14: World News & Prophecy - Daniel 6:1-28

[Darris McNeely] Okay, we're taping. We're going to cover Daniel 6:2 today and then part of Chapter 9. So seems like we're jumping around a little bit, but keep in mind we're going through Daniel chronologically. And with Daniel 6, remember last time, we came to the conclusion of the fall of Babylon with the handwriting on the wall. And so at this point, we are into the Persian period of the time in Babylon. And Daniel has survived the regime change. There's been a hostile takeover in Babylon. The Persians, the barbarians at the gate, came in, sacked the city, killed Belshazzar and took over. And so there's a new sheriff in town. His name is Darius. We were introduced to him at the end of Chapter 5.

And at that time, I mentioned that the name Darius as it appears in the Bible is a bit of a problem and has been for many, many years by many, many scholars who look at the book of Daniel and look at it both as a legitimate document written by Daniel at the time of Babylon and Persia. And then others who look at Daniel as a product of the 2nd century BC, 400 or so years after the time of the events described in the book of Daniel written by some anonymous Jew in Jerusalem or Israel, but during the time of the Greek occupation and writing in a retrospective way as if he were writing in a prospective way. And so those who don't believe in the idea that there is a God who can predict history or prophecy, assign Daniel to a much later writing.

And one of the reasons is because of the seeming discrepancy of this Darius who is set over the kingdom when Persia comes in. And last time, I just briefly talked about that. I'm not going to go into all the historical discussion. That would take another hour, and I think is beyond the scope of this class. Or really what most of us really do need to know about Daniel other than to be assured that the debate goes on. I mentioned last time that there's even current ideas that name this Darius as the historical name of a king that we know and record named Cyaxares, all right? C-Y-A-X-A-R-E-S, I think I got it right. The second, number two. Take it as it is. Cyaxares II. Well, that's kind of a new theory that has come out.

I mentioned that Tom Robinson, who's the author of our Bible reading program, who had a different conclusion based on the historical research of a man named Gubaru, is considering revising the Bible reading program and putting it down as this. So the bottom line is that regardless of who this Darius was, and the reality according to the records that we have and sorting through and sifting through all of it, it does establish the book of Daniel as a book written in the sixth century BC and written by Daniel. That still stands firm. In fact, I think with my review of the document that I saw, this seems plausible and it further affirms at least the veracity of the book of Daniel written at that particular time.

There was a later king, Darius. We studied him in Chapter 8. There was another Darius II, a different king much later, 200 years later, whom Alexander the Great defeated with a story that we have in Daniel 8 when Alexander came out of Greece and conquered the Persian Empire. So that's not the same Darius that we have here. So if this Darius is Cyaxares II, let's at least accept that. He is the ruler in charge in Babylon at this particular time. Cyrus the Great still is the overall CEO, kind of use that term, of Persia incorporated and is in the story. We'll come back and talk a little bit more about Cyrus as we finish this up.

And so with every takeover, to continue the business analogy, corporate analogy, there's a reorganization. People's titles change. People leave. People stay. The government shuffles around. This happens in the United States government, any other major nation's government when there's a change of leadership, when companies merge or are taken over, things change. And so Darius is reorganizing the kingdom. 

Daniel 6:1 And it says, "He sets over the kingdom 120 satraps." 

This is an administrative division of the empire. That's how you understand a satrap or a satrapy, S-A-T-R-A-P-Y. It's just a division of the empire with a...think of it as states with governors over them. That's what you might have or provinces with rulers, ruling satrap. And so it's a part of what we understand from the time of the Persians and even Greeks use this as well. And they administer the whole kingdom. 

Daniel 6:2 Tells us, "Over these, there were three governors, of whom Daniel was one." So these are kind of three chief uber governors, and Daniel happens to be one of them. So, "That the satraps might give account to them, so the king would suffer no loss." 

So you've got the king, and then you have three under him, and then you have the rest. And Daniel happens to be one of the three. Now, he's kept over. He's a holdover from the Babylonian period. Remember though, at the end of the Babylonian Empire, we saw in Chapter 5, Daniel had in essence been forgotten. He's not even in the big party taking place in the palace in Belshazzar.

