Daniel 6.21-22 [6.22-23]-Daniel Greets Darius and Informs Him His God Sent His Angel to Deliver Him Because of His Innocence Before Him and the King
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday March 27, 2013
Daniel: Daniel 6:21-22 (6:22-23)-Daniel Greets Darius and Informs Him His God Delivered Him Because of His Innocence Before Him and the King
Lesson # 192
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 6:21.
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. 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 was his custom, he prayed while giving thanks in the presence of his God just as he had been doing previously. 12 Then these men conspired together, namely, they found Daniel making request, specifically, making an earnest and urgent prayer request in the presence of his God. 13 Consequently they came into the king’s presence and posed a question with regards to the interdict issued by the king, “Did you not sign an interdict, namely that, any person who 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?” The king replied and said, “Absolutely, the decree is according to Medo-Persian law, which can never be revoked.” 14 Thus they replied in the presence of the king and said that, “Daniel, who is one of the deported people from Judah, has absolutely no respect for your command, O king, that is, for your interdict, which you signed into law. Instead, three times during the course of the day, he regularly makes his request.” 15 Consequently when the king heard the charge against him he was extremely upset. Thus, with regards to Daniel, he was determined to deliver him. Indeed, until sunset, he repeatedly made every effort to rescue him. 16 Then these men conspired together to the detriment of the king and said to the king, “Please remember, O king that with regards to Medo-Persian law, each and every interdict, specifically, edict, which the king does issue, is irrevocable.” 17 Therefore, the king issued an order for the purpose of causing Daniel to be brought in to be unceremoniously deposited into a lion’s den. The king encouraged Daniel and said, “Your God, because you yourself serve Him faithfully, will rescue you.” 18 Then a particular stone was brought for the purpose of being placed over the den’s mouth. Next, the king sealed it with his signet ring as well as with his nobles’ signet rings in order that this matter could never be altered. 19 Then the king returned to his palace. However, he spent the night fasting. Also, diversions were never ordered to be brought into his presence. Indeed, to his detriment, his sleep fled. 20 Afterward the king at dawn, at first light got up in order to return immediately to the lions’ den. 21 Consequently when he came near the den, he shouted out to Daniel with a distressed voice. The king asked a question and said to Daniel, “O Daniel, the immanent, eternal God’s servant, because you yourself serve Him faithfully, did He prevail so as to deliver you from the lion?” (My translation)
Daniel 6:21 Then Daniel spoke to the king, “O king, live forever!” (NASB95)
This verse presents the result of the previous statement in Daniel 6:20 (6:21), which records Darius returning to the lions’ den and shouting out to Daniel in a distressed voice, asking if his God had delivered him because he was faithful.
Therefore, this verse presents Daniel’s response which was the result of the king’s question.
“O king, live forever!” is hyperbole and does not mean that Daniel expected the king to live forever and neither does the king but rather it simply denotes that he wishes that Darius would live a long life.
It also expresses Daniel’s concern for the king in that he wants to assure him that God had in fact delivered him.
It expresses Daniel’s great emotion as well when speaking with Darius and demonstrates his great joy over being delivered by his God.
Daniel 6:22 “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime.” (NASB95)
“My God sent His angel” emphasizes the personal covenant relationship which Daniel possessed with the God of Israel who delivered him from the lions.
It also refers to the God of Israel without reference to a particular member of the Trinity, sending either an elect-angel or the preincarnate Christ to deliver Daniel.
“And shut the lions’ mouths” presents the purpose of God the Father dispatching either the preincarnate Christ (or an elect angel) to deliver Daniel from death.
“And they have not harmed me” presents the result of the preincarnate Christ or elect angel shutting the lions’ mouths and indicates that the lions never harmed Daniel as a result of the preincarnate Christ or possibly an elect angel shutting the mouths of the lions.
“Inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him” presents the reason why God the Father dispatched the preincarnate Christ to shut the mouths of the lions so that Daniel would never be injured or harmed.
This statement teaches that the basis for God sending the preincarnate Christ to shut the mouths of the lions so that Daniel would never be harmed is Daniel was innocent in the judgment of God.
God judged Daniel to be innocent of any wrongdoing when he continued to pray to Him despite Darius’ interdict which prohibited such a thing for a month.
“And also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime” intensifies upon and advances upon the previous statement that God judged Daniel as innocent for breaking the interdict prohibiting prayer to Him for a month in the Babylonian kingdom.
So the intensification and advancement is that God judged Daniel innocent and Darius judged him so as well.
So here it indicates that in the judgment of Darius, Daniel never committed a crime in the sense that by praying he committed an act that should be punished.
Daniel 6:21 (6:22) Thus Daniel spoke to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 (23) My God dispatched His angel in order to shut the lions’ mouths so that they never harmed me because in my favor, I was found innocent in His judgment. Indeed, furthermore, in your judgment O king, I never committed a crime.” (My translation)
Daniel responds to Darius’ question as to whether or not his God had chosen to rescue him from the mouths of the lions by greeting the king.
God the Father had intervened by dispatching the preincarnate Christ to deliver Daniel because in His judgment Daniel was innocent.
