Daniel 6

 

PARAGRAPH DIVISIONS OF MODERN TRANSLATIONS

NKJV	NRSV	TEV	NJB
The Plot Against Daniel	Daniel in the Lions' Den	Daniel in the Pit of Lions	The Satraps Resent Daniel's Promotion
6:1-9	6:1-5	6:1-5
			6:2-10 (1-9)
Daniel in the Lions' Den	6:6-9	6:6-10
6:10-17	6:10-13		Daniel Continues to Pray
		6:11-12a	6:11-16 (10-15)
		6:12b
		6:13
	6:14-15	6:14-15
	6:16-18	6:16-18	Daniel is Thrown to the Lions
Daniel Saved from the Lions			6:17-25 (16-24)
6:18-23
	6:19-24	6:19-20
		6:21-22
Darius Honors Daniel		6:23-24
6:24
6:25-27	6:25-28	6:25a
		6:25b-27	The King's Profession of Faith
			6:26-28 (25-27)
6:28		6:28
			6:29 (28)

READING CYCLE THREE (see "Guide to Good Bible Reading")

FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT PARAGRAPH LEVEL

This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects (reading cycle #3). Compare your subject divisions with the four modern translations above. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one subject.

1. First paragraph

2. Second paragraph

3. Third paragraph

4. Etc.

 

WORD AND PHRASE STUDY

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT:6:1-5
 ¹It seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom, that they would be in charge of the whole kingdom, ²and over them three commissioners (of whom Daniel was one), that these satraps might be accountable to them, and that the king might not suffer loss. ³Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit, and the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom. ⁴Then the commissioners and satraps began trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to government affairs; but they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch as he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him. ⁵Then these men said, "We will not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God."

6:1 "one hundred and twenty satraps over the kingdom" When compared with later Persian documents the number of these satraps is inappropriately large. In Persia there were usually only 20 to 30, but in the book of Esther there is also a large number (compare 1:1 with 8:9) of governmental officials.

We know so little about the different types or levels of governmental officials at this time that any kind of dogmatism is unwise and inappropriate.

▣ "Darius" See note at 5:31.

▣ "satraps" This word (BDB 1080) is used often in later Persian documents and many commentaries have used it to support a later date for the writing of Daniel (i.e. the Maccabean period). However, the word is an old Persian term, kshathrapan, which becomes satarpanu in some cuneiform texts (cf. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, vol. 2, p. 18). Therefore, its usage cannot be used as evidence for a late date.

▣ "over the whole kingdom" If Darius (cf. 5:31) refers to Cyrus, then "the whole kingdom" refers to the entire Medo-Persian Empire and 120 satraps is not unusual. But if it refers to Gubaru (a Median general in Cyrus' army which captured the city of Babylon), then the kingdom would refer to the province of Babylon; also, "satrap" would refer to lesser governmental officials, not the word's later usage in Persian documents.

6:2

NASB"three commissioners"
NKJV"three governors"
NRSV, NJB"three presidents"
TEV------

Brown, Driver, and Briggs Lexicon (BDB 1104) says the origin of the term is dubious, but that it refers to "overseer" or "chief" (from a Persian word for "head").

The term "three" may be related contextually to 5:7,16,29. At this point these three chief overseers are unknown to secular history.

▣ "and that the king" This could refer to (1) Cyrus or (2) Gubaru whom Cyrus appointed governor of Babylon. However, the title "king" fits Cyrus much better (cf. Joyce G. Baldwin, Daniel IVP, p. 127, note #5). The main problem of this identification is that Cyrus was not son of Ahasuerus, but of Cambyses, king of Anshan. On this issue scholars must await more archaeological evidence.

▣ "might not suffer loss" This is the use of the Aramaic word for "injury," used metaphorically for political interest (cf. Ezra 4:22; Esther 7:4).

6:3 "this Daniel began to distinguish himself" This phrase begins with the DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN "this" (cf. vv. 5,28), which is typical of Persian style, but also is a way to accentuate Daniel's giftedness (cf. 1:17,20; 2:21,23). He was probably between eighty and ninety years of age at this point.

▣ "the king planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom" This parallels what Pharaoh did to Joseph in Gen. 41:40. There are many similarities between Joseph and Daniel.

This imminent promotion of a Hebrew exile over Median and Persian administrators will cause the actions of v. 4.