And it's the queen mother who has to remind Belshazzar, you had this guy years ago, he was pretty good. You should bring him in. He can tell you what the handwriting means. They did. And that story is there. And so Daniel somehow, you know, he survives and he is noted, and he rises back to the top. No, he doesn't mention God's blessing on this or God's hand, as we saw back in the first chapter. But you could assume that certainly God had a hand in this. 

Daniel 6:3 But on top of that, "Daniel," it says, "distinguished himself," in verse 3, "because he had an excellent spirit in him, and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm."

And so as the days and the weeks went on, Daniel's ability stood out. Now, as we look at this, there's a kind of...we're looking at the story as it is, but I want you to think about how you advance and progress in a job, in a career. You've had a mentoring class here a few days ago, helping you to focus a little bit about what you're going to do with the rest of your life once you leave ABC, once you finish, get an education training, whatever it is you're going to do, and then, you know, get out into the workforce and some very valuable advice and contacts that you have and can make with some of the members that have been brought in here for that. So look at this as a little bit of a lesson to follow on from that. How do you succeed?

Well, we already have seen that Daniel obeyed God. The first chapter established the fact that Daniel and his three friends put God first at the possible cost of their life. They were not going to compromise, and God blessed them for that. And Daniel rose and his friends did as well, and that story has been recovered. Now, there's been a change. You know, you can get a job, I've mentioned this before, because of who you know. You know, your father, your mother, relative, or friend, or whatever, may give a good word or may have enough pull to get you into a position, into a job. But you will keep that job based on what you know. You will advance in that job based on many other qualities that you will develop that show you to be a valuable, productive, reliable, trustworthy employee.

And you'll be advanced to a supervisor, to a foreman, or department head, or whatever it might be, along with the commensurate salary increases that we all like to have. You have to, most cases, work for those. There are the cases where people get advanced because, again, of nepotism and things like that. But for most of us, we have to work. We have to work hard at it, right? And expect God's blessing, do what is right. God can guide us as well. But as we see with the story of Daniel, Daniel knew that there were things he had to do. He had to be faithful. He had to be reliable. He had to obey God. Now, with the Persian king, he distinguishes himself. And they see that he has ability. He shows up.

As I say, he shows up and he knows his lines. He gets it. You know, he got engaged. He produced. If there was a report the king needed, or something that the project or an immediate thing that the king said, "Get out and do," and if Daniel is in charge of it, he got it done. Got it done by the end of the day. He got it done before 8:00 the next morning. If he had to stay up and burn the midnight oil, he got it done. That's the type of person we're talking about here. Now, I don't know how much midnight oil Daniel actually burned, but I would imagine that he put in his time. You have to if you're going to be one of the even three governors running a kingdom like Persia was. There are people. There are issues. There's requisitions. There's supply lines that have to be kept going and managed.

There are things that have to be done called production, and somebody's responsible for that. And if you happen to be that, and if it's your job, your name, your reputation, you can delegate it, but you've got to also remain accountable. There are all kinds of matters that you have to learn about that. And part of what I try to drill into classes here at ABC is, as I say, show up and know your lines. Get engaged. Take notes on the world is going to be a test. I'll just to be real direct here for a moment. You get tests, and sometimes you do well, sometimes you don't do so well. Now, look, you're sitting here for 50 minutes, two 50-minute periods in this class, and then a lot of other 50-minute periods, right? This is your time. Do it now.

If you're working or you're too tired after 5:00, you're too tired or you're working. We don't have time to kind of come back and pick it up so much. Get it while you're here. Get it while it's in front of you. Learn it. Then go and relax, play, do whatever else. But while you're here, you focus. That's a key to success, not just here, but in life. Because sometimes you don't get a second chance. Life doesn't always give you extra credit. You get that? You've got to get it the first time. You may not get a second chance. Maybe you will. Maybe mercy or grace will be extended, but that doesn't always happen. And so you've got to be ready for it. And so this is how Daniel distinguished himself in large part, I have to assume, on top of his stellar wisdom and his character.

