Sermon - Daniel 6:1-9 - Setting the Trap - Littleby Baptist Church - May 31, 2020

Today we are starting the 6^th chapter of the Book of Daniel. It is the last of what are called the historical narratives of the life of Daniel, the nation of Babylon, and the 70-year exile. We have seen Nebuchadnezzar rise to power, make a bunch of mistakes, and ultimately be judged by God and then restored after he recognized that the God of the Heavens, Daniel’s God, is over all earthly kingdoms. In chapter 5 we see Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, essentially challenge God and loose.

Daniel entered captivity in his teens and now is in his eighties and if you have read ahead, he did not get to ride off into the sunset and a peaceful retirement. After Darius the Mede conquered Babylon, Daniel was thrust back into leadership and trials came.

Daniel is one of the books of the Bible that has some controversy surrounding its historical accuracy. We have seen this before and it is always neat when we here about how things in the Bible are confirmed by archaeological finds. An example of this is the Hittites. For many years the only place you could find the Hittites mentioned was in the Bible. People would use that as a key reason on why the Bible could not be trusted. Then in 1876 a tablet was found that mentioned the Hittites, followed by a German archaeologist who found the lost capital of the Hittite nation, Hattusa, in Turkey. Those historical finds ended that controversy.

Daniel chapter 6 is the only place that Darius the Mede can be found. There have yet to be non-Biblical records that support the existence of Darius the Mede. I took a look at a few more commentaries than normal, trying to find a consensus on why and how to explain it, but they did not agree. Two of them did not address the issue at all and only focused on the events and the other two I looked at gave a total of 4 potential reasons for this and they did not agree with what was the most likely. One of those times when you ask two people for their opinion and get 4 different opinions.

There are two prevailing thoughts.  The first is that Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian are the same person. Cyrus is found in non-Biblical records and has a Persian father and his mother was the daughter of a Median king. It was stated that some of the events found in Daniel during the life of Darius are recorded in other sources under Cyrus. It is likely that the names were used interchangeably depending on the culture of where he was or who was documenting the events. The other, and from what I have read, the less likely explanation is that Cyrus made Darius the king of Babylon to rule it for him.

Daniel 5:30

“³⁰ That very night Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans was killed, ³¹ and Darius the Mede received the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.”

This verse can support either of the prevailing thoughts and both of them referenced it to make their case. The question one needs to answer is ‘who did Darius the Mede receive the kingdom from?’ Having read the struggles of Nebuchadnezzar and how he needed to acknowledge that God rules over the worldly kingdoms, and how God chooses who leads the kingdoms of man, tells me that God gave Darius the Mede the kingdom of Babylon. That coupled with the historical documents having Cyrus involved in the things the Bible states were Darius, leads me to believe that Darius and Cyrus were the same person.

Let’s get started looking at Daniel chapter 6 and see how his next adventure started.

Daniel 6:1-2

“6 Darius decided to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom, stationed throughout the realm, ² and over them three administrators, including Daniel. These satraps would be accountable to them so that the king would not be defrauded.”

The stage is being set, king Darius appointed 120 