Daniel 6.10 [6.11]-When Darius Signs Interdict into Law Daniel Enters His House and Kneels to Pray and Give Thanks to His God As He Did Prior to Interdict
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday February 28, 2013
Daniel: Daniel 6:10 (6:11)-When Darius Signs the Interdict Into Law Daniel Enters His House and Kneels to Pray and Gives Thanks to His God as He Did Prior to Interdict
Lesson # 181
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 6:10.
Daniel 6:1 Now, Darius the Mede received the kingdom at sixty-two years of age. 2 It was considered a good idea by Darius to establish one hundred twenty satraps over the kingdom in order that they would be in authority over the entire kingdom. 3 Also, out from, over them, three supervisors, of whom Daniel was one of them in order that these satraps would exist in the state of having to give an account to them so that the king would never be able to suffer loss. 4 Then this Daniel was distinguishing himself above the supervisors as well as satraps because an extraordinary spirit was in him. Consequently, the king intended to establish him over the entire kingdom 5 as a result, the supervisors as well as the satraps were attempting to cause a pretext to be found against Daniel with regards to governmental affairs. However, they were totally unable to cause any pretext in the form of corruption to be found because he was trustworthy. Indeed, no negligence in the form of corruption was found against him. 6 Therefore, these men concluded, “We will never be able to cause a pretext to be found against this Daniel unless we cause it be found in connection with the law originating from his God.” 7 Consequently, these supervisors as well as the satraps conspired together to the detriment of the king and said the following to the king, “King Darius, live forever! 8 Each and every one of the supervisors over the kingdom, namely the senior officials well as the satraps, that is the royal officials, in other words the governors are in agreement that the king should issue an edict. Specifically, an interdict, which should be enforced in order that whoever makes a request from any god or human being during a thirty day period except from you, O king, must be unceremoniously deposited into a lion’s den. 9 Now, please O king establish an interdict. Specifically, please sign the document into law in order that it can never be changed according to Medo-Persian law, which can never be revoked.” 10 Because of this, King Darius signed the document into law, that is, the interdict. (My translation)
Daniel 6:10 Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously. (NASB95)
“Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed” transitions from the story of Darius signing into law an interdict which would put to death anyone who prays to anyone except for him to Daniel ignoring this edict by continuing to pray to his God three times a day as he had been doing prior to the interdict.
“Knew” is the third person masculine singular peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active perfect form of the verb yeḏǎʿ (יְדַע) (yed-ah´), which means “to be aware” of something in the sense that one has become alive to something and is on the alert implying vigilance in observing or alertness in drawing inferences from what one experiences.
It indicates that when Daniel “was aware” that this interdict was signed into law, he went to his home and went up to the roof chamber three times during the course of the day to give thanks in prayer to his God as was his custom before the interdict was signed into law.
“Now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem” implies Daniel was making a public display of his praying to his God.
It indicates he was defying the order, which was proper for Daniel to do because this was an occasion where he was to practice civil disobedience which was justified since Darius’ interdict came into conflict with the laws of Daniel’s God.
“He continued kneeling on his knees” is composed of the third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû(ʾ) (הוּא) (who), “he” and then we have the masculine singular peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active participle form of the verb berǎḵ (בְּרַךְ) (ber-ak´), “kneeling” which is followed by the preposition ʿǎl (עַל) (al), “on” and its object is the masculine plural construct form of the noun berēḵ (בְּרֵךְ) (beh´-rek), “knees” which is modified by the third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû(ʾ) (הוּא) (who), “his.”
The verb berǎḵ does not mean “to kneel” but rather means “blessed” and is used with of course Daniel as its subject and his God as its object.
It refers to Daniel showering his God with worshipful thanksgiving as a result of hearing Darius signing the interdict into law which would execute anyone praying to their god except for Darius during the next forty days.
The idea with this word is that of expressing gratitude as an expression of worship as is the case with its Hebrew equivalent.
Thus, Daniel is giving thanks in the midst of a life threatening situation.
“Three times a day” is composed of the masculine plural form of the noun zemǎn (זְמַן) (zem-awn´), “times,” which is modified by the masculine singular construct form of the number telāṯ (תְּלָת) (tel-ath´), “three” which is followed by the preposition bĕ (בְּ) (beh) and its object is the masculine singular form of the noun yôm (יוֹם) (yome), “ a day.”
The noun zemǎn means “times” referring to something that takes place during the course of a twenty-four hour period.
It is modified by the cardinal number telāṯ which means “three” referring to the sum of one and one and one.
The noun yôm means “day” referring to a unit of time from sunset until the next sunset, including evening and morning.
It is the object of the preposition bĕ, which is a temporal marker meaning “during” referring to the period of time in which Daniel worshipped his God in prayer.
Therefore, these four words form an expression which means “three times during the day” and not “three times a day” since the text is not referring to Daniel’s actions before the interdict but during the very day in which the interdict became law.
“Praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously” explains in greater detail what Daniel meant in the previous clause which records him worshipping his God three times during the very day in which he heard that Darius signed the interdict into law which required the death penalty for anyone praying to anyone for the next thirty days except the king.
“Praying” is the masculine singular paʿʿel (Hebrew: piel) active participle form of the verb ṣelā(h) (צְלָה) (tsel-aw´), which means “to pray” but without reference to what type of prayer such as thanksgiving, intercession for others or petition for one’s own needs.
Here the context indicates that this prayer of Daniel’s was a prayer of thanksgiving.
Three times during the day he offered up thanksgiving to his God despite the fact that state law now required that he be put to death for doing so.
