A PURPOSEFUL LIFE; OLD TESTAMENT STORIES

                                             FAR FROM HOME PART VIII

"I, Daniel, have lived in Babylon for many years.... I came to live here as a teenager with three of my friends.... We were taken here by the army of king Nebuchadnezzar from Jerusalem..... I have not been able to return to Jerusalem... But whenever I pray I pray in the direction of Jerusalem..... Many things have happened since I first came here.... I still do not eat the food and drink the wine from the king's table... My life is quieter these days.... You could say I am in semi-retirement..... I served king Nebuchadnezzar, the king whose army took me to Babylon, for many years.... He then died..... King Belshazzar took over from him.... However, he has not needed my services very much.... Until the other night.... I was resting in my house when my peace was disturbed by an urgent knock on the door....I was needed at the palace.... I went to see the king who looked very distressed.... I realised the reason for his distress was a writing on one of the walls in the dining hall....I told him the meaning of the words.... That same night king Belshazzar was killed... Another king, Darius the Mede, took the tbrone.... The Babylonian kingdom has come to an end and the Medo-Persian kingdom has now begun.....That kingdom will come to an end aswell.... But only when it is God's time for it to end... I wonder if God has a task for me in this new kingdom."... Please read the typed out attachment when you will learn who takes over from king Belshazzar, who ruled after king Nebuchadnezzar....


                    ATTACHMENT A PURPOSEFUL LIFE; OLD TESTAMENT STORIES

                                              FAR FROM HOME PART VIII 

Now you know that Daniel is only a young man when he makes this decision not to eat the food and drink the wine from the king's table.But does he remain committed to obeying his God as times goes on? After serving king Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel next serves king Belshazzar. This king so displeases God that God allows the Babylonians to be taken over by the Medes when king Belshazzar is killed as you can read in Daniel 5:30-31

That very night king Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.

Daniel is, very likely, around 80 years old when Darius the Mede becomes king and the Babylonian kingdom becomes the Medo-Persian kingdom.