pronounced to excel in wisdom and knowledge the wisest men in his empire, and were rewarded with high positions about his court (Dan. i. 15).

While they were thus employed, a remarkable circumstance took place. Nebuchadnezzar dreamt a dream, which exceedingly troubled his spirit. Summoning the magi and astrologers, he demanded that it should be instantly interpreted. They promised the interpretation, if they might be told the dream. But though this had escaped the monarch's memory, he reiterated his command; and when told that to obey it was impossible, issued an edict commanding the instant destruction of all the wise men throughout his realms. This despotic order was made known to Daniel by Arioch the "captain of the executioners," who was charged to see it carried out. The Jewish exile instantly sought an audience with the monarch, and having succeeded in gaining time for a fuller consideration, summoned his three friends, who with fervent prayer to HIм, "from whom no secrets are hid," besought a revelation of the dream. Their prayers were heard, and at a second audience Daniel disclosed the Vision of the Night. The monarch had beheld a great Image, the form of which was terrible. The head was of fine gold, the breast and the arms of silver, the belly and sides of brass, the legs of iron, the feet partly iron and partly clay. The excellent brightness of this Image the monarch had watched, till he suddenly saw a stone cut out of a mountain without hands smite the feet of the Image till it broke in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors, while the stone became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. Such was the Vision which Daniel then proceeded to interpret. "The king himself was this head of gold. To him the God of heaven had given a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. After him should arise another kingdom inferior to his; after that a third kingdom of

brass, which should bear rule over all the earth; to which would succeed a fourth kingdom strong as iron, breaking in pieces and subduing all things. That kingdom, with its feet and toes, part of iron and part of clay, would be partly strong and partly brittle, and its subjects would mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they would not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay, and would make room for another kingdom, which God Himself would set up, to break in pieces and consume all the previous kingdoms, and itself stand for ever1" (Dan. ii. 36—45).

The great Babylonian monarch was profoundly affected by this proof of superhuman knowledge. He fell down on his face and worshipped Daniel; commanded that an oblation and sweet odours should be offered unto him; bestowed on him costly presents, and made him viceroy over the whole province of Babylon, and supreme over all the wise men of his empire. In the hour of his prosperity Daniel did not forget his three companions. By his intercession similar honours were bestowed upon them, while he himself retained the pre-. eminence in the gate of the king (Dan. ii. 46-49).

Though on this memorable occasion the new viceroy had been pre-eminently faithful to the God of his fathers, and by his ascription of all his wisdom to a higher Power, had made the great monarch he served acknowledge that there was a God of gods and Lord of lords, the lesson does not seem to have made a very lasting impression on Nebuchadnezzar's mind. In the vast empire he had won by his arms there were many different nations, with different gods, and different modes of worship. Over all he was supreme, and with the true feel

1 An interpretation now generally understood to indicate (i) the Chaldean, (ii) Medo-Persian, (iii) Macedonian, and (iv) Roman empires, which last gives way to (v) the kingdom of Messiah.

ing of an Oriental despot it seemed to him only right that they should all acknowledge his chief deity. This was the great Bel, or Bel-Merodach1, "the supreme chief of the gods," "the king of the heavens and the earth," the Jupiter of the Babylonian Pantheon. It was possibly an image of this god, 60 cubits high and 6 broad, and overlaid with golden plates3, which he now proceeded to set up on the plain of Dura, with the command that at the sound of instruments of music, all his subjects, from the highest to the lowest, should fall down and worship it, on penalty of being flung into a burning fiery furnace (Dan. iii. 5, 6).

