Sermon Tone Analysis

Daniel 6

29 Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

30 That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed.

31  And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

Daniel and the Lions’ Den

6 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, to be throughout the whole kingdom; 2 and over them three high officials, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss.

3 Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him.

And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.

This chapter divides nicely into seven parts:

Promotion (1-3)

Plot (4-9)

Practice (10-11)

Penalty (12-17)

Preservation (18-23)

Punishment (24)

Praise and Prosperity (25-28)

This chapter is almost a mirror image of chapter 3, with Daniel’s friends being thrown into the fiery furnace, except this time it is Daniel and not Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego that are the focus of the narrative.

Before we dive in to the text I just want to touch briefly on a historical matter; the identity of the man Darius the Mede.

Darius the Mede is a name known only to the Bible, he is not listed in any other source by that name as a king over Babylon.

Some scholars and critics have decided that Darius the Mede is merely a fictional character, and that therefore the Bible is inaccurate on this.

However, it should be noted that the same was said by scholars in the last century about King David and also about Pontius Pilate, until ancient stone tablets were discovered recently bearing their names.

There are a number of active theories amongst Biblical scholars about who this man Darius the Mede might be:

That this might be a throne name for Cyrus the Great

That he is actually a man named Gobaru; a general of Cyrus, mentioned in the Nabonidus Chronicle

That Darius the Mede is actually Cyaxeres II

Each theory has it’s challenges but for me the best explanation is the most recent theory argued by a biblical studies professor named Steven Anderson, that Darius the Mede was the throne name for Cyaxeres II, who was actually Cyrus’s father in law.

He would have actually been a Mede, of royal blood and would have been around the age of 62 which is how old Darius the Mede was Daniel 5:31 .

Cyrus was a Persian, not a Mede, and wouldn’t have been as old as 62 in the year 539 when Babylon was taken.

Promotion

Kingdoms come and go, but God’s purposes are established.

The Neo-Babylonian empire was one of the greatest kingdoms of the ancient world, and Babylon was one of, if not the the world’s greatest city at the time of Daniel.

It was famous for it’s hanging gardens, considered one of the great wonders of the world and the city was nigh on impregnable.

Surrounded by a deep moat and according to historians the city had walls 75ft thick and 300ft high.

The wall was so huge they used to have chariot races on top of it!

During the reign of Nebuchadnezzar the empire of Babylon had grown to cover the whole of the levant and the near east, no one thought that Babylon would fall in one day.

But it did.

In one day the kingdom of babylon fell and was taken by the Medo-Persians.

Vast and powerful empires have come and gone down through the ages; the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Persian’s, Greece, Rome, the Ottoman empire, the Mongol Empire, the third Reich, the Soviet Union.

There will come a day when the west will no longer be the dominant force on the world stage, though many living in the west can’t ever imagine that happening, but it’s important that we learn the lessons of the book of Daniel, that no worldly kingdom endures forever, not even in our own days.

We can’t place our trust, hope and comfort in western civilisation because one day, it too shall fall.

As we look at this chapter today, though, I want you to see that despite the fall of the Babylonian empire, the murder of the former king of Babylon who Daniel served, and the rise of a new empire over Babylon Daniel continues to be used of God, he continues to prosper.

The chapter begins and ends with Daniel growing in influence and prosperity.

The purposes of God always succeed, no matter what is happening on the world scene.

New Living Translation

He controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings.

He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars.

Daniel 2:21

Daniel prospers under the Babylonian Kings Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, and he prospers under the Medo-Persian Kings Darius and Cyrus.

Right now we see so much tumult in the nations, the world that we all grew up in, that we thought we knew is changing.

But we know that God is in control, we know that He is bringing about His plans and purposes and that we don’t need to fear.

Many just want things to go back to normal, but what is normal in the grand scheme of things?

Perhaps it would be better for us to let go of whatever ‘normal’ was and instead get on with seeking God’s Kingdom in the days we are living in now in 2022.

I believe that God will do things in this new era that couldn’t have happened prior to 2020.

Difficult as these times have been, I am hopeful, I believe that God is still in control, I know that governments and rulers come and go, but His purposes will never fail.

We’re told that Daniel distinguished himself early on in Darius’s regime, he became one of the three most trusted confidents to the king.

This we’re told is because there was an excellent spirit in him.

This isn’t a reference to the holy spirit, but rather it refers to Daniel’s character and ability.

extraordinary — beyond what is ordinary or usual; highly unusual or exceptional or remarkable.

He was exceptional, he was remarkable, beyond the ordinary.

We know that by the time Darius came to the throne Daniel would have been an older man, probably in his mid to late 70’s.

He has already been used of God so powerfully, but he is still ready to serve and work for Darius with all that he’s got.

From what we can tell he put his everything in to what God had put right in front of him.

Sometimes in life we can while away the hours wishing we were somewhere else, doing some other more prestigious job with more benefits and kickbacks.

When we spend our time looking over longingly at what God has other people building, we stop looking at what is right in front of us.

The lesson here is that your calling is to apply yourself with a spirit of excellence to build whatever is infront of you right at this moment.

Plot

4 Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him.

5 Then these men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.”

6 Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever!

7 All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions.

8 Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.”

9 Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction.

Imagine this; Daniel, a man in his 70’s who has lived nearly his whole life in this city and they can’t dig up one piece of dirt on him!

No skeletons in the closet, no secrets, no hidden scandal, Daniel was faithful, no error or fault was found in him.

He was trustworthy, that’s what the word ‘faithful’ means here, he had integrity.

Oh that we would be found to have integrity, not just by our friends but by our enemies.

Daniel’s enemies had to admit they couldn’t find anything on him!

You know, Daniel doesn’t proclaim his own trustworthiness, Daniel doesn’t proclaim his own faithfulness, no, he let’s his adversaries do it for him.

This is something we ought to take to heart, to live a life like Daniel, above reproach, so that even our enemies speak well of us.

And never to feel the need to be our own advocate, let others speak well of us and leave our reputation in God’s hands.

These men knew that the only way they could catch Daniel out was in his obedience to God.

If they could somehow make Daniel’s obedience to God illegal for a peroid of time they could get him.

So the petition is that no one is allowed to petition or in other words pray to any god or man for thirty days except to the king.

The satraps and governers lie to the king, they say ‘all of the high officials agree, this has to be done’, but they didn’t, did they?

Daniel hadn’t agreed to it!

Always be wary of people who when trying to win you over to their way of thinking are reckless with the facts.

Don’t think that this doesn’t still happen in the corridors of power or even sadly within the church; it is a kind of political spirit that gets a hold of people, an ideological bandwagon is created and everyone must jump on board, logic and reason go out of the window in favour of emotional pleas and false information.

The king is hoodwinked and he signs the decree.

Performance

10 When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem.

He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.

11 Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God.

We read that Daniel knew about the document, he knew it had been signed.

He was aware of the decree, that it had now been signed and had become legally binding.

To pray to God was now illegal for the next thirty days, Daniel knew this.

So what does he do, how does he then perform in light of this?

Does he hold off praying since it’s only 30 days, God will understand.

Does he decide to change his prayer habits, perhaps decide to pray in his head instead of out loud?

Or maybe just close his windows so he can’t be discovered?

Does he flout the new law and head out into the streets to protest it.