take and spend what was brought for them from the king, but to give them pulse and dates for their food, and any thing else, besides the flesh of living creatures, that he pleased, for that their inclinations were to that sort of food, and that they despised the other. He replied, that he was ready to serve them in what they desired, but he suspected that they would be discovered by the king, from their meager bodies, and the alteration of their countenances, because it could not be avoided but their bodies and colours must be changed with their diet, especially while they would be clearly discovered by the finer appearance of the other children, who would fare better, and thus they should bring him into danger, and occasion him to be punished: yet did they persuade Arioch, who was thus fearful, to give them what food they desired for ten days, by way of trial, and in case the habit of their bodies were not altered, to go on in the same way, as expecting that they should not be hurt thereby afterwards, but that if he saw them look meager, and worse than the rest, he should reduce them to their former diet. Now, when it appeared that they were so far from becoming worse by the use of this food, that they grew plumper and fuller in body than the rest, insomuch that he thought those who fed on what came from the king's table seemed less plump and full, while those that were with Daniel looked as if they had lived in plenty, and in all sorts of luxury, Arioch, from that time, securely took himself what the king sent every day from his supper, according to custom, to the children, but gave them the fore-mentioned diet, while they had their souls in some measure more pure, and less burdened, and so fitter for learning, and had their bodies in better tune for hard labour, for they neither had the former oppressed and heavy with variety of meats, nor were the other effe minate on the same account; so they readily understood allthe learning that was among the Hebrews, and among the Chaldeans, as especially did Daniel, who being already sufficiently skilful in wisdom, was very busy about the interpretation of dreams: and God manifested himself to him. 3. Now two years after the destruction of Egypt, king Nebuchadnezzar saw a wonderful dream, the accomplishment of which God shewed him in his sleep, but when he arose out of his bed, he forgot the accomplishment: So he sent for the Chaldeans, and magicians, and the prophets, and told them, that he had seen a dream, and informed them that he had forgotten the accomplishment of what he had seen, and he enjoined them to tell him, both what the dream was, and what was its signification; and they said, that this was a thing impossible to be discovered by men, but they promised him. that if he would explain to them what dream he had seen, they would tell him its signification. Hereupon he threatened to put them to death unless they told him his dream; and he gave command to have them all put to death, since they confessed they could not do what they were commanded to do. Now when Daniel heard that the king had given a command, that all the wise men should be put to death, and that among them himself and his three kinsmen were in danger, he went to Arioch, who was captain of the king's guards, and desired to know of him what was the reason why the king had given command that all the wise men, and Chaldeans, and magicians, should be slain? So when he had learned that the king had had a dream, and had forgotten it, and that when they were enjoined to inform the king of it, they had said they could not do it, and had thereby provoked him to anger, he desired of Arioch that he would go in to the king, and desire respite for the magicians for one night, and to put off their slaughter so long, for that he hoped within that time to obtain, by prayer to God, the knowledge of the dream. Accordingly Arioch informed the king of what Daniel desired: So the king bid them delay the slaughter of the magicians till he knew what Daniel's promise would come to; but the young man retired to his own house with his kinsmen, and besought God that whole night to discover the dream, and thereby deliver the magicians and Chaldeans, with whom they were themselves to perish, from the king's anger, by enabling him to declare his vision, and to make manifest what the king had seen the night before in his sleep, but had forgotten it. Accordingly God, out of pity to those that were in danger, and out of regard to the wisdom of Daniel, made known to him the dream and its interpretation, that so the king might understand by him its signification also. When Daniel had obtained this knowledge from God, he arose very joyful, and told it his brethren, and made them glad, and to hope well, that they should now preserve their lives, of which they despaired before, and had their minds full of nothing but the thoughts of dying. So when he had with them returned thanks to God, who had commiserated their youth, when it was day he came to Arioch, and desired him to bring him to the king, because he would discover to him that dream which he had seen the night before. 4. When Daniel was come in to the king, he excused himself first, that " he did not pretend to be wiser than the other "Chaldeans and magicians, when, upon their entire inability to discover his dream, he was undertaking to inform him "of it, for this was not by his own skill, or on account of his σε "having better cultivated his understanding than the rest, "but he said, God hath had pity upon us, when we were in "danger of death, and when I prayed for the life of myself, "and of those of my own nation, hath made manifest to me "both the dream, and the interpretation thereof, for I was "not less concerned for thy glory than for the sorrow that "we were by thee condemned to die, while thou didst so unjustly command men, both good and excellent in them"selves to be put to death, when thou enjoinedst them to "do what was entirely above the reach of human wisdom, "and requiredst of them what was only the work of God. "Wherefore, as thou in thy sleep was solicitous concerning "those that should succeed thee in the government of the whole "world, God was desirous to shew thee all those that should "reign after thee, and to that end exhibited to thee the fol"lowing dream: Thou seemedst to see a great image stand"ing before thee, the head of which proved to be of gold, "the shoulders and arms of silver, and the belly and the "thighs of brass, but the legs and the feet of iron; after "which thou sawest a stone broken off from a mountain, "which fell upon the image and threw it down, and brake it "to pieces, and did not permit any part of it to remain whole, "but the gold, the silver, the iron, and the brass became "smaller than meal, which upon the blast of a violent wind, "was by force carried away, and scattered abroad, but the stone did increase to such a degree, that the whole earth seemed to be filled therewith. This