Daniel: Living a Life of Integrity; Week 5

Good morning. Announcements: Tuesday evening at 5 is prayer, with small group directly following at 6, here at the church. I hope to see you there! If you have an idea for our next small group , lesson wise, or topics you would like to cover, let me know and I’ll do my best to accommodate your idea.

Over the next two weeks we will be looking at the 6th chapter of Daniel. I normally do not break chapters apart, but there is just too much to cover in chapter 6 in one week while still giving it the justice that it’s due. Also, I’ve been noticing that over the past few months, my sermons are starting to get longer than what I think a sermon should be. You all are typically so forgiving of longer sermons…but the fact is, a person can only retain so much information at one time. Also, I am not leaving myself enough time to really dig into a good amount of application. At a certain point, the sermon stops being about those listening and starts being about the preacher…so I am going to be intentional about keeping my sermons at around 30 to 40 minutes instead of closer to 1 hour…and all God’s people said “AMEN!”

Today we will be covering the first 3…so, verses 1-11.

PRAY

Daniel 6 Outline

I. The Prominence of Daniel (6:1–3)

II. The Plot of the leaders (6:4–9)

III. The Prayer of Daniel (6:10–11)

IV. The Prosecution of Daniel (6:12–18)

V. The Preservation of Daniel (6:193–24)

VI. The Pronouncement of the king (6:25–28)

Before we do that, I want to give a brief bit of recap.

Last week we saw how God used Daniel to once again to interpret one of the King’s dreams. This dream was not really what we would consider a warning dream…because warning dreams are meant to give the person a chance to change before something bad happens. For example: If my son, back when he was younger had skipped school....I would warn him not to do it again, because if he did, something bad would happen to him. This gave Sam the ability to avoid the consequence, as long as he did not skip school. This was not the purpose of the King’s dream, it was more like a forecast of what was going to happen…regardless of what the king does. If you recall, when Daniel was giving the king advice, Daniel only suggested that this consequence could possibly be stalled a bit, but the idea is that it was still going to happen. And it did, the King went Coo-coo for Cocopufs, but eventually recovered. It’s at the end of chapter 4 that we see Nebuchadnezzar appear to have a serious change of heart and recognise that the God of Israel is indeed the King of Kings and the Lord of Lord’s.

In the 5th chapter of Daniel we find that the kingdom of Babylon has been passed on to King Nebuchadnezzar’s son: Belshazzar (not to be confused with Daniel’s Babylonian name: Belteshazzar). King Nebuchadnezzar’s son had taken over the kingdom and proceeded to do some things that really angered the Lord. Because of these actions, something happened that is straight out of the Movie Poltergeist.An invisible hand began drawing on the wall next to the newly crowned King. Eventually, Daniel interpreted the message…which said, in essence, the King had a debt to pay and that his days were numbered.

Daniel 5:30-31 “That very night Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans was killed, and Darius the Mede received the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.”

At the end of Daniel chapter 5, Babylon falls to the Medo-Persian empire. If you recall Daniel Chapter 2, which would have taken place a few decades prior to chapter 5, Daniel predicted that Babylon would be conquered. As Chapter 6 begins, Daniel is now serving a different empire and a different King…so lots has changed in the chapter between 4 (last week) and 6 (this week).

I. The Prominence of Daniel (6:1–3)

Daniel 6:1–3 “Darius decided to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom, stationed throughout the realm, and over them three administrators, including Daniel. These satraps would be accountable to them so that the king would not be defrauded. Daniel distinguished himself above the administrators and satraps because he had an extraordinary spirit, so the king planned to set him over the whole realm.”

Darius the Mede was now king over Babylon…so, as any new administration does, he appointed individuals that would be loyal to him, in order to help manage the surrounding areas. Throughout Babylon there were different provinces, similar to how Canada does it. If the US were broken up into provinces, you would have multiple states in one province…like the “Midwest province.” These provinces were rather large. Over each of these provinces was a prince or satrap, and over the whole of the princes were placed three presidents, of whom Daniel was the chief. It is interesting to note the reason the author wrote down for why Darius assigned these officials....so that the king would not be defrauded. I thought this was interesting. He didn’t assign the officials to make sure the people are provided for, he just wanted to make sure everyone paid their taxes…sort of like the IRS I suppose.

