Boker tov! Welcome back to Mishkan Katan! Today we are in chapter six of the book of Daniel, and it is such an exciting chapter with so many wonderful lessons. I'm very eager to explore it with you this morning.
If you will recall from last week's teaching, the Babylonian Empire fell to the Medo Persian Empire. King Darius had been installed on the throne by his nephew, Cyrus. In his brief one-year reign, Darius made some significant changes in the structure of the government. Let's begin by reading verses 1 through 3. Before we do that, however, we are going to go back and read the last verse of chapter 5, verse 31. Some Bibles include this verse as the first verse of chapter six. But the version we're using in this section of the book of Daniel is the Scriptures 1998 ISR version, and in this version, which is a translation from the original Aramaic, the verse 31 that we're going to begin with this morning is the last verse of chapter five.
31And Dareyawesh the Mede took over the reign, being about sixty-two years old.
1It pleased Dareyawesh to appoint over the reign one hundred and twenty viceroys, to be over all the reign,
2and over them three governors, of whom Dani’ĕl was one, so that these viceroys should give account to them, and the sovereign suffer no loss.
3Then this Dani’ĕl distinguished himself above the governors and viceroys, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the sovereign planned to appoint him over all the reign.
Now, why is it important that the age of King Darius the Mede is mentioned here? The sages say that it is mentioned because it's important for the calculations of the math, involving the prophecy of 70 years captivity in Babylon. We talked about that last week. Remember, that no detail of scripture is insignificant. This verse helps us to calculate that in truth, from the time that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple to the first year of Darius, the Mede's reign, was 70 years. King Darius the Mede's age also could help explain why he made the changes in the governmental structure. At age 62, he was no spring chicken! He may have felt that he needed this additional ruling structure to help him rule such a large kingdom, a kingdom of 120 provinces. You may remember from our study of the Book of Esther that King Ahasuerus's empire contained 127 provinces. So, the Empire had grown somewhat between the beginning of the Empire and the time of Queen Esther.
If you will recall from Daniel's earlier life, he was assigned a high position in the kingdom of Babylon, at a young age. This occurred probably when he was in his early 20s! But somewhere along the line, after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel fell into disfavor. It could have been because of a coup on the part of the other high-ranking nobleman and advisors. Who knows what caused it, because the scripture does not say. However. When Belshazzar was reigning over the Babylon, Daniel was not holding this high exalted position at that time.
Perhaps King Darius the Mede, and I keep calling him by his full title, because there are other Dariuses who are mentioned as kings in the Persian Empire. But perhaps Darius the Mede, after the incident of the writing on the wall, recognized that Daniel was a very wise man. We see in these verses that he was named as one of the top three rulers of the empire, just below the rank of the king. And then, we see in verse three that the king was planning to appoint him over all of the realm. That means that he was going to be elevated to a position even higher than the other two high-ranking men who were ruling with him.
Now, this must have rankled them severely! Unfortunately, it has been true throughout many empires that old people do not get the credit and respect which they deserve. As I am headed toward that category myself, I too have felt the sting of this. Younger people believe that they know much more than their elders. And to their credit, they do know more about some things. We older people have difficulty keeping up with, for example, the incredibly fast pace of technological changes. Young people tend to embrace them quite readily, by contrast. So, this is not to cast aspersions on younger people. It's been true of younger people throughout history that they just think they know better than old folks.
Well, at this time in our story, Daniel definitely qualifies as an old person! In fact, he is in his 80s at this time. So that may be one reason why he was resented by his fellow rulers. Why else might he have been resented? Well, there's the obvious reason of anti-Semitism. Daniel was not only old, he was an old Jew, to boot! He was a relic of a conquered civilization. Yet, he was being given more power than anyone else in the realm, other than the king. Something had to be done about this old Jew! So, his enemies, in looking for a libel, hatched a dastardly plot! Let's continue reading.
4Then the governors and viceroys sought to find occasion against Dani’ĕl concerning the reign. But they were unable to find occasion or corruption, because he was steadfast, and no negligence or corruption was found in him.