The paʿʿel (Hebrew: piel) stem of this verb is iterative referring to a customary or characteristic action and denotes that it was Daniel’s custom to pray while giving thanks to his God or in other words, prayer characterized him.
“And giving thanks” is a temporal clause meaning that it is introducing a clause which records that Daniel gave thanks in the presence of his God and marks this event as taking place the same time Daniel was praying to his God.
“Giving thanks” is the masculine singular hafʿel (Hebrew equivalent is the hiphil stem) active participle form of the verb yeḏā(h) (יְדָה) (yed-aw´), which refers to the act of Daniel expressing his gratitude toward the God of Israel.
“Before his God” is composed of the preposition qǒḏām (קֳדָם) (kod-awm´), “before” and its object is the masculine plural noun ʾělāh (אֱלָהּ) (el-aw´), “God” which is modified by the third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû(ʾ) (הוּא) (who), “his.”
The noun ʾělāh means “God” referring to the God of Israel without reference to a member of the Trinity and is the object of the preposition qǒḏām, which means “in the presence of” and denotes Daniel was “in the presence of” his God while giving thanks to Him in prayer.
“As he had been doing previously” is comparing Daniel worshipping his God by giving thanks to Him three times during the day in which the interdict was signed into law and Daniel doing this very same thing prior to the interdict being signed into law.
Daniel 6:10 (6:11) Now when Daniel was aware that the document was signed into law, he entered his home, which had windows in its upper room swung open toward Jerusalem. Then he worshipped on his knees three times during the day. Indeed, as his custom, he prayed while giving thanks in the presence of his God just as he had been doing previously. (My translation)
Daniel 6:10 (6:11) records Daniel’s response to Darius signing an interdict into law which for thirty days following this signing would demand the death penalty for anyone in his kingdom who prays to anyone except for him.
He gives the Christian an excellent example to follow when the laws of the government conflict with the laws of God.
Daniel would rather obey God and worship his God in prayer than to obey the laws of the government which would prohibit him from doing so for thirty days.
Christians are commanded to obey the Lord their God (Deuteronomy 13:4; Jeremiah 7:23; John 14:15) and they are also called upon to obey the governing authorities (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17; Titus 3:1).
However, civil disobedience becomes an issue for the Christian when these two claims upon the Christian come into conflict meaning when God commands us to do something like proclaim the gospel and teach the Word of God and the civil authorities prohibit this.
The solution to this conflict is that the Christian is to obey God.
This is illustrated in Acts 5:27-32 when the apostles were commanded by the Jewish authorities to not proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and Peter told them “we must obey God rather than men.”
Daniel’s response to Darius signing an interdict into law which would demand putting to death anyone who prayed to their God or any human being during a thirty day period other than the king is also an excellent example for Christians to follow when they are faced with a great adversity.
Daniel responded to this threat upon his life and the conspiracy waged against him by worshipping his God in prayer.
He was a man characterized by prayer.
He was disciplined in that prayer was a habitual activity for him.
His prayer life was the same as it was before the adversity struck, which is an excellent example for Christians today who unfortunately only turn to prayer when they have an adversity but not so with Daniel.
Prayer was a priority not a last resort.
The fact that this was Daniel’s custom prior to the interdict being signed into law reveals that worshipping God in prayer was a priority for Daniel despite the fact that he had a tremendous responsibility of being one of three individuals who would serve Darius as supervisors over the other satraps.
Thus, Daniel found time to pray even though he was an extremely busy man with great responsibility.
His success as supervisor over the satraps can be directly attributed to his prayer life.
He never lost sight that God had given him his success as an administrator in the Medo-Persian Empire as well as the Babylonian Empire.
Interestingly, Daniel 6:10 (6:11) also says that Daniel prayed while kneeling, which expresses his humility and submission to the will of God.
The Scriptures do not require kneeling while praying but the Scriptures do record individuals kneeling while praying during times of great adversity such as the Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Also, Daniel prayed while facing Jerusalem.
Daniel did this because of what Solomon said at the dedication of the temple (1 Kings 8:44, 48; 2 Chronicles 6:29, 34, 38).
The text also says that he prayed three times a day which would be the third, sixth and ninth hour of the day meaning nine o’clock in the morning, noontime and three o’clock in the afternoon (cf. Acts 2:15; 10:9; 3:1; 10:30; compare Daniel 9:21).
The fact that Daniel prayed while facing Jerusalem demonstrated his faith in the promise that God would answer the prayer of exiled Jews when they prayed in the direction of the temple in Jerusalem.
Thus, when he gave thanks to God in prayer, he most likely was thanking God for answering his prayer to deliver him as God had promised the Jews He would do if they prayed to Him.
Furthermore, Daniel 6:10 (6:11) tells the reader that the windows in the upper room of his home which were facing toward Jerusalem were swung wide open by Daniel when he was praying to God.
This indicates that he was not ashamed that people saw him praying and makes clear that he was not afraid if anyone saw him praying and reporting him to the government officials.
Daniel 6:10 (6:11) also teaches us that Daniel worshipped God in prayer by giving thanks to Him.
One of the characteristics of a productive prayer life is that of thankfulness (Matt 15:36; 26:27; Mark 8:6; 14:23; Luke 22:17-19; John 6:11; 23; 11:41; Acts 27:35; 28:15; Rom. 1:8; 7:25; 1 Cor. 1:4; 11:24; Eph. 5:20; Col. 1:12; 3:17; Phlp. 1:3-4; 4:6; 1 Thess. 1:2; 2:13).