At this point in Daniel’s life, he was an old man. Darius is the 3rd King that he served. It is clear that each succeeding administration that Daniel served under viewed him as a valuable leader and a loyal servant. Like before, Daniel rose to the top of all the other leaders....Darius says that Daniel had

“an extraordinary spirit”

In a bit when I wrap up, we will revisit this. For now though, let’s move on to the 2nd section of Daniel 6.

II. The Plot of the leaders (6:4–9)

After the short introduction in chapter 6, where Darius is establishing his own administration, we are now introduced to the antagonists, or the “villains” of our story. Understand that Daniel had been set up as an overseer of sorts. I’ve spoken about this before, but Daniel was an outsider. The Babylonians hated him because his people were conquered by their own king, then, the Mede’s and Persians hated him because he would have been considered a conquered subject of a conquered subject.

Nebuchadnezzar defeats Judah, so Jews are conquered subjects of Babylon

+

Darius defeats Babylon, so Babylonians become conquered subjects

=

Daniel is a conquered subject or a conquered subject.

Think about it. When Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah, the Jews became conquered subjects of that king. For most people, it would not have mattered that the king of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar) viewed Daniel and his friends as equals. In their minds, he was still a conquered subject. Then, when Babylon was conquered by the Mede’s and Persian’s, the native Babylonians became conquered subjects of the Mede-Persian empire. Therefore, Daniel was a conquered subject of a conquered subject…not exactly a prestigious lot in life. Because of this, and because these men were jealous of Daniel, because of his abilities, these other leaders decided to stab Daniel in the back....so to speak. By the way, do you know where that expression comes from? To stab someone in the back?

From when Bucilianus stabbed Julius Caesar in the back during his assassination. The attack took place on the Ides of March in 44 BC and was orchestrated by Caesar's friends Brutus and Cassius.

These leaders were going to betray Daniel…but there was a problem.

Daniel 6:4–5 “The administrators and satraps, therefore, kept trying to find a charge against Daniel regarding the kingdom. But they could find no charge or corruption, for he was trustworthy, and no negligence or corruption was found in him. Then these men said, “We will never find any charge against this Daniel unless we find something against him concerning the law of his God.””

These men could not find an accusation against Daniel. From what I read, there was a pretty big problem with corruption among the various satraps and presidents. What would happen is that the satraps would be paid off to look the other way and not collect official taxes. The satraps then kicked some money back up to their boss, who would look the other way. Imagine, if you were one of the 3 presidents…even if only a quarter of the satraps were corrupt, that would be quite the profit making scheme.

These men probably thought that Daniel was taking kickbacks, or was involved in some other form of corruption. They couldn’t find any hint of corruption in Daniel…which frustrated them and made them double down on their effort to “get him.”

Daniel was not corrupt, he was not breaking any laws, so the only way to trap Daniel was to appeal to the Kings’s ego and have him enact some law that would put Daniel in its cross hairs. That is exactly what these men ended up doing.

Daniel 6:7 “All the administrators of the kingdom—the prefects, satraps, advisers, and governors—have agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an edict that, for thirty days, anyone who petitions any god or man except you, the king, will be thrown into the lions’ den.”

Notice what the King’s advisors did here…these men did not go to Darius and say to him...”hey, us few think you should enact a new law.” No, these men claimed to speak for (at least) the majority of the government officials…as though they had all gotten together, made a decision, and then sent these men to make the proposal. This was done to manipulate the king by feeding his ego. Remember, it had not been too long since Darius became King. These advisors and officials were using flattery to manipulate.

Scripture talks about the evil nature of flattery.

Flattery: Insincere and undeserved praise or words of encouragement, used with the intention of gaining favour with others.

Psalm 5:8–9 “Lord, lead me in your righteousness because of my adversaries; make your way straight before me. For there is nothing reliable in what they say; destruction is within them; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongues.”

Flattery is not the same as paying someone a heartfelt compliment. Flattery is about manipulation and a deceptive heat.

Unfortunately, Darius fell prey to this flattery and enacted a law that forbade anyone from praying to or acknowledging any god or man, except for Darius himself. It’s fairly obvious why these officials asked the king to do this type of law. Daniel was known for his devotion to the God of Israel. Three times a day, Daniel would head to his home and pray to the Lord. This was no secret.

History tells us that King Darius was a rather foolish king; making rash decisions and was susceptible to flattery. People who tend to be susceptible to flatter are individuals who lack a healthy identity. For us, our identity should be in Christ. Daniel had his identity placed firmly in the God of Israel.