5Then these men said, “We shall not find any occasion against this Dani’ĕl unless we find it against him concerning the law of his Elah.”
This is the very picture of integrity, is it not? In his governmental dealings, they could find no lack of wisdom, no misappropriation of funds, no taking of bribes, nothing of that sort. I noticed that the viziers did not mention Daniel’s family as a source of wrong-doing. That may be because he did not appear to have any spouse or children. You may recall that, earlier in our study, I shared the view that some scholars have, namely that Daniel was eunuched as a teen, when he first came to serve King Nebuchadnezzar. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego suffered a similar fate. Therefore, it is unlikely he would have married, as he could not have sired any children. No sexual impropriety was found.
The jealous power-hungry cohorts were left with the most important aspect of Daniel’s life, and that was his relationship with his Elah, his God. What an astounding testimony! May we all be found so faithful!
So, what did they do? They observed that Daniel prayed three times a day with his window opened toward Jerusalem, which would have been toward the southwest. This formed the basis for their nefarious plan. Reading on - - verses 6 through 9
6Then these governors and viceroys tumultuously gathered before the sovereign, and said this to him, “Sovereign Dareyawesh, live forever!
7“All the governors of the reign, the nobles and viceroys, the counsellors and advisors, have consulted together to establish a royal decree and to make a strong interdict, that whoever petitions any elah or man for thirty days, except you, O sovereign, is thrown into the den of lions.
8“Now, O sovereign, establish the interdict and sign the writing, so that it is not to be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not pass away.”
9So Sovereign Dareyawesh signed the written interdict.
Notice the word “tumultuously”. They really thought they had done it, didn't they? They triumphantly and joyously, barely able to hide their glee, paraded themselves before the king, then proceeding after an obsequious greeting to tell him a lie. The word "all" at the beginning of verse seven is the source of that lie. Obviously not all of the rulers of the realm had consulted together. Otherwise, Daniel would have been consulted. The miscreants made it sound as though there was 100% agreement among the rulers for the establishment of this royal decree. In essence, they deceived the king. I am amazed that all of them, except for Daniel, appear to have gone along with this travesty of justice.
Notice that these rulers struck at the very heart of Daniel's faith, as had been done in the prior incidents involving Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The challenge was to get Daniel to worship a god other than the one true God, Yahweh. There is a reason, a very good reason, that the very first of the 10 commandments is “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
I also want you to notice that this ploy, when presented to kings, is highly effective. Why? Because kings tend to be so very prideful! This commandment from our perfect Father kills both pride and rebellion. It is oh, so hard to follow, however.
In this specific case, what false gods are put forth to tempt Daniel? The false god of power, position and influence. The false god of material wealth. The false god of health, that is choosing to save one’s life at the expense of disparaging one’s God.
In verse 8, the rulers said “NOW”. They urged the king to sign the edict quickly. Therefore, Darius the Mede signed the edict without hesitation. Perhaps this was because such a large number of the rulers came to him, en masse. The large crowd could also have obscured the absence of Daniel. The king had vested these men with his entire empire. That so many of them were clamoring for this edict seemed a “no-brainer” to him.
This is a cautionary tale to take one’s time in making decisions. This plot was hatched and implemented quickly. The expression “haste makes waste” seems appropriate here. But, the king did not take a lot of time to consider all the ramifications of this decision. And, as was true in the story of Esther, where Ahasuerus the king was similarly “taken in” by the devious, power-hungry, jealous miscreant, Haman, this decree was irrevocable. Reading on....verses 10-13
10And Dani’ĕl, when he knew that the writing was signed, went home and in his upper room with his windows open toward Yerushalayim he knelt down on his knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his Elah, as he had done before.
11Then these men tumultuously gathered and found Dani’ĕl praying and entreating before his Elah.
12Then they approached the sovereign, and spoke concerning the sovereign’s interdict, “Have you not signed a interdict that every man who petitions any elah or man within thirty days, except you, O sovereign, is thrown into the den of lions?” The sovereign answered and said, “The word is certain, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not pass away.”
