Like Ezekiel, Daniel was one of the Jews who was taken to Babylon when Jerusalem was attacked. While Ezekiel worked at hard physical labor, Daniel lived out his life in the palace, advising the Babylonian leaders. He started out as a prisoner, but ended up second only to the king. Even in a pagan palace, Daniel remained true to the Lord.

When the Jews arrived in Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar's servant picked young men to live at the palace. Only the strongest and most intelligent were chosen. These youths trained with experts so one day they could become officers of the court. Daniel and three friends were selected. At the palace, they were served rich food from the king's own table.

But Daniel knew this food had probably been blessed in the temple of a false god. Eating it would not honor the Lord. So Daniel asked for veg- u etables and water. The servant finally agreed to let Daniel and his friends eat simple meals for ten days. At the end of that time, King Nebuchadnezzar tested all the young men. He found that none were as healthy and strong as Daniel and his friends.

Shortly after Daniel came to live at the palace, Nebuchadnezzar was troubled by a dream. The king awoke knowing he had dreamed something very important, but he could not remember what it was. He summoned all the wise men in Babylon. No one could tell the king what he had dreamed. Then Daniel heard of the problem. He went to his friends and asked them to pray that God would reveal the king's dream to him. That night, in answer to their prayers, the Lord explained the secret to Daniel in a vision.

King Nebuchadnezzar built an enormous figure of gold. He ordered the people to worship the statue. Daniel's friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, did not obey this command. So Nebuchadnezzar had the three men tied up and thrown into a blazing furnace.

Later on, the king looked into the furnace, expecting to see nothing left but blackened bones. Instead, Nebuchadnezzar saw the men walking around, their faces not the least bit burnt. And someone was with them, an angel sent by God to protect them from the flames.

When the king released the three men from the furnace, he cried, "These men trusted in their God and He saved them! For now on, no one shall be allowed to speak against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego!"

Daniel served three kings of Babylon: Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar and Darius. Darius trusted the prophet and put him in charge of 120 officers of the court. These men did not like having a Jew over them, so they plotted to get rid of Daniel. They went to the king with a new law they had written. It said that people could not pray unless they prayed to the king. Darius made this the law throughout the land.

When Daniel heard about the new law, he continued to pray to God three times a day as he had always done. The officers took him before the king. Darius loved Daniel, but he had no choice except to obey his own law. He had the prophet thrown into a den of hungry lions. Early the next morning, the king rushed to the lions' den. When he found that God had saved Daniel from the lions, he wrote a letter to all his people. "Daniel's God is the living God. He rescues people and does miracles. Respect and honor the God of Daniel."