I was reading Daniel this morning and was really struck by his concern for the "wisemen" Nebuchadnezzar wanted to put to death....You know the story - they couldn't tell the king what his dream was, then what it meant, so the king was extremely angry and wanted to kill them....In any case, these men, if in Israel, would have merited the death penalty. They were, at best, astrologers - trying to foretell the future from the stars - and some were probably occultists. Daniel, as a godly Jew, surely would have been in favor of capital punishment for their offences in his own country....But, in Babylon, there he was interceding with the king for their lives....

It reminds me of God's words to Jonah..."And should I not pity Ninevah, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left...." God's great mercy toward people in their ignorance...Of course, pagans will be punished for their sin in eternity - the destruction of their towns as Israel claimed their land is a picture of that - but, still, in this life there is mercy! And we have such a short time to extend it to them, in God's name...And they have such a short time to receive it...