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Daniel 6:1-28
Daniel, The Lions, and Darius
A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes
Preached on March 5, 2017 at Beacon Church
Daniel chapter 5 ends with the announcement that Darius the Mede received the kingdom of Babylon when he was 62 years old. It doesn’t say he started work right away, and history suggests that Cyrus the Persian overlord made one of his generals a governor in the interim. But then Darius was appointed as king and received orders from Cyrus the Great of Persia to rule over Babylon for the time being. Comparing the Bible’s records to the records of secular history—piecing together fragments, inscriptions, and legends—leaves us with a bunch of questions about who Darius was. But one thing seems pretty sure: Darius the Mede was no Cyrus the Great. 62 years was pretty old in those days. Cyrus’ mother was only 46 at the time of chapter 5,[i] so Cyrus was probably only around 30—in his prime. And Cyrus’ reputation for leadership, wisdom, strength of character, and strategic thinking make a sharp contrast with the easily influenced and manipulated king in Daniel 6. This morning as we take a look at our next chapter, and the famous story of Daniel in the Lions’ Den, I want to remind you that just as the story of the fiery furnace was nor mainly about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Daniel is not the main character in this story either. That story in chapter 3 was really about King Nebuchadnezzar; this story in chapter 6 is really about Darius the Mede. Although this story has a lot to say to the Jewish people, it is not mainly about how to survive a metaphorical Lions’ Den. Remember, from chapter 2 through chapter 7, Daniel was writing the gentile language of Aramaic—signaling to his readers that his focus here is on gentile events and people. Spectacular events, then, like giant statues, fiery furnaces, kings who think they are animals, disembodied hands writing on the wall, and a den of lions, are reminders that God was still in charge—as Paul says in Romans 3:29, “Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also…” He justifies both Jews and Gentiles, Paul says, “through faith”. So we discover in this chapter a weak king who comes face to face with the saving power of Almighty God and is deeply affected by what he sees. And we are reminded in this chapter that the Jews were never supposed to put all their hopes in the prophecies about Cyrus the Great saving them from the Babylonians. Because although Isaiah called Cyrus “an anointed one”, a “Messiah”, he was not the Saviour Israel was still waiting for. God’s people needed a better king than Darius or Cyrus; a better priest, and a better Saviour. And like Nebuchadnezzar, Darius’ story in this chapter ends with him testifying to the truth that all of us, whatever country we come from, need the God of Israel.
Darius wasn’t a good enough king
This Darius was not a great king. His rule was so insignificant, and so eclipsed by the greatness of his Persian overlord, Cyrus the Great, that Darius the Mede is not even mentioned by any ancient historical source. That has prompted many to say he is a fiction of this writer’s imagination, but critics used to say the same thing about King Belshazzar until archaeologists began to find evidence about him that exactly matched the details of Daniel 5. Dan 5:31 says Darius “received the kingdom”, and 9:1 says Darius was a Mede, the son of Ahasuerus, and that he “was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans”. Whoever he was, Cyrus appointed him a temporary king and gave him the throne-name, “Darius”, which meant “holder”.[ii] Cyrus the Great had a habit of putting his relatives in charge as viceroys, regional kings, and governors, especially if they were already acceptable to the people they were to rule.[iii] A secular French historian argued that Cyrus made sure that when he proclaimed himself King of Babylon, he claimed to be a legitimate successor to the line of Nebuchadnezzar himself, who wasn’t a Persia or a Mede.[iv] Taken together, these details fit the suggestion that Darius was actually Cyrus’ grandfather Astyages, the last King of the Medes, son of Ahasuerus, and brother-in-law to King Nebuchadnezzar.[v] The age of 62 is about right as well. But if Darius is Astyages, chapter 6 puts him in an interesting light.
