Daniel 6

CHAPTER 6THEME: Position of Daniel under Darius the Mede; plot to destroy Daniel; prayer of Daniel; Daniel in the den of lions; Daniel’s deliverance; prosperity of Daniel and the decree of DariusChapter 6 of the Book of Daniel is perhaps one of the most familiar in the Bible and certainly is the most well-known of this book. It is the account of Daniel in the den of lions. Have you ever stopped to think that Daniel spent only one night in the den of lions, but he spent a lifetimefrom a boy of seventeen until he was about ninetyin the palace of pagan kings? It was more dangerous to live in that palace than it was to spend a night in the den of lions. The lions could not touch him, but yonder in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, Nabonidus, Belshazzar, Darius the Median, and Cyrus, who were pagan men, Daniel was in constant danger. However, he had the privilege of leading some of these men to a knowledge of the living and true God. Daniel spent only one night in the den of lions, but we are going to look at it because it has a message for us today. This chapter concludes the strictly historical section of the Book of Daniel, and each historical event has been recorded for us for a purpose. This particular episode in Daniel’s life is another illustration of the keeping of the power of God, and it is another adumbration of the way in which God will protect the remnant during the Great Tribulation period. This chapter is a counterpart of chapter 3 where God preserved Daniel’s three friends in the fiery furnace. As there was a question as to the whereabouts of Daniel in chapter 3, there is also a question as to the whereabouts of the three Hebrew children here in chapter 6. Surely they would have followed Daniel in his obedience to God. Perhaps, since there has been a lapse of time, they are no longer living. Chapters 3 and 6, therefore, give two aspects of the preservation of the remnantboth of Israel and of the Gentilesduring the Great Tribulation period. In chapter 3 the emphasis is upon the pressures which are brought to bear by human hatred and persecution. In this chapter the emphasis is rather upon satanic hatred and persecution. The message for us today is, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1Pe_5:8). You and I live in a lion’s cage. That cage is the world, and there is a big roaring lion prowling up and down the cage. Peter calls him our adversary, the Devil.

Daniel 6:1

POSITION OF DANIEL UNDER DARIUS THE MEDEWith the opening of this chapter, we have again moved ahead historically. The kingdom of Babylon, the head of gold, has now disappeared; it has been removed from the number one spot of world power. Instead of Babylon, we have the Medo-Persian Empire, which was represented by the arms of silver in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. “Darius” is the Darius Cyaxares II of secular history, and he ruled for only two years. Cyrus, who followed him, was the son of Darius’ sister Mundane and of Cambyses the Persian. This was what brought the empire together into the Medo-Persian Empire which now ruled the world. Although we have moved into another empire, we still find Daniel in the position of prime minister under Darius the Mede. When we were considering the multimetallic image of gold, silver, brass, iron, and clay (ch. 2), we suggested that it pictured deterioration in a number of ways. There was deterioration in position, in the type of metal, etc. Here we can see that the inferiority of this kingdom to Nebuchadnezzar’s is quite evident. Nebuchadnezzar’s reign was autocratic and absolutehe did not share authority with anyone. Darius had “an hundred and twenty princes” who shared the responsibility and leadership with him.

Over this group Darius placed “three presidents” who served as liaison officers between the princes and the king. There was therefore a distribution of responsibility and rulership. We are told that these three presidents (Daniel was one of them) held their position so that “the king should have no damage.” This suggests that the presidents were to prevent the princes from stealing from or undermining the king in any way. Daniel was number one of the three presidents, and I take it that he was a man of about eighty years of age at this time.

Daniel 6:3

Daniel not only had seniority in this group, he had superiority. That he possessed “an excellent spirit” means Daniel was a Spirit-filled man. The king had such confidence in him that he placed Daniel next to himself in position and power.

Daniel 6:4

PLOT TO DESTROY DANIELOne thing is for sure: When you find yourself the number one man in any positionwhether it be in church, in politics, in school, or even in the homeyou are the one who will be watched by those who have a jealous spirit. If there is a flaw in your life, if you have an Achilles’ heel, they are going to discover that weak spot and may use it against you. Now Daniel had a remarkable life behind him. These men could not find anything in this man’s character or in his past life which they could seize upon and make something of. There has been many a politician who wished he had lived and acted a little differentlyactually, that could be said of mankind generally. Today a child of God ought to live so that the charges which inevitably will be leveled against him will be a lie. You cannot keep people from talking about you, but you can live so as to make them liars when they do talk about you. The apostle Paul enjoins all believers, “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Php_2:15). This was Paul’s personal testimony"And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men" (Act_24:16). In other words, Paul could lie down at night and go to sleep, and he did not have a bad conscience troubling him. That ought to be true of every believer. Someone has said that a conscience is something that only a good man can enjoy.

Daniel 6:5

Daniel was differentGod had made His people different. When he was first brought to the court of Nebuchadnezzar as a boy slave, he had asked for a different diet. From then on, the life of Daniel was different, and these men were aware of that. They said, “If we are going to find anything wrong with him, we are going to have to find it in his religion.” When they said “wrong,” they meant something which they could accuse him of before the king. The only vulnerable spot in Daniel, as these politicians saw it, was his religion. This was certainly a case of Daniel’s good being “evil-spoken of.” They knew that Daniel was faithful to God and was dependent upon Him.

His prayer life was something that was well known. Therefore, they are going to have to draw a conflict between the king and Daniel’s religion.

