EGYPT AND BABYLON.
94
" The king spake and said unto Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver " DAN. vi. 20. thee from the lions ? " Then King Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear for He is the living God, and steadfast for before the God of Daniel ever, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall be even unto the end, He delivereth and rescueth, and He worketh signs and wonders in heaven, and earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions." DAN. vi. 25-27. living God,
:
As the Medo-Persic kings introduced some novelty into the political situation when they became the rulers of Babylon, so they further introduced a more considerable religious change. The ordinary Babylonian system is sufficiently indicated in the account of Belshazzar's feast. It was grossly It recognized a hierarchy of polytheistic and idolatrous.
gods as ruling in the heavenly sphere,* and it worshiped them under the form of images f in gold, and silver, and The brass, and iron, and wood, and stone (eh. vi. 4, 23). It adreligion of the Medo-Persians Vas very different. mitted of no use of images. | It did not absolutely reject but it acthe employment of the word god in the plural knowledged one god as infinitely superior to all others, and viewed him as alone truly " living," as alone the fount and The Ahuraorigin of all life, whether earthly or spiritual. Mazda of the Medes and Persians was a god of a very He had made the celestial spiritual and exalted character. ;
bodies, earth, water,
and
trees, all
good
creatures, and all
good, true things. He was good, holy, pure, true, the holy god, the holiest, the essence of truth, the father of all truth, the best being of all, the master of purity. He was su-
premely happy, possessing every blessing health, wealth, virtue, wisdom, immortality. These facts, which are known to us especially through the Zendavesta, the sacred book of the ancient Modes and Persians, throw considerable light on the picture drawn of the religion of the Babylonian court under Darius the Mede, compared with that of the same court almost immediately Belshazzar allowed that "the before, under Belshazzar. there, spirit of the holt/ gods" might be in Daniel, and that ||
" Ancient Monarchies." voL
U
i.
pp. 70-92; vol.
ii.,
pp. 224-230.
t Herod., L 131. p. 226. See Pusey's " lectures on Daniel," pp. 529-539. "Ancient Monarchies," vol. ii., pp. 46-7.
t Ibid.,
vol
ii.,