13Then they answered and said before the sovereign, “Dani’ĕl, who is one of the sons of the exile from Yehuḏah, pays no heed to you, O sovereign, nor for the interdict that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.”
Daniel did not even stop to think about it, did he? There is no indication of hesitation on his part, no hand-wringing, no whining to God about how God could have let this happen to him. Nor did he attempt to have himself exempted from the decree; it would have been an unsuccessful attempt, he well knew. As Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had done 60 some years before, he kept on faithfully doing what he had been doing, standing strong for the Lord his God.
A hidden lesson for us occurs at the end of verse 10 - - “as he had done before”. Yesterday, in our ladies bible class, the teacher asked if anyone wanted to share about their prayer routine. I chose not to share, because I am very outspoken and this time chose to just sit back and let the other ladies talk. Some shared and others did not. It is very important to have a routine for prayer time and scripture study. This should be done at least once daily, if at all possible. I know we have all experienced times when the day goes “sideways”. But, routine is important.
My mother and I are reading through the Bible together this year. Have I missed a day here and there? Yes, in fact, I have missed more than I care to admit. But, it is my role to text her the day’s passage and the accompanying YouTube short that goes with it. She does her daily Bible reading at night. I prefer to do mine in the morning. This morning, for example, on the day I was preparing this teaching, the reading was Psalm 70 and 71, and also Acts 25. The two psalms were perfect for reading at this time, when the nation of Israel stands on the brink of a monstrous attack by Iran and Iran’s Muslim allies. I prayed those psalms over Israel this morning.
My point is that when we come to a time of crisis, it will be our habits of devotion which will stand us in good stead, to see us through that period of turmoil. Interestingly, devout Jews still pray three times a day, facing Jerusalem, from wherever they are in the world. In the USA, we face East, because if you travel to Jerusalem, traveling/flying East is the direction you would go. Is the book of Daniel where this practice originated, the practice of facing toward Jerusalem while praying? In I Kings 8:48, King Solomon said
48and they shall turn back to You with all their heart and with all their being in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and shall pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen and the House which I have built for Your Name,
What about the Jewish tradition of praying 3 times a day? When and where did that start? Well, there are various opinions about that. Some say Moses started the practice. Others say it was the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Still others say the practice corresponded with the three tamid (regular, daily) offerings in the Tabernacle/Temple. What we do know is that Daniel had been praying three times a day for a long time, for much of his life.
The jubilant mob, after observing through his open window the pious Daniel praying, lost no time in running to the king. It is safe to say that King Darius the Mede may not have even remembered the decree. A king signs so many per day, after all. Whether he did remember it or not, the vultures chose to remind him of it, and of its terms. Then, they threw Daniel under the bus, with great delight, no doubt.
What was the king’s reaction to all this news? Let’s see. Verses 14 and 15
14Then the sovereign, when he heard these words, was greatly displeased with himself, and set his heart on Dani’ĕl to deliver him. And he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him.
15Then these men tumultuously gathered before the sovereign, and said to the sovereign, “Know, O sovereign, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that any interdict or decree which the sovereign establishes is not to be changed.”
Have you ever been so angry or aggravated with yourself you hardly knew what to do? The king realized he had been “had” by people he trusted more than any others. Have you ever felt betrayed like this? I surely have. It is one of the worst feelings in the world. King Darius surely had very much respect for Daniel. This is why he took this situation so seriously, and looked for some “out” that could release Daniel from this punishment. But, as he had stated in verse 12 - - the edict was “certain”, as the rulers reminded him in verse 15.
To his credit, the king kept the rule of law, something that is necessary to keep a society functioning properly. In our current day, in America, we could name numerous instances where the government or government officials have twisted the law for their own purposes (financial gain, advancement, etc.). The king did not do this. If he had, he would have had to deal with the mutiny of over 100 of his kingdom administrators. Reading on....verses 16 through 17.
