Daniel 6:6 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Daniel 6:6

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Daniel would have lived – but this is speculation – in the rulers’ quarter of the city. The city of Babylon had a whole section in it, which would have been devoted to all the rulers with townhouses for those who lived elsewhere and had their seat of local government elsewhere in the empire, and those who were resident, who were in the administration in Babylon: they would have all lived in the same general area. Daniel no doubt and some of the other believing Jews had a testimony, and they wanted it to be seen that they were people who depended for everything upon their God, upon the true and living God. Daniel appears to have had a kind of upper story chapel, and it had its windows constructed to face Jerusalem. That would have been because it reminded him of the great hope that soon God would fulfil prophecy and the Jewish people would return, or at least a remnant of them, to Jerusalem. There would be another opportunity for them to serve God and flourish, and one day Messiah would be brought forth; that was his great hope: the return from captivity. He knew the predictions well. He was a prophet himself. So it was his practice, rather like us going to church on the Lord's Day, to ascend into his private chapel with its long windows, and to take up his prayers and petitions three times a day. He didn't do it out of some pharisaical spirit just to be seen, but he did it for the sake of his testimony. He might be the senior ruler under the king, but he is a humble man and this is what Daniel wished to say, and he trusts and depends upon his God. This decree that is concocted very cunningly by his enemies is going to prevent or try to prevent that from taking place. They know that Daniel will defy it, and so it will become the grounds of their accusing him. All the presidents of the kingdom: the governors, princes, councillors, captains, have consulted together. It would have taken them some time. Daniel would probably not have known. He might have picked up that this was going on, but if so he left it in the hands of God. They were concocting a royal statute, a firm decree, a binding prohibition or ban. This has been described as ridiculous; it is not ridiculous at all. It's very clever. The idea was that there would be a thirty day ban on all petitions made to any god or people, in order to establish and to enhance and recognise the authority of Darius. We can imagine that one part of Darius suffered from a sense of inferiority. He was not of royal blood; he was not strictly a ruler. He was a military man; he was a general. He had been put in a position of power, and to dress him up as a royal they had given him a throne name. That is why we know him as Darius in the Book of Daniel, but that name Darius – at least not with reference to him – doesn't appear on any ancient inscriptions. He had a throne name; it is to dress him up. And he has got an international region to administer. In those days kings were the representatives of their gods. They were thought to be appointed by their gods. We shouldn't laugh at that; we had a strong belief in the divine right of kings in this country until only a very few centuries ago. You shouldn't defy the king; you cannot dethrone the king. Even Christian people: they had it in their systems taught them from earliest years. The king is God's appointment, however wicked; you cannot raise a hand against the king. How much more in pagan days, days of polytheism, when the kings were the representatives of the gods. Darius would have liked to have that status. Was he not now under Cyrus virtual emperor of Babylon. But it maybe that he had something of an inferiority complex, and the councillors and subordinate officers of state played to this. ‘We think there ought to be a decree and for thirty days’ – this is very early in his reign – ‘there will be no petitioning of people or gods except to the king.’ So the pagan feasts would all be drawn to a halt. The pagan temples in Babylon would be quiet for a month. You would not make a plea of any sort, out of deference to the king. Only the king's business for one month. Even to a fellow man there must be no great transactions of land and business. It’s not seen anywhere else. We have never come across it before, so the experts tell us, but this is the scheme by which to vaunt Darius. It obviously appealed to him. He was flattered. He wasn’t naïve, but he was insecure. He thought this would establish his reign. He realised Daniel wouldn’t approve but didn’t think Daniel would stand against it. He could pull himself up now. It played to his natural vanity and pride. His office was already going to his head. So yes, he’ll sign it. He takes the bait. It's a highly intelligent ruse, and the scheme is very plausible. Why couldn’t the law be changed? Because the Medes and Persians believed their rulers were divine and therefore unable to make mistakes.

Application

Ancient monarchs wanted people to think like this. They said this: ‘All well-being is from us. We will defend you and order the affairs of empire so you are fed, clothed.’ The world is like Darius. It wants us to believe that it can make us happy, supply our needs. It says, ‘You do not need to worship God. “All these things I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”’ You see it in non-Christian doctors – pumping people with depression full of drugs which have long lasting side-effects and undermine any benefit that might result from thinking more seriously about life. People under the weather receive a pill, instead of being brought low before God.

Darius has been called a type of the Pope of Rome. Rome says, ‘Merit comes from the church. You need a priest; you cannot go direct to Christ.’ But the Evangelical churches have a pastor-teacher who points to word, not a priest. So people don’t say, ‘Pastor says do it this way or that way’, but rather they know where to turn to in the word of God.

Questions

Some critics say all this is so far-fetched. How can all people be watched? But the point is that you don’t normally enforce laws like this. Nobody expected it. Darius saw it as a gesture. No one was suggesting that inspectors should be looking through the windows to catch transgressors. But all this was done for the sake of one man: Daniel. They knew he would have nothing to do with pagan things. All his life he had avoided them. They probably wondered how he had got away with it for so long. Prominent men normally have to go to certain occasions. All knew he kept the means of grace. Probably there was a Bible circle in Babylon and they would teach each other. They knew he studied the ancient Scriptures. But Darius no doubt never imagined it would rebound on Daniel. He rather fancied being a god. While the king did not consider this law enforceable, there was some significance in this. People would say, ‘Here in Babylon, all is channelled to us through good King Darius.’

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Daniel 6:6 Commentary and Bible Study