Daniel 6:3 But it says, "There was an excellent spirit in him." He cooperated. He showed up. He served the king. "The king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm," it says. 

Now, if the histories are correct, it could be that the king here is kind of an interim figure, and he may be wanting to place things in a position to where if he goes, if he gets transferred to another part of the ever-expanding Persian kingdom and businesses, then here in Babylon, this part of it is going to run well. And so he sees that Daniel is the one, and he puts him there. Now, here's what happens.

Daniel 6:4 "So the governors and satraps," the others, "sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no charge or fault because he was faithful, nor was there any error or fault found in him."

Daniel got promoted above the three. You know what happens when that takes place in businesses? Very often, backbiting, resentment. If others get passed over thinking they should have had that promotion, they should be running the crew, the department, the office staff, whatever that part is, and you get it, you may run into some, what we call, office politics. This is what Daniel runs into, office politics. They're going to knife him in the back. In this case, they're going to feed him to a lion is what's going to happen. You know the story here in Daniel 6. Well, believe me, that happens a lot in our life, in business, and other places. It can happen just about anywhere, so don't discount that. They became envious.

And they, actually, started a campaign, it seems, because it says, "They could find no charge." Why couldn't they find a charge? What does that tell you? Well, it tells you that they started talking and investigating. They probably pulled some records. You think he fudged a bit on his expense account, padded a requisition, funneled some money off into an offshore Persian Gulf account? They probably suspected that and they looked for it. They questioned people. Well, what do you know about Daniel? We don't see everything about him. Can you tell us something? You got some dirt? I've had people do that to me. Believe it or not, things like that happen in the Church.

I've had that happen to me in the past, that those who were somehow close to me were questioned by others about me trying to find something wrong to charge me or to whatever. It happens. Don't ever underestimate where it can come from. And the key is don't be a part of it yourself. So they were...you can imagine in our own government in America, if there's wrongdoing, we have parts of government that are set up to deal with it. The FBI might go in and investigate. The Government Services Administration, what is called the GSA in the U.S. Government, they may do an audit. Or if it's really high up like the President, they'll appoint what they call a special counsel.

You ever heard of a special counsel being appointed? That's a really high priced, usually a lawyer or somebody else in government that gets a big budget and a lot of time and pretty, well, unlimited access to investigate some aspect, usually a president. Several of our presidents in recent years have had special counsels appointed to investigate some aspect of their administration. And it can go on for months, more than a year or two, and sometimes deliver nothing, nothing. But a lot of money, a lot of time, a lot of attention is given to that. This could be what they were trying to do in some smaller way with Daniel, but they could not find error or fault.

Daniel 6:5 "These men said, 'We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.'" 

That's what they concluded. After all, what they had tried to do, whatever length they had gone, we're not going to find any dirt, no wrongdoing, no embezzlement. So let's get him... He scrupulously obeys his God and his laws. Now, remember what the queen mother in Chapter 5 said, "Daniel had an excellent spirit like that of the gods. Light, wisdom and understanding was in him." And so once again, they're back to this as a record of Daniel's character. And so they devise a trap.

Daniel 6:6 "So these governors and satraps," so they had some help, "they thronged before the king, and they said to him, 'King Darius, live forever.'" 

They were what we call sucking up. You know, I can use other terms, but this is a classroom. I won't do that. But they were trying to get on his good side. Oh, king, we wish you prosperity and living forever, never die.

Daniel 6:7 "'All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and the satraps, the counselors, the advisors have consulted together to establish a royal statute and make a firm decree,'" put in policy. We've created a policy. Wow, a policy wonk. "'That whoever petitions any god or man for 30 days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions.'"

This is their policy. That if any other petition to a god or man, there was a time limit on it, this policy was going to run out in 30 days. But for 30 days, it was in effect, which they knew that they didn't need to put something on the books forever. 30 days would be enough to trap Daniel. Now, notice that they said that all the governors, administrators, and satraps have consulted together. Did they consult Daniel? Do you read that here? No, they didn't. Here's another little piece of advice when you get into certain situations.

