Daniel (1)
1It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred twenty satraps, who should be throughout the whole kingdom; 2and over them three presidents, of whom Daniel was one; that these satraps might give account to them, and that the king should suffer no loss. 3Then this Daniel was distinguished above the presidents and the satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. 4Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find occasion against Daniel as touching the kingdom; but they could find no occasion or fault, because he was faithful. There wasn’t any error or fault found in him. 5Then these men said, “We won’t find any occasion against this Daniel, unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.” 6Then these presidents and satraps assembled together to the king, and said thus to him, “King Darius, live forever! 7All the presidents of the kingdom, the deputies and the satraps, the counselors and the governors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a strong decree, that whoever asks a petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of you, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. 8Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it not be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which doesn’t alter.” 9Therefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree. 10When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his room toward Jerusalem) and he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before. 11Then these men assembled together, and found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God.
I find myself thinking how fast the years go. Perhaps the most fearful and most grievous thing in living a life is time we cannot hold. This very moment will be the past a little while from now. So we must live every moment well, for a life without regret. May you always live by God’s will, and may you receive the blessing of health, of wisdom, and of thanks in all things. Do not forget that in any circumstance you must hold on to the Word and to faith.
I want to preach Daniel’s faith together with a summary of the history of Babylon, where he served as prime minister, and of Media and Persia as well. Look at the history of Israel: when they did not repent they were attacked by the nations, they suffered plagues, and they were persecuted by wicked kings. Watching them refuse to turn even then, I found myself thinking about the many problems we are going through now. Even if a plague has spread over the whole world by chance, you ought to examine where your own faith stands in a world changing this fast. You must not pass off what happens in the world as something that could not be helped; your faith holds steady only when you look spiritually at what such an experience should make you understand and repent of.
Look at the life of Daniel, whom I want to introduce to you today: God revealed himself through the faith of a man who was a captive in Babylon. God knew Daniel would judge and act by faith, and so he could show the world an astonishing miracle exactly as he had planned it. Daniel lived his whole life in Babylon as a despised captive, and God set him up as prime minister and revealed himself to the world through the faith he held.
Daniel carried the affairs of state as prime minister in a nation that worshiped idols, for many long years, and could still reveal God’s glory, because he was certain that the instrument for revealing God’s glory was himself and the world he stood in. He was living in Babylon, but his hope was set on heaven, and that is how he could carry it.
For a man of Judah to serve as prime minister of Babylon was never easy, but there was much he could do precisely because he was prime minister. It is the same as Joseph being prime minister of Egypt and so able to save his father, his brothers and all his relatives, who were suffering in the famine.
Someone might think that Daniel should not have been prime minister of Babylon, since it meant using God’s wisdom to work for the world. But this was the plan of a God who uses human history, and that is why it is enough to obey the work you are given. Joseph’s faithful service to Egypt was not laying the groundwork for Israel’s four hundred and thirty years of slavery. He was sold into Egypt and did his utmost in the place he was given, that is all. Because he was prime minister he used the power he had to do the good work of saving his relatives in Egypt, that is all; but as time passed, people who did not know Israel made them slaves and afflicted them for four hundred and thirty years. God builds and leads the whole plan, so Joseph had only to carry the calling given him in faith. Of course there are also people who work with evil intent, for the purpose of hindering God’s work. Evil people put work done for the good purpose of developing the world to evil purposes, so believers must pray that the work they are doing now becomes an instrument for saving life, and must grow spiritual eyes that watch the international situation.
Isaiah 44:28
28Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure,’ even saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built;’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’”
In 539 B.C., on the night Belshazzar, king of Babylon, was holding his banquet, Cyrus, the first king of Persia, destroyed the Babylonian empire and founded the Persian empire. Cyrus is the king who, in obedience to God’s command, sent the people of Judah held captive in Babylon back to their homeland, and governed well enough to let them rebuild the temple. Astonishingly, God let Israel know through Isaiah, a hundred and fifty years before Cyrus was born, that he would help rebuild their temple. People who do not believe in God’s work claim that Isaiah was written in a later age; but according to the Jewish historian Josephus, Cyrus saw for himself the scripture in which Isaiah prophesied him by name, and, as the prophecy said, he helped rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.
