and well favored. Ezekiel refers to him as a model of righteousness in Ezekiel 14:14-20; 28:3. Although Daniel was a captive he rose to be Prime Minister of Baby lon. The wonderful thing is that he always remained true to Jehovah God. We see another striking example in Joseph, of how God raised a young man from the dungeon to the court of Egypt. Cory, “Daniel was also great in heaven. God broke the silence of the skies twice to cry out, “0 Daniel, a man greatly beloved” ; “O man greatly beloved.” (Daniel 10:11, 19.) Fur thermore, no position, no matter how difficult, found him without trust in God. God is able, in all temptations, to keep us from falling (Jude 24), unless we have deliberately placed ourselves, with Peter, at the fire of the enemy.” Many of the Jews who had been carried into captivity had taken on the loose morals and high life and re ligion of Babylon. The youth had for gotten, but Daniel and his friends had kept themselves apart from the evil of that court in which they lived. They were true to God in a day when everything was against them. As fa vored ones, they had been given many delicacies of the king’s table. They were to be trained in state affairs and equipped for high positions. It was hard indeed to refuse the king’s meat and ask for a simpler fare. The king’s meat had probably been offered in sacrifice to idols, and the flesh would have been killed with the blood which was unclean. (See Ex. 34:15; I Cor. 10:20; Lev. 3:17; 7:26.) It would look as if these young men had no choice in the matter. Many of us would have argued that way. Remem ber, we ought always to obey God rather than men. 31
■D aniel gives us th e history of the Gentile powers from Babylon to the end. These prophecies are consid ered among the most remarkable in the whole Scriptures. The Book of Daniel is divided into two great sections: History (Daniel 1-6) and Prophecies (Daniel 7-12). “Young men in whom was no blem ish, but well favoured and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them” (Dan. 1:4), —- these are some of the men with whom this book deals. Stevens, “C h ie f among these princely young men was the incom parable Daniel. He stands in God’s Word as the man who dared to keep a clean heart and body (Daniel 1:8), and the man therefore whom God chose to give His message to the Gen tile nations of the world. A large part of this book is concerned with the thrilling personal life of this peerless captive prince.” Daniel was in the palace at Babylon the same time that Ezekiel was toil ing in a slave gang. If Daniel’s was the easier life in many of its material
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker