Daniel 6:25-27 “Personal”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁵Then Darius the king wrote to the all of the peoples, the nations, and the languages—ones dwelling in the all of the land, “Your peace/prosperity be increased. ²⁶From before me was made a decree that in the all of the domain of my kingdom, they shall be ones trembling and ones fearing from before the God of Daniel, because He [is] the God the Living One and enduring to ages and His kingdom which will not be destroyed and His dominion [shall be] until the end. ²⁷[He is] One delivering and One rescuing and He does signs and wonders in the heavens and in the earth, who has delivered Daniel from the paw of the lions.”

These words of Darius are, of course, very similar to those of Nebuchadnezzar in 3:28,29; 4:1-3; and 4:35-37. If you read those passages and then this one, there is the temptation to see a progression. In chapter 3, Nebuchadnezzar simply decreed that no one should “say anything against the God  of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego…” In chapter 4, he has grasped God’s greatness and goes so far as to say, “I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven…” Now here in chapter 6, Darius can even acknowledge Him as “the Living God.”

Each of these decrees must have been an enormous encouragement to Daniel and to the Jewish people. It had to be great to hear the king himself speaking well of the God of Israel. On the other hand, I myself don’t see the indications of genuinely born-again men. As we’ve noted before, this was a completely polytheistic culture. To these people, it was okay to worship someone else’s god. Each had their own god, but it was okay to worship others—especially where it seemed that god had done something stupendous. So, following each of these miraculous interventions, it would be perfectly natural for Darius (or Nebuchadnezzar) to speak words of praise for the God of Israel. However, that does not mean they realized He is the only God.

It is interesting that Darius does acknowledge Him as “the Living God.” I’m not sure what exactly he was seeing, or why he would have acknowledged that. It would be nice to say he realized all the other gods were just dead, powerless idols. In I Thes. 1:9, it was said of the Thessalonian believers that they “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God…” In their case, of course, their conversion was quite real. However, we note that they “turned to God from idols.” They left their idols and turned to God to serve Him alone. It never says that of Darius. Once again, it is impressive that he acknowledges Him as “the Living God,” but I still fear that none of it was enough to move him to actually give his heart to the Lord. Maybe he did, but you would think, had he truly realized the rest of the “gods” were all charades, he could have said so. It is much more likely he only saw the God of Israel as a very powerful god, but just another one of the many gods.

On the other hand, I find it interesting that in each of these cases, these pagan kings responded to the Lord’s workings with worship. Each time, they respond by ascribing greatness to the God of Heaven. Rather than rushing to see in these things their conversion, I would suggest what we are seeing is these men’s creatureliness. They may be fallen creatures, but they are still God’s creation. They may be fallen men, but they are still created in the image of God. We were created to reflect God’s image in our own lives. To be fallen does not mean a man loses all ability to reflect that image. It is more as if the mirror is shattered. The image is still there in the shards of mirror; they’re just broken. In a sense, to be redeemed is to allow Jesus to slowly put those shards back together until one day in heaven the job will be complete and we will each once again beautifully reflect the Lord’s goodness.

Worship is our rightful response to all God does and everything He is. It is no wonder in heaven the Seraphim are constantly crying, “Holy, holy, holy…!”  Once again, here in our text, we see pagan kings who cannot help but respond themselves with worship when they have consciously had an encounter with the Living God. How much more should that be true of you and me? And for you and me, how much more should worship be our very lives? For these men, an encounter with God required a stupendous, undeniable Class A miracle. You and I should literally wake up in the wonder of who our God is. “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it!”

Darius could see several things true about God. Look again at his decree. He understood that the Lord is Someone to fear and literally tremble before. That was a very good thing since “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”! He understood in some way that He is the living God. Once again, I’m not certain what Darius meant by that, but he was at least very close to a real relationship with God. Then notice his recognition of God’s eternality: “He endures forever; His kingdom will be not be destroyed, His dominion will never end.” That was the very first thing on Nebuchadnezzar’s mind when his sanity returned. In that case, he said, “Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified Him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; His kingdom endures from generation to generation” (4:34).

Finally, he at least began to comprehend that He is a God of grace. Darius observed, “He rescues and He saves; He performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth. He has rescued Daniel from the paw of the lions.” In every case, he is literally seeing God. Good for him. In general, us humans are so consumed with the busy-ness of this life, we rarely look up or look around and realize this is God’s world. In this case, I wish it could have been true that Darius actually entered into a personal relationship with God. We’ll only know in heaven if he did or didn’t, but wow is he close!

Back to us. If you and I have met the Living God, if we can see Jesus in all His beauty, how much more should worship be the very air we breathe? I love the fact that Darius calls Him “the God of Daniel.” You and I were not created to walk alone. I was created to be a man with a God. May the worship in my heart be so real that people around me see Him, but may they see Him as my God. May they realize the great God of heaven is a personal God. If He’s my God, He could be their God!

