Page 111 - The Prophet-statesman a Drama of Daniel

CHAPTER XXIV

DARK DAYS

According to the last will and testament of King Nebuchadnezzar, Neriglissar was
only to be king pro-tem, a provisional ruler until Nabunaid should attain the age of
fifty. The great king’s son-in-law was just forty when Neriglissar ascended the throne.
The course of the kingdom during the first decade of Neriglissar’s reign followed a

pattern similar to that of the days of Belgar and for the same reason. Conscientious,
faithful and patriotic officials were summarily discharged from office and replaced by
men with neither ability nor honor, but selfish and avaricious grafters who regarded
public office as a means to their own enrichment and cared nothing for the public

weal. Decadence, dissatisfaction and discouragement were visible on every side.

Daniel and his three friends lived together in quiet retirement. No longer young
men, they were pressing on to their three-score-and-ten, all enjoying reasonably good

health. Under close observation from the secret service spies of Neriglissar, they
deemed it unwise to foregather with their former associates in government except as
they met them in the meetings of the Magi.

As the years had passed, the four Hebrews had become increasingly influential
among the Wise Men of Babylon. They had succeeded in turning the minds of the
Chaldean Magi to the careful study of the Hebrew scripture-the five books of Moses,
the historic books, as far as they had been written, the Psalms and the writings of

Solomon, and the records of the prophets up until the days of the Babylonian
conquest. By the aid of the expositions of Daniel and his friends, a considerable
number of the Magi became adept in their understanding of the sacred writings and
were themselves able to expound them. Israel’s Messianic hope was so clearly

understood by them that it became part of the tradition of the Chaldean Magi,
transmitted from generation to generation until five-and-a-half centuries later, a group
of them who were astronomers as well, saw a wondrous star and were inspired to

know that that star had something to do with the fulfillment of the Messianic hope
promised to Israel of old. They determined to seek out the infant Messiah, so riding
upon white camels and laden down with sumptuous gifts, they appeared in Jerusalem.
Dismounting from their white camels, they inquired in rather good Hebrew: “Where is
He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East and are come

to worship Him.” Few know that the visitation nearly six centuries later of the Wise
Men of the East, was a direct tribute to the witness and character of Daniel, the noble