ISRAEL. 
27 
But Judah, to human eyes, was at length utterly undone, her throne, her religion, her 
laws, all the elements of national existence, were dissolved: her king in chains, her people 
slaves, and her land a desert. She had seen Israel devastated a century and a half before, 
and mouldering away into the mass of barbarism, without an attempt at restoration. Nor 
was she rn the hands of a decaying sovereignty, from whose languors escape might be 
possible. She was the captive of a bold, vigilant, and ambitious soldier, a conqueror who 
had covered Western Asia with irresistible invasion, and a king who had amassed under 
one sceptre the greatest power that the world had ever seen. There could be no more 
complete image of national ruin. 
Yet we see this overwhelming nun converted only into a new development of Provi¬ 
dence. Prophecy and Miracle, so long associated, were now to be separated. Prophecy was 
still heard by the people, in the solemn dirges of Jeremiah, those funeral anthems of a fallen 
nation; but miracle was no longer directed to Judah. The great experiment had been 
brought to a conclusion by her own self-will. As a nation she was no more. Miracle was 
henceforth to be directed to a more influential source, her heathen master, the King of 
Babylon. 
From among the captives, four youths were seen suddenly raised to a high rank in the b.q. 
state; three to the government of the city and province of Babylon, and the fourth, Daniel, 569, 
to the head of those magi, or diviners, without whose advice an Eastern sovereign scarcely 
transacted any business of life. This extraordinary elevation was produced by a Divine 
dream, which Daniel alone had been empowered to interpret, the memorable revelation of 
the “ Five Empiresand its direct result to the Jews must have been, not only the 
powerful protection given by high office, but general respect for a people thus capable of 
repaying protection by a knowledge above man. 
Yet, the arrogance of a barbarian despot, and the caprices of a corrupt nation, soon lose 
all sense of respect for those within their power. It was to be revived by a new miracle. 
The rank of the Jewish governors of Babylon must have been an object of jealousy to the 
haughty soldiers and ministers surrounding the throne. The dedication of a Golden Image, 
probably to Belus, was made the occasion of involving them in a charge of disobedience to 
the royal command. On being questioned by the king, they refused the idolatrous homage, 
and were sentenced on the spot to be burned alive. Instantly, in the presence of the 
monarch and his nobles, a mighty wonder was wrought. 
Four men were seen “ walking in the midst of the fire, and they had no hurt; and the 
fourth was like the Son of God.” They were brought out of the furnace, and Nebuchad- 
upon the dependent throne. But this was a mere pause in ruin; for the city was again sacked, 
Zedekiah’s eyes were put out, and the Temple and the walls of Jerusalem were destroyed. The failure 
of offspring had been already predicted by Jeremiah. “ Is this man, Coniah, (Jechoniah,) a despised 
broken vessel 2” . . . “ 0 earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, Write ye 
this man childless, a man that shall not prosper iu his days : for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting 
upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.”—xxii. 29, 30. 