III. The Prayer of Daniel (6:10–11)

It did not take long before Daniel found out about his new law. So, what did Daniel do?

PROTEST SIGN

Naturally, Daniel got a large piece of parchment, wrote on it the 1st Commandment, and went protesting in the middle of the street, right outside of the palace! Daniel then burned down a few businesses in the name of fairness and equity! That will really teach that mean king Darius!

or, perhaps he went on Ticktock and complained that his rights were being taken away. Actually, that is not at all what Daniel did.

Daniel 6:10–11 “When Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house. The windows in its upstairs room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before. Then these men went as a group and found Daniel petitioning and imploring his God.”

What was Daniel found doing? After Daniel learned of the law, he went to his home and prayed to the Lord. There are 2 very, very important phrases that the author writes, between verses 10 and 11. The first is:

“Just as he had done before.”

“These men went as a group”

These phrases are important because they speak to the motive of the people being referenced.

Just as he had done before:

When Sam was young I used to say to him:

“You can do the right thing for the wrong reasons,” or “just because you did something right, doesn’t mean you did it for the right reason.”

He would look at me like I was speaking a foreign language…but it is true! Daniel’s situation is the perfect example. Praying is something we are commanded to do, that is for sure....but, say Daniel learned of this law, but his heart was offended, so he adopts an attitude of “I’ll show you!” Even though prayer is good, it’s what’s in our heart that matters to the Lord.

As I mentioned before, Daniel had a regular practice of praying 3 times a day. Verse 10 says that Daniel would pray looking out an open window that pointed toward Jerusalem. This was not just a random practice for Daniel because he wanted a breeze on his face while he prayed. It was actually a tradition for Jews to pray facing Jerusalem whenever they were away from the Temple.

2 Chronicles 6:34 “When your people go out to fight against their enemies, wherever you send them, and they pray to you in the direction of this city you have chosen and the temple that I have built for your name,”

Psalm 138:2 “I will bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your constant love and truth. You have exalted your name and your promise above everything else.”

Still today, Orthodox Jews that live outside of Israel pray toward Jerusalem.

It is also important to note, “just as he had done before” tells us that Daniel did not kneel down to pray because he was suddenly in trouble…or because he didn’t know what else to do or where to turn for answers.

The 2nd phrase to note is:

“These men went as a group”

This phrase may not appear to be anything other than letting the reader know that a group of people were there watching Daniel. Except, this phrase speaks to the actual motive of the men who had gathered to watch Daniel. Those who were conspiring against Daniel were just waiting for him to start praying. They were lying in wait, knowing they would catch him breaking this new law. The actions of these men remind me of numerous passages in the book of Psalms and Proverbs…those who conspire, connive, just waiting to catch someone in their net.

Proverbs 4:16 “For they can’t sleep unless they have done what is evil; they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble.”

Psalm 10:9 “he lurks in secret like a lion in a thicket. He lurks in order to seize a victim; he seizes a victim and drags him in his net.”

For the men conspiring against Daniel, watching him pray was probably like loading a gun with ammunition…the law was like the gun, but without ammo, it’s was just a paperweight. It was Daniel’s prayer that allowed them to finally be able to accuse Daniel of breaking the law.

This is the same phrase that is used in verse 6

Daniel 6:6 “So the administrators and satraps went together to the king and said to him, “May King Darius live forever.”

It is also used in verse 15, which we will read next week. Think of it like when a group of individuals get together, each of them egging each other on to do something bad. I could tell you about 100 stories where I found myself in such a situation.

After the government officials saw Daniel praying, they immediately went to the king, knowing they had finally put Daniel in an unwinnable situation…one which the good relationship with the King would not save him.Daniel was in a bad way, that is for sure.

Another story from scripture that pops into my mind, where someone was seeking to conspire against someone and used flattery to manipulate: anyone guess what story..there is probably more than one, but this one popped into my mind first:

Samson and Delilah (Judges 16)

Delilah conspired against Samson and used flattery to coax him into a false sense of security...

That is where we are going to put a pin in the story for today…kind of a cliffhanger, as it were…but I don’t think too many of you are unaware of what happens next. Maybe Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego go out and peacefully protest!

Conclusion:

Typically when I’ve heard sermons on Daniel and the lion’s den, the emphasis is placed on Daniel’s prayer life or his faith in the midst of truly horrific circumstances. Both of those are, indeed, extraordinarily important to this story…really to the entire book of Daniel, to be honest.

