It was quite different with little Josiah. He was only eight years old when he was crowned King of Judah, and he had no one so good as the high priest Jehoida, who was the teacher of Joash, to help him to do right. Even the holy writings that were given to Moses were lost, and the people did not ask to hear them read. But the Lord had not allowed His word to be destroyed, and when Josiah was having the temple repaired the high priest found the rolls of parchment on which the law was written, and sent it to the king by a servant of the king who was a writer. Josiah was full of interest in the ancient book, and wished to know what was in it, and his servant read it to him.
When he found that he and his people were not living as G.o.d had commanded in the law, he sent to inquire of the Lord what He would have them to do, and they went to Huldah, the prophetess. She told the king"s messengers that a great calamity would fall upon the kingdom because they had turned away from the true G.o.d, but because the king"s heart was tender and full of desire to follow the Lord, it should not come during his lifetime.
Then the king called all the chief men of Judah, and the people of the city, both great and small, with the priests and the Levites, to the Lord"s house, and there he read in their hearing the word of the Lord.
It was like a new book to the most of them, but they were ready to follow the king in making a solemn promise to the Lord to do His commandments, and bring back the true worship.
So they had a great feast of the pa.s.sover, to which all the people came with offerings, and there was no pa.s.sover in all the history of the kings of Judah and Israel that was like this one that was held in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah.
After he had prepared the temple for worship, and had destroyed the altars of the idols, he went out to meet the King of Egypt in battle and was killed, and there was a great mourning for him in all the land, for he had been a good king--kind to his people and faithful to his G.o.d. Jeremiah the prophet made a great lamentation for him, for he knew that one of Josiah"s sons would be the last king of Judah, and that for their sins the people would be driven out of their own land to be captives in Babylon for seventy years.
CHAPTER x.x.xI.
THE FOUR CAPTIVE CHILDREN.
Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, came with his armies and besieged Jerusalem, just as Jeremiah the prophet had foretold. He took the king and the princes of Judah captive, and carried away their precious things from the temple and the palaces into his own land, and put them in the temples of his G.o.ds. Before twenty years had pa.s.sed the whole nation had been driven into captivity, and their holy house had been burned, and the ark of the covenant lost or destroyed. As the kingdom of Israel had also been scattered, the whole land lay desolate, and the walls of the cities were broken down.
When the King of Babylon first besieged Jerusalem he carried away the finest of the princely families to serve him. They were the flower of Jerusalem--young men of n.o.ble face and form; well taught in the learning of the Jews, and skilfull in the sciences of that time. They were also chosen for their natural ability to learn the language and the wisdom of the Chaldeans.
Among these were four boys named Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
The king gave these boys into the care of his chief officer, who set teachers over them and treated them very kindly, while the king sent them each day meat and wine from his own table. The Chaldeans offered these things to idols, and then ate of them themselves; they also used some meats for food that were unclean to an Israelite, so that the four children of Judah determined that they would not touch the king"s meat and drink.
Daniel spoke to the chief officer about it, and though he had learned to love Daniel very much, he was afraid to have the boys refuse the king"s food.
"I fear my lord the king," he said, "who hath appointed your meat and your drink, for why should he see your faces sadder than the children which are of your sort? Then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king."
But Daniel turned to Melzar, the steward, and begged him to prove them by giving them only vegetables to eat and water to drink for ten days, and "Then," said he "let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king"s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants." And he proved them for ten days.
At the end of that time their faces were fatter and fairer than the faces of all the others who ate portions from the King"s table, and they were allowed to eat the food they had chosen.
They also grew in wisdom and judgment. Daniel had the gift of understanding visions and dreams, and the gift came from G.o.d, and not from the study of magic. Among all the young men these four were most pleasing to the king, and they were called to the palace to stand before him.
Not long after this the king had a dream that seemed very wonderful to him, but he could not remember it. He called all his magicians, and astrologers, and wise men together, and told them that they must tell him what his dream was, and the meaning of it, or he would destroy them. There was no man wise enough to tell him, and he ordered that all the wise men of Babylon should be killed, Daniel and his friends among them.
Daniel asked the captain of the king"s guard why the king was so hasty with his decree, and the captain told him.
Then Daniel went to the king and told him that if he would give him a little time he would tell him his dream and its meaning, and he went to his three friends and together they prayed the G.o.d of Heaven to show them the dream and its interpretation.
That night Daniel saw in a vision from G.o.d the same thing that the king had seen and had forgotten. It was a great image standing before the king, and shining like the sun. The head was of pure gold, the breast and arms of silver, and the rest of the body of bra.s.s; while the legs were of iron, and the feet were part of iron and part of clay. As he looked a great stone cut from a mountain by unseen hands was hurled at the image, striking its feet and breaking them. Then the image fell and broke into pieces so fine that the winds blew them away, but the stone grew to be a great mountain that filled the earth.