According to an ancient Greek historian, he lost his former kingdom when he lost the support of his nobles.[vi] He was overthrown by his chosen heir who switched sides to support Cyrus, his grandson.[vii] His cruelty and impulsiveness was literally the stuff of legends. And so when early in his new job as the king responsible to smoothly transition Babylon to Persian law and Persian rule, a whole bunch of his officials use the weight of their numbers to pressure him to sign a new law, he caves in right away.
It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, to be throughout the whole kingdom; 2 and over them three high officials, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss. 3 Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. (Dan. 6:1-3 ESV)
Maybe he was afraid of losing their support? Maybe he hoped to win a bit of loyalty? At best, he was an okay king, with some great ideas for reforming the government. But Darius was not a great king.
4 Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him. 5 Then these men said, "We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God." 6 Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, "O King Darius, live forever! 7 All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. 8 Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked." 9 Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction. (Dan. 6:4-9 ESV)
His governors backed him into a corner and manipulated him. And it worked.
Darius wasn’t a good enough priest
This law was not claiming that the King was the only god people should worship—Babylon had lots of gods and that would probably have started a riot—but that people could keep on worshipping their own gods, as long as they went through him in prayer—as long as they prayed to him, like to a priest. One commentary rightly says, "Thus Darius was not proclaiming himself to be a god but during this thirty-day period was acting as mediator for the gods of all the nations subject to him."[viii] But when Daniel finds out that this decree has been signed into law, what does he do? “When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously,” (Dan. 6:10 ESV). The point is that Daniel continued on as he always had done. He would not pray to Darius; he could only pray to God. Chapter 9 says that in the 1st year of Darius Daniel prayed for forgiveness for the sins of himself and the Jews, pleading with God on account of His “great mercy”. His prayer in chapter 9 takes up 17 verses of heartfelt supplications poured out to the God in whom he trusted! And God sent an angel to give him a prophecy about a Messiah who was going to come, one day, to atone for sin and establish a covenant with the Jewish people through his own death (Dan 9:24-27). The New Testament described Jesus Christ using some of those very words, in order to say that Jesus is that Great Priest for His people. As Peter preached in Acts 4, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12 ESV). And as Paul writes, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time” (1 Tim. 2:5-6 ESV). No wonder Daniel ignored the new law and kept praying to God—he knew the Messiah was coming.
As a pathetic contrast to the way God answered Daniel’s prayer and promised to send the Messiah to intercede for his people, look at verses 11-14.
11 Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God. 12 Then they came near and said before the king, concerning the injunction, "O king! Did you not sign an injunction, that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?" The king answered and said, "The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked." 13 Then they answered and said before the king, "Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day." 14 Then the king, when he heard these words, was much distressed and set his mind to deliver Daniel. And he labored till the sun went down to rescue him. (Dan. 6:11-14 ESV)
Darius tried and tried to find some way to intervene and rescue his very favourite governor from the stupid law he himself had just signed. Some High Priest! I can imagine Darius burning the candle all night, praying to whatever gods he prayed to, asking forgiveness for his past sins—like the time he punished one of his generals by serving up at a feast in his honour, the body of his general’s baby son who had just died. I wonder if he worried that his own sins would stop his gods from hearing his prayers for Daniel? But the Holy Spirit says, through Paul in 2 Cor 5:21, “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Cor. 5:21 NLT).
Darius wasn’t a good enough saviour
Time ran out for Darius when his scheming officials came back the next morning and put pressure on him to do what the Law said he had do to. And the very man who wanted so desperately to save Daniel was the one who gave the order to send him to his death.
