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55. Daniel.
The captivity is not
to be understood in the sense that the Jews were locked up in prisons,
but that they had to live in a foreign country under the rule of their
victors, had to do forced labour and were not allowed to return to their
beloved homeland. Apart from that, they had good days and bad days in
their captivity, as it happened to everyone.
The king of the Chaldeans ordered that the most skilful and finest young
men of noble birth should be selected from the captives and brought up
for his court service, and that they should also be taught the Chaldean
language and script. Among them was Daniel. These boys were treated well
and nobly; indeed, they received their food and drink from the king's
table. But Daniel and some of his friends considered it a sin to eat
food from a pagan table because it was unclean in their eyes. So they
preferred to eat only common vegetables and drink water rather than do
anything against their conscience. The kindly overseer of these boys
told them that this was all right, but it would bring him great danger
with the king if the king saw that they were not receiving the proper
food. Daniel said to him that he would make a trial of them for ten days
only. After ten days, to his astonishment, they looked better and more
perfect than all the other boys.
From then on, they received their vegetables and water every day, as
they wished, and grew better and better. This is not a miracle, but a
good lesson. Not delicious food and strong drink, nor much eating, but
moderation and order and the fear of God, to do no evil, this keeps the
youthful body healthy and gives it beautiful growth and strong limbs.
When the boys were brought before the king, no one was found among them
who was like Daniel and his friends; they were also wiser and more
intelligent than all the astrologers and wise men in the whole kingdom.
Daniel's performance won him the favour of all the people who dealt with
him, and he rose to great honour and power in the court of the kings of
Babylon. He finally became governor over the third part of the kingdom.
But in all his majesty he did not forget his poor fatherland and his
unfortunate countrymen. No, he mourned with them, he prayed for them, he
comforted them with advice and action and thought incessantly about what
their future fate would be. For he could not grasp the thought that God
had forever abandoned the people on whom he had shown his special
providence for so many centuries. In the same way, two other Jews, Ezra
and Nehemiah, gradually became respected and happy men. Indeed, how
could a heart be happy that thought day and night of Jerusalem and the
former times?
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