If the freight train of God’s reality can crash through the lives of even very immoral, polytheistic kings, may His still, small voice be enough to fill your life and mine with worship. And may that love relationship be bright enough to call someone else to enter into the very worship they too were born to enjoy! Daniel’s life did just that with Darius. May you and I “go and do likewise”!

Daniel 6:24 “The Difference”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁴And the king said, and they brought those men who had eaten the bits of Daniel and to the pit of the lions they cast them, their children and their wives, and they reached not the bottom of the pit before the lions overpowered them and the all of their bones they crushed.

The old folks used to say, “My, how the chickens have come home to roost!” They also liked to talk of people getting their “come-uppance.” These guys certainly got theirs! Today people talk about “karma,” and this would certainly be a prime example. What would seem to be a short little passage is worth pausing to consider. It actually calls up a number of significant issues.

I’m sure almost anyone reading these words knows that sweet sense of “justice served.” “Good,” we might say. “Dirty rats. They got exactly what they deserved!” and they did. Here is a case of the Biblical principle, “He who digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit he has made. The trouble he causes recoils on himself; his violence comes down on his own head” (Ps. 7:15,16). The simple fact is that our God is a God of justice. We are made in His image, so it is only right we should feel a sense of satisfaction when we see justice served.

It is also an aspect of proper justice for criminals not only to be punished, but to be punished with precisely the same malignity they intended for their victims. God Himself had instructed judges in Israel concerning criminals, “…then do to him as he intended to do to the other man…life for life, eye for eye…” (Deut. 19:18-21), and we are all familiar with the judicial maxim, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” (Ex. 21:24). It was only fitting that Haman should be hung on the same gallows he had built for Mordecai.

Justice should be served. We should find a sense of satisfaction in what we read here. On the other hand, we know the Scriptures warn us not to “rejoice in the calamities of the wicked” (Prov. 24:17,18). Especially as Christians, we often watch people suffer for their sins and think to ourselves, “There, but for the grace of God, go I!” For us, there is always that sense of knowing I’ve been forgiven an infinite debt of my own sins, and that very deep realization my heart should extend that same grace to everyone else. The difference here is whether we are talking about the proper work of an appointed judge, or our personal interactions with the faults of others.

A judge, by the very nature of his job, needs to execute justice. Crime needs to be punished, and it should be. The unrighteous should live in fear of what the righteous will do to them if they’re ever caught. However, when it comes to my personal relationships with other people, I am not a judge. No one appointed me to be judge over anything. It’s not my job to decide my next-door neighbor should somehow be punished. If he comes over and steals my lawn mower, it is not my place to go over and beat him up. I call the police.

I would suggest that, in understanding the difference, we can be glad when justice is done, while, on a personal level, still wishing God’s grace and mercy on the individual(s).  I strongly suspect this distinction was very clear in Daniel’s mind. These guys were vicious criminals and they had done Daniel terribly wrong, yet it wasn’t his place to decide their fate. His answer to the king showed to him only respect and a defense of his own actions. There is no accusation, no demand for justice against the other governors. As we’ve noted before, because Daniel had a God to trust, he could simply “entrust himself to Him who judges justly.” In so doing, he could leave the “justice” up to the king, whose job was, in fact, to be a judge.

Also, it is interesting to note that not only did the crooks end up themselves thrown in the pit, but that we’re told the lions “overpowered them and crushed all their bones before they even reached the floor.” Apparently Josephus wrote that the nobles suggested it was not a miraculous delivery but some other reason, like that someone had already fed the lions and they simply weren’t hungry. That would fit perfectly here. One can imagine some of them standing there watching Daniel pulled up out of the pit and, in their arrogance, immediately scoffing at what everyone else saw as miraculous. I even suspect their accusation would be that the king himself was behind it—that perhaps he had ordered the lions fed the evening before Daniel was thrown in. If they did accuse Darius of that, it would make perfect sense that the already angered king got so enraged he ordered not only them but their entire families thrown into the pit. “Not hungry, eh? We’ll see about that!”

Whether all of that is true or not, what this verse does is to clearly establish for all eternity that the problem was not that the lions weren’t hungry! I would suggest, without this verse, that would have forever been a point upon which unbelievers would scoff. What is interesting then too, is to see that, in this case, God used the scoffers themselves to proclaim His glory. As the psalmist tells us, “Even the wrath of man shall praise God…” God uses the very evil men who accused Daniel to prove that, in fact, his deliverance was miraculous.

