Bel and the Dragon 14
14
Daniel and the Priests of Bel
1After the death of King Astyages, Cyrus of Persia took over his kingdom. 2Daniel was one of King Cyrus' closest companions, and the king thought more highly of Daniel than of any other of his advisers.
3 #
Is 46.1; Jr 51.44 The Babylonians had an idol named Bel. Each day the people had to provide Bel with an offering of twelve bushels of fine flour, forty sheep, and fifty gallons of wine. 4King Cyrus believed that Bel was a god, and each day he used to go and worship it. But Daniel worshiped his own God.
5One day the king asked Daniel, “Why don't you worship Bel?”
Daniel answered, “I do not worship idols made with human hands. I worship only the living God, who created heaven and earth and is the Lord of all human beings.”
6“And don't you believe that our god Bel is really alive?” asked the king. “Haven't you seen how much he eats and drinks every day?”
7Daniel laughed and said, “Don't be fooled, Your Majesty. This god you call Bel is nothing more than clay covered with bronze; it has never eaten or drunk anything.”
8-10At this the king became angry and called in all seventy of the priests of Bel. He said to them, “I warn you that you will be put to death, unless you can show me that it is Bel who is eating these offerings. If you prove to me that it is Bel, then I will have Daniel put to death for claiming that Bel is not a god.”
Daniel agreed to this proposal.
11Then they all went with the king into Bel's temple, where the priests said to the king, “Your Majesty, we will go out and let you place the food on the table and prepare the wine. When you leave, you may lock the door behind you and seal it with the royal seal. 12In the morning when you return, if you find that Bel has not eaten everything, you can put us to death. But if he has, Daniel will die for making false accusations against us.”
13But the priests were not worried, because they had made a secret entrance underneath a table in the temple, so that they could go in every night and eat the offerings.
14When the priests had left, the king set out the food for Bel. Then Daniel ordered his servants to bring some ashes and scatter them all over the floor of the temple. No one except the king saw them do this. After that they all went out, locked the door, sealed it with the royal seal, and left.
15That night, as usual, the priests with their wives and children came into the temple by the secret entrance and ate all the food and drank all the wine.
16Early the next morning, the king and Daniel went to the temple. 17The king asked, “Have the seals been broken, Daniel?”
“No, Your Majesty, they have not been broken,” he replied.
18As soon as the door was opened, the king saw the empty table and shouted, “You are great, O Bel! You really are a god.”
19But Daniel began to laugh and said to the king, “Before you enter the temple, look at the floor and tell me whose footprints you see there.”
20“I see the footprints of men, women, and children,” said the king, 21and he became so angry that he had the priests and their families arrested and brought to him. They showed him the secret doors through which they had come in each night to eat the food placed on the table. 22So the king had the priests put to death, and he gave Bel to Daniel, who destroyed the idol and tore down its temple.
Daniel Kills the Dragon
23There was also a huge dragon which the Babylonians worshiped. 24One day the king said to Daniel, “You can't tell me that this god is not alive. So worship him!”
25“I worship the Lord,” replied Daniel. “He is the only living God. 26And if Your Majesty will give me permission, I will kill this dragon of yours without using a sword or a club.”
“You have my permission,” answered the king.
27So Daniel took some tar, some fat, and some hair and boiled them all together. He made cakes out of the mixture and fed them to the dragon. When the dragon ate them, it swelled up and burst open. “That's the kind of thing you Babylonians worship,” said Daniel.
28When the people of Babylon heard what had happened, they staged an angry demonstration against the king. “The king has become a Jew,” they shouted. “First he destroyed Bel and slaughtered the priests, and now he has killed our dragon.” 29They went to the king and demanded that Daniel be handed over to them. “If you refuse,” they warned the king, “we will put you and your family to death.”
30When the king saw that they meant what they said, he was forced to hand Daniel over to them. 31#Dn 6.16-24 They threw him into a pit of lions, where they left him for six days. 32There were seven lions in the pit, and normally they were fed two human bodies and two sheep each day. But they were given nothing to eat during these six days, in order to make sure that Daniel would be eaten.
