Daniel 6:1

In this chapter we have the famed story of Daniel in the lion's den.

The events of this chapter occurred at the beginning of the reign of Darius the Mede who preceded Cyrus as king of the Medo-Persian empire. The fact that profane history has no record of this Darius the Mede has, of course, led to all kinds of irresponsible and inaccurate allegations by Biblical critics. The two great errors current in such criticisms are (1) that this Darius was Darius Hystaspes, a supposition which would make the account in Daniel a gross error, and (2) the notion that the writer of Daniel here thought that a Median empire preceded the Persian empire. Neither allegation is true.

Based on the sacred record, "This Median Darius was a son of Ahasuerus (Daniel 9:1), of the seed of the Medes; and according to Daniel 11:1, the angel Gabriel stood by him in his first year."[1] This would suggest that Gabriel was the mighty angel who prevented injury to Daniel in the lion's den. This he would have done not in his own authority, but as an instrument of God.

Now concerning the whole question of whether or not the Darius of this chapter is a historical person or not, many volumes have been written; and our purpose here is not to explore the multiple facets of this question. Our own view is that this Darius the Mede was none other than Cyrus' great general Gobryas who actually captured Babylon and held the government for a couple or three years until Cyrus the real king could take over the government. During that period, Darius would have held full authority as king and would have been so addressed and honored by the citizens of Babylon. Our reasons for this preference are:

(1) The resemblance in the names. The name Darius might easily have been a corruption of Gobryas, the names having the same number of syllables, and the "y" or `T' sound accented in the penult in both. Also, the fact of different languages being involved increases this possibility.

(2) What is definitely known of Gobryas fits what the Bible says of Darius in this chapter. "From Cyrus' annalistic tablet we know that he appointed his general Gobryas to be governor of Babylon, and that Gobryas set up sub-governors.[2] The mention of 120 satrapies in this chapter appears unreasonable to the critics; but the record defies their criticism. There were no less than 127 subdivisions of this same empire in the days of Esther (Esther 1:1); and besides, as Jeffery noted, "The Jews used the word `satrap' in a wider sense than it had in official Persian usage."[3]

(3) Ptolemy's Canon gave the reign of Cyrus the Perisan who succeeded Nabonidus (and Belshazzar) as nine years; and Xenophon referred to the reign of Cyrus as seven years.[4] The assumption is that the first two years of the nine credited to Cyrus were actually the reign of Darius. "The supposition that Darius reigned two years over Babylon is correct."[5]

(4) The Babylonian kingdom was destroyed sixty-eight years after the commencement of the Exile. The seventy years of the Exile were completed in the first year of the reign of Cyrus (2 Chronicles 36:22f; Ezra 1:1), therefore Cyrus became king two years after the overthrow of Babylon. Darius the Mede was king during the other two years. (Keil develops this carefully).

(5) A gold coin called the Daric has been excavated from Babylon, and it must be identified with an older Darius than Darius Hystaspes, most likely the Darius the Mede of Daniel.[6]

(6) There is even the possibility that Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian (Daniel 6:29) were one and the same person. It might be that the man had two titles. Wiseman suggested that we should translate Daniel 6: 28 thus, "In the reign of Darius, even in the reign of Cyrus the Persian."[7] Independently of any such scholarly postulation as that of Wiseman, this writer was impressed by that same possibility, suggested by the very proximity of the two names in Daniel 6:28. "We do know that it was common for kings in those days to have two or more names."[8]

(7) There is also an enigmatic passage in the profane writer Abydenus' writings which was preserved by Eusebius: "Cyrus, after he had taken possession of Babylon, appointed him margrave of the country of Carmania. Darius the king removed him out of the land."[9] This is almost certainly a reference to Darius the Mede of this chapter.

Despite our preference for the identification of Gobryas as the Darius of this chapter, there are other postulations just as reasonable. Keil, for example cited the possibility that Darius was actually Cyaxerxes, whom Cyrus visited following the fall of Babylon, and who gave Cyrus his daughter for wife. Cyrus enthroned him in Babylon for a two-year period. Keil favord this explanation, and it might be correct.

In any case, it is no longer possible for critics to scream "unhistorical" when this character is mentioned. It is true, of course, that practically nothing is known of him, except what is written in this chapter, but the muddled and confused affairs of both the Medes and the Persians of that distant time make it perfectly reasonable that a short inter-regnum kingship like that of Darius would have been completely passed over by the profane histories of the period. "Therefore, the absence of all notice by Berosus, Herodotus, Ctesias, etc., can furnish no substantial ground"[10] for denying the historical facts of this chapter.

Young believed that, "It is possible that Darius was some hitherto unknown figure who may have been entrusted with the kingship by Cyrus."[11] However, in the same paragraph, Young mentioned that:

John C. Whitcomb (Darius the Mede, 1959), distinguishes Gubaru from Gobryas of the Behistun Inscription and holds that he and Darius are identical.[12]

Our own view is that every line of the Bible is truly historical, and superior in every way to all profane writings. As Culver remarked, "The language of Daniel 5:31 and Daniel 9:1 requires us to believe that Darius was sub-king under Cyrus who was king of the whole Medo-Persian empire."[13]

The chapter divisions are: the new king is pleased with Daniel (Daniel 6:1-4); his fellow officers, through envy and jealousy, plot to destroy Daniel (Daniel 6:5-9); Daniel ignores the decree which the king signed (Daniel 6:11-15); Daniel is cast into the den of lions (Daniel 6:16-18); the king early the next day discovers that Daniel is unhurt (Daniel 6:19-23); Daniel's accusers and their families are cast to the lions (Daniel 6:24); Darius publishes a decree legitimizing the Jewish religion (Daniel 6:25-27); and Daniel prospers in the reign of Darius and Cyrus (Daniel 6:28).

Daniel 6:1-3

"It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty satraps, who should be throughout the whole kingdom; and over them three presidents, of whom Daniel was one; that these satraps might give account unto them, and that the king should have no damage. Then 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."

DANIEL'S FAVOR WITH THE NEW KING

The profane writers exhibit the most radical differences in the number of satraps Babylonian kings are said to have appointed. Xenophon stated that Cyrus appointed six over the whole realm; Herodotus said that Darius Hystaspes divided the country into twenty satrapies; other historians mention twenty-four and twenty-nine; Xerxes had 127 provinces (Esther 1:1); later in the Grecian period, there were seventy-two of these; and Josephus even claimed that there were 120 satraps for each of the three presidents, making 360 in all! Keil discusses all of this at length. We only mention this here to suggest that before the critics can criticize the number of satraps mentioned here, they should first straighten out all the profane historians on the same subject.

The big point in this passage is the ability and consequent popularity of Daniel with the new king Darius. Darius was even considering the appointment of Daniel as prime minister over the whole of his realm. When Daniel's peers learned of this, they were filled with envy and jealousy and immediately laid a trap which they hoped would lead to his destruction.

"That the king should have no damage ..." "The repetition of the word `king' might imply that Darius was not the king whose loss of revenue was to be guarded against."[14] This of course would reflect the relative positions of the sub-king Darius over Babylon and of Cyrus the great king over the whole empire.

It is of interest here that there is no mention of Darius having appointed Daniel as one of the three presidents; and Keil suggested that, "We may only conclude that Darius merely confirmed Daniel in the office to which Belshazzar had appointed him."[15]

The mention of the age of Darius (Daniel 5:31) as sixty-two years "is the only mention of the age of a Gentile accession to a throne in all canonical records; this was probably the age of Cyrus' general Gobryas when the Babylonian kingdom fell in 539 B.C."[16]