Beware of anybody who says, "Everybody's saying..." Here's another one, "People have concerns." "Oh, really? Well, how many people," ask them that, "a hundred? No? Fifty? No? Twenty-five? No? Ten?" Then you get down into Abraham and God territory. "Five? How many emails did you get? How many people actually have talked to you? Oh, three. Three is everyone? Three is all the administrators?" Literally, I've been in conversations like that. "People have concerns." "Well, how many people?" "Well, two or three have talked to me." "Oh, okay. Out of hundreds, thousands. Oh..." Always don't let yourself fall into that. But always be suspicious of that when it might come up because it does.

These guys didn't consult Daniel at all. And so now they have established a policy. Now, this has implications. It should be noted, just a little bit of historical background, there's no indication from the history that we have that the Persian kings were inclined to deify themselves. In other words, look at themselves as gods to be worshiped. Now, that comes later within the Roman period, particularly with Augustus and later Roman emperors of the empire. But even though the Persian kings were all powerful, king of kings, Cyrus calls himself, they didn't deify themselves and build temples and desire to be worshiped. Even though, obviously, you know, when they say back here in verse 6, "O king, live forever," that kind of edges up to a little bit more than hero worship and good manners. But officially, they didn't do that.

It seems that this policy, this decree made, would have likely made the king to be the...for a period of 30 days, he would have been the sole representative of whatever deity may have been of the point of the supplication. And that not every prayer, not every worship would have been channeled through him. But it probably was crafted in a way to convince the king that this was good for this period of start-up, this period of transition, and it would simplify a lot of things. And it would go away in 30 days. And so there's nothing to worry about. Here, please sign real quick. And they pushed the paper in front of him. He signs the written decree in verse 9.

And so verse 10, whenever something like that then is signed, went out on the email, posted on the above the water cooler and in the break room, everybody gets a copy of it. In this case, it was probably put up in some public area, may have been publicly read within the palace and the environs of the city so that everybody knew.

Daniel 6:10 "When Daniel knew that the writing was signed," verse 10, "he went home." Went home early maybe that day. He said, "Okay." He knew what was coming and why. So he goes home. "And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as was his custom since early days."

Now, this is where we find a very important principle of Daniel's personal spiritual life. It was his custom to pray for many, many years, three times a day, morning, noon, and evening. The evening prayer would have been probably the 3:00 prayer as we talked about earlier, beginning at 3:00 and sometime beyond that. So he is not going to be deterred. He is going to continue to pray to God. He opens his windows toward Jerusalem, which is an interesting matter. Jerusalem is in ruins at this time, hasn't even begun to be legitimately rebuilt, but he prayed toward Jerusalem. This is not what we should do.

You know, Muslims pray toward Mecca. If you ever are in an airport, you see some Muslims...I've walked down hallways in certain airports and seen a group of Muslims up against the wall praying. They're very diligent, I'll give them that, but they always pray toward Mecca. So as I watched them one time, I remember, I realized, well, Mecca is in that direction. They have ways to know that. I don't know how it all works, but they pray facing Mecca. You and I don't have to pray facing Jerusalem. I don't do that. Christ said to the Samaritan woman in John 4:20 that we worship God in spirit and in truth. We don't have to be in a special place like Jerusalem or in a temple, we can pray to God and be heard wherever we are, wherever we're facing and at whatever time. That's where we are today, but as we pray in faith, we can rest assured that God will hear us.

There's one other reference to three times a day prayer. King David mentions it in Psalm 55:17. He mentions morning, noon and night in terms of praying three times a day. For Daniel, it seems to be his secret to spiritual success. Can it be that for you and I? Well, certainly it could. You know, we get pretty hectic lives and I think this is a valid biblical principle for us to endeavor to do. And that prayer can be on our knees, it can be perhaps a more, you know, being instant in prayer as Paul described it at one time. But, you know, to the degree, we orient our life in thought, deed, and through prayer toward God, we're going to benefit from that and pray to develop that spiritual life, that inner life, which we need.

