Daniel 6

Daniel’s Integrity and His Entrapment by His Enemies

1 {It pleased Darius}, and he set up one hundred and twenty satraps over the kingdom, that they were {throughout the whole kingdom},

2 and over them [were] three administrators, [of] whom Daniel [was] one, [so] that these satraps were giving account to them, and the king would not be suffering loss.

3 Then Daniel {began distinguishing himself} above the administrators and the satraps {because} an exceptional spirit [was] in him, and [so] the king planned to appoint him over the whole kingdom.

4 Then the [other] administrators and satraps {began to seek} to find [a] pretext against Daniel {in connection with the kingdom}, but they were not able to find any pretext and {corruption} {because} he was trustworthy, and no negligence or {corruption} {could be found in him}.

5 Then these men {said}, "We will not find any pretext against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God."

6 So the administrators and the satraps conspired {with respect to} the king and so they said to him, "Darius, O king, live {forever}!

7 All of [the] administrators of the kingdom, and the prefects, the satraps, the counselors and the governors took counsel [and have] agreed to establish an edict of the king and to enforce a decree that {whoever} will seek a prayer from any god or human except from you [for] up to thirty days will be thrown into {the lion pit}.

8 Now, O king, establish the edict and you must sign the document [so] that [it] cannot be changed, according to [the] law of [the] Medes and Persians which cannot be revoked."

9 {So} the king, Darius, signed the writing and the interdict.

10 Now {when} Daniel realized that the document was signed, he went to his house ({now he had windows in his upper room that were open} toward Jerusalem), and three times {daily} he knelt on his knees and prayed and [gave] praise before his God, {just as} he had been doing {previously}.

11 Then these men came as a group and they found Daniel praying and pleading for mercy before his God.

12 Then they approached {and spoke with the king} concerning the edict of the king, "{Did you not sign an edict} that any person who would seek [anything] from any God or human within thirty days except from you, O king, would be thrown into {the lion pit}?" The king answered and said, "The matter [as you have just stated] is certain according to [the] law of [the] Medes and Persians which cannot be revoked."

God’s Miraculous Deliverance of Daniel Again

13 Then {they responded} and said before the king, "Daniel, who [is] from {the exiles} of Judah, {is not paying any attention} to you, O king, or to the decree that you have signed, {and three times daily} he says his prayer."

14 Then the king, when he heard that {report}, he was extremely distressed over it; and {concerning Daniel} {he was determined} to rescue him. And until the setting of the sun he was making every effort to deliver him.

15 Then these men came as [a] group to the king and {said}, "Recall, O king, that [with respect to] [the] law of [the] Medes and Persians that {any} decree or edict that the king establishes cannot be changed."

16 Then the king gave the command, and Daniel was brought in and they threw [him] into {the lion pit}. {The king said} to Daniel, "Your God, whom you serve {faithfully}, may he rescue you!"

17 And a stone was brought and it was put on the entrance of the pit, and the king sealed it with his signet [ring] and with the signet [rings] of his lords, so that nothing would be changed concerning Daniel.

18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night in fasting, and no food was brought in before him and his sleep fled from him.

19 Then the king got up at daybreak, at first light, and he went {in haste} to {the lion pit}.

20 And {when he came near} to the pit, he cried out to Daniel with [a] distressed voice, [and] the king {spoke} and said to Daniel, "O Daniel, servant of the living God, your God whom you serve faithfully, was he able to rescue you from the lions?"

21 Then Daniel spoke to the king, "O king, live {forever}!

22 My God sent his angel and he shut the mouth of the lions and they did not hurt me, {because} before him {I was found} blameless, and also before you, O king, I have not done [any] wrong."

23 Then the king was exceedingly glad over it and commanded [that] Daniel be lifted up from the pit; and [there] was not any wound found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

24 The king then commanded, and these men were brought {who had accused Daniel}, and they threw them and their children and their wives into {the lion pit}, and they had not reached the floor of the pit {before} the lions had overpowered them and they had crushed all of their bones.

The King Praises the God of Daniel and Daniel Prospers

25 Then Darius the king wrote to all the people, the nations, and the languages living in the whole earth, "May your prosperity become great!

26 {I make a decree} that in all the dominion of my kingdom [people] will be trembling and fearing before the God of Daniel, for he [is] the living God and endures {forever} and his kingdom [is] one that will not be destroyed and his {dominion has no end}.

27 [He is] rescuing, delivering, and working signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth, for he [has] rescued Daniel from the {power} of the lions."

28 So this Daniel prospered during the kingdom of Darius and during the kingdom of Cyrus the Persian.

Daniel 6 Commentary

Chapter 6

The malice of Daniel's enemies. (1-5) His constancy in prayer. (6-10) He is cast into the lion's den. (11-17) His miraculous preservation. (18-24) The decree of Darius. (25-28)

Verses 1-5 We notice to the glory of God, that though Daniel was now very old, yet he was able for business, and had continued faithful to his religion. It is for the glory of God, when those who profess religion, conduct themselves so that their most watchful enemies may find no occasion for blaming them, save only in the matters of their God, in which they walk according to their consciences.

