Chapter 32 "Pelor and the Dragon"

"Pelor and the Dragon" Dan destroys the Temple of Bel with reason When King Cyrus was in power, he regarded Daniel very highly and treated him like a good friend. At that time, the Babylonians worshiped an idol called Bel, and offered 24 bags of flour, 46 sheep and 6 barrels of wine as sacrifices every day.King Cyrus also worshiped Bel every day, believing that he was a god.But Daniel refused to follow the crowd, he insisted on worshiping his God.This matter was finally known by King Cyrus; "Daniel, I heard that you refused to worship Bel, did you?" "My lord, I do not worship man's idols," Daniel replied, "I worship only the living God."

"But God Bel is alive too? Don't you see that he eats so much every day?" "Your Majesty, don't be fooled by illusions. In my opinion, God Bel is just a pile of earth, with a layer of bronze on its outside. It is impossible for it to eat anything." "What evidence do you have for speaking like this?" King Cyrus was outraged by Daniel's words of slandering the God he revered, but he knew Daniel's wisdom and ordinary personality well, so King Cyrus ordered Biel The 70 priests of God entered the palace and said to them: "Now you have to prove that it is indeed Bel who eats the sacrifice every day. If you can't do it, I will kill all of you; if you If it can be proved to be true, I will put Daniel to death, because just now he said that Bel is not a god."

The priests were already full of jealousy for Daniel being favored by King Cyrus, and today they just took the opportunity to deal with him. Of course they were very willing, because they felt that their plan was foolproof, so they agreed in unison, but Daniel also agreed. . The king, accompanied by Daniel and the priests, went to the Temple of Bel.The priests took the initiative to say to the king: "Your Majesty, let's go out later. Your Majesty can put the food on the altar, pour wine into the cup, lock the temple door, and put a seal on the jade cauldron. Please come back here early tomorrow morning, if your majesty sees that Bel has not eaten everything, we will ask to die; if Bel eats all the food, please execute Daniel because he slandered us God. "The reason why the priests dare to say this is because they have already opened a secret passage under the altar in the temple, and they come in through the passage every night to eat up the offerings.

King Cyrus did as the priests said.After the food was set, Daniel called his servants to spread a layer of ashes on the temple floor.Of course, no one saw this except King Cyrus. Then they locked and sealed the door and went back to the palace. At night, the priests led the whole family into the temple through the passage.They ate and drank so much that they quickly devoured all the offerings. In the morning, the king and Daniel came to the temple together. "Daniel, is the seal on the temple door torn?" King Cyrus asked. "Not torn," replied Daniel; "the seal is as good as it was, Your Majesty."

"Then let's break the seal and go in and have a look." King Cyrus stepped into the temple gate and saw that the altar table was empty, and shouted: "Ah, Bel, you really ate up everything, you are really a god." !" "Beware, Your Majesty," Daniel said to Cyrus, "look at the footprints on the ground. They are obviously not Your Majesty's, but whose are they?" "What? Footprints?" King Cyrus looked down, and there were footprints all over the ground, including adults, children, men, and women. He knew he had been fooled, and shouted: "These hateful priests How dare you fool me! Someone, arrest them all, and bring their wives and children with them!"

The priests were brought before Cyrus, cornered, and confessed the secret of the passage.King Cyrus declared them all to be executed, and handed over the Temple of Bel to Daniel. Daniel destroyed the statue of Bel and demolished the temple of Bel. (Dragon 1-22) daniel slays the dragon After Bel was proven not to be a god by Daniel, the Babylonians stopped worshiping it, but they still worshiped something else—a great dragon.Naturally, Daniel would not worship it. One day, King Cyrus asked Daniel: "You must say that this great dragon is a living god, right? Then you should worship it!"

"I worship only God, and he is the only living God." Daniel replied, "I can kill this great dragon without sword or club, if Your Majesty will allow it." "Oh?! Good. I give you permission." After getting permission, Daniel got some tar, fat meat and hair, put them in a pot and boiled them together. After they were boiled dry, they made these things into cakes and fed them to Dalong.After Dalong ate it, his stomach slowly swelled up like a ball, and finally burst.Daniel scorned him and said, "This is what the Babylonians worship. How can it be a god?"

The news of Daniel killing the dragon quickly spread throughout Babylon. The Babylonians were angry that the Jews killed their gods and were angry that the king favored foreigners. People took to the streets to demonstrate.The procession went as far as the palace, calling Cyrus to come out to them. "The king is about to become a Jew!" "Last time he killed the priest and demolished the Pidong Temple, and this time he killed our dragon again!" "We must get rid of Daniel!" " "Hand over Daniel!" Shouts continued, and they threatened King Cyrus: "If you don't hand over Daniel, we will execute you and your whole family!"

King Cyrus was forced to have no choice but to hand over Daniel, because at this time he could no longer control the situation.These men threw Daniel into a den of lions and kept him there for 6 days. There were 6 lions in the pit, and it took two people and two sheep to feed them every day, but during these six days, they didn't feed anything, in order to make Daniel be eaten as soon as possible. (Long 23-32) Daniel escaped from the lion's den Habakkuk, a prophet of Judah, was about to send the cooked rice to the farmers who harvested the crops in the field. An angel of God came to him and said to him: " Daniel was thrown into the lions' den in Babylon, go and bring him these things to eat."

"But I don't know where the lion's den is," said Habakkuk, "I have never been to Babylon." "I'll take you there," said the angel, grabbing Habakkuk by the hair, and taking him to Babylon by the force of the wind, he placed him by the side of the lions' den.Habakkuk shouted into the pit, "Daniel! Daniel! Did you hear that? God sent me to bring you something to eat!" Daniel in the pit heard Habakkuk's cry, raised his head to the sky, and said, "Thank you, God, for remembering me. I know you never abandon those who love you." Then he stood up and ate.The angel immediately sent Habakkuk back to the house of Judah by wind.

Seven days later, King Cyrus came to the lion pit to mourn his beloved minister.But he looked down and saw Daniel sitting right below. "O God, Daniel's God! You are so great! You are the true God!" King Cyrus exclaimed, and then he praised God.He dragged Daniel out of the lions' den, and ordered those who tried to kill Daniel to be thrown into the lions' den.Those people were swallowed up by lions in a blink of an eye. (Long 33-42)