Daniel 6:11 As the story goes on, these men knew what Daniel would be doing because, "They assembled and found him praying and making supplication before his God." 

And so wherever Daniel was doing this, there was some type of access or ability for them to witness it, hear it. And then the three of them could confirm that indeed he was making supplication before his God and not going through the king. 

Daniel 6:12 So they took this. "And they went before the King," in verse 12, "and spoke concerning the King's decree, 'Have you not signed a decree that every man who petitions any god or man within 30 days, except you, O King, shall be cast into the den of lions?' The King answered and said, 'Well, the thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.'"

Once the law was in place, so let it be written, so let it be done.

Daniel 6:13-14 "So they answered and said before the King, 'That Daniel...'" You remember him? Oh, yeah, yeah, right, Daniel. "'...one of the captives from Judah does not show due regard for you, O King, or for the decree that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.'" It doesn't come to you through you, complete disregard for what you have signed. "And when the King heard these words, he was displeased with himself." 

He realized that he had been tricked, and he trusted a little bit too much. Sometimes that happens for the one in charge. If they're busy or if they feel they have put competent, trustworthy, honest people over certain responsibilities, they may give them the benefit of the doubt, trust and believe. They don't do...

One of our great presidents, Ronaldus Magnus, otherwise known as Ronald Reagan from years past, went head to head with the old Soviet Union. And in the midst of a discussion about whether or not, you know, agreements, treaties with the Soviet Union could be, should be done, could be done, should be trusted, President Reagan had a statement, "Trust, but verify. Trust, but verify," when it came to working with the Russians at that time. And it's not a bad idea for any level. And certainly when it comes to, let's say, this is a government level here with Daniel, we get into certain situations, in a business, in the Church, we trust. And that's the key, it's important.

But you should also...there are times when you trust, but you verify. Now, how do you verify? In other words, you follow up or you make sure that this is the full picture, all the facts, you get all the facts, you get all the information. There are maybe policies, other policies or processes that are in place to ensure that when a policy is made, like in this case, everything has been signed off, all the i's dotted, all the t's crossed and verification. It doesn't mean that you set up a culture of distrust, but within any culture, business, church, otherwise family, you want to trust but you have to, you know, somehow have processes that verify without tearing down that trust to where everyone can be assured that their actions are documented, can be traced, there's a paper trail, etc.

The king didn't do this. And he comes now...this displeasure is with himself because he realizes that trust has been broken. He cannot trust these men anymore. He, obviously, has developed a trust in Daniel, and by signing it, he had no idea that Daniel was going to be entrapped. But he said, "You know, fool me once, it's my fault. Fool me twice... Fool me once, it's your fault. Fool me twice, my fault," is the way it goes. And he wasn't going to let that happen again, but the law was in place, the policy was there.

Daniel 6:14-15 "So he set his heart on Daniel to deliver him and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him." So he must have worked all day to figure out how can we get around this and there was no work around. "Then these men approached the king and said, 'Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and the Persians that no decree or statute which the king establishes may be changed,'" all right? 

So, again, it just speaks to the inviolability of the Persian system and of laws at that particular level. You can't go back on it. There's an honor. There's a procedure.

Daniel 6:16 "So," verse 16, "the king gave the command and they brought Daniel, cast him into the den of lions." 

Now, here's a den of lions. Wow, every king's got that in his backyard. Well, it does seem from other records that there were these dens of lions. What it probably was, a cavity in the earth. And some say that there would have been a partition or wall in that hole that probably had a door in it where the lions were on one side and keepers and attendants could come on the other and throw food through the door or entice the lions to change out while the men would go into the other and kind of clean things out. Lions were highly prized.