Daniel also communicates to the king that he realized the king never thought that he committed a crime.
Daniel knew the king was manipulated into signing into law an interdict which required the death penalty for anyone in the Babylonian kingdom who broke the law prohibiting prayer to any god or human for month.
More importantly, God knew the king was manipulated by Daniel’s fellow supervisors and satraps into signing this interdict into law.
God knew and Daniel knew that Darius had every intention of placing Daniel in authority over the other satraps and thus never wanted to put Daniel to death.
So the king would have been obviously relieved that he would not be guilty of putting to death an innocent man and a servant of God at that.
In fact, he would be relieved that he would still have Daniel to serve him in his kingdom since he admired Daniel and had intended to place him in authority over the other satraps.
Daniel 6:22 (6:23) tells the reader that God sent His angel to deliver Daniel.
The identity of this angel is in question.
It could have been an elect-angel or the preincarnate Christ.
However, Daniel does not describe the angel for us who delivered him unlike the angel which Nebuchadnezzar describes in Daniel 3:28 who was sent by God to deliver Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Nebuchadnezzar describes the angel’s appearance as “like a son of the gods.”
The fact that Nebuchadnezzar describes the fourth person in the furnace with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego as a divine being would indicate that he either saw the preincarnate Christ or an elect angel.
The text does not explicitly tell us.
However, Isaiah 43:1-3 seems to indicate that Nebuchadnezzar saw the preincarnate Christ.
In Isaiah 43, the Lord through the prophet Isaiah exhorted Judah not to fear their captivity in Babylon.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego experienced the promises that were given to those from Judah like them who experienced the Babylonian captivity.
Thus, when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walked through the fire, the preincarnate Christ was the fourth person in the fire with them and is described by Nebuchadnezzar as an angel.
Though we cannot be dogmatic, there is a strong possibility that the noun mǎl∙ʾǎḵ is a reference to a visible appearance of the preincarnate Christ rather than an elect angel since if the preincarnate Christ appeared to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, he surely would appear to Daniel since he was the leader of the three.
In theology, a “theophany” or “Christophany” refer to either a visible or auditory manifestation of the Son of God before His incarnation in Bethlehem (Gen. 32:29-30; Ex. 3:2; 19:18-20; Josh. 5:13-15; Dan. 3:26).
Therefore, in the Old Testament a “theophany” or “Christophany” were appearances of the “preincarnate” Christ.
Daniel chapter 6 records God rewarding Daniel’s faith in Him, and which faith was demonstrated by his continuing to pray to God despite this breaking a law which would result in his death.
This chapter also records the great courage of Daniel in the face of great adversity and life threatening circumstances, which was the direct result of his great faith in the Lord.
Not only did God reward Daniel’s faith but also Darius’ faith.
The king’s actions recorded in Daniel 6:16 (6:17) and Daniel 6:19-20 (6:20-21) demonstrate his faith in the God of Israel to deliver Daniel.
The king’s statement in Daniel 6:16 (6:17) and his question in Daniel 6:20 (6:21) indicates that the basis for his confidence that the God of Israel will save Daniel is that Daniel served the God of Israel faithfully.
Like Nebuchadnezzar, Darius the Mede had witnessed a manifestation of the power of the God of Israel when He delivered Daniel from his power.
He had witnessed a miracle since the laws of nature demanded that the lions which would never be fed, kill and eat Daniel.
However, God had overruled this law, which He established in order to reveal Himself to Darius and the other satraps and counselors.
Here in Daniel chapter 6, we see Darius, like Nebuchadnezzar having a personal encounter with the God of Israel in the sense that the God of Israel delivers Daniel from death.
Like Nebuchadnezzar, Darius the Mede has witnessed the omnipotence of God in action with this deliverance of Daniel.
Like Belshazzar and his great-grandfather Nebuchadnezzar, Darius the Mede learned that God involves Himself in and concerns Himself with and intervenes in the lives of members of the human race, both saved and unsaved, which is called in theology, the “immanency” of God.
As was the case with Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, Darius the Mede and the conspirators who plotted against Daniel also learned that the God of Israel was sovereign over him.
As applied to God, the term “sovereignty” indicates His complete power over all of creation, so that He exercises His will absolutely, without any necessary conditioning by a finite will or wills.
God’s intervention on behalf of Daniel also taught Darius and the conspirators that the God of Israel is the supreme judge in all of creation and executes judgments against those who violate His laws.
Just as God did not deliver Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from execution in the blazing, fiery furnace, so God did not deliver Daniel from the lions’ pit.
Both had to go through the adversity and undeserved suffering of being executed unjustly for obeying their God.
Just as God provided divine power to deliver Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the form of the preincarnate Christ so God provided divine power to deliver Daniel in the form of the angel who probably is the preincarnate Christ.
God’s power was manifested in the weakness of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when they were unceremoniously deposited into the fiery furnace as well as in Daniel’s weakness when he was unceremoniously deposited into the lions’ den.
In Daniel chapter 6, we see that as a result of being persecuted, Daniel was suffering undeservedly in order to bring glory to God.