In accordance with this edict, all the officers of the court of Babylon, and the governors of the different provinces who had been summoned to assist at the ceremony, flocked to the plain of Dura, and with one consent, as soon as the music sounded, prostrated themselves before the great dumb image which their lord had set up. But Daniel's three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in this hour of trial remained faithful to the religion of their fathers, neither falling down nor worshipping with the rest. This act of disobedience to their master was quickly perceived by many of the native Chaldæans, who were already filled with jealousy at the elevation of the exiles, and they were not slow in reporting it to Nebuchadnezzar. On hearing it, that monarch's

1 Rawlinson's Bampton Lectures, notes, p. 439; Herod. Vol. I. pp. 628, 629.

2 Smith's Bib. Dict., Art. Nebuchadnezzar. Dr Pusey, on the other hand, writes, "Whether the image was formed in reminiscence of that emblem of human might, which Nebuchadnezzar had seen in his dream, and of which the head was declared to represent himself, or whether it was himself whom he intended to be worshipped in it, it was plainly some test of allegiance required of all peoples, nations, and languages, in his whole empire." Lectures on Daniel, p. 440.

3 Ibid. p. 442, and the note.

wrath knew no bounds. He summoned them before him; he reiterated the command he had already issued; he warned them that in spite of their high position they should certainly suffer the penalty of their disobedience. But his words were wasted. These three mighty ones in "the noble army of martyrs" replied that they were not careful to answer him in this matter; their God could, if such was His will, deliver them from the fiery furnace, and even if He did not, they would not serve the monarch's god, or bow before the Image he had set up (Dan. iii. 16-18).

This outspoken refusal filled Nebuchadnezzar with still greater fury. The form of his visage was changed, he bade the furnace be heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated, and ordered the mightiest captains in his army to bind the three, and fling them into the fire. His words were obeyed, but at the cost of the lives of his captains, who fell victims to their zeal, being caught by the raging flames. Moreover, when he looked to see the three martyrs speedily reduced to ashes, behold they were observed loose, walking unscathed in the midst of the fire, accompanied by a Celestial Being, in whom the monarch discerned none other than a "Son of God!" Thereupon he drew near to the mouth of the furnace, and bade his intended victims come forth. And they came forth, and on their bodies, as all attested, the fire was seen to have had no power, neither was a hair of their head singed, neither had the smell of fire passed over them. Filled with admiration for their heroic faith, the monarch issued a decree that all men, far and wide, throughout his empire should revere the God of these Hebrews, and that every people, nation, or language that spake word against their God, should be cut in pieces, and their houses made a dunghill (Dan. iii. 29).

CHAPTER II.

REIGNS OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR, BELSHAZZAR, AND DARIUS.

DAN. IV. VI. B. C. 570-538.

HOUGH from the incident just recorded Nebuchad

THO

nezzar had learnt to know the greatness of the God of Israel, a still sterner lesson was needed to teach him his own position in reference to the Most High. He was by far the greatest of the Babylonian monarchs. His name was known, his power was dreaded throughout the entire Eastern world. He was the conqueror of Syria, of Phoenicia, of Tyre, of Palestine. He was the adorner and beautifier of his native land. He built noble cities; he raised stately temples; he renovated, fortified, almost rebuilt Babylon; he constructed quays and breakwaters1, reservoirs, canals, and aqueducts on a scale of grandeur and magnificence surpassing everything of the kind recorded in history. Perhaps no single man ever left behind him as his memorial, onehalf the amount of building which was erected by this king. The palace he built for himself in Babylon with its triple walls, its hanging gardens, its plated pillars, was regarded in his day as one of the wonders of the world, while even at the present hour3 it is his name

1 Along the shores of the Persian Gulf. Rawlinson's Herod. Vol. I. p. 513.

2 Rawlinson's Bampton Lectures, p. 160 and notes; Herod. Vol. I. pp. 512, 513; Smith's Bib. Dict., Art. Nebuchadnezzar.

"I have examined," says Sir H. Rawlinson, "the bricks in situ, belonging perhaps to a hundred different towns and cities in the neighbourhood of Baghdad, and I never found any other legend than that of Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabopolassar, king of Babylon." Nine-tenths of the bricks amidst the ruins of Babylon are stamped with his name. Compare his own words as recorded in Dan. iv. 30: "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built?"