ho hath
appointed your meat and your drink; for why should he see your
faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort? then
shall ye make me endanger my head to the king. 11. Then said Daniel
to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, 12. Prove thy servants, I beseech
thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to
drink. 13. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee,
and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the
king's meat; and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. 14. So he
consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. 15. And
at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and
fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of
the king's meat. 16. Thus Melzar took away the portion of their
meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse. 17.
As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in
all learning and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all
visions and dreams. 18. Now at the end of the days that the king
had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs
brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19. And the king communed
with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah; therefore stood they before the king. 20. And
in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired
of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and
astrologers that were in all his realm. 21. And Daniel continued
even unto the first year of king Cyrus.'--DANIEL i. 8-21.

Daniel was but a boy at the date of the Captivity, and little more at
the time of the attempt to make a Chaldean of him. The last verse says
that he 'continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus,' the date
given elsewhere as the close of the Captivity (2 Chron. xxxvi. 22; Ezra
i. 1; vi. 3). From Daniel x. 1 we learn that he lived on till Cyrus's
third year, if not later; but the date in i. 21 is probably given in
order to suggest that Daniel's career covered the whole period of the
Captivity, and burned like a star of hope for the exiles. The incident
in our passage is a noble example of religious principle applied to
small details of daily life, and shows how God crowns such conscienti