Today though, as we’ve went through only the first half of Daniel Chapter 6, I want to explore what the author writes way back in verse 3:

Daniel 6:3 “Daniel distinguished himself above the administrators and satraps because he had an extraordinary spirit, so the king planned to set him over the whole realm.”

“An Extraordinary Spirit”

Chapter 6 isn’t the first time we get the idea that Daniel had really set himself, or should I said, the Lord had really set him apart

Daniel 1:20 “In every matter of wisdom and understanding that the king consulted them about, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and mediums in his entire kingdom.”

Daniel 5:12 “... Daniel, the one the king named Belteshazzar, was found to have an extraordinary spirit, knowledge and intelligence, and the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems....”

From the time Daniel arrived in Babylon, he distinguished himself as a reliable and responsible man of God. So much so that he would go on to serve under 2 separate dynasties and 3 kings. He was allowed (more than once) to bear bad news to the King without being killed on the spot. It is clear that Daniel had God’s hand on his life. While it is true that Daniel had certain God given and unique gifts, that is not what made Daniel so well liked. There are individuals in the O.T. who had a supernatural touch from the Lord, yet were not necessarily well regarded…with Samson being a prime example.

Daniel was called by God to live amongst and serve some despicable individuals and he did it all without compromising his faith. Daniel was able to negotiate the difficult task of living in the world but not being of the world, or allowing society to influence and corrupt him.

In the book of 2nd Chron., the author says that the Lord looks back and forth across the earth, looking for people who shows themselves faithful.

2 Chron. 16:9.

Daniel was certainly one of these individuals. This extraordinary spirit that the writer of Daniel is referring to is the power of the Holy Spirit working through the life of Daniel.

Sometimes it can seem that the message of the Bible can be somewhat confusing, as it relates to how we are supposed to deal with society. On one hand, we are instructed to have a good reputation with those in society. In fact this is one of the requirements of an overseer

1 Timothy 3:7 “Furthermore, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he does not fall into disgrace and the devil’s trap.”

Proverbs 22:1 “A good name is to be chosen over great wealth; favor is better than silver and gold.”

However, on the other hand, we know that living for God can bring about persecution…the N.T. is full of examples.

Acts 17: 5-8; Luke 23:1-2.

Because of this, we tend to fall into one of 2 extremes, we either embrace society to the point where we become enmeshed in it and compromise the Holy Standard that God has established or we almost adopt a victim mentality and view things as “us against them.” Daniel did neither of these, he lived up to a certain standard, but he kept his heart from resentment and from collective guilt. Meaning, just because 1 person treats me poorly or is difficult, then everyone else like that person is also guilty. It’s for certain we do not like that when people do it to us…all Christians are bad because this person did something bad…that is collective guilt. Also, Daniel did not find himself hating the king, even when he had to serve a different one than before…Daniel served faithfully, regardless of the situation. I actually spent a considerable amount of time praying and thinking about this, as it can be a really difficult line to walk. I don’t say this often, but I really feel the Lord helped me to understand how we ought to pursue such a noble goal, as to have the same extraordinary spirit that we find in Daniel.

How are we to obtain or achieve this “Extraordinary spirit?”

First and foremost, as believers in Christ, we are instructed to seek a good reputation with God. If we do not have that, then no amount of “respect” or admiration from the world means anything…not only that,but when we do face times of persecution, it will not be because we are living righteously.

I believe our answer to living like Daniel and being able to walk such a difficult line is found in Matthew Chapter 5, more specifically, what is refereed to as the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are character qualities that Jesus describes in Matthew Chapter 5. While just like in ancient Babylon, these character qualities contrast sharply with what society teaches, for the most part. Those who display such qualities often gain the respect and admiration of those around them…not everyone, of course, but those who must rely on faithful and loyal individuals. I’m going to read them real quick, but then we will talk about them more in-depth next week at the conclusion of my sermon.

Matthew 5:3–10 (CSB) “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

When we look at the life of Daniel, he mirrors these qualities, down to the last one about persecution. Notice though, everything we must adopt in our lives before we are able to consider ourselves blessed to be persecuted. I think the Beatitudes are a necessary key in allowing the Lord to display in us an “extraordinary spirit.”

Spend time this week mediating and praying about the beatitudes and comparing them with what we see in the book of Daniel. Then next week, we will explore them in further detail…after Daniel is saved from the Lion’s den.

PRAY!