Daniel 6

They come by agreement and find Daniel making petition and supplication before his God. Wesley (on v. 10): he did not abate his prayers for the king’s command, nor did he break the law purposely, because he did no more than he was wont to do in serving his God.

In practice: the watchers abuse the law. He is at the usual hours—not a riot, not a plot. Prayer is not insurrection. He honors the king; he will not treat him as God. God may yet deliver; the petitioner is not a rebel.

Calvin: if Daniel had prayed with the slightest secrecy, he would not have been a victim to their snares; he did not refuse the prospect of death. He knew the object of the edict and expected the nobles. He could not escape without indirectly revolting from God.

God will keep his servant when the trap springs. The Most High is not ousted by spies at the window. Daniel is not a revolutionary and not a quietist. Common ground: law as a weapon; prayer is not insurrection.

They cite the injunction; the king answers that the thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which doesn’t alter. Wesley (on v. 10): Daniel did not break the law purposely—he did no more than he was wont in serving his God.

The accusers turn the king’s own law against him, and Darius has to admit the decree stands. Standing law deserves respect (Rom 13; Titus 3:1), but it is no blank check for injustice, and Daniel’s prayer was no act of rebellion.

Calvin: they approach as conquerors, but cunningly; they do not yet name Daniel, whom they knew to be a favorite. They dwell upon the royal decree to bind the king. Kings desire praise for consistency, but confuse it with obstinacy, which utterly perverts justice.

Pastorally: even a pagan king cannot revoke what God has allowed to stand—and cannot make himself God by an unchangeable line. Both traditions agree: the law is their weapon. The Most High still rules the hall.

They name him: Daniel, one of the children of the captivity of Judah, doesn’t respect you, O king, nor the decree that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day. Wesley (on v. 10): he did no more than he was wont to do in serving his God.

In practice: the smear is exile plus prayer. He has not rioted; he has not plotted. Honor the king; do not treat him as God. The charge is worship, not insurrection. They abuse the law to make a faithful official look like a rebel.

Calvin: by saying Daniel, one of the Jewish captives, they intended to magnify his crime and render him odious. They desired to poison the king’s mind: a late slave, a stranger, and yet he rebels against thee.

God is not fooled by exile. The Most High placed this servant in the court. Common ground: law as a weapon; the accusation is not civic crime. Daniel is not a revolutionary. God may yet deliver him.

The king is much distressed, sets his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and labors till the sun goes down to rescue him. Wesley: Displeased with himself—for having made that foolish decree. To deliver him—to find out some way of delivering him.

Darius spends the whole day trying to find a legal way out. He is neither a hero nor a villain but a ruler trapped by his own vanity, and his distress is true.

Calvin: the king was disturbed when he perceived the malice of his nobles. He labored till the setting of the sun to free Daniel, yet that perverse shame prevailed; when we do not lean upon God’s help we are always compelled to vacillate. He was vanquished and obeyed the lusts of the wicked.

Even a pagan king cannot revoke what God has allowed to stand. God will keep his servant when the magistrate cannot. Held in common: he is distressed, not a devil. The Most High is not trapped by Media’s formula.

They come by agreement again: it is a law of the Medes and Persians, that no decree nor statute the king establishes may be changed. Wesley (on v. 14): he was still trying to find some way of delivering him.

The officials close the last loophole: a law of the Medes and Persians cannot be changed. Christians honor lawful authority (Rom 13; Titus 3:1) without treating a trap as sacred and without rioting when it closes.

Calvin: when they saw the king hesitate and doubt, they became fierce and contentious. They treat him in a threatening manner. They frighten him from any change of counsel: thou wilt not be king unless thou avenge this insult.

God has allowed the word to stand; they cannot oust the Most High by citing it. The servant will go to the den; God will keep him there. Daniel is not a revolutionary, and the nobles are not the Lord’s council.

Daniel is brought and cast him into the den of lions. The king declares: May Your God whom you serve continually, he will deliver you! Wesley (on v. 20): What he doubted of, we are sure of, that the servants of the living God have a master who is able to deliver them and bear them out in his service.

The wish is not in doubt; the labor till sundown has failed. He is not a devil for the sentence, and not a hero for the blessing. Prayer landed him here; prayer is not insurrection. God may deliver. Daniel does not riot on the way down.

Calvin: frightened by the nobles, he condemns Daniel. Thy God whom thou worshipest will deliver thee—read as a wish; there is no doubt Darius wished it. He resigns him to God because it is not in his power to deliver him. Clemency is manifest; yet he had not a grain of piety when he had wished to adorn himself in the spoils of deity.

God will keep his servant in the den. The king is a magistrate, not God. God may deliver. The Most High is not bound by the cast.

A stone is laid on the mouth of the den; the king seals it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. Wesley (on v. 14): the king had wanted some way of delivering him; the seals now close that way.

For the hearer: irrevocable paper, now irrevocable stone. He is trapped by his own word, distressed, not a tyrant-hero. Agreed on both sides: law as a weapon; God may yet deliver. Daniel has not rioted; the seal is not a verdict on prayer.

Calvin: God’s counsel provided that the nobles should seal the stone with their own rings, to render the miracle more illustrious. They exacted a guarantee against his liberation; the king did not dare attempt anything in Daniel’s favor.

God will keep his servant in the den the seals were meant to finish. Nothing might be changed—by men. The Most High is not sealed out. Even a pagan king cannot revoke what God has allowed to stand, and cannot prevent what God will undo.

The king goes to his palace, spends the night fasting; no diversions are brought, and sleep flees from him. Wesley (on v. 14): displeased with himself for the foolish decree, he had labored to find a way; the fast is that grief with the door shut.

The sleepless, fasting king shows that his effort to save Daniel was sincere. Daniel, meanwhile, spends the night in the den having neither resisted nor rebelled—only prayed.

Calvin: although he was in the greatest grief, yet he did not correct his fault. He bewails in his palace and abstains from food and delicacies; he shews displeasure at the evil at which he connived. Sorrow must lead on to repentance, not stop at wailing.

God will keep his servant in the den while the king cannot sleep. Both readings: grief is deeply felt. The Most High is not waiting on Darius’s rest. Daniel is not a revolutionary; the magistrate is not God.