Daniel
Chapter 14
Bel or the Fraud Uncovered
When King Astyages died, Cyrus, the Persian, took the throne.
Daniel was very close to the king, who esteemed him more than any of his other friends.
The Babylonians had an idol called Bel, to whom twelve bushels of fine flour, forty sheep, and six measures of wine were offered daily.
The king participated in this cult and worshiped the idol every day. Daniel, however, only worshiped his own God.
The king asked him: “Why don’t you worship Bel?” Daniel answered: “I worship no man-made idols, but only the living God, who made heaven and earth, and rules over all peoples.”
The king asked: “Don’t you think Bel is a living god? Don’t you see how much he eats and drinks every day?”
Daniel laughed. “Do not be deceived, O king. This is only clay on the inside and bronze on the outside. It never ate or drank anything.”
Enraged, the king summoned his priests and told them: “If you will not tell me who devours these offerings, you all will die.
But if you can prove that Bel consumes them, then Daniel will be the one to die for blaspheming.” Daniel responded to the king: “Let it be as you say.”
There were seventy priests of Bel, along with their wives and children; together with Daniel, the king went to Bel’s temple.
The priests said to the king: “See, we are going outside. We will leave you here inside, O king, to set out the food and prepare the wine. Then you can leave them, shut the door, and seal it with your ring.
You will return in the morning, and if you find that Bel has not eaten the food and drunk the wine, we are ready to be executed. But if the opposite happens, Daniel must die for telling lies and slandering us.”
They were confident because they had made a secret entrance under the table, through which they would enter to eat the food and drink the offerings.
When the priests had left, the king set the food before Bel, while Daniel instructed his servants to scatter ashes all over the temple floor. Then they left after closing the door and sealing it with the king’s ring.
That night, the priests, along with their wives and children, came and, as usual, ate and drank the offerings.
Early the next morning, the king went back to the temple with Daniel.
“Are the seals unbroken, Daniel?” the king asked. Daniel replied: “They are unbroken, O king.”
As he opened the door, the king looked at the table and then exclaimed: “You are indeed great, O Bel. There is no deception in you.”
Daniel laughed, and, holding back the king from going in, he said: “But look at the floor and see whose footprints these are.”
The king said: “I see footprints of men, women, and children.”
Enraged, the king ordered the priests, along with their wives and children, to be seized. They were forced to reveal the secret door they used to enter and consume the offerings on the table.
They were executed on the king’s orders, and Bel was handed over to Daniel, who destroyed the idol and its temple.
In Babylon, there was a great dragon that was also worshiped.
“Look—said the king to Daniel—this is alive, not made of bronze. Would you deny that this is a living god? Worship it.”
Daniel replied: “I will worship no one but the Lord my God, for he alone is the living God. With your permission, O king, I will slay this dragon without sword or club.”
The king answered: “You have my permission.”
Then Daniel took some pitch, fat, and hair, and boiled them together. He shaped them into cakes, which he fed to the dragon. The dragon burst after eating them. Daniel said to the king: “Now look at what happened to the thing you worship.”
The Babylonians grew angry upon hearing this. “Our king has become a Jew—they said—he destroyed Bel, killed the dragon, and put the priests to death.”
They went to the king and said: “Hand Daniel over to us or we will kill you and your family!”
The king was forced to turn Daniel over to the people.
Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den, where he remained for six days.
In the den, there were seven lions, fed daily with two human bodies and two sheep. This food was withheld from them to ensure they would devour Daniel.
Now, in Judea, there was a prophet named Habakkuk. He had packed some bread and stew in a basket and was about to take them to the reapers in the field
when an angel of the Lord appeared and said to him: “Take that lunch to Daniel, in the lion’s den at Babylon.”
Habakkuk said: “Sir, I have never been to Babylon nor have I seen the lions’ den.”
The angel then took him by the crown of his head, carried him by his hair, and soon, they were descending above the lion’s den in Babylon.
“Daniel, Daniel—cried Habakkuk—take this lunch God has sent you.”
Daniel gave thanks to God, saying: “You have remembered me, O God, and have not forsaken those who love you.”
Daniel ate, and the Lord’s angel returned Habakkuk to his own place.
On the seventh day, the king went to the lions’ den to mourn for Daniel. He looked inside and saw Daniel sitting there.
The king cried aloud: “How great you are, O Lord God of Daniel! Surely there is no other God but you!”
He took Daniel out and threw into the den those who had tried to destroy him. They were instantly devoured before his eyes.
Commentaries
Greek Accounts.
The Hebrew text of Daniel ends in chapter 12. However, when the Old Testament texts were translated into Greek (LXX), these stories, originally written in Hebrew but now translated into Greek, were added to emphasize Daniel’s personality. These stories are popular and serve as examples of effective communication. The lesson they aim to teach is simple, so that any reader or listener at the time could easily understand it.
Bel or the Fraud Uncovered.
Two other illustrative stories aim to show the vanity of idols. They are essentially two satirical sketches: one against those who rely on man-made gods (1-22), and the other against divinity itself (23-27). Daniel faces danger for revealing false idol worship, but the living God he trusts in does not abandon him (28-40), so much so that the idolaters themselves come to recognize the One true God (41f).