16Then the sovereign gave orders, and they brought Dani’ĕl and threw him into the den of lions. But the sovereign spoke and said to Dani’ĕl, “Your Elah, whom you serve continually, He Himself delivers you.”
17And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the sovereign sealed it with his own signet and with the signets of his great men, that the situation concerning Dani’ĕl might not be changed.
There are several interesting things about these two verses.
First of all, the fiery furnace seems to have given way to the lion’s den. Isn’t it curious how different civilizations favored various forms of capital punishment? Second, just before he went seemingly to his death, the king expressed tremendous faith in Daniel’s God. That strikes me as extraordinary. So impressed was Darius by Daniel’s steadfast worship of his God that the king felt God would have to reciprocate by giving Daniel a miraculous deliverance. How extraordinary that the king was so moved by Daniel’s faith! What an amazing follower of Yahweh Daniel was - - to inspire a pagan king to make such a statement of faith. Perhaps the king’s faith-filled statement encouraged and bolstered Daniel too, as he was thrown into the den of lions.
Thirdly, did you catch what I just said? I was repeating what the Scripture said...Daniel was THROWN into the pit of lions. They were not in some sort of elaborate cage, but rather in a pit in the ground. Daniel was not gently lowered into the pit. He was thrown down into it. Now, remember, he was in his mid-80s when this event occurred. I guess the executioners figured it did not matter, since he was going to be torn limb-from-limb anyway. So, actually, the miracle of deliverance did not begin with the shutting of the lions’ mouths. It began with Daniel’s supernaturally soft landing!
Fourthly, does verse 17 remind you of an incident in the Brit Chadasha, the New Testament? Here, we have King Darius blocking the entrance to the lion's den with a large stone, and then sealing the stone with his own signet in order to keep any marauders or interfering folk from trying to rescue Daniel from this situation. In the Brit Chadasha, The Lord's body was laid in a borrowed tomb, after which a stone was rolled across the entrance. And we read in Matthew 27:65-66 that the stone was “sealed”. The non-canonical Gospel of Peter says it was sealed with seven wax seals. Others have theorized it was sealed with either wax or clay and the seal was made over ropes. Therefore, if the ropes were disturbed the seal would be broken, and interference would have been apparent.
That stone across the opening to the pit would have rendered it pitch black in the pit. You know how it is when you are deprived of one of your senses...the others get heightened, right? Think about how it must have smelled in there?! I hope God also supernaturally brought Daniel some fresh air, to replace the undoubtedly fetid air that normally surrounded the ferocious felines.
Do you suppose Darius’ actions to secure the scene would have been done in all such cases of capital punishment? I doubt it. I’m wondering if he so deeply believed a miracle would occur that he wanted to be sure no one could come back later to say, “Well, he was delivered because some men came and got him out in the nick of time!”
This action also prevented scheming noblemen, those vile enemies of Daniel, from sneaking into the scene and killing Daniel themselves, had some miracle rendered the lions impotent against this holy man of God.
A last thought on this point is that the noblemen’s signets were sealed in the wax because they suspected Darius himself might try to physically deliver Daniel from an almost certain death.
The king’s oddly pious behavior continued. Verses 18-20:
18And the sovereign went to his palace and spent the night fasting. And no entertainment was brought before him, and his sleep fled from him.
19Then the sovereign rose up very early in the morning and hurried to the den of lions.
20And when he came to the den, he called with a grieved voice to Dani’ĕl. The sovereign spoke and said to Dani’ĕl, “Dani’ĕl, servant of the living Elah, has your Elah, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”
Isn’t it remarkable that a pagan king would fast, and since fasting and praying go hand-in-hand, probably pray to Daniel’s God? I wonder why the king felt he should wait several hours to go check on Daniel. Maybe that was part of the den of lions protocol... Still despite his apparent pious, aggrieved behavior, King Darius still referred to Yahweh as Daniel’s Elah, not as his own Elah. Reading on...
21Then Dani’ĕl said to the sovereign, “O sovereign, live forever!
