Page 293 - Bible History

The three youn, men m lhe ery furnace
266 GOD'8 CHOSEN PEOPLE IN CAPTIVITY
for their labor and were then able to buy their free­ dom. They settled in colonies, and began to engage in farming and other business pursuits of the country. They were kept from idolatry by the courage of Daniel and other strong leaders among them. The priests and Levites instructed the Jews in the law and coun­ seled them. They could not o er sacri ces as they had done in Jerusalem, but they o ered prayers, morning, noon, and evening. They built synagogues where they listened to reading from the sacred writ­ ings. Babylon became a great center of Jewish learning.
Some of the leading men of Babylon were jealous of Daniel and his young friends because they were for­ eigners and the king had placed them in high positions. They pretended, however, that it was because of their religion that they wished the king to persecute them.
Nabuchodonosor erected a statue to the god Bel. He commanded all the chief men of the provinces to come to Babylon and to o er sacri ce to the statue at a given signal. Ananias, Misael, and Azarias, the three companions of Daniel, did not come, and their absence was reported to the king. The king was angry and he commanded the three young men to be cast into a furnace of burning re. God sent an angel to save them from the re. They walked through the ames unharmed, and they came from the furnace glorifying God.
Under the successor of Nabuchodonosor, Evil-Mer-
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odach, the people became enraged agamst Dame} because he had exposed the fraud of the priests of Bel.