The Book of Daniel Chapter by Chapter
Chapter 6 - Law of Medes & Persians - Daniel in the Lion's Den

Daniel 6 sees the start of the world-rule of Medo-Persia under king Darius. The king was very responsive when he was shown the way that God looks after His faithful followers, even when they meet traps laid by top-level national leaders which are designed to lead them to their death.

Starting from the time when Medo-Persia took over world dominion, there was a change in how great nations of the world dealt with people.

Babylon was an absolute monarchy. The king made the laws. He applied them as he wanted to and no-one (except for the king himself!) could flaunt those laws. The principle guiding Babylon was the absolute supremacy of the king.

Daniel was already one of the top statesmen of the nation, and Darius thought so highly of him that he "thought to set him over the whole realm" (Dan 6:3.) This excited great envy among the top statesmen, who were already jealous of the great esteem with which Darius held Daniel. They started plotting to get the king to issue a law by which they could trap Daniel. It wasn’t an easy task, because these statesmen realised they could not trap Daniel regarding his loyalty to the king or to Medo-Persia, or concerning any of his dealings with his fellow men.

There had to be some other way, and they found it.

Their whole plot is revealed in just five verses which say:

(v4) Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.

(v5) Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.

Daniel’s known faithfulness to his God gave these schemers an opportunity to use a subject in which they were very well versed. They were experts in the law of Medo-Persia and they saw a good opportunity to use their expertise to completely remove Daniel.

So they went to the king and said:

(v7) we have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.

(v8) Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.

They had made their point – and they knew that, once signed by Darius, the king himself could not overturn the law.

To a pagan supreme ruler, signing such a law which only allowed him to be petitioned would have seemed a very flattering prospect. Darius little suspected that Daniel’s destruction was its real object.

(v9) Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree.

The trap was set, and was soon sprung, because, although Daniel knew all about it, the royal decree didn’t make any difference to his prayer habits... He went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

(6:16) Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.

King Darius spent the night fasting, and when he went to the lions’ den early the next morning he found Daniel alive and unharmed.

Daniel told the king My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me, and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. (6:22)

God saved Daniel from the lions, but those who had accused him wrongly suffered the fate they had tried to bring on him. When they were thrown to the lions there was no man or god to stop them meeting their just reward.

The king himself gave a strong witness to Medo-Persia of the supremacy of the God of Daniel:
v25 Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.
v26 I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.
v27 He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.

The final verse (v28) tells how... this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

What a tremendous witness!

Can we still expect deliverance like that today?

Yes! In Psalm 91, written thousands of years ago, God promises to deliver all who are faithful to Him:

v1   He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
v2   I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust (have faith).
v3   Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
v4   He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
v5   Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day.
v6   Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
v7   A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
v8   Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
v9   Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation.
v10  There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
v11  For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

Next Chapter: Daniel 7

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