Daniel

Daniel#

  • Chapter 6 ends the historical section
  • Darius had no alternative but to enforce the law he’d been tricked to make. This was the law of the Medes and the Persians. No one could revoke this law. Yet, they will learn, there is one who is sovereign over men who is above any Medo-Persian law.

Daniel 6:18 Darius’s Sleepless night#

Daniel 6:18#

Dan 6:18 Then 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.

  • Darius’ soul is troubled

  • sleepless night

  • we’re led to feel sorry for the king.

    • wrong side

    • no rest

    • soul is under turmoil for doing wrong

    • nobles sealed the stone. perhaps the kings seal was more for daniels protection from the nobles. And the noble’s seal is to make sure the king would not break Daniel out?

    • Daniel could have thrown himself to the mercy of the nobles. he could have begged for mercy from the king. Daniel knew the law. Daniel was subject to its vain way just like Darius the king.

    • Darius is a slave to his own system.

      • logically corrupted
      • morally weak
      • ethically wrong
      • ironically, it’s legally right. Sometimes the law is just plain wrong, yet God is not delivering Daniel from the lions den. He delivers him from the Lions in the den.
      • God has granted to governments to hold this authority, that is why it’s so important what they do with God’s sovereignty. When they don’t recognize that God granted them that position and the very existence of government, everything colapses very quickly.

Daniel 6:19-23 Daniel’s Deliverance from the Lions#

Daniel 6:19#

Dan 6:19 Then the king arose at dawn, at the break of day, and went in haste to the lions’ den.

Did his grief overcome his fear of the nobles? Probably because the conditions of the law were met. Daniel had paid the demands of the law.

Daniel 6:20#

Dan 6:20 When 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?”

  • note: ‘servant of the living God’, he is first and foremost a servant of God not servant of the medes and persians. This speaks that a servant of the living God can be an excelent benefit to those he is around as he reflects the God he serves.
  • ‘constantly serve’ - recognized as a servant of Jehovah. Daniel was known by Darius to constantly serve his God.
  • Daniel was supernaturally delivered from the lions, not the den. Darius delivered Daniel from the den.

Daniel 6:21#

Dan 6:21 Then Daniel spoke to the king, “O king, live forever!

Perhaps Daniel is surprised the king actually came? He expresses happiness to hear the king’s voice.

Daniel is a cheerful fellow. He’s not complaining, he’s quick with a salutation to the king.

Daniel 6:22#

Dan 6:22 “My 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.”

  • Daniel recognizes his God (my God) as his ultimate deliverer and provider and recognizes the king’s authority. His innocence is unquestionably demonstrated by his deliverance.
  • God defends Daniel

Daniel 6:23#

Dan 6:23 Then 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.

Miraculous without a doubt. No harm had come to Daniel.

When did Daniel trust his God? In the den of lions? I’m sure he did, but the trusting referred to in context is from before when he continued as usual praying three times a day. v. 10, 13, 16

A word about faith - faith is not about the quantity or quality, it’s about the object in whom it’s placed. Paul expresses that…

2Ti 1:12 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

Paul had believed, Paul was convinced, and had entrusted himself. But Paul’s faith weak or strong, was in God. That is the key! Daniel said, My God. Abraham’s faith was in God who He knew was able to perform that which he had said.

Especially encouraging to the Jews in the Second Temple period. They could identify with Daniel’s plight; their faith could be strengthened by God’s miraculous intervention. This would encourage them to put their faith in God.

Daniel’s kind of faith should encourage us today as we face the pressures of living faithfully to God in these trying times of the Gentiles. We can trust God.

fancy palace cave with lions
entertainment - none can soothe his mind supernatural miracle - Daniel entertained watching an angel shut the lions mouths. Front seat to the Best circus act ever.
Darius fasted lions fasted
Dairus’ soul in greatest physical comfort but troubled. soul among lions but at rest. No physical comfort but peace of God. Peter slept in prison
victim of doing wrong. Spends night in guilt victim for doing right. 1 Pet 2:20 “But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.”
reader ends up feeling sorry for this poor king suspense. reader is not even told until afterwards to encourage the king as it were.

Daniel 6:24 The Conspirator’s Doom#

Daniel 6:24#

Dan 6:24 The 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.

He was not spared on account of the lions’ lack of hunger; he was spared because of God’s intervention.

  • cultural to send all close relatives to same demise so there wouldn’t be danger of revenge.

Daniel 6:25-28 Darius’ Decree#

Daniel 6:25#

Dan 6:25 Then 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!

Daniel 6:26#

Dan 6:26 “I 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.

Nebuchadnezzar forbade blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (3:29); Darius orders all people to tremble and fear before Him (v. 26).

The king’s declaration of God’s greatness would have promulgated a healthy fear of God throughout the Persian Empire

Daniel 6:27#

Dan 6:27 “He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders In heaven and on earth, Who has also delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.”

The king spoke of God’s power to save. He included Daniel’s deliverance from the lions as living proof of God’s delivering power.

Heb 11:33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,

Daniel 6:28#

Dan 6:28 So this Daniel enjoyed success in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

  • God gave Daniel success in a pagan regime.

  • a. This event happened just prior to the end of Israel’s prophesied seventy years of captivity.

    b. King Cyrus would soon encourage Israel’s return to the land.

    c. Did Daniel’s testimony of faith in God, his integrity, and the exposing of his conspirators play a part in Cyrus’ positive actions toward the exiles of Israel?

    d. The stage was set for Jewish refugees to return to the Promised Land. Since Daniel, who represented the best of Israel, was seen as loyal to his adoptive government, the Jewish people would not be perceived as subversive or threating to the kingdom.

    A note on Darius and Cyrus#

  • Jesus authenticated prophet Daniel “Let the reader understand”

  • Darius was appointed king by someone greater (Cyrus de Great) Daniel 9:1

Dan 9:1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans —

This shows how the bear in chapter 7 perfectly reflects the Medo-Persian empire. The Persian part was above the Median. Cyrus the Great the overall king and Darius the Mede was king over the province of the Chaldeans or Babylon.

Darius’ reign and Cyrus’ reign are the same not successive.