Lion’s Den

Daniel Was Appointed As the Highest Ruler in Persia (v1-3)

v1: Bible students in general agree there are two possibility of who Darius the Mede was. First, Darius was the title of a man called Gubaru, whom was appointed by King Cyrus as ruler of the city of Babylon. Second, Darius refers to King Cyrus himself. King Cyrus ruled the Persian empire from 539 BC to 530 BC. What is for sure is this Darius is not the Darius who rules Persia from 522 BC to 486 BC, during whose reign the temple was restored by the Jewish remnant at Jerusalem.

v3: Daniel was the head of the three administrator who rules the whole Kingdom. Here the history repeats itself, during Nebuchadnezzar time, Daniel was appointed as the ruler over the entire province of Babylon (2:48).

Daniel was faithful to God and God blessed him with a earthly high position in the largest kindoms of his time. In Daniel case, God has a purpose for Daniel, He wanted to use Daniel to call the Jews to return back to Jerusalem. God can choose the blessed us with earth blessings, or He could chose not to bless us with any earthly blessing. I think of all the martyrs in Church history, saints who were faithful to God and die as a witness for Him. God has total authority on His servants, may all us we submit to His authority in our life and praise Him for every position He has chosen for us.

Conspiracy to Kill Daniel (v4-9)

v5: The enemies knew Daniel was totally devoted to worship God.

Daniel’s Response (v10-11)

Daniel’s immediate response was to pray to God. Is that our first response when we face with circumstances in our life? Or do we depends on our own wisdom and plan before we go to the Lord?

Three times a day, probably for the entire adult life of Daniel, who is in his eighties now, he dedicated to God. How much time do we dedicate  to our Lord in our daily life?

King’s Response (v12-18)

v14: “When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sundown to save him.”

The King wanted to save Daniel but failed. Satan was probably at work to destroy Daniel, even a king could not stop Satan.

v16: “So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”

v20: “When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?””

Daniel must have made a great impression to Darius as a person who devote himself totally in serving God. Do your friends and coworkers know you are serving a living God?

God Saved Daniel (v19-23)

God sent an angel to rescue Daniel (v21), and Daniel give God the glory.

King Darius Joined King Nebuchadnezzar to Openly Praise God in the Nations(v24-28)

Verse 28 could be translated as So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius, who is also known as the Cyrus of Persian.

If Darius referred in chapter 6 was not King Cyrus, then verse 28 tells us King Cyrus took over as the ruler of Babylon the city and the Persian kingdom, probably after Darius die (Darius was 62 when he took over Babylon (5:31)).