Daniel 6

1-9 The Plot against Daniel

1-3 Darius appoints 120 satraps throughout the kingdom and 3 presidents, including Daniel. True to form, Daniel distinguishes himself above the others, and Darius plans to elevate his position.

4-5 Envious, the others try to find something in his character that will bring him down, but they can’t, so they determine any complaints will have to be in connection with the law of his god.

6-9 They persuade the king to issue a law stating that if, in the next 30 days, anyone bows down to anyone but the king, he will be thrown into the lion’s den. Is the king so ignorant of Daniel’s beliefs and so subject to flattery that he doesn’t know what they’re up to?

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown: Such a despotic decree is quite explicable by remembering that the king, as the incarnation of Ormuzd, might demand such an act of religious obedience as a test of loyalty. Persecuting laws are always made on false pretenses. Instead of bitter complaints against men, Daniel prays to God. Though having vast business as a ruler of the empire, he finds time to pray thrice a day. Daniel's three companions (Daniel 3:12), are not alluded to here, nor any other Jew who conscientiously may have disregarded the edict, as the conspirators aimed at Daniel alone (Daniel 6:5).

10-18 Daniel in the Lions’ Den

10-13 Though Daniel knows about the ordinance, he continues to pray three times a day (praising and seeking mercy), his windows open toward Jerusalem. The conspirators go to the king, verify his ordinance and tell him that Daniel is disobeying it.

14-15 Distressed, the king tries to save Daniel, but according to the “law of the Medes and Persians,” he can’t change a law once it had been enacted.

16-18 They thrown Daniel into the lions’ den, with the king saying, “May your God, whom you faithfully serve, deliver you!” They place a stone at the mouth of the den, sealed with the king’s signet. The king is unable to eat or sleep during the night.

19-28 Daniel Saved from the Lions

19-24 At the break of day the king goes to check on Daniel to see if his God has been able to save him, and Daniel answers that he has been found blameless before God and the king. They take him out of the den, and throw the men who accused him into the den, along with their wives and children. The lions tear them apart before they reach the bottom of the den.

25-28 Darius declares that the people shall “tremble and fear” before the God of Daniel, “for he is the living God, enduring forever…” Daniel prospers during the reigns of both Darius (the Mede) and Cyrus the Persian.