To tell you about Cyrus, who fulfilled the prophecy, I should first introduce the kings Daniel served, beginning with Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar.
Nebuchadnezzar, together with his father Nabopolassar, the founder of Babylon, attacked the greatest power of the age, Assyria, and destroyed the Assyrian empire. Nebuchadnezzar took the throne in 605 B.C., conquered the southern kingdom of Judah, and carried off Jehoiakim and then Jehoiachin as captives to Babylon. He took Jerusalem, which held out to the end, and carried King Zedekiah and many of the people of Judah away captive, and he took Tyre, Syria (Aram), Moab and Ammon in turn. He put the captives to work rebuilding the walls, the royal palace and the temple of Marduk throughout Babylon, and he also built several great canals. For his wife Amytis he built the hanging gardens in Media, which are counted to this day among the seven wonders of the world.
One day Nebuchadnezzar, who held such enormous power, asked the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans and the diviners to interpret a dream he had, and not one of them could. So the king called Daniel and said, ‘Belteshazzar’ — his Babylonian name — ‘the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and I know that no secret is too hard for you; interpret for me the vision I saw in my dream.’
This is the dream Nebuchadnezzar told Daniel. There was a tree in the middle of the earth, and it grew and became strong, and its height reached to heaven; its leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, enough food for all; the animals of the field found shade under it, the birds of the sky nested in its branches, and everything with flesh was fed from it. Then he saw a watcher, a holy one, come down from heaven, and he cried aloud: cut down the tree, cut off its branches, shake off its leaves, scatter its fruit, drive the animals out from under it and chase the birds from its branches. But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with iron and bronze, and set it among the grass of the field; let it be wet with the dew of heaven and let its portion be with the animals among the grass of the earth. And let its heart be changed from a man’s heart, and let an animal’s heart be given to it, and let seven times pass over it. He was told the reason this was being done: so that people would know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he wants, and sets up over it the lowest of men.
When Nebuchadnezzar finished telling the dream and asked for the interpretation, Daniel hesitated and could not speak for a while, because the king’s dream held an enormous meaning. So the king told him not to be troubled but to tell him the truth.
Daniel interpreted the king’s dream. He told him that the tree he had seen was the king himself, and that the king’s power had grown great, reaching to heaven and stretching to the ends of the earth. And what the watcher who came down from heaven said, Daniel told him, would certainly come upon the king, because this dream is the plan of the Most High. The king will be driven away from people and will live with the animals of the field, eating grass like an ox and wet with the dew of heaven, put through the fire for seven years. God does this, Daniel told him, so that in the middle of that refining Nebuchadnezzar will come to see that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he wants. That God told him beforehand through a dream is a great thanksgiving, because it gave him a chance to turn. Leaving the stump of the roots, Daniel told him, was so that the king’s kingdom could be restored once he came to see that God rules.
But the king only heard the interpretation and did not take Daniel’s words to heart. He had heard about the dream God gave him, and for a whole year he went on boasting of his own ability and living proudly. One day he looked down from the roof of his palace at great Babylon, thought that all of it was his own ability and power and glory, and rejoiced greatly. Before the words were out of his mouth, a voice came suddenly from heaven: Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken; the kingdom has departed from you. You will be driven away from people and will live seven years like an animal of the field — exactly what Daniel had said in his interpretation.
God gave Nebuchadnezzar a chance through the dream, gave him another chance through Daniel’s interpretation, and waited a year for him to turn. But he did not repent, which is why he ate grass like an ox, his body was wet with the dew of heaven, his hair grew like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws, and he was put through the fire for seven years, exactly as he had been told beforehand. As the refining drew to its end, he came to see that Babylon, which had been his boast all along, had not been built by his own ability but entrusted to him by God.