15 Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, "Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed." 16 Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. (Dan. 6:15-16 ESV)
Wanting to save someone isn’t enough if the law they had broken has real authority behind it. Not even God can just wish for sinners to be saved from the consequences of our law breaking. Unless the Judge is corrupt, justice has to be satisfied before mercy can triumph. “And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel,” (Dan. 6:17 ESV). Calvin pointed out two ways that the king is humiliated here: his “lords” who conspired against Daniel force him to seal the entrance to the den with wax and with his own personal seal—because they don’t trust him to obey his own law; then they also add their seals to it, using their authority against Darius. We could talk about the parallels between Daniel’s den and Jesus’ tomb, and the plot of evil men against an innocent servant of God. But in verses 16b, 18-19, the real message becomes clear, that there was no hope for Daniel unless God alone acted to save him, and that with no more options, it is explicit in verse 16, and implied in verse 18, that Darius prayed to Daniel’s God: “The king declared to Daniel, "May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!" (Dan. 6:16 ESV) “Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him,” (Dan. 6:18 ESV). Finally, this impotent king, ineffective priest, and insufficient saviour runs from his palace, at the break of dawn, in the desperate hope that Daniel still lives:
19 Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. 20 As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, "O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?" 21 Then Daniel said to the king, "O king, live forever! 22 My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm." (Dan. 6:19-22 ESV)
Daniel trusted the One who is
I want you to look at verse 23 now, and see that not Darius, and not Daniel at that time, but Daniel the narrator who has the Holy Spirit showing him what happened that day and why, that he tells us the moral of this whole unusual story: “Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God,” (Dan. 6:23 ESV). No harm came to him, he writes, “because he had trusted in his God”. That word, “trusted” is the Aramaic equivalent to the Hebrew word used in Genesis 15:6, where, “Abram believed YHWH and it was counted to him as righteousness”.[ix] From inside the den, Daniel said that the lions didn’t eat him because God found him blameless, and because he was also truly blameless in his obedient service to King Darius. So God vindicated him. That’s verse 22. But the next verse gives a more final, more ultimate reason why God saved Daniel’s life: faith. The Bible word means faith, trust, rely on, depend on. The writer of Hebrews refers to Daniel being saved from the lions saying that it was because of Daniel’s faith in God that God “shut the mouths of lions” (Heb 11:33).
The first verse in that chapter (Heb 11) says that faith is the “assurance of things hoped for”—the hopeful expectation that God will do what He said, keep His promises, and raise everyone who believes in Him to everlasting life on the last day—and “the conviction of things not seen”—that God is faithful, that He is able to save, that He approves of the ungodly, justifies sinners, forgives transgressions, not when we do enough really really good things to deserve it, but when we trust His mercy, and count on His grace. Right around this same time, in the first year of Darius, when Daniel begged God to forgive the sins of the Jewish people, the angel told him about the Messiah who was coming. If you didn’t read that in Daniel 9 you might not realize it happened at about the same time as the Lions’ Den. But once we see that connection, and read about Daniel’s faith in God, the picture that emerges in this story is a picture of the perfect King, the perfect Priest, the perfect Saviour: it is the face of Jesus the Messiah, Yeshua Ha Mashiach. The two decrees of King Darius at the end of this story leave no doubt about what Daniel wants his readers to conclude.
“And the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and cast into the den of lions-- they, their children, and their wives. And before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces,” (Dan. 6:24 ESV). Psalm 2 says, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” As Jesus said, in Mat 10:28, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
And the next decree:
25 Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: "Peace be multiplied to you. 26 I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end. 27 He delivers and rescues; he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions." (Dan. 6:25-27 ESV)
Darius’ words to the people of Babylon show echoes of the words of Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 2 and 4—Perhaps in the meantime Daniel had told Darius about Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams and what God had done for him? But he urges his people to worship a) Daniel’s God (YHWH), b) the Living God (not like the idols of Babylon), c) the coming King whose Kingdom will last forever, d) the Saviour, e) the Miracle Worker, f) the One who saved Daniel from the power of the lions.
How did Daniel survive captivity in Babylon in the service of 8 different kings, the fall of Babylon and the rise of Medo-Persia? Because he trusted in the King of kings, the Great High Priest, and Saviour we know as Jesus. “So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian,” (Dan. 6:28 ESV).