DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4641#0032
24 ISRAEL.
Jewish governors of Babylon must have been an object of jealousy to the haughty soldiers and
ministers surrounding the throne. The dedication of a Golden Image, probably to Belus, was made
the occasion of involving them in a charge of disobedience to the royal command. On being questioned
by the king, they refused the idolatrous homage, and were sentenced on the spot to be burned alive.
Instantly, in the presence of the monarch and his nobles, a mighty wonder was wrought.
Four men were seen " walking in the midst of the fire, and they had no hurt; and the fourth was
like the Son of God." They were brought out of the furnace, and Nebuchadnezzar, overwhelmed and
astonished, blessed the " God of the Jews;" and made a decree, " That every people, nation, and
language, which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in
pieces." This was followed by a new accession of authority. "Then the king promoted Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon."1 The attempt to destroy them had thus given a
new illustration of the power of Jehovah among the heathen, and a new protection to the captive people.
But Nebuchadnezzar, in his unchecked fortune, and the glittering scenes around him, gradually forgot the
supremacy of the God of the Jews, a forgetfulness which would naturally be followed by the oppression of
his captives. A Divine dream was sent to remind him of the precariousness of human power. Daniel alone
could give the interpretation, and he declared it to be a summons to " break off his sins by righteousness,
and his iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor."2 But the warning was forgotten, and within a twelvemonth,
in the midst of a new burst of pride, at the moment of ascribing all his grandeur to himself, he heard his
sentence from heaven; " The kingdom is departed from thee." He was exiled from the throne, in a frenzy
which lasted for seven years. But this interregnum evidently administered to the increased protection of the
Jews ; a capricious and dangerous depository of power was deprived of all means of injury ; while no successor,
perhaps, equally dangerous, was suffered to ascend the throne. The three Jews and Daniel retained the virtual
sovereignty of the empire; the jealousies and conspiracies of the native priests and princes must have been
powerfully checked by the awful spectacle of their great king suffering before their eyes, under the declared
hand of Jehovah; and the general feeling must have become still more impressive, when they heard him, on
the first return of his understanding, pouring out the most boundless acknowledgment of the true God.
" Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth;
Peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the High God
hath wrought toward me. How great are his signs ! and how mighty are his wonders ! his kingdom is
an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation."3
This event, which was soon followed by his death, must have placed the captives with powerful
recommendation in the hands of his successor. And thus we find, that one of the first acts of Evil-
Merodach, his son, was to bring the Jewish king from his dungeon, in the thirty-seventh year of his
captivity, treat him with honour, and place him above all the other captive kings.
The accession of Belshazzar, the third in descent, again obviously endangered the condition of the
captives. The king was a tyrant and a man of blood.4 The fame of Daniel, who would naturally shrink from
such association, had evidently passed away. The Jewish governors of Babylon were perhaps dead, for
1 That the suggestion of erecting the idol, or, at least, of compelling homage on its dedication, was an intrigue to destroy the Jewish governors ;
is rendered the more probable by our not hearing of any charge against Daniel, who held no civil office, or the other Jews, among whom there must have been
many who would have refused the homage ; and also by the king's subsequent decree, to " all who shall speak anything amiss against the God " of the three Jews.
* Daniel iv. 8, &c. s Daniel iv. 1, &c. 4 Xenophon, Cyrop. 1. iv.
Jewish governors of Babylon must have been an object of jealousy to the haughty soldiers and
ministers surrounding the throne. The dedication of a Golden Image, probably to Belus, was made
the occasion of involving them in a charge of disobedience to the royal command. On being questioned
by the king, they refused the idolatrous homage, and were sentenced on the spot to be burned alive.
Instantly, in the presence of the monarch and his nobles, a mighty wonder was wrought.
Four men were seen " walking in the midst of the fire, and they had no hurt; and the fourth was
like the Son of God." They were brought out of the furnace, and Nebuchadnezzar, overwhelmed and
astonished, blessed the " God of the Jews;" and made a decree, " That every people, nation, and
language, which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in
pieces." This was followed by a new accession of authority. "Then the king promoted Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon."1 The attempt to destroy them had thus given a
new illustration of the power of Jehovah among the heathen, and a new protection to the captive people.
But Nebuchadnezzar, in his unchecked fortune, and the glittering scenes around him, gradually forgot the
supremacy of the God of the Jews, a forgetfulness which would naturally be followed by the oppression of
his captives. A Divine dream was sent to remind him of the precariousness of human power. Daniel alone
could give the interpretation, and he declared it to be a summons to " break off his sins by righteousness,
and his iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor."2 But the warning was forgotten, and within a twelvemonth,
in the midst of a new burst of pride, at the moment of ascribing all his grandeur to himself, he heard his
sentence from heaven; " The kingdom is departed from thee." He was exiled from the throne, in a frenzy
which lasted for seven years. But this interregnum evidently administered to the increased protection of the
Jews ; a capricious and dangerous depository of power was deprived of all means of injury ; while no successor,
perhaps, equally dangerous, was suffered to ascend the throne. The three Jews and Daniel retained the virtual
sovereignty of the empire; the jealousies and conspiracies of the native priests and princes must have been
powerfully checked by the awful spectacle of their great king suffering before their eyes, under the declared
hand of Jehovah; and the general feeling must have become still more impressive, when they heard him, on
the first return of his understanding, pouring out the most boundless acknowledgment of the true God.
" Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth;
Peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the High God
hath wrought toward me. How great are his signs ! and how mighty are his wonders ! his kingdom is
an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation."3
This event, which was soon followed by his death, must have placed the captives with powerful
recommendation in the hands of his successor. And thus we find, that one of the first acts of Evil-
Merodach, his son, was to bring the Jewish king from his dungeon, in the thirty-seventh year of his
captivity, treat him with honour, and place him above all the other captive kings.
The accession of Belshazzar, the third in descent, again obviously endangered the condition of the
captives. The king was a tyrant and a man of blood.4 The fame of Daniel, who would naturally shrink from
such association, had evidently passed away. The Jewish governors of Babylon were perhaps dead, for
1 That the suggestion of erecting the idol, or, at least, of compelling homage on its dedication, was an intrigue to destroy the Jewish governors ;
is rendered the more probable by our not hearing of any charge against Daniel, who held no civil office, or the other Jews, among whom there must have been
many who would have refused the homage ; and also by the king's subsequent decree, to " all who shall speak anything amiss against the God " of the three Jews.
* Daniel iv. 8, &c. s Daniel iv. 1, &c. 4 Xenophon, Cyrop. 1. iv.