Daniel 5:24-28
24Then the part of the hand was sent from before him, and this writing was inscribed. 25“This is the writing that was inscribed: ‘MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.’ 26“This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE: God has counted your kingdom, and brought it to an end. 27TEKEL: you are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting. 28PERES: your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.”
Babylon was being ruled by Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson. Belshazzar was proud and reckless; he held a drinking party with a thousand or so nobles, queens and concubines, using the temple vessels brought from Jerusalem, and praised idols. Then a human finger suddenly appeared and wrote letters on the wall. The king, drunk and enjoying himself, saw the finger writing and was so shocked that his joints seemed to melt and his knees seemed to knock together with fear.
At this point Amytis, Nebuchadnezzar’s wife, who had seen Daniel interpret her husband’s dream and had seen it fulfilled, came to Belshazzar and told him that Daniel is a man in whom is the spirit of the holy gods, with understanding and insight, and that he should call him. When Daniel came in, Belshazzar treated him very lightly: ‘Are you that Daniel of the children of Judah, whom my royal father brought captive out of Judah? I have heard of you, that you have wisdom and insight; if you tell me the interpretation of this writing I will make you the third ruler in the kingdom.’
Belshazzar was ruling Babylon together with his father, so he was the second ruler, and that is why he offered to make Daniel the third.
Daniel said he had no need of a reward, and interpreted the writing. Before he interpreted it he rebuked Belshazzar severely: ‘You knew everything that happened to your grandfather at God’s hand, and still you have not humbled your heart; you have lifted yourself above the Lord of heaven, dared to drink wine from the vessels of his temple, praised idols, and given God no glory.’
And he told him the writing on the wall was *mene, mene, tekel, upharsin*. *Mene* means that God has already numbered the days of the king’s kingdom and brought it to an end, so your kingdom is finished; *tekel* means that the king has been weighed in the balance and found wanting; and *peres* means that the kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians. (*Peres* [*pharsin*] is the singular passive participle of *upharsin*, and means *divided*.)
Daniel 5:30 shows that Belshazzar, king of Babylon, who had insulted God and given himself to wine, women and idol worship, was killed by Cyrus, and his last night was also the last night of the great Babylonian empire. Belshazzar knew from his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar’s life how fearsome God is, and he did not turn. Belshazzar was in the desperate position of being about to be conquered by Cyrus, and even after a finger appeared and wrote on the wall — an enormous thing — he stayed drunk. He asked Daniel about words God had written himself and still did not register how urgent the situation was; he would not put away his pride, and behaved arrogantly, promising a reward for a good interpretation. When people behave proudly toward God and toward God’s man they are severely rebuked; and even so Belshazzar blasphemed to the end, and mocked the very Daniel who was giving him a chance to turn. God gives even a king of Babylon a chance to serve him. Anyone is cast off only for not choosing the Word; to anyone who confesses their sin and turns, he shows grace.
Look at Babylon’s history: after King Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 B.C., the kingdom went through twenty-one years of turmoil, with several kings coming and going, until Cyrus, king of Media and Persia, took Babylon. Through all those changes of king, Daniel remained prime minister of Babylon.
Daniel 6:1-2
1It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred twenty satraps, who should be throughout the whole kingdom; 2and over them three presidents, of whom Daniel was one; that these satraps might give account to them, and that the king should suffer no loss.
According to the record of the historian Josephus, Cyrus, king of Persia, and Darius, king of Media, were father-in-law and son-in-law; they went to war together and took Babylon. Belshazzar was holding a feast in a national emergency, when the allied armies of Media and Persia had already taken many of Babylon’s cities. He trusted an impregnable Babylon, could not read the international situation rightly, and was proud; he heard Daniel’s prophecy and went on enjoying a feast for his own pleasure, and was killed. Believers must respond with spiritual sensitivity to the warning sounds in their lives. That may well be the last chance to turn.
