Daniel 6 Study Notes

6:1 In one of the best-known stories in the book, Daniel was cast into the lions’ den for his faith. Since Daniel was about fifteen years old in 605 BC when the Babylonians brought him as a captive to Babylon, and since the events in Dn 6 most likely took place in the second or third year after the Medo-Persian conquest of Babylon in 539 BC, Daniel would have been approximately eighty-two years old when he was thrown to the lions, not a teenager as is often pictured in Bible story books. Darius began organizing the newly conquered Babylonian Empire and immediately decided to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom. These 120 satraps were lower tier officials who helped rule the entire empire or just over the part of the empire that was formerly under Babylonian control.

6:2 The king appointed three administrators over the 120 satraps to assure that taxes would be properly collected without any embezzlement or corruption by the 120 government officials. For these positions, the king needed men with trustworthy reputations. So he chose Daniel as one of these officials. He must have heard of Daniel’s reputation; perhaps he was even aware of Daniel’s interpretation of the writing that had appeared on the wall the night Babylon fell.

6:3 Daniel proved to be a superlative administrator because of his extraordinary spirit, a phrase used previously to describe his character (5:12). Therefore, the king planned to set him over the whole realm as prime minister.

6:4-5 The king’s choice of Daniel created jealousy among the other court officials, and they wished to denounce Daniel. Since Daniel was both diligent and honest in his work, they could find no corruption in him. Therefore, they sought to trap him by creating a law to ban Daniel from worshiping his God.

6:6-7 When these corrupt officials approached the king, they falsely claimed that all government officials supported the proposal that for thirty days, anyone who petitioned any god or man except the king would be thrown into the lions’ den. By agreeing to this law, Darius probably had not claimed deity but rather adopted the role of a priestly mediator (see note at 3:4-5). His goal was to unite the Babylonian realm under the authority of the new Persian Empire.

6:8-9 The irrevocability of a law of the Medes and Persians is confirmed elsewhere in Scripture (Est 1:19; 8:8) and secular literature (Diodorus of Sicily, XVII:30).

6:10 Even though the law prohibiting prayer had gone into effect, Daniel still prayed with his windows opened toward Jerusalem. Jewish people in exile always pray toward Jerusalem—even today—just as Solomon had instructed in his prayer of dedication for the temple (1Kg 8:44-49). Daniel prayed not out of rebellion toward the king but out of obedience to the greater command of God. As the apostles would later say, “We must obey God rather than people” (Ac 5:29). So great was Daniel’s reputation for spiritual commitment that even his enemies knew he would obey God rather than bow to the king’s edict.

6:11-13 The true purpose of the administrators in v. 6 comes out.

6:14-15 The king was very displeased not because Daniel had defied him but because he came to understand that the true purpose of the law was to trap Daniel, whom he respected. We can only imagine what strategies the king tried in order to rescue Daniel, but the administrators would not be put off.

6:16 The Persians used mutilation by lions as one of several brutal forms of execution. It was Daniel’s continual service to God that caused him to be cast into the lions’ den; now the king hoped that this devotion would cause God to deliver Daniel. The word for den can also be translated as “pit.”

6:17-18 Daniel was cast into a pit over which a stone was placed and sealed with the signet rings of the king and his nobles. King Darius then spent the night fasting and presumably praying for Daniel.

6:19-20 Note the question on the mind of Darius was the ability of Daniel’s God.

6:21-23 God uses angels to accomplish his purposes, including protection of his people (Ps 34:7; 91:11; Heb 1:14). He had done so for Daniel’s three friends in the furnace many years earlier (Dn 3:25). As on that occasion, this may have been an angel or even the angel of the Lord (i.e., a preincarnate appearance of the Messiah). Daniel was not claiming perfection in declaring that he was found innocent before God. Rather, Daniel claimed that his allegiance to God made him guiltless in this matter. It was Daniel’s faith in God, not his works, that brought him deliverance from the lions.

6:24 Although executing family members is exceptionally cruel, this was a common Persian practice according to Herodotus (Histories, 3.119).

6:25-27 Just as King Nebuchadnezzar before him, King Darius issued a decree to every people, nation, and language (cp. 4:2), declaring praise to the God of Daniel. Darius recognized the greatness of God: that he is living and eternal, sovereign, all-powerful, and able to deliver his people. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that Darius came to a saving faith here. He instead accepted the God of Israel as just one of many gods.

6:28 Some maintain that this verse draws a distinction between Darius and Cyrus, such that Darius could only be identified with Gubaru and not with Cyrus the Persian (see note at 5:31). But it is also possible to translate this verse as “during the reign of Darius, even Cyrus the Persian.”