I showed you the pictures from the processional way in Babylon with the lions on the enameled brick that had been excavated and are in museums today. So the lion was a very prominent part of Babylonian culture. And, yeah, they had a den of lions. You know, the power, the strength, the awe, the majesty of a lion. How many of you have seen lions in a zoo? How many of you have ever heard in that zoo, the lion roar? Chilling, isn't it? A lion's roar is something to hear. To hear it in a zoo is one thing. I've heard it in the wilds on safari in Africa. A couple of times we've come up on... You go to Africa and you go on a safari, you want to see a lion kill is what you want to see. And I've seen a couple of big ones of those in Africa.

And you're in these big oversized jeep vehicles with an open top, and they drive you right up to the lions. I counted 15 lions at the last one we saw. We had just gone out very early in the morning, and we're driving down the road and they're right in the middle of the road. In this case, they had a giraffe. They had killed a giraffe, and they were having breakfast. And you could just drive right up to them and just look over the side of your vehicle and there they were. And they'd get up and they'd walk around and look at you and you would, literally, be about four feet from the lions. And it's an open top vehicle.

And I remember one lioness walked around, my wife was back at the back corner and I just told her, "Honey, don't move. Don't move." They tell you not to stand up because they don't see you or for you... They see this big blob of a truck. But if there's a lot of extra movement, that'll attract their attention, and they might jump in and grab you. So everybody's supposed to stay real still. So I told Debbie, "Stay real still." I've got a picture of that lion just kind of walking around and kind of looking up. But it's kind of neat. And it's awesome to see that in the wild. They are a magnificent creature in many ways, very dangerous. The women usually go out and do the killing and then the men come and eat. Isn't that the way it always works sometimes, ladies?

You know, the lioness will, usually, do the kill and then the men come and eat. Reminds me of the way my family reunions were back when I was a kid. But that's another story. To have a den of lions would not have been unusual in Babylon at this time. And there would have probably been a kind of a little wall around it and a hole looking down. And so when the king goes and looks in and he watched this, that's a pretty accurate description of even some that they have found from that period.

Daniel 6:16-17 "And so they brought Daniel, they cast him into the den. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, 'Your God whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.' A stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den. So that hole then was covered up. And the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signets of his lords, that the purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed." In other words, that he would escape, somebody would come and move it and bring it out.

Daniel 6:18-21 "And the king went to his palace, and he spent the night fasting. No musicians." So he didn't have a meal that night, no entertainment, nothing was brought to him. "Also his sleep went from him." So he was restless, and he couldn't sleep that night. "The king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, 'Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?' And Daniel said to the king, 'O king, live forever.'" And I think he probably meant that a bit more so than the governors had earlier in the chapter when they went to him with their new policy.

Daniel 6:22 "'My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths so that they have not hurt me because I was found innocent before Him. And also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.'" 

Now, there's something from ancient times called the ordeal. And this is what is known, where somebody is charged with a crime. And in order to give maybe the benefit of the doubt or, you know, exact proof may not be able to be found, they might be fed poison. And if they survive, they're innocent. If they die from drinking the poison, well, that proves then that they're guilty, all right? I wouldn't want to have to go through that type of situation to prove my innocence or guilt. I'll take my chances with a jury in our system today. But this was done.

They might go through fire, have to pass through fire. If you ever hear the phrase ordeal by fire, going through a fiery trial or temptation, it comes from this idea, anciently, of an ordeal where in order to prove, all right, whether you're just or bad, good or innocent, we're going to throw you in the den of lions. And if you live, then it's proof. Well, Daniel lived. He came out of this. And while this was something very often done back in the ancient world in the Near East, assumed guilty until their god proves otherwise. In this case, Daniel, by all accounts, whichever, trial by ordeal, Persian law, or the justice of God, he is proved to be innocent. And he can say, "I have done no wrong before you," and know that the King would accept that, believe that.

Daniel 6:23 "And so the King was exceedingly glad for him and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, no injury, whatever, was found on him because he believed in his God," a supernatural protection. 

