Chapter 39—In the Court of Babylon
This chapter is based on
Daniel 1
.
Among the children of Israel who were carried captive to Babylon
at the beginning of the seventy years’ captivity were Christian patriots,
men who were as true as steel to principle, who would not be corrupted
by selfishness, but who would honor God at the loss of all things. In the
land of their captivity these men were to carry out God’s purpose by
giving to heathen nations the blessings that come through a knowledge
of Jehovah. They were to be His representatives. Never were they to
compromise with idolaters; their faith and their name as worshipers of
the living God they were to bear as a high honor. And this they did. In
prosperity and adversity they honored God, and God honored them.
The fact that these men, worshipers of Jehovah, were captives in
Babylon, and that the vessels of God’s house had been placed in the
Temple of the Babylonish gods, was boastfully cited by the victors as
evidence that their religion and customs were superior to the religion
[480]
and customs of the Hebrews. Yet through the very humiliations that
Israel’s departure from Him had invited, God gave Babylon evidence
of His supremacy, of the holiness of His requirements, and of the sure
results of obedience. And this testimony He gave, as alone it could be
given, through those who were loyal to Him.
Among those who maintained their allegiance to God were Daniel
and his three companions—illustrious examples of what men may
become who unite with the God of wisdom and power. From the
comparative simplicity of their Jewish home, these youth of royal line
were taken to the most magnificent of cities and into the court of the
world’s greatest monarch. Nebuchadnezzar “spake unto Ashpenaz the
master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of
Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes; children in whom was
no blemish, but well favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning
in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in
them to stand in the king’s palace....
313