Daniel Is Rescued from the Pit of Lions
33At that time the prophet Habakkuk was in the land of Judah. He had cooked a stew and crumbled bread into it. He was carrying a bowl of it to the workers who were out in the fields harvesting grain, 34when an angel of the Lord spoke to him, “Take the food you are carrying and give it to Daniel, who is in Babylon in a pit of lions.”
35Habakkuk answered, “Sir, I have never been to Babylon, and I don't know where the pit of lions is.”
36 #
Ez 8.3
So the angel grabbed the prophet by the hair and took him to Babylon with the speed of the wind.#1.36: with the speed of the wind; or by the power of his spirit. He set him down near the pit of lions. 37Habakkuk called out, “Daniel! Daniel! God has sent you some food. Here, take it.”
38When Daniel heard Habakkuk, he prayed, “God, you did remember me; you never abandon those who love you.” 39Then he got up and ate the meal, and God's angel immediately took Habakkuk home.
40Seven days after Daniel had been thrown to the lions, the king went to the pit to mourn for him. When he got there and looked in, there sat Daniel. 41The king shouted, “O Lord, the God of Daniel, how great you are. You alone are God.” 42So he pulled Daniel out of the pit and had those who had tried to kill Daniel thrown into it. And the lions ate them immediately, while the king watched.
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Bel and the Dragon 14: GNTD
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Bel and the Dragon 14
14
Daniel Defeats the Priests of Bel
1When King Astyages was buried in the tomb with his ancestors, Cyrus the Persian took his place as king.#1 King Astyages … king: Astyages was the last king of Media. He was defeated in battle in 550 b.c. by his grandson Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia, who then became king of the Medes and the Persians and ruled until 530 b.c. 2Daniel was a friend and advisor of King Cyrus, and the king honored him more than anyone else.
3 #
Is 46.1; Jr 51.44. Every day, the Babylonians took food to the idol of their god Bel.#3 Bel: Another name for Marduk, the chief god of Babylonia. Bel means “lord.” They brought 272 kilograms of the best wheat flour, 190 liters of wine, and the meat from 40 sheep.
4King Cyrus believed that Bel was a powerful god, and he worshiped the idol every day, but Daniel worshiped only his own God. One day, Cyrus asked Daniel, “Why don't you worship Bel?”
5Daniel answered, “I refuse to worship idols—they are made by humans. Instead, I worship the living God, because he created heaven and earth, and he rules everyone who lives.”
6“But, Daniel,” the king replied, “isn't Bel a living god? Haven't you seen how much he eats and drinks each day?”
7Daniel laughed and said, “Don't be fooled, Your Majesty. That idol is merely clay on the inside and bronze on the outside! It never ate or drank anything.”
8This made the king angry. So he called in his priests and told them, “Prove to me that Bel#8 Prove to me that Bel: Greek “Tell me who.” is eating all this food! If you can't, then you will die. 9But if you can prove that Bel really is eating the food, then Daniel will die, because he has insulted the god Bel.”
Daniel said, “Your Majesty, that sounds fair enough to me.”
10Now there were 70 priests of Bel, and they and their wives had lots of children.
The king went with Daniel into the temple of Bel, 11and the priests said, “Your Majesty, we will go outside now. Please set out the food and the wine yourself, then shut the door. Drip some hot wax along the edge of the door and press your ring into the wax to leave your special mark. This will show that only you are allowed to open the door.#11 Drip some hot wax … open the door: The king's ring had a special design on it, and he pressed the ring into the soft, hot wax. Then, after the wax cooled, the door could not be opened without breaking the wax. 12When you come back in the morning, if you find that Bel hasn't eaten everything, then you can put us to death. But if the food is gone, this will prove Daniel has been lying, and you can put him to death.”
