Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:
1It was fair before Darius to appoint upon the kingdom the governors one hundred and twenty that they might be in the all of the kingdom, 2and above them three administrators which Daniel [was] one from them as that the governors might be ones giving to them the account and the king not to him one suffering damage. 3Then this Daniel was distinguishing himself upon the administrators and the governors because the spirit of the excellence [was] in him and the king [was] one intending to appoint him upon the all of the kingdom. 4Then the administrators and the governors were ones seeking a pretext to find to Daniel concerning the kingdom and not ones being able to find all of a pretext and corruption because he [was] trustworthy and all of a negligence and corruption [was] not found upon him. 5Then these men [were] ones saying, “Not we will find all of a pretext to this Daniel unless we find [it] upon him in the law of his God.”
I want to take this one post to think back through the book of Daniel and gather up the many, many expressions of his faith, to see how this very godly man wove his relationship with God into the very fabric of what was in reality a very difficult life.
From the beginning, Daniel was selected because he was “from the royal family and the nobility—young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand and qualified to serve in the king’s palace” (1:3,4). We should note here that the Lord gave to Daniel the qualities necessary to serve in the palace. He gives such qualities to few of us, but that is because that is not where He wants to use us. We all must accept the place in life the Lord has assigned to us and then be the very best we can be at whatever that is. As the old saying goes, we each need to "bloom where we’re planted.”
Given the king’s food and wine, Daniel “resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine” (1:8). As I commented on that passage, no one knows exactly what Daniel was thinking or even if he really needed to be so scrupulous. However, what is extremely important for us to note is that, right or wrong, Daniel, even as a young man, was choosing to live by a moral compass. Being offered all the luxury and pleasures of a royal palace, Daniel was still determined to be a man of integrity. Like Moses, he “chose to be mistreated with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season...By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because because he saw Him who is invisible” (Heb. 11:24-27).
Upon completion of their three-year training, the king questioned Daniel and his friends and we’re told, “He found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah…In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in the whole kingdom” (1:19,20). Daniel and his friends were the valedictorians of Babylon U. that year. That, in itself, is of course a testimony to their work ethics. When the Lord made them students, they strove to be the very best of students. Then, we should all sit in wonder realizing that what they were required to study—basically witchcraft—was utterly abhorrent to them as Israelites, yet they emerged valedictorians. God give us all the wisdom and the grace to know when we must set aside our scruples and strive to be the best we can be, even in an absolutely godless world.
In chapter 2, when no one could tell Nebuchadnezzar his dream, he rashly ordered Arioch to execute all the wise men. We’re told that “Daniel spoke to him (Arioch) with wisdom and tact” (2:14). Faced himself with execution, it says, “Daniel returned to his house and explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven…so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon” (2:17,18). Upon receiving his answer, we’re told, “Daniel praised the God of heaven…” (2:19). He went to Arioch and said, “Do not execute wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him” (2:24).
As always, Daniel doesn’t go around being “militant” and difficult to his superiors. Even faced with absolutely unjust execution, he still speaks with “wisdom and tact.” When faced with terrifying prospects, rather than collapsing in fear, Daniel instead resorts to prayer and invites his friends to join him. When the Lord does answer his prayers, he is quick to praise Him and acknowledge the blessing.
Then note his gracious heart in that he specifically urges Arioch “not to execute the wise men of Babylon.” The who? The wise men of Babylon. These guys are soothsayers, which would have gotten them executed back in Israel, but even beyond that, they are a bunch of miserable charlatans and back-stabbers. If there was ever a group of people the world could have done without, it’s these guys, but what kind of spirit do we find in Daniel? The same spirit as Someone else who prayed, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” Even living surrounded by utterly wicked, hateful, crooked, grossly immoral men, Daniel kept a gracious spirit. Here’s a good place to ask the question, “What if everybody did?”
When Nebuchadnezzar asks Daniel, “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?” Daniel answered, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries…As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind” (2:27-30). Later Daniel concluded telling Nebuchadnezzar, “The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future” (2:45).