Verses 6-10 To forbid prayer for thirty days, is, for so long, to rob God of all the tribute he has from man, and to rob man of all the comfort he has in God. Does not every man's heart direct him, when in want or distress, to call upon God? We could not live a day without God; and can men live thirty days without prayer? Yet it is to be feared that those who, without any decree forbidding them, present no hearty, serious petitions to God for more than thirty days together, are far more numerous than those who serve him continually, with humble, thankful hearts. Persecuting laws are always made on false pretences; but it does not become Christians to make bitter complaints, or to indulge in revilings. It is good to have hours for prayer. Daniel prayed openly and avowedly; and though a man of vast business, he did not think that would excuse him from daily exercises of devotion. How inexcusable are those who have but little to do in the world, yet will not do thus much for their souls! In trying times we must take heed, lest, under pretence of discretion, we are guilty of cowardice in the cause of God. All who throw away their souls, as those certainly do that live without prayer, even if it be to save their lives, at the end will be found to be fools. Nor did Daniel only pray, and not give thanks, cutting off some part of the service to make the time of danger shorter; but he performed the whole. In a word, the duty of prayer is founded upon the sufficiency of God as an almighty Creator and Redeemer, and upon our wants as sinful creatures. To Christ we must turn our eyes. Thither let the Christian look, thither let him pray, in this land of his captivity.

Verses 11-17 It is no new thing for what is done faithfully, in conscience toward God, to be misrepresented as done obstinately, and in contempt of the civil powers. Through want of due thought, we often do that which afterwards, like Darius, we see cause a thousand times to wish undone again. Daniel, that venerable man, is brought as the vilest of malefactors, and is thrown into the den of lions, to be devoured, only for worshipping his God. No doubt the placing the stone was ordered by the providence of God, that the miracle of Daniel's deliverance might appear more plain; and the king sealed it with his own signet, probably lest Daniel's enemies should kill him. Let us commit our lives and souls unto God, in well-doing. We cannot place full confidence even in men whom we faithfully serve; but believers may, in all cases, be sure of the Divine favour and consolation.

Verses 18-24 The best way to have a good night, is to keep a good conscience. We are sure of what the king doubted, that the servants of the living God have a Master well able to protect them. See the power of God over the fiercest creatures, and believe his power to restrain the roaring lion that goeth about continually seeking to devour. Daniel was kept perfectly safe, because he believed in his God. Those who boldly and cheerfully trust in God to protect them in the way of duty, shall always find him a present help. Thus the righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead. The short triumph of the wicked will end in their ruin.

Verses 25-28 If we live in the fear of God, and walk according to that rule, peace shall be upon us. The kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever, are the Lord's; but many are employed in making known his wonderful works to others, who themselves remain strangers to his saving grace. May we be doers, as well as believers of his word, least at the last we should be found to have deceived ourselves.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "It was pleasant before Darius"
• [b]. Literally "in all the kingdom"
• [c]. Literally "was distinguishing himself"
• [d]. Literally "all of because that"
• [e]. Literally "were seeking"
• [f]. Literally "from the side of the kingdom"
• [g]. Literally "being corrupt"
• [h]. Literally "all because that"
• [i]. Aramaic "any"
• [j]. Literally "being corrupt"
• [k]. Literally "not could be found"
• [l]. Literally "[were] saying"
• [m]. Or "basis for accusation"
• [n]. Literally "on/upon"
• [o]. Literally "to eternity"
• [p]. Literally "all that"
• [q]. Literally "pit of lions"
• [r]. Literally "Like to before this"
• [s]. Or "the writing that is the interdict"
• [t]. Literally "as that"
• [u]. Literally "and windows were open to him in his upper room"
• [v]. Literally "in the day"
• [w]. Literally "all because that"
• [x]. Literally "from before this"
• [y]. Literally "and saying before the king"
• [z]. Literally "Not an edict you signed?"
• [aa]. Literally "pit of lions"
• [ab]. Literally "they answered"
• [ac]. Literally "the sons of the exile"
• [ad]. Aramaic "Jehud"
• [ae]. Literally "not he sets [his mind]"
• [af]. Literally "and three times on the day"
• [ag]. Aramaic "as "
• [ah]. Literally "word"
• [ai]. Literally "upon Daniel"
• [aj]. Literally "he set [his] heart"
• [ak]. Literally "saying"
• [al]. Aramaic "to"
• [am]. Literally "all/every"
• [an]. Literally "pit of lions"
• [ao]. Literally "The king answered and saying"
• [ap]. Literally "in the loyalty"
• [aq]. Aramaic "one"
• [ar]. Or "nobles"
• [as]. Literally "to hasten"
• [at]. Literally "pit of lions"
• [au]. Literally "as coming near him"
• [av]. Literally "answered"
• [aw]. Aramaic "with"
• [ax]. Literally "unto endless ages"
• [ay]. Aramaic "would not"
• [az]. Literally "all of because that"
• [ba]. Literally "it was found for me"
• [bb]. That is, the situation
• [bc]. Literally "they ate his pieces of Daniel"
• [bd]. Literally "pit of lions"
• [be]. Literally "until that"
• [bf]. Literally "From before me is put forth a decree"
• [bg]. Literally "to eternity/endless ages"
• [bh]. Literally "and whose"
• [bi]. Literally "dominion his to the end"
• [bj]. Literally "hand"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO DANIEL 6

This chapter gives an account of Daniel's being cast into the den of lions, and the causes of it, and the steps leading to it; and also of his wonderful deliverance out of it, and what followed upon that. It first relates how Daniel was made by Darius first president of the princes of the kingdom, which drew their envy upon him, Da 6:1-4, and that these princes finding they could get no occasion against him, but in religion, proposed to the king to make a law forbidding prayer to any god for thirty days, which they got established, Da 6:5-9, and Daniel breaking this law, is accused by them to the king; and the penalty, casting into the den of lions, is insisted on to be executed, Da 6:10-13, which the king laboured to prevent, but in vain; and Daniel is cast to the lions, to the great grief of the king, Da 6:14-18, who visited the den the next morning, and to his great joy found Daniel alive, Da 6:19-23, upon which, by the law of retaliation, his accusers, their wives, and children, were cast into it, Da 6:24, and an edict was published by the king, commanding all in his dominions to fear and reverence the God of Daniel, Da 6:25-28.