22“My Elah has sent His messenger and has shut the lions’ mouths, and they did not harm me, because I was found innocent before Him. And also before you, O sovereign, I have done no harm.”
23Then the sovereign was very glad and gave orders that Dani’ĕl be taken up out of the den. And Dani’ĕl was taken up out of the den, and no harm was found on him, because he trusted in his Elah.
I want to focus on the messenger aspect of these 3 verses. When we did the 27 Appearances of Yeshua in the Old Testament, I did not include this instance in the 27. Why not? Because this story says that Father Yahweh sent His messenger, which indicates He sent an angelic being from Heaven. The verses do not specifically say He sent the Angel of the Lord, or the Malakh Yahweh, which is interpreted by many, mostly Christian, theologians to be the pre-incarnate form of Messiah Yeshua. COULD this have been Yeshua, there in the lion’s den? Possibly, but I don’t think the text supports that theory.
Jewish tradition has some rather wild additions to this story, concerning what happened during those hours Daniel was in the den. One such midrash states that an angel transported the prophet Habakkuk from the land of Judah into the pit, along with Habakkuk’s servants, along with food and drink and that together all of these had a great feast and time of thanksgiving, thanking God for the great miracle of deliverance.
At any rate, the messenger rescued Daniel by shutting the mouths of the lions. Daniel stated that Father Yahweh did this because Daniel was innocent before Him, and not only before God, but also before the king. Daniel was taken up and out of the pit of death, completely unharmed. The defamers did not fare as well. As I have said before, “when you come for the king, you had better not miss.” This quote is a variation of one attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. The foolproof, fail-safe plan of the enemies of Daniel and of his God, I might add, failed. Accordingly, these heinous plotters paid dearly.
24And the sovereign gave orders and they brought those men who had accused Dani’ĕl, and they threw them, their children, and their wives into the den of lions. And the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they reached the floor of the den.
Let no one start with any nonsense about how the lions were somehow “less than” lions, or that they must not have been hungry, as one Midrash put forward was claimed by the evil noblemen. They proved their ferocity by the way they made short work of Daniel’s enemies and of the men's families as well.
Now for the last verses of this chapter.
25Then Sovereign Dareyawesh wrote to all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: “Peace be increased to you.
26“From before me is made a decree that throughout every rule of my reign men are to tremble and fear before the Elah of Dani’ĕl, for He is the living Elah, and steadfast forever. And His reign is one which is not destroyed, and His rule is unto the end.
27“He delivers and rescues, and He works signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth, for He has delivered Dani’ĕl from the power of the lions.”
28And this Dani’ĕl prospered in the reign of Dareyawesh and in the reign of Koresh the Persian.
As Nebuchadnezzar’s similar proclamation had done several years earlier, Darius began by saying “Peace”. In other words, this is good news, not bad. He did this to calm and reassure the people. His letter fell short of commanding all the Persian people abandon their false idols and worship the one, true God of the Jews, even though it did decree that Daniel’s God should be feared/reverenced.
Let’s look at 3 other elements of this proclamation:
Darius affirmed the eternality of Daniel’s God and of His kingdom.
This everlasting God delivers and rescues.
And third, this amazing God performs signs and wonders, both in heaven and on earth. He is a miracle-working God!
This very last verse sounds as though it should have been the last verse in the book, doesn’t it? It tells us that Daniel lived on and was prosperous during both Darius the Mede’s reign and into Cyrus the Great’s reign.
The second half of the book looks at various events and visions that God gave to Daniel over the years. You might think of the first six chapters as a type of overview and the second half of the book as a deep-dive into these visions. Therefore, the book is NOT in strict chronological order. For example, right off the bat....theologians say the first vision we will explore, next week, occurred BEFORE the events recorded in chapters 5 and 6. We know this because chapter 7 starts out with “in the first year...”. We will talk more about that next week.
Let’s remember to pray earnestly for our nation’s future and also for the great nation of Israel in these troubling times.
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