In those verses, another quality that we see in Daniel is his humility. Even when the Lord enables him to do what no one else can do, Daniel is careful to give God the glory. Most of us will never accomplish anything as impressive as the interpretation of dreams, but whenever we succeed at anything, we should be the first to acknowledge we did so only because God enabled us. I’m also impressed how Daniel very graciously expresses that praise. Speaking to a king and no doubt surrounded by an entire court of people who do not believe in Daniel’s God, he expresses his praise in a very appropriate and inoffensive way. I fear the modern Evangelical tendency would be to think he should have jumped up on a chair and preached a fiery sermon to them all. I’m impressed how Daniel instead said just enough to give God the glory, but then leaves the impact of those words in the Lord’s hands. I would suggest there was tremendous wisdom in Daniel’s brevity and restraint.
Later on, when Nebuchadnezzar has his dream about the great tree, he says to Daniel, “I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and no mystery is too difficult for you. Here is my dream; interpret it for me” (4:9). When Daniel realized the foreboding predictions of the dream, he was genuinely troubled and said, “My lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries!” (4:19). He went on to tell the king the ugly truth, “Seven times will pass over you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes” (4:25). Then he adds, “O king, be pleased to accept my advice. Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue” (4:27).
In all of this, we see our man
Daniel being loyal (and even affectionate?) to this wicked king who destroyed
his homeland and threw his three friends in a furnace. “If only the dream
applied to your enemies!” he says. Then he very bravely tells this oriental
king what he needs to hear. Nebuchadnezzar grew up the crown prince. Especially
in the Orient, you can bet he basically has never had anyone who would tell him
the truth. He is and always has been surrounded by self-seeking sycophants who
will only ever tell him exactly what they think he wants to hear. But he finds
in Daniel a man who has the courage to tell him what he needs to hear.
That, in itself, must have been a wonder to Nebuchadnezzar and even to his
entire court. I would like to suggest it wasn’t just a sense of “right” that
moved Daniel to be so straightforward with this king. I believe it really was
love. I believe Daniel regularly prayed for this man and sincerely tried to
serve him well. In all of this, once again, we have an example to follow.
When years later Belshazzar sat trembling before the handwriting on the wall, the queen mother told him, “Don’t be alarmed! Don’t look so pale! There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the time of your father, he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like that of the gods…This man Daniel…was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems, and he will tell you what the writing means” (5:10-12).
Even the queen mother, probably Nebuchadnezzar’s wife and Belshazzar’s grandmother, is keenly aware that there is something special about our Daniel. He had lived his faith in a way that gained him a reputation for his excellent work. Now, when the Lord would use him for His glory, that reputation provides the platform to do it from. Daniel has been “adorning the doctrine of God our Savior” by the quality of his work.
Daniel then went on to tell the king, “You may keep your gifts for yourself…” (5:17) and then boldly confronted him, “But you, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself…Instead you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven…You did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore, He sent the hand that wrote the inscription” (5:22-24). As always, Daniel was faithful. In Nebuchadnezzar’s case, Daniel told him the truth and then urged him to repentance. In Belshazzar’s case, there is only judgment, but that is because that is the message the Lord had for him. Daniel was faithful to give the Lord’s message, regardless of how it might sound. That discretion calls for a lot of wisdom, but, like Daniel, may we be people who live close enough to God’s heart that we know the difference, then have the courage and grace to act accordingly.
Finally, we come to the passage before us, where we find that “Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the governors by his exceptional qualities that the king intended to set him over the whole kingdom” (6:3). In their effort to discredit him, Daniel’s enemies “were unable to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs…They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. In the end, these men said, ‘We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God’” (6:4,5).
As I’ve already commented, God help us all to be like our friend Daniel. Would that all believers everywhere would see his example and strive to live like him in our own worlds. The Lord never intended our faith to happen “at church,” but rather that it would be the engine that drives who we are and what we do all day every day. It was true for Daniel and it can be true for you and me.
One last thought to realize is where this is all happening. Daniel is in Babylon—the moral pit of the entire known universe. Daniel is at work, but he is also at work in a place of unrestrained greed, sensuality, and immorality, of inept, corrupt, and incompetent leadership, of gross self-serving, bald-faced liars. My point is that his workplace is precisely the nightmare we all try to avoid. Yet, that is where he finds himself. To one extent or another, that will be the same world you and I have to live and work in. Daniel would teach us, if that’s where you find yourself and you (like Daniel) have no options to leave, then you can still be a person of integrity. You can still excel at your work and the Lord can still use you there. Daniel did it. You and I can do it too.
What a model!
