Daniel had grown old. He came before the king one last time and asked permission to go home. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, Daniel told the king plainly that he no longer had the strength for active governance. Twice he had been thrown to the lions, and his three friends had been cast into the fiery furnace. Through all of it, they never abandoned their God. Now he wanted to return to his native city to worship in peace.
The king was reluctant. "If thou leavest me, how can my kingdom remain in its integrity?" he asked. But he agreed to let Daniel go if Daniel could find a suitable replacement from among his own people.
Daniel went to the assembly of the exiles and found Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, grandson of Jechoniah, King of Judah. Daniel presented him as a man of royal blood, filled with the spirit of God, equal in wisdom to Daniel himself. The king accepted, embraced Daniel, loaded him with gifts, and sent him to Shushan in the land of Elam. Daniel gave all the king's gifts to the suffering exiles and lived among them until his death.
Zerubbabel quickly rose to prominence. One afternoon, while the king slept off his wine, Zerubbabel and two royal princes grew bored standing guard. They proposed a riddle contest. Each wrote his answer to a single question: what is the most powerful thing on earth? The first wrote "a king." The second wrote "wine." Zerubbabel wrote "woman." They placed the scroll under the king's pillow, not knowing that Darius was awake and listening. When the court assembled, the king called the three young men forward to defend their answers before the entire kingdom.
LXXIV. (1) Daniel having now grown old in years, came
one day to the king, and prostrating himself before him,
said, ' 0 my lord the king, behold old age has crept upon
me, and I have now no more strength to stand and go
to and fro. Behold, the lawless men of thy people have
humbled me through their enmity, and have cast me
twice into the den of lions, but God, in whom I put my
trust, has delivered me. They meditated to take my soul,
to deprive me of my life, through their zeal on behalf of
their gods, but my God withheld me from their destruc-
tion. My three friends also they cast into the fiery furnace
to be burnt, and yet after all this we have not forsaken our
God. Now, my lord the king, I pray thee allow me to go back
to my native city and to my house, to worship the God of
my fathers for the remainder of my days, for I am old and
have no longer the power to restrain (check) the multitude
of thy host.' And the king answered Daniel, saying, ' How
can I listen to thy request to send thee away, seeing thou
art a man of the God of heaven ? If thou leavest me and
departest from my side, how can my kingdom remain in its
integrity ? I am indeed aware that thou art an old man,
and that thou hast no longer that strength for active life
which the rulers of the kingdom ought to have; therefore,
if thou wilt give me from among thy people a man of
wisdom and understanding, and withal filled with the spirit
of thy God as thou art, to remain with me in thy stead,
then will I send thee away in peace to rest in thine own
house, although my soul knoweth there is none esteemed
thy equal among the sons of thy people.'
(2) Daniel then went forth from the presence of the king
to the assembly of the exiles, and, finding there Zerubbabel,
the son of Shealtiel, the son of Jechoniah, King of Judah,
he selected him from among the people, and taking him by
the hand, led him to the king, and said, ' Behold before
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thee the man who is to take my place. He is esteemed my
equal, and is descended from Judah and from the chiefs of
the royal seed. He is withal a man of valour, filled with
the spirit of God, with knowledge and wisdom as myself,
falling short of nothing that is in me, and he wdll be,
as I have been, a faithful counsellor to thee. And now, do
thou give me permission to depart for my native place for
the short time I have to live.' The king, being confident
of the truth of everything Daniel told him, gave him
permission to depart. Daniel then made his obeisance, and
the king embraced and kissed him, and having ordered
many gifts to be presented to him, he sent him away.
(3) Thus did Zerubbabel take the place of Daniel, who
gave all that the king presented him with to the suffering
exiles, and then left for Shushan, his native place, in the
land of Elam. There he worshipped the Lord among his
brother exiles until the day of his death.
(4) Now, Zerubbabel was a man of valour, young and
prosperous, understanding and wise, filled with the spirit
of wisdom, for Daniel had put his hand upon him. He
found favour in the eyes of the king, who loved him
and appointed him chief of all the princes, and overseer of
the two captains of the host and guardians of the king.
(5) One day, according to custom, all the princes assem-
bled before the king, and the king said to them, ' Have ye
seen in the whole of this land a man as wise and as full
of understanding, in whom is the spirit of Daniel, as this
man Zerubbabel ?' And they answered, ' The king hath
spoken the truth.'
(6) Now, about the time of noon, after they had all eaten,
the king, as usual, lay upon his bed and slept. The two
princes and guardians of the king then arose, as was
customary, and Zerubbabel with them, and stood round
the king's bedside until he awoke. On this occasion the
king slept heavily, for he was drunk with wine; and the
three young men, being weary of standing, proposed to test
each other's wisdom by means of riddles, each one accord-
ing to his wit, and they said, ' Let us write them down in a
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book, and place the book under the head of the king until
he awake from his sleep/ when he would see the book, and
understand its meaning.
(7) ' Then it shall be that the man whose words appear
wiser than his two colleagues,' and whose riddles are
superior to those of his brethren, should be made vice-
gerent, and should also sit on the royal throne and in the
royal chariot; that he should have free access to the
presence of the king; that the vessels of his table should
be of silver, and the reins of his horse of gold. That the
crown of the vicegerent be placed upon his head; that he
receive the portion of the vicegerent from the hand of the
king; that every request be granted him, and that he be a
friend of the king.' To this they all agreed, and, making
a covenant in accordance therewith, they established it
according to the laws of Media and Persia, which can
never be altered.
(8) Then, bringing the pen and the scroll, they cast
lots as to who should be the first to inscribe. The first
wrote, ' On the earth there is no one so powerful as a
king.' The second wrote, 'Wine is the strongest thing
on earth.' x\nd Zerubbabel, who was the third, wrote,
* There is nothing on the earth so powerful as woman.'
When they had finished WTiting their words of wisdom,
they placed the scroll under the king's pillow, but the king
was awake, for though his eyes were closed yet he heard
their whisperings; and when they placed the scroll under
his pillow the king arose as if he had just woke from his
sleep, and, rubbing his eyes with his two hands, he looked
under his pillow, and saw the scroll which the three young
men had written. Then opening it, he read it, and was
perplexed about it, until all the princes, pashas, chiefs,
governors, and heads of the provinces came to him. Then
calling the three young men, he said, ' Bring me each one
of you his writing, and let me listen to the interpretation
of your riddles; then will I fulfil for the wisest of you
three everything that is stated in the scroll to honour and.exalt him.'
226 [Lxxiv. 9
(9) The first one then approached to read what he had
written, and said, ' Hearken, 0 king and princes, to my
words. There is nobody on earth so powerful as a king.'
The second, drawing near (the king), said, * There is
nothing on earth so powerful as wine.' And the third,
viz., Zerubbabel, exclaimed, ' There is nothing on earth so
powerful as woman.' At this the king and the princes
said, ' We have hearkened to your hidden sayings; now tell
us the explanation, and we shall listen.'
