Page 66 - The Prophet-statesman a Drama of Daniel

saw that he had been too hasty. He had taken great pains to remove Daniel from the
scene, but had completely forgotten about his friends, whose administration of their
respective ministries he knew to be so excellent and efficient as to be beyond praise. He

knew he was now caught in the toil of his own decree and had no alternative but to go
through with it. Even so, as he contemplated the fact that men whom he had promoted
to high rank had ignored his decree and absented themselves from his festival, in a
measure thus humiliating the king, his anger began to rise and he ordered that these

three high officials be summoned to his presence.

In the case of any others he would have ordered a summary execution in the furnace,
but he hastily recalled that there was still another day of the festival, and that the young

men who had served him and the empire so well could still be spared if they would be
persuaded to suspend their objections and go forth to worship the image on the final
day.

When they presented themselves before the king, he said to them with reasonable
restraint: “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor
worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if ye be ready at what time ye hear
the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery and dulcimer and all kinds of music,

ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye
shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that
god that shall deliver you out of my hands?”

Forgotten now was the Revealer of Secrets who had returned to him his errant
dream!

In respect to the king and that their reply might not sound like a hasty retort, the

three remained silent for a brief moment. Then spoke Mishael for the three in an even
tone and dignified manner: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in
this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning
fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O King. But if not, be it known

unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which
thou hast set up.”

Never had Nebuchadnezzar, the autocrat, he of the indomitable will, been addressed
so directly, nor had he ever been so challenged or defied.

All discretion was thrown to the winds, as the monarch, burning with fury toward
the calm young Hebrews before him, roared forth a command to make the furnace of

the brick-kiln seven times hotter to receive the bodies of the young statesmen who had
dared to defy him. His madness even thwarted the ends of hatred. If he had wished to