6:4 "trying to find grounds of accusation against Daniel in regard to government affairs" The same motives that led the Chaldean officials to accuse the three Hebrew youths in Daniel 3 are apparently the same motives that caused these officials to try and find accusations against Daniel (cf. v. 13).

6:5 "unless we find it against him in regard to the law of his God" These administrators were wise enough to realize that the only area in which Daniel could be accused was in his loyalty to the Hebrew faith.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT:6:6-9
 ⁶Then these commissioners and satraps came by agreement to the king and spoke to him as follows: "King Darius, live forever! ⁷All the commissioners of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the high officials and the governors have consulted together that the king should establish a statute and enforce an injunction that anyone who makes a petition to any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, shall be cast into the lions' den. ⁸Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it may not be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked." ⁹Therefore King Darius signed the document, that is, the injunction.

6:6 "came by agreement to the king" The VERB (Haphel PERFECT) is rare both in Aramaic and Hebrew. It can mean (1) "in harmony"; (2) "thronged" (NKJV, JPSOA, BDB 1112); or (3) in the Psalms (cf. 2:1; 55:15) the Hebrew counterpart is used for a treacherous conspiracy, which seems to be the implication here.

▣ "live forever" This is a standard hyperbole addressing the king (cf. 2:4; 3:9; 5:10; 6:6,21). In 4:34; 6:26; and 12:7 the phrase is used in a theological sense of YHWH, the "I Am" (cf. Exod. 3:14 from the Hebrew VERB "to be"). He is the ever-living, only-living One (cf. v 20)!

6:7 These government officials appealed to the egotism and pride of the king. Quite often leaders are susceptible to this trickery.

▣ "that anyone who makes petition to any god or man besides you, O king" This was highly unusual for a Persian monarch to assume the status of deity because the Persian religion (Zoroastrians) believed in two deities, an eternal dualism existed between good and evil, between the Ahura Mazda and the Angra Mainyu. So how this king could possibly usurp divine attributes is historically uncertain. The plotters may have used the first ascension year of Cyrus as an opportunity to impose a loyalty-type oath (hyperbole).

▣ "the lions' den" See note at 6:17.

6:8 "the law of the Medes and Persians" This same binding legal status of the decrees of the Medo-Persian kings as being unchangeable is found in vv. 12,15,17; Esther 1:19; 8:8; and Diodorus Siculus 17:30.

The Medes are mentioned first here as in 8:20. Persia was the dominant partner and very soon after Cyrus' defeat of Babylon he began to be called King of Persia. The order of these terms shows the historicity of Daniel. The order is reversed in Esther 1:19.

The prophets also combined Media and Persia as one entity as the parallelism of Isa. 21:2 (Elam and Media) clearly shows. Some scholars refer to Isa. 13:17 and Jer. 51:11,28 as an attempt to show that the prophets falsely saw Media as a separate empire (cf. NAB p. 1096), an error which they assert that Daniel followed.

Also note that Darius the Mede is subject to the laws of the Medes and Persians, which would not be true if Media was a separate, independent empire.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT:6:10-13
 ¹⁰Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously. ¹¹Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God. ¹²Then they approached and spoke before the king about the king's injunction, "Did you not sign an injunction that any man who makes a petition to any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, is to be cast into the lions' den?" The king replied, "The statement is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked." ¹³Then they answered and spoke before the king, "Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the injunction which you signed, but keeps making his petition three times a day."

6:10 "Now when Daniel knew the document was signed" Daniel was not taken off guard, but he was more loyal to his lifestyle faith (cf. vv. 15,20) than to the comings and goings of these jealous political leaders and their schemes.

▣ "(now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem)" These roof chambers were used as summer sleeping quarters (cf. James M. Freeman, Manners and Customs of the Bible, pp. 171-172). Apparently for Daniel it was a place of where he prayed three times a day facing the ancient, destroyed city of Jerusalem (cf. I Kgs. 8:44,48; II Chr. 6:34,38; Ps. 28:2; 138:2).

▣ "he continued kneeling on his knees" The normal position of Jewish prayer is standing with the hands and head lifted to heaven with the eyes open (in dialog with God). Sometimes kneeling was done for urgency (cf. I Kgs. 8:54; II Chr. 6:13; Ezra 9:5; Ps. 95:6: Isa. 45:23).

▣ "three times a day" This phrase reflects the daily times of prayer in the temple in Jerusalem. Traditionally Jews prayed at the time of the morning (Ps. 5) and evening (cf. 9:21; Ps. 4) sacrifice (called the Continual, Exod. 29:39; Num. 28:1-8,10,15,23-24), as well as at noon (cf. Ps. 55:17). Daniel commemorated the ritual moments of the destroyed temple's schedule in his private prayer.

6:11 "came by agreement" This is the same Aramaic word used in vv. 6 and 15 for their coming before the King.

6:13 "who is one of the exiles from Judah" Racial and religious prejudices are used to attack Daniel.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT:6:14-15
 ¹⁴Then, as soon as the king heard this statement, he was deeply distressed and set his mind on delivering Daniel; and even until sunset he kept exerting himself to rescue him. ¹⁵Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, "Recognize, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or statute which the king establishes may be changed."

6:14 The King realizes that he has been used in a scheme to destroy Daniel (cf. v. 24), but is powerless (cf. vv. 16,18,19) in the legal circumstances to forestall his own royal edict (cf. vv. 12,15).

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT:6:16-18
 ¹⁶Then the king gave orders, and Daniel was brought in and cast into the lions' den. The king spoke and said to Daniel, "Your God whom you constantly serve will Himself deliver you." ¹⁷A stone was brought and laid over the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet rings of his nobles, so that nothing would be changed in regard to Daniel. ¹⁸Then the king went off to his palace and spent the night fasting, and no entertainment was brought before him; and his sleep fled from him.

6:16

NASB, NKJV"Your God. . .will Himself"
NRSV,
NASB margin,
NAB"May your God. . .deliver you"
TEV"May your God. . .rescue you"
NJB"Your God. . .will have to save you"

Aramaic grammar determines that this phrase is INDICATIVE, not JUSSIVE (NRSV, NAB), with an emphasis on "your God" (cf. Anchor Bible, vol. 23, p. 195). Again, the impotence of earthly monarchs is contrasted with the power and authority of the God of Judah (cf. 3:17,28).

6:17 "the stone was brought and laid over the mouth of the den" Lions were kept for the hunting pleasure of near Eastern royalty. Death by being thrown to wild animals was a common method of execution by the royal courts of the Ancient Near East and East. Apparently the den was an underground pit with two entrances, one from the top (cf. v. 23) and one from the bottom. Again, the fall should have killed him (cf. 3:20), much less the hungry lions.

6:18 "the king went off to his palace and spent the night fasting" This was not necessarily religious fasting, but simply the anxious worrying of a man who knew he had been tricked into doing evil to an innocent (cf. v. 22) faithful (and a very effective) servant.

▣ "no entertainment was brought before him" There has been much discussion about this Aramaic word (BDB 1087). There are several theories: (1) Eben-Ezra, John Calvin, and NKJV believe it means "play music" from the root "to strike"; (2) the Hebrew counterpart means "to thrust," therefore, possibly "dancers"' (3) the Peshitta has the word "food" (from dining table); (4) Martin Luther and the RSV have "diversions "or "pleasure"; and (5) the NJB, from a possible Arabic root, has "sexual pleasure" or "concubines."

▣ "his sleep fled from him" This is an Aramaic idiom (cf. Esther 6:1).

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT:6:19-24
 ¹⁹Then the king arose at dawn, at the break of day, and went in haste to the lions' den. ²⁰When he had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you constantly serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?" ²¹Then Daniel spoke to the king, "O king, live forever! ²²My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime." ²³Then the king was very pleased and gave orders for Daniel to be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no injury whatever was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. ²⁴The king then gave orders, and they brought those men who had maliciously accused Daniel, and they cast them, their children and their wives into the lions' den; and they had not reached the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

6:19 This verse shows the King's anxiety!

6:20 "‘servant of the living God'" This is a play on the root word "YHWH," which is the CAUSATIVE form of the Hebrew VERB "to be," which implies the "ever-living, only-living God" (cf. Exod. 3: 14). See note at 6:6.

▣ "been able to deliver you from the lions" Here is that wonderful play on the title for God "the God who is able" (cf. Dan. 3:17,29; Rom. 16:25; Eph. 3:20; Jude 24). Nothing is too difficult for YHWH (cf. Jer. 32:17). This whole book is about God's sovereignty and willingness to respond to those who trust Him (e.g. 3:28). Chapters 3 and 6 are lexically and theologically parallel.

6:22 "'my God sent His angel'" The Bible seems to teach the existence of guardian angels (national, cf. Num. 20:16; Isa. 63:9; and individual, cf. Gen. 48:16; Dan. 3:28; 6:22; Matt. 18:10; Acts 12:15; Heb. 1:14), as well as the indwelling Holy Spirit (cf. Jer. 31:31-34; John 14:23; Rom. 8:9,11; I Cor. 3:16; 6:19; II Cor. 6:16; II Tim. 1:14).

▣ "shut the mouth of the lions" This is both literal (cf. Heb. 11:33 and I Maccabees 2:59-60), but also metaphorical (cf. Ps. 22:21; II Tim. 4:17).

▣ "'inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him'" Daniel acknowledges the OT concept of "merit" (cf. Deut. 27-29). Daniel was faithful; God was faithful. Yet Judah and Israel had long experienced God as faithful even when they were not. However, God's longsuffering came to an end in the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles. Yet YHWH would restore them to the Promised Land (Cyrus' edict of 538 b.c.). The New Covenant of Jer. 31:31-34 (cf. Ezek. 36:22-38) acknowledges humanity's inability to keep the covenant. The New Covenant will be based, not on human innocence or merit, but on YHWH's gracious character and His Messiah's innocence and merit!

6:23 "no injury whatever was found on him" This is parallel to Dan. 3:27.

▣ "because he had trusted in his God" It was not Daniel's innocence (cf. v. 22) that brought about his deliverance, but his faith ("trusted" BDB 1081, Haphel PERFECT) in YHWH (cf. Dan. 3:28). This same truth is recurrent throughout the OT (cf. I Chr. 5:20; II Chr. 20:20; Ps. 9:10; Isa. 26:3). This great truth becomes the key to Paul's emphasis on justification by faith in Rom. 4:3 and Gal. 3:6, which he anchors in Gen. 15:6.

6:24 "and they cast them, their children and their wives into the lions' den" This type of family-wide punishment is known in Persia from Herodotus 3.119. This is the Hebrew concept of corporality: (1) Adam and Eve's sin affects all humans (cf. Gen. 3); (2) Korah's rebellion in Num. 16:25-33; (3) Achan's sin in Josh. 7 affected the whole Israeli army and the death of his family and cattle. This same idea of corporality can be seen in Esther 9:10-14. The NT counterpart is Rom. 5:12-21.

6:24 "the lions overpowered them" Daniel's deliverance was not attributable to lions that were not hungry!

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT:6:25-27
 ²⁵Then Darius the king wrote to all the peoples, nations and men of every language who were living in all the land: "May your peace abound! ²⁶I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel;
 For He is the living God and enduring forever,
 And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed,
 And His dominion will be forever.
  ²⁷He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders
 In heaven and on earth,
 Who has also delivered Daniel from the power of the lions."

6:25-27 This is very similar to Nebuchadnezzar's words in chapter 2:46-48; 3:28,29 and 4:3,34-35. All of these texts were probably penned by one of the four Jewish exiles. It does not imply personal faith on the part of Darius, but the overwhelming sense of the power of God which these poly-theists experienced!

6:25 "all the peoples, nations, and men of every language" This is parallel to Nebuchadnezzar's edicts in 3:29; 4:1 and Daniel's comment in 5:19 and his vision in 7:14.

It is interesting that the unchangeable edict of the Medo-Persian ruler is obviously modified in honor of YHWH's sovereignty.

6:28 "in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian" The footnote reading in the NIV Study Bible, "of Darius, that is, the reign of Cyrus," clearly shows that the Aramaic text (as well as the explicative waw usage in an epexegetical way) is capable of seeing these two kings as one in the same person (cf. Joyce G. Baldwin, Daniel, IVP, p. 132 and D. Winton Thomas, ed. Documents From Old Testament Times, p. 83).

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.

1. Was Darius a believer?

2. What lessons do we learn for our lives from this chapter?

3. Discuss the issue of guardian angels.

4. Discuss the concept of corporality.

5. Explain the theological significance of v. 26.

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