Then Daniel gave thanks to G.o.d for showing him the dream, and went to the king.
He told the king that the G.o.d of Heaven alone had revealed the dream, for no man could know it, and he told him what the dream had been. He also told him that G.o.d had shown him the meaning; that the head of gold was the king himself, who reigned over the greatest kingdom on earth, but after him new kingdoms would rise, and the silver, the bra.s.s, the iron and the clay stood for these; but in the days of the kingdom of iron and clay the G.o.d of heaven would set up a kingdom which should never be destroyed, but it would destroy all the kingdoms that had gone before it. This kingdom--the great stone cut without hands from the mountain--meant the Kingdom of Christ.
The king was so astonished at Daniel"s wisdom--for it was the dream he had forgotten brought back and interpreted--that he fell on his face before Daniel and reverenced the G.o.d of heaven. He made Daniel chief ruler in his realm and gave also great honors to his friends.
Nebuchadnezzar soon forgot G.o.d, for he set up a great golden image on the plain of Dura, and called a feast of dedication. He had all his princes and governors there, and his captains, and judges, and rulers.
The musicians were there also, with many kinds of instruments, and a herald was there who cried in a loud voice the command of the king. It was a call to worship the golden image. At the first sound of the bands of music all were to fall down before the golden image, or failing to do so, be thrown into a fiery furnace.
Among the rulers were the three friends of Daniel, whose names had been changed by the king to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They did not fall before the golden image, and some jealous Chaldeans who saw them went and told the king. Then the king, who had a fiery temper, was angry, and sent for the three young men. He told them the bands should play again, and if they failed to worship the golden image they should be cast into the furnace, "and who is that G.o.d that shall deliver you out of my hands?" he asked.
"We are not careful to answer thee in this matter," they said, "If it be so, our G.o.d whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king."
Then the king in a great rage called his mighty men to bind the young men, and after the furnace was heated seven times hotter than before, they were thrown in. So great was the heat that the men who threw them in were killed by it in the sight of the king. As he watched the great door of the furnace the king rose up and said,
"Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?"
"True, O king," said his lords and captains.
[Ill.u.s.tration: In the fiery furnace]
Then the king with his eyes fixed upon the glowing door of the furnace said,
"Lo I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of G.o.d."
Then he went near the door of the furnace and cried,
"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high G.o.d, come forth and come hither!"
Then they came out before the king and all the people, who saw that the fire had no power over their bodies, for no hair of their head was burned, and no smell of fire was upon their garments.
Then the king was very humble, and acknowledged the G.o.d of heaven, "because there is no other G.o.d" he said "that can deliver after this sort." And he promoted the young men to still higher places in his kingdom.
CHAPTER x.x.xII.
THE MASTER OF THE MAGICIANS.
The Lord saw that the heart of Nebuchadnezzar was lifted up with pride because he was king of a great people, and had conquered many weaker nations. He was proud of his royal city, Babylon. The walls of Babylon were sixty miles in length, and in them stood one hundred brazen gates. There were wonderful palaces, and statues, and bridges, and gardens. The river Euphrates ran through the city, and near the king"s palace was a hill covered with trees and flowering plants from many lands, called the Hanging Gardens.
Babylon was built on a plain, but the king had these gardens made for his wife, who had come from a country of hills.
The king was praised so much by the princes and rulers that he thought only of his own power and riches, and became proud and cruel. So the Lord sent him a dream. He saw a tree great and high, standing in the midst of a wide plain. It grew until it reached the heavens, and its branches spread to the ends of the earth. It was thick with green leaves, and heavy with fruit; the birds lived in it, and the beasts lay in its shadow, and all things living came to it for food. Then he saw an angel coming down from heaven crying,
"Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches; shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit; let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches; nevertheless, leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and bra.s.s, in the tender gra.s.s of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the gra.s.s of the earth; let his heart be changed from a man"s, and let a beast"s heart be given unto him, and let seven times pa.s.s over him."
This dream was given that the king might be taught that the Lord alone is King.
Daniel, named by the king Belteshazzar, was called to interpret the dream, and the Lord gave him power to do it.
"The tree that thou sawest," said Daniel, "it is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong; for thy greatness is grown and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth."
Then Daniel told the king that he must be driven from men to dwell with the beasts of the field; to eat gra.s.s with the oxen, and be wet with the dews of heaven, until he had learned that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives to whosoever He will. But as the roots of the tree were left in the ground, so his kingdom should be preserved for him until he had learned that the heavens do rule.