Finally, we have this matter that it was not only the men who got fed to the lions but their children and wives as well. Right off the top that strikes us all as shockingly brutal—and it is. In God’s kingdom, He laid down the rule, “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sins” (Deut. 24:16), which injunction was followed by Amaziah in II Kings 14:5,6. However, we are not in Israel. This is the Middle East and people lived then as they do now under shocking brutality. Their godless culture never did (and still doesn’t) place any value on human life. An honest study of history will show the rest of the human race has been little better. Cruel brutality has been the rule, not the exception, of mankind’s existence here on this planet.

It has been common throughout history for entire families to suffer for the sins of one of their members. Even in the Bible itself, we have Achan in Josh. 7:24-26 and Korah and his followers in Numb. 16:30-33. In both those cases, what happens would seem to us to be a contradiction of the maxim that children should not die for the sins of their fathers. Frankly I don’t know how to explain that except to say first of all, I wasn’t there and I’m not the judge. I’m operating on some pretty sparse evidence to be setting myself up as judge and jury. The other thing I would say—and this subject perhaps goes deeper than my feeble mind can embrace—it simply is true that we seldom sin alone and we seldom suffer for those sins alone.

Esther was wise enough to know that Haman’s sons bore their father’s malignity against the Jewish people and, when given the opportunity, she requested their dead bodies be displayed for all to see (Esther 9:13). The fact the Jews killed them to begin with would seem to have been another violation of the maxim that children shouldn’t die for their father’s sins. However, one can imagine the death of their father would have only further stoked those ten young men’s hatred for Jews. My memory is that Jewish tradition held that, in fact, during the few months between their father’s death and the Days of Purim, that is exactly what the ten boys were doing—organizing and recruiting men to exact revenge on the Jews. That was clearly a case where the sons bore the malignity of their father and a wise administration of justice was for them to die too. One could go so far as to say they were actually dying for their own sins after all.

Then there is simply the effect we all have on our families and everyone else around us. In America, we like to see ourselves as individuals. Throughout human history and in basically every other culture ever known, that was not the case. People have rather seen themselves as very much a part of their larger groups. It is interesting to note how in Daniel 9, Daniel is confessing the sins of the Jewish people. He says over and over, “We have sinned. We have rebelled.” He says, “We are covered with shame—the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far…we and our kings, our princes and our fathers…” It has always struck me as odd for a man to be confessing other people’s sins. If I were Daniel, I would be quick to say, “I wasn’t part of that. It’s not my fault. It’s not something for me to confess.”

However, what I’m doing is being an American. I’m wanting to be above all else an individual. In some senses, I am, but I suspect it’s true that we overemphasize our individuality and, in so doing, lose our sense of solidarity with those around us. The plain fact is that we do affect each other. Sometimes we profoundly affect each other. How many drunks have ruined the lives of everyone else in their family? How many times has someone’s careless driving caused the death of everyone riding with them? How many times have a boss’s bad decisions caused a company to go out of business and everyone lose their job?

Again, it is true that we are individuals. When it’s all said and done, “Each of us will stand and give an account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12). However, it is also true that we are all a part of the larger groups to which we belong, our families, our nation, our church, our workplace, etc. That fact has a lot of implications, but I am suggesting that is part of why it’s hard for us to accept this idea of a man’s entire family being punished for his sins. We Americans overemphasize our individuality to the point we’ve lost our sense of solidarity.

On the other hand, this is still shockingly brutal, but then, that’s the way the Middle East has always been and still is today. Their culture places no value on human life. Sometimes I wonder, in such a culture of hate, if brutality is not the only way to maintain order. That may very well be the case. Then my next thought is to fear for my own country. Unless the Lord sends a revival, our now godless nation will eventually devolve to the same depths of hate and disunity until we too return to the same culture of cruel brutality.

So what can we conclude? It is good that justice was served against these evil men. It’s okay that we allow ourselves to enjoy a sense of that justice. At the same time, we can feel compassion for them and wish that rather they had seen Daniel’s life and been drawn to his God. Finally, we can rightly condemn the cruel brutality of feeding their entire families to the lions, while also realizing that brutality itself is simply an expression of a godless world. What the whole world needs (and us too!) is to welcome the Lord Himself into their hearts and lives. Even in a cruel, brutal world, it will always be true, “The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of trouble, and to reserve the unjust until the day of judgment to be punished” (II Pet. 2:9). The very lions which were supposed to eat Daniel, instead ate the wicked men who plotted his murder. It is the Lord who makes the difference.

What we all need is the Lord in our lives. May each of us welcome Him in!  

Daniel 6:19-23 “Spirit”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁹Then the king in the dawn arose in the daylight and in haste to the pit of the lions he went. ²⁰And approaching to the pit to Daniel, the king cried in a grieved voice answering and saying to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, your God whom you serve constantly, was He able to deliver you from the lions?” ²¹Then Daniel with the king said, “O king, live to ages. ²²My God sent His angel and He shut the mouths of the lions and they have not hurt me because before Him innocence was found to me and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.” ²³Then the king was very good upon him and he said to take up Daniel from the pit and Daniel was brought up from the pit and all of harm was not found in him because he trusted in his God.