Daniel 5:31 shows that Darius, who conquered Babylon, was sixty-two years old. The affair of the lions’ den happened while he was ruling Babylon. Darius did not know Babylon’s affairs and so he set Daniel up as chief of the ministers, and the other ministers and officials envied Daniel and were deeply resentful. They tried to find a fault in his public conduct that would give them an opening to accuse him, but Daniel always worked honestly and they could find no fault. They knew Daniel kept the law thoroughly, and so they made his faith — his refusal to worship idols — their opportunity to attack. The world thought that Daniel’s thorough faith was a very effective tool for bringing him down. The ministers, the governors, the officials, the counselors and the magistrates met, and their conclusion was to make a situation of idol worship and pull Daniel out of his office.
To persuade Darius, they said what the king liked to hear. We have taken counsel, they said, and to serve the king as a god, from now on, for thirty days, anyone who asks anything of any god or man other than the king will be thrown into the lions’ den. Darius liked their proposal to make himself divine, so he sealed the decree.
Daniel knew that the king had sealed the decree and signed it in his own hand so that no one could change it, and he went home all the same, knelt three times a day facing Jerusalem, prayed, and gave thanks to God. From that moment, if his praying were discovered, Daniel was a dead man. He had been dragged to Babylon and had lived a hard life until he was nearly eighty; but Daniel knew God is almighty, and he always gave thanks. Knowing that this prayer might well be his last, Daniel gave himself to prayer, because he knew God’s unchanging love. Those men knew Daniel would pray, unbowed by any threat, so they watched for the moment, saw him praying, and denounced him.
King Darius heard that Daniel had challenged his authority, and though he was displeased, knowing it was a frame-up, he had no way to save him. If Darius had known God he would have seen through their scheme in asking for his seal, and could have prevented the whole problem. He learned too late that the man they had accused was Daniel, and he could not withdraw the unjust result his own command had produced.
Darius must certainly have heard how Daniel’s friends came out of the fire alive. So he said to Daniel as he was dragged to the lions’ den, ‘Your God, whom you serve continually, will save you,’ and grieved for him. The accusers too had seen Daniel’s friends come out of the fire alive, and so they blocked the mouth of the den with a great stone and sealed it, so that Daniel could not come out. If they knew God’s work they could have served God themselves; but the evil spirit works all the harder to keep people from grasping God’s grace.
The king, who had thrown Daniel into the lions’ den with his own hand, went back to the palace and fasted through the night, forbidding himself every pleasure a king can have, and stayed awake till morning. That is how good a relationship he had with Daniel as a man. Darius probably blamed himself for having listened only to them and sealed the decree.
At dawn the next day he ran to the lions’ den and called out for Daniel. Daniel, servant of God, he cried, has your God, whom you serve continually, saved you from the lions? How much must the king have wanted Daniel alive, to run there in a single breath?
And Daniel answered: may the king live forever; my God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not hurt me. He explained that his being alive was plain proof of his innocence, that the God who keeps a life even in the mouths of lions is truly alive, and that he had never had any thought of harming the king. King Darius was overjoyed and had Daniel lifted out of the den, and he put the men who had accused Daniel, with their wives and children, into the lions’ den.
Daniel’s faith — if I die, I die — is what revealed God’s glory. The king saw Daniel come out of the lions’ den alive and made a proclamation, praising God: let all people under the rule of my kingdom tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, unchanging forever, whose kingdom will not be destroyed and whose dominion has no end. Darius, a Mede, is praising the God who saved Daniel and brought him out of the lions’ mouths. Through this event Daniel gave great hope to the people of Israel, worn down by long years of captivity, and it became an opportunity to set their faith straight.
Cyrus was in his late thirties at this time, and hearing that Daniel had lived through the lions’ den would have been an occasion for him to think about God once again. Daniel’s true faith lifted up God’s name and brought the people to the great decision of returning to Israel; looking at that, we can consider what sort of faith we ought to live by.
May you too live by faith, so that the people you meet think of God and praise him when they look at you.