I didn't want to get down out of the Jeep on the African safari and go up and pet one of the lions just to see what it would be like or, you know, test anything, that wasn't at all in my mind. And there's no need to tempt God in those things. Now, here's what happens. It's a supernatural protection. Now, obviously, there's a direct connection with Daniel 6 and 3. Remember back in Chapter 3, we had Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego thrown into the fiery furnace there in that situation where they are called before Nebuchadnezzar to swear a loyalty oath. And so in this case, there's something that has to be done.

Daniel 6:24 "The King gave the command, and they brought these men who had accused Daniel. They cast him into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives, and the lions overpowered them and broke their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den."

In other words, it was pretty quick. The lions were pretty hungry by this time. We're not told how many there were, obviously, several. Justice. What did those kids do? What did the children...? What did the wives do to deserve that? Likely, nothing.

This is justice at a level that speaks to what often did happen in these situations in different times and in crime circles today, mafia, other organized crime circles. If you're going to take care of an enemy, you got to take care of others as well because you don't want that child growing up and coming back after you for what you did to his parents or someone else in the gang or whatever. You take care of it to the degree to where everyone gets the message. And this is what Darius was doing. He didn't want any of these children coming back or these wives surviving and remarrying and bearing children. And maybe one of these women would have been so vicious and vindictive that she would have poisoned a new child to go after the king. He didn't want that to happen. And so he took care of all of them.

And it's the way things were done in a society like Persia. And it's not God's way. God's way is to not punish the children for the sins of the father. That's part of the Deuteronomy law and the law of God. The individual is responsible. Now, verse 25 then recounts the decree that King wrote. And it's reminiscent of what Nebuchadnezzar did with Daniel earlier. He writes, "To all peoples, nations, and languages..." Now, keep in mind, Daniel 6, this is still part of the Aramaic part of Daniel. And Aramaic being the lingua franca, the language that many other nations can read and access. So this goes out to other nations, just like what Nebuchadnezzar had said about God goes out.

Daniel 6:25-28 "To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom, men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for He is the living God and steadfast forever. His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall endure to the end. He delivers and rescues. He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian." 

Now, some commentators comment that possibly Daniel wrote this for the king. He's the survivor now. And so, obviously, he's kind of the number two. Or if you're a "Star Trek" fan, he's number one, all right? He's there. And if he had access and knew what had been written by Nebuchadnezzar, there are similarities here, a message going out to all nations, then it could be that Daniel did write this for the king. And the king puts his name on it, and it becomes a testimony. How far did it go? Daniel doesn't tell us. But if you look at that region of the Middle East and the extent of the Persian Empire, I think it's safe to conclude that many other peoples read this decree and learned and heard of what had happened to Daniel. I happen to think that Daniel was known far beyond the confines in the city of Babylon in his years serving both the Persian Empire and the Babylonian Empire. More than what we would know or have even any records of.

Just because we don't have the records of it doesn't mean that he would not have been known or these stories and the image of this man would not have been understood to have been a part of the mystique of, first, Babylon and now Persia. There's a purely self-serving reason for making a decree beyond praising God like this part does and what Nebuchadnezzar did in his earlier decrees. You have to realize this is likely being used to strike a note of fear, respect, awe in the other nations that Nebuchadnezzar, the Persian king, have as part of their kingdom, their government, a man like this Daniel in touch with a God of great power.

All right, not that everybody was converted and worshiped that God, but it would have been understood to have been something, "Hey, let's be very careful how we negotiate, work with, and or treat Babylon, now Persia." And it would have likely gone a long way toward enhancing the stature, prestige, and even the mystique of the king with these decrees. These were not just hot air being thrown about and not read. They would have been read and there would have been policy discussions in far off rooms and palaces of the empire and other nations contemplating, "Well, let's see, maybe we should just get along with Persia."

And we'll talk about getting along with those that have a lot of knowledge about God when we come to the next class and the prayer that Daniel gets into. So here's the story of Daniel in the lion's den. Hopefully, a little bit more than you have known or understood about it and can look at it in a far different way than you ever have before with a personal application. So next class we will cover Daniel 9. So let's go ahead and take our break here, and we'll come back to that.