There are so many lessons to take from this passage, it is difficult to stop. However, there is one last observation I’d like to record before I leave these verses and move on and that is to admire Daniel’s spirit. Just like when his three friends emerged from the fiery furnace, Daniel certainly could have responded in a lot of different ways. He has just been subjected to what was nothing less than gross injustice. All he’s ever done is to be faithful at his job, yet his co-workers deliberately hatched a plot to get him fired (killed), then his boss allowed the ruse to go down, knowing full well it was an unjust scheme.

What just happened to Daniel was wrong in every possible way. When the king called to him that morning, he certainly could have been angry. “Why did you let this happen?” He could have also emerged “militant,” with a victorious attitude, “My God’s better than your god!” On the other hand, one could say at least the king had tried. At least he wanted to stop it all. But what about the nobles? Daniel would certainly have every right to emerge from the den very angry at them, demanding justice against them.

Yet what do we read? Daniel answered, “O king, live forever! My God sent His angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in His sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king.” Notice that his very first words were, “O king.” Daniel, from the very first instant, is still being respectful to this man, his king and his boss.

Can we all pause and appreciate how extremely important this is? If there is one thing a Christian ought to be in the workplace, it is respectful. The boss is the boss. Right or wrong. Fair or unfair. Wise or not. Good boss, bad boss—he’s still the boss. The very, very center of Satan’s being is the spirit of “I will ascend my throne above the stars of heaven…” He could not and never will accept that he exists under authority. At the very center of his being, he cannot accept that he is not the boss. When America was actually a Christian nation, we were all taught to say, “Yes, sir,” and “Yes, ma’am,” and it is interesting to me to note, in parts of the country where the Bible is still respected, the kids still know how to say, “Yes, sir.”

And where does that all come from? Is it not the very spirit of Jesus Himself? “My meat is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish it.” Even as a child under his parents, we read that “He returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.” He was the God of the universe, yet, as a child, He submitted to his parents’ authority over Him. Peter tells us, “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors…Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the king” (I Peter 2:13-18).

“Submission” today has become the s-word. No one wants to hear it, but why is that? Is it not because our world now knows too much of the spirit of Satan and too little of the spirit of Jesus? Daniel knew the difference and you and I had better as well. No matter where we find ourselves, a Christian’s basic spirit is submissive. Respectful. “Yes, sir.” In Ephesians we read, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (5:21). It’s just a way of life, and it emerges right out of the heart of Jesus. If you and I would have any influence at all for Christ in our workplaces, the one thing we’d better practice is respect. Daniel did and we can too.

Even Daniel’s appellation, “O king, live forever,” is worth noting. Of course that is a very customary way to address kings. Even Daniel’s evil accusers used it back in v.6. However, the words can be simply customary, or they can be expressed sincerely. I’m quite sure Darius knew, coming from Daniel, and especially at that moment, that his words were quite sincere. Daniel, whom he has just subjected to a monumental injustice, is still sincerely wishing him well! Here again we see the spirit of Jesus. Joseph knew it all the way back in Gen. 50:19,20 where he said to his brothers, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives…”

We read of Jesus Himself, “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth. When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly” (I Peter 2:21-23). Can we all see that these very words describe exactly how Daniel responded?

At least as far as what is recorded, Daniel didn’t say a word about his accusers. He only states to the king the fact of his own innocence. That was extremely important as his accusers had said, “Daniel pays no attention to you” (v.13). The accusers of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego made the same accusation to Nebuchadnezzar back in 3:12, “They pay no attention to you.” It wasn’t true there and it isn’t true here either. In both cases, the guys had to “disobey” the king in order to obey God, but it was never out of disrespect or ill-will, and both kings knew it. Isn’t it interesting that Daniel could, in effect, “state his case,” then leave it all in the king’s hands.

That leads me to what is my final observation. What made Daniel this way? What allowed him to respond so well even to gross injustice? Obviously, it was his faith, as the text says, “…because he trusted in his God.” Jesus “entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.” So did Daniel, and so can you and I. If we would keep an excellent spirit, even in a world of injustice, we need a God to trust above it all! If we would keep an excellent spirit, even in a world of endless evils over which we find we have no control, we need to know the good God who rules over it all.

The greatest injustice in all of human history was the death of Jesus. Yet our God took even that and turned it into the very redemption of Creation. Daniel could trust Him and live well 2,600 years ago. You and I can do it too. In these Last Days and especially in our workplaces, may you and I live the spirit of Jesus. Daniel has just shown us how. May ours be the spirit of Daniel!