is the dream which "thou sawest, and its interpretation is as follows: The "head of gold denotes thee, and the kings of Babylon that "have been before thee; but the two hands and arms signi"fy this, that your government shall be dissolved by two kings; but another king that shall come from the west, "armed with brass, shall destroy that government; and ano"ther government that shall be like unto iron shall put an "end to the power of the former, and shall have dominion all the earth, on account of the nature of iron, which is "stronger than that of gold, of silver, and of brass." Daniel did also declare the meaning of the stone to the king; but I 66 over * Of this most remarkable passage in Josephus concerning the stone cut out of the mountain, and destroying the image, which he would not explain, but intimated to be a prophecy of futurity, and probably not safe for him to explain, as belonging to the destruction of the Roman empire by Jesus Christ, the true Messiah of the Jews, take the words of Havercamp, chap. x. § 4. "Nor is this "to be wondered at, that he would not now meddle with things future, for he "had no mind to provoke the Romans, by speaking of the destruction of that "city which they called the eternal city." do not think proper to relate it, since I have only undertaken to describe things past or things present, but not things that are future: yet if any one be so very desirous of knowing truth, as not to wave such points of curiosity, and cannot curb his inclination for understanding the uncertainties of futurity, and whether they will happen or not, let him be diligent in reading the book of Daniel, which he will find among the sacred writings. 5. When Nebuchadnezzar heard this, and recollected his dream, he was astonished at the nature of Daniel, and fell upon his face, and saluted Daniel in the manner that men worship God, and gave command that he should be sacrificed to as a god. And this was not all, for he also imposed the name of his own god upon him, [Baltasar,] and made him and his kinsmen rulers of his whole kingdom; which kinsmen of his happened to fall into great danger by the envy and malice [of their enemies]; for they offended the king upon the occasion following: he made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits, and its breadth six cubits, and set it in the great plain of Babylon; and when he was going to dedicate the image, he invited the principal men out of all the earth that was under his dominions, and commanded them in the first place, that when they should hear the sound of the trumpet, they should then fall down and worship the image; and he threatened, that those who did not so, should be cast into a fiery furnace. When therefore all the rest, upon the hearing of the sound of the trumpet, worshipped the image, they relate that Daniel's kinsmen did not do it, because they would not transgress the laws of their country: so these men were convicted and cast immediately into the fire, but were saved by divine providence, and after a surprising manner escaped death, for the fire did not touch them and I suppose that it touched them not, as if it reasoned with itself, that they were cast into it without any fault of theirs, and that therefore it was too weak to burn the young men when they were in it. This was done by the power of God, who made their bodies so far superior to the fire, that it could not consume them. This it was which recommended them to the king as righteous men, and men beloved of God; on which account they continued in great esteem with him. 6. A little after this the king saw in his sleep again another vision; how he should fall from his dominion, and feed among the wild beasts, and that when he had lived in this manner in the desert for * seven years he should recover his dominion * Since Josephus here explains the seven prophetic times which were to pass again. When he had seen this dream, he called the magicians together again, and enquired of them about it, and desired them to tell him what it signified; but when none of them could find out the meaning of the dream, nor discover it to the king, Daniel was the only person that explained it; and as he foretold so it came to pass; for after he had continued in the wilderness the fore-mentioned interval of time, while no one durst attempt to seize his kingdom during those seven years, he prayed to God that he might recover his kingdom, and he returned to it. But let no one blame me for writing down every thing of this nature, as I find it in our ancient books; for as to that matter, I have plainly assured those that think me defective in any such point, or complain of my management, and have told them, in the beginning of this history, that I intended to do no more than translate the Hebrew books into the Greek language, and promised them to explain those facts, without adding any thing to them of my own, or taking any thing away from them. CHAP. XI. Concerning Nebuchadnezzar and his successors: and how their government was dissolved by the Persians; and what things befel Daniel in Media; and what prophecies he delivered there. § 1. Now when king Nebuchadnezzar had reigned * for over Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. iv. 16. to be seven years, we thence learn how he most probably must have understood those other parallel phrases, of a time, times, and an half, Antiq. B. VII. ch. xxv. Vol. I. of so many prophetic years also, though he withal lets us know, by his hint at the interpretation of the seventy weeks, as belonging to the fourth monarchy, and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in the days of Josephus, ch. ii. § 7. that he did not think those years to be bare years, but rather days for years; by which reckoning, and by which alone could 70 weeks, or 490 days, reach to the age of Josephus. But as to the truth of those seven years banishment of Nebuchadnezzar from men, and his living so long among the beasts, the very small remains we have any where else of this Nebuchadnezzar, prevent our expectation of any other full account of it. So far we know by Ptolemy's canon, a contemporary record, as well as by Josephus presently, that he reigned in all 43 years, that is, eight years after we meet with any account of his actions; one of the last of which was the 13 years siege of Tyre, Antiq. B. XI. chap. xi. where yet the Old Latin was but three years and ten months, yet were his actions before so remarkable, both in sacred and profane authors, that such a vacuity of eight years at the least, at the latter end of his reign, must be allowed to agree very well with Daniel's accounts, that after a seven years brutal life he might return to his reason, and to the exercise of his royal authority, for one whole year at least before his death. * These 43 years for the duration of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar are, as I have just now observed, the very same number in Ptolemy's canon. Moses |