It is a now clear that Prophet Daniel was among the Jews that worshiped the golden image of Babylon except Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego his three friends. According to Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 27 to 31, Moses predicted that the Jews on exile will serve foreign gods wade of wood and stones that cannot see, hear or smell. This prophecy fulfilled as the king of Babylon gave his decree that everyone in his kingdom must bow and worship his image and whosoever that refuses will be thrown into the furnace of fire. Prophet Daniel was one of the famous figure of the king's palace and was among the royal dignitaries that was present during the great occasion. Evidently, his name was not mentioned with his three friends that had refused to bow down to the golden image.
It appears that there was a misunderstanding between him and his three friends on this matter. As humans, like Joseph and his brothers, they too had envied him sowing jealousy as their friend and class mate in the Babylonian school who suddenly jumped up far above them and became famous throughout the whole of Babylon as the first of the three presidents appointed by the king of Babylon. Prophet Daniel must have warned them of the danger ahead but they refused to listen to him but insisted that even though if the God of their fathers fails them, they will not bow down to the golden image and would prefer to die by fire instead.
So these three Hebrew youths were alone among the thousands of the Jews that worshiped the golden image including Prophet Daniel himself. According to the book of Daniel, he was very loyal to the king his master in all aspect and there was no fault in him. What provoked the God of the three Hebrew youths was the statement of the king who said “Let me see the god that will save you from my hand” as they refused bowing to the golden image. According to their faith, they were saved by the God of their fathers who sent his angel and delivered them from the furnace of fire. The king saw the angel of the Lord as one of the sons of the gods.
However, Prophet Daniel and the rest of the Jews that bowed down to the golden image were right based on the fact that they should not have worshiped any other gods except the God of their fathers and this law only applies to the land of Israel and not in another country they lived because the culture and tradition of Israel is not the same with those in another country(ies). Daniel knew this mystery with much more deeper understanding than his friends and must have educated all the Jews in Babylon as their Ambassador in Babylon about the prophecies of Moses on this regard but his three friends claiming equality with him resisted him thinking he had been overtaken by the pleasure he had been enjoying in the kings palace and in fact they took him to be like King Solomon of old who had fallen from the faith and worshiping idols. By his divine wisdom, he saved the rest of the Jews from the furnace of fire just as Queen Esther did in Babylon. More so, he was not answering his real name rather he was called by the name of one of the gods of Babylon given to him by the king himself because of his outstanding wisdom.
The Jews are to keep those customs and tradition in their own land as stated in the laws of Moses and not in foreign countries because if they go against those customs and tradition, they will all perish in those countries because as they say “ If you go to Rome you must behave like the Romans. Those people living in Israel were allowed to practice their own religion which is the culture and tradition of their countries that quite agrees to the culture and tradition of Israel. But the law of Moses forbid Israel from serving other gods in their own county Isreal but strangers could serve their own gods instead in Israel as it happened in ancient Israel as stated in part 1 of this articles. In the same way, they could introduce their religion to those countries they lived as well, but the God of Israel being very jealous did not allow them to serve other gods in their own land. Therefore, the Jews must obey the customs and tradition of those people in the countries they lived as they scattered abroad as Apostle Paul also remarked (Romans chapter 13)
Although Prophet Daniel worshiped those Babylonian gods as predicted by Moses in respect of the Jews on exile, his heart was also set to worshiping the God of his fathers in Israel. In Daniel chapter 9, he was fasting and praying for the nation of Israel and was referring to the prophecy of Prophet Jeremiah about the 70 weeks of years termination. Thus he was combining the two religion. One is the religion of their father in Israel and the religion of Babylon. If he was not deep in astrology as part of the Babylonian religion, he cannot receive and interpret astrological revelation relating to the constellations of the stars and their Zodiac signs such as the vision of the He goat, the Ram etc.
His combination of his two religion, made him the famous and wisest man throughout the whole kingdom of Babylon. His exaltation as the head of the whole of Babylon sparked off jealousy and as a result his fellow wise men set him up to be killed. They could now find any fault in him but for one thing, they knew him as someone who always worship the God of his father. Evidently, he was caught worshiping another god after the king had signed a decree that whosoever that does it shall be cast into the Lion’s den.
Evidently, Daniel was caught of worshiping other god and not that he refused to worship Babylonians gods unlike his three friends. Yet the God of his fathers that he served delivered him from the lions den. Read the book of Daniel for more details. Continue to part 3 of this article.
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