There must have been other eyes at Babylon wearying for their own free
heights, for there the captives of Judah bore the punishment of their
fathers' sins and their own, and repented so completely, that they never
returned to their idolatry. When in 606, Nebuchadnezzar carried to
Babylon Jehoiachin and the nobles of Judah, he commanded that some
of the royal children should be brought up as slaves to serve in his
palace, and gave them new names after his gods. Daniel, Ananias, Azarias,
and Misael, gave their first proof of their obedience to the Law of
their God in their exile and slavery, by denying themselves the choice
meats set before them, lest they should eat of some forbidden thing, and
living only on dry beans and water. So blessed was their abstinence,
that they excelled all the other youths both in beauty and in wisdom,
and were soon promoted above them. Soon after, Daniel was shown to be
a prophet, for God inspired him, not merely with the meaning of
Nebuchadnezzar's perplexing dream, but revealed to him the dream itself,
which the king had forgotten. That dream was the emblematic history of
the world.
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