Date : 1633
Material : Oil painting on wood
| Item 15 on 15
European Painting
Painting (Thème mythologique)
Area related
Neitherlands
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| Description |  |
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In the apocryphal additions to the Book of Daniel, King Cyrus the Great of Persia asks his trusted Hebrew advisor, Daniel, why he does not honor the deity Bel. Daniel replies that he worships the living God. Cyrus insists that Bel also lives, indicating the offerings of food and wine the idol consumes each night. Here Daniel gently points out that statue don't eat. The horrified faces of the priests confirm that Daniel is right, and Cyrus begins to realize that he has been duped.
James King West writes of Daniel 14:1-22: "The second story is a satire on pagan divinities in the vein of Isaiah 44:9-20 and the Letter of Jeremiah (Baruch 6). In a discussion with King Cyrus of Babylon as to why he does not worship Cyrus' idol called Bel, Daniel denies the king's claim that Bel eats the food offered to him daily. When Bel's priests are challenged to prove it, they allow the king to place the food in the temple and seal the door. In the meantime Daniel has ashes sifted over the floor. The next day Daniel and the king find the food gone but the floor is covered with footprints. Discovering the secret doors by which he had been deceived, Cyrus is enraged and orders the execution of the priests and their families, while Daniel is permitted to destroy the temple and the idol." (Introduction to the Old Testament, p. 458)
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