13The priests were not worried at all. They had a secret trap door under the table, and that was how they sneaked into the temple every night to eat the food.
14The priests left, and the king arranged Bel's food on the table. Then Daniel told his servants to scatter ashes over the temple floor. The king was the only other person who saw them do this. They shut the door as they went outside, and the king placed his special mark on some hot wax along the edge of the door so that they could tell if the door had been opened. Then they all left.
15Later that night, the priests and their wives and children went to the temple as they always did, and they ate and drank everything.
16Early the next morning, the king brought Daniel to the temple 17and asked him, “Daniel, has the wax been broken? Has the door been opened?”
“No, Your Majesty,” Daniel answered.
18As soon as the door was opened,#18 door was opened: Greek “doors were opened.” the king looked at the empty table and shouted, “Bel, you are a great god, and you always tell the truth!”
19Daniel just laughed. He kept the king from entering the temple and said, “Look at the floor—I wonder who left all those footprints?”
20The king said, “I can see the footprints of men, women, and children!” 21He was furious and told his guards to arrest the priests along with their wives and children. Then the priests showed him the secret door they used when they sneaked into the temple to eat the food that was on Bel's table.
22The king told his guards to kill the priests and their families. Then he gave the temple and the idol of Bel to Daniel, who had them destroyed.
Daniel Kills the Dragon
23The Babylonians also worshiped a huge dragon#23 dragon: Or “snake”; the Greek word can refer either to a snake or to an imaginary snake-like monster. The snake may have represented the Babylonian goddess Tiamat. as a god, 24and the king of Babylonia said to Daniel, “You can't say this god isn't alive! So you ought to worship it.”
25Daniel answered, “I worship the Lord, because he is the living God. 26Your Majesty, if you will give me permission, I will kill this dragon, without striking it with a sword or a club.”
“I give you permission to try,” the king replied.
27Daniel put some tar and animal fat and hair in a pot and boiled them together. Then he shaped the mixture into cakes that looked something like loaves of barley bread and fed them to the dragon. It swelled up and burst open, and Daniel said, “Take a look at what you Babylonians worship.”
28But when the Babylonians heard what had happened, they were so upset with the king that they began plotting against him. “Has the king become a Jew?” they asked each other. “First he destroyed our idol Bel and killed its priests. And now he has killed our dragon-god.”
29The Babylonians went to the king and said, “Hand Daniel over to us. If you don't, we will kill you and everyone in your family!”
30The king saw that he really had no choice, and so he was forced to let them have Daniel.
31-32 #
Dn 6.16-24. The Babylonians kept seven lions in a large pit and fed them two people and two sheep each day. Daniel was thrown into this pit, and for the next six days the lions were given no other food. The Babylonians wanted to make sure the lions would eat Daniel.
33Meanwhile, far away in Judea, the prophet Habakkuk had made a pot of stew and put some pieces of bread into a bowl. He was about to take it to the workers who were harvesting wheat in the fields, 34when an angel told him, “Take this meal to the lion pit in Babylon, and give it to Daniel.”
35Habakkuk replied, “But, sir, I've never been to Babylon, and I don't know where the lion pit is.”
36 #
Ez 8.3. The angel lifted up Habakkuk by his hair and carried him to Babylon as fast as the wind. He set Habakkuk down at the edge of the lion pit, 37and Habakkuk shouted, “Daniel, take this food God has sent you.”
38Daniel prayed, “Thank you, God, for remembering me. You always take care of those who love you.”
39Daniel got up and ate the food, while God's angel quickly returned Habakkuk to his home.
40Seven days later, the king came to the lion pit to mourn for Daniel. But when he looked into the pit, he saw Daniel sitting there, alive. 41Then the king shouted out this prayer: “You, the Lord God of Daniel, are powerful! You alone are the true God!”
42The king ordered Daniel to be pulled up out of the pit, then he arrested the men who had tried to have Daniel killed. The king had them thrown into the pit, and he watched the lions gobble them up.
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