Daniel 6 - Bible Study, Explanation, and Application
Daniel 6 Bible Study
TIMELINE:
The Book of Daniel opens in the 3rd year of the reign of King Jehoiakim, 606 BC. Daniel was a contemporary of Ezekiel in Babylon. Daniel was taken to Babylon about 14 years before Ezekiel was called by God to be a prophet (Ezekiel 1-2).
Daniel 1:21 informs us Daniel was in the palace of Babylon until the first year of King Cyrus (539 BC).
The events documented in chapter 6 took place shortly after the conquest of Babylon by the Medes and Persians (539 BC).
WHAT WE'VE STUDIED SO FAR IN DANIEL:
Daniel 1 – Daniel and his friends are taken to Babylon and educated for 3 years to work in the king’s court. Daniel requests to be exempted from eating the king’s food in order to keep God’s dietary laws.
Daniel 2 – Nebuchadnezzar has a dream about a great image made of 5 different materials. Daniel interprets the dream for him, telling him about an everlasting kingdom that God would set up in the latter days.
Daniel 3 – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s image of gold and were thrown into the fiery furnace. God miraculously saved them from the fire, and Nebuchadnezzar praised God and honored Him throughout the kingdom.
Daniel 4 – Nebuchadnezzar praised God as the Most High and the Eternal King. He recounted how God humbled him by turning him into an animal-like being that lived outside and ate grass like an ox.
Daniel 5 – The city of Babylon falls to the Medes and Persians after Daniel interprets the handwriting on the wall at Belshazzar’s drunken feast.
OUTLINE:
KING DARIUS’ FOOLISH LAW (6:1-9):
Darius, who took control of Babylon after the Medes and Persians conquered, set 120 satraps (officials) to govern the kingdom.
Over them were 3 “high officials,” of which Daniel was one.
It didn’t take long before Daniel had distinguished himself above the other 2 high officials, and Darius was considering making him their superior.
The 2 high officials and the satraps didn’t want Daniel promoted, so they searched for a way to prevent it. They looked into Daniel’s character, ethics, and past leadership, but they were unable to find any wrong to use as a basis for an accusation.
So they came up with a plan to kill Daniel, indirectly. They knew Daniel prayed to God everyday, so they went to the king and asked him to make a decree that no one was allowed to pray to anyone but the emperor for 30 days. Anyone who was caught praying would be thrown into a den of lions.
The king liked this plan, probably because it played to his ego, but he failed to think through the consequences, which was a huge mistake, because the Medes and Persians had a law that not even the emperor could change a decree once it was made.
King Darius signed the satraps’ proposal into law.
DANIEL THROWN INTO THE LION’S DEN (6:10-17):
Daniel heard about the law, but he did not feel it was right to break his habit of praying 3 times a day. His conviction led him to continue his prayers.
As usual, Daniel opened his window and prayed to God, even though he likely knew that his rival officials were surveilling him.
As soon as his enemies saw Daniel praying, they went to Darius and reported him.
When he heard their report, he regretted his foolish law instantly and exhausted every legal option to save his favorite official.
He was unable to find a way to annul his law. He had no option but to give Daniel to the lions.
Daniel was brought and “cast into the den of lions.” Darius regretfully and hopefully said, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!”
Daniel was sealed inside the lion enclosure with stone marked by the king’s seal.
WHAT HAPPENED TO DANIEL? (6:18-28):
Darius went back to the palace, fasted, and didn’t sleep.
At the break of day, he hurried back to the den, yelling into the cave, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, who you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”
To the king’s relief, he heard Daniel’s voice, saying, “O King, live forever! My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before Him; and also before you, O king” (6:21-22).
Darius was “exceedingly glad” and ordered his men to get Daniel out of the den.
In his place, the king threw all Daniel’s accusers to the lions, and they were quickly devoured.
Darius wrote a royal decree ordering everyone in his kingdom to “tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for He is the living God, enduring forever; His kingdom shall never be destroyed, and His dominion shall be to the end” (6:26).
“So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian” (6:28).
APPLICATION:
Daniel could have closed his window to pray, he could have prayed during the night instead of during the day, or he could have prayed secretly in his interior rooms… but he didn’t.
He wasn’t going to be threatened into taking his faith into hiding. He wasn’t going to be pressured into changing the spiritual patterns of his life by his enemies.
The pragmatist Jews would have advised him to take his prayers private. They would have told him to keep his devotions to God secretly because he was God’s tool in the nation of Babylon and praying publicly would squander the position that God had given him in the new empire.
But Daniel put his life on the line to make a statement, a statement of conviction and devotion to the God of Judah!
This example needs to be part of our decision-making process when someone or something (like a government or an employer) tries to suppress public expression of our faith.
While complying with their wishes may not require you to deny your personal faith, and while pragmatic Christians will tell you to comply in order to keep your job or stay out of court, a better choice may be to make a public statement about your conviction and devotion to the God of Heaven.
Consequences will almost certainly follow that choice, but remember… If God got Daniel out of the lion’s den, He will support you when you suffer for refusing to put your faith in a closet.