Daniel 6:6

The plot of these princes and presidents and petty politicians was very subtle. King Darius was a good man. That is obvious from secular history, and I think it is certainly the implication of the Book of Daniel. But Darius had a vulnerable spot (many of us have it), and that was his vanityhe yielded to flattery. One of the tragedies of our day is that there are many Christians, especially of financial means, who give only to organizations where the leader of the organization flatters them and butters them up. It is my conviction that we do not need to stoop to flattering people to get them to contribute financially to a ministry; God will speak to people’s hearts if He wants them to support a ministry. A long time ago I discovered that I am not as bad as my enemies say and I am not nearly as good as my friends say that I am. There is always a danger of being carried away by flattery. I used to tell my students in seminary, “Fellows, it does not matter how poor a preacher you are or what church you are in, the Lord will always have some dear lady who will tell you how wonderful you are. She will come up to you after you have preached the lousiest sermon in the world, and she will tell you, ‘My, I think you are another Dwight L. Moody on the scene!’ It is nice to have such dear ladies who want to encourage you like that, but just don’t believe them. There is a danger if you do.” These men flattered Darius, and he yielded to it. He thought, My, this is great! So he drafted a bill, and it was made a statute. He thus elevated himself to the position of deity, and prayer was to be offered only to him.

Daniel 6:8

Darius yielded to his weakness, and now this decree which has gone out, signed by the king, cannot be changed. Even the king of the Medes and Persians himself cannot change it after it has been passed. All this puts Daniel in a bad spot.

Daniel 6:10

PRAYER OF DANIELNotice the reaction of Daniel to this new law. He did not do anything audacious or foolhardy when he opened those windowshe had been doing that for years. He simply did not back down. He did not act in a cowardly and compromising manner by closing the windows but went about his usual prayer life. I would like to note that he kneeled to pray. The proper posture is often a question. I really doubt that the posture of prayer is the important thing. Victor Hugo said that the soul is on its knees many times regardless of the position of the body. The posture of the spirit of the man is what is important. However, if you want to select a posture for prayer, it is kneeling, and that is set before us here. Notice also that Daniel prayed toward Jerusalem. That was the direction of Daniel’s life, and he didn’t intend to change because of Darius’ decree. When away from the temple in Jerusalem, God’s people of that day were to pray facing in that direction. Today, no earthly place is preferred above another; the Lord Jesus said, “…ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father …. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (Joh_4:21, Joh_4:24).

Daniel 6:11

These men were waiting for Daniel, and that was really a compliment. This man had a reputation, and they had a feeling that he would not back down from his convictions.

Daniel 6:12

These men called attention to the fact that Daniel was disobeying: he was at an open window praying toward Jerusalem. Believe me, this was something which distressed the king. Darius could not change his own law; Nebuchadnezzar would have been able to. This is evidence of the deterioration from one kingdom to the next.

Daniel 6:15

Daniel is to be put in the den of lions, and there is nothing the king can do about it.

Daniel 6:16

DANIEL IN THE DEN OF LIONSI am of the opinion that the king did not believe what he said. It was like one of the halfhearted things some of us saints say today. We tell someone else, “Oh, the Lord will take care of you,” but if we were in that predicament, we wouldn’t quite trust Him like that. King Darius, though, had come a long way. He recognized that the God of Daniel was omnipotent and sovereign and could deliver him. He also saw that Daniel was faithful to God. Daniel’s testimony in the dissolute court of two world powers was nothing short of miraculous. His unaffected and unassuming life was a powerful witness to the saving grace of God in that day.

Daniel 6:17

They put a stone against the mouth of the den of lions, and Daniel spent the night down there. These lions were fierce and wild beaststhey were not toothless old lions. There is the story about the man who got a job at a zoo, and he was asked to go into the lions’ cage to feed the lions. When he refused, the keeper said, “Look, those lions are toothless!” The man replied, “Yes, I noticed that, but they could gum me to death.” Daniel’s lions had teeth, and they were fierce, but the safest place that night just happened to be the den of lions. I think Daniel got a pretty good night’s sleep down there. The interesting thing is that the king was more disturbed than Daniel and was probably in more danger.

Daniel 6:18

DANIEL’S DELIVERANCEThe king didn’t sleep, but Daniel did! Darius passed a sleepless night due to his concern for Daniel.

Daniel 6:19

I don’t know if the king expected Daniel to answer, but Daniel answered:

Daniel 6:21

“O king, live for ever” was Daniel’s polite and respectful greeting. It was as if Daniel said, “Did you have a good night?” And of course, the king hadn’t had a good night, but Daniel had. Daniel evidently had been given the same assurance as had his three friends in the fiery furnace that God could and would deliver him. “His angel” was evidently the same One Nebuchadnezzar had seen in the fiery furnacethe preincarnate Christ Himself.

Daniel 6:23

The king loved Daniel and was sincerely delighted at his preservation. Daniel was saved by faith: “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions” (Heb_11:33, italics mine).

Daniel 6:24

The dastardly plot of those who were enemies of Daniel was uncovered. Together with their families, they were cast into the dens of lions. The viciousness of the lions is now demonstrated in all its hideousness.

Daniel 6:25

PROSPERITY OF DANIEL AND THE DECREE OF DARIUSDarius sent out a worldwide decree which was his personal testimony. He had found the same peace that had come to Nebuchadnezzar (see Dan_4:1). This testimony of peace comes from the same man who could not sleep the night before.

Daniel 6:26

Darius commands men to fear the God of Daniel and testifies that He is the living God (in contrast to idols) and that He is sovereign. Darius was brought to God through the miracle of the den of lions.

Daniel 6:28

Daniel’s position was secure, and he maintained it to the end of his life which came during the reign of Cyrus. It was Cyrus who made the decree permitting the Jews to return to Palestine (see 2Ch_36:22-23; Ezr_1:11). This concludes the strictly historical section of the Book of Daniel. From this point on the book will be mainly concerned with the visions and prophecies which were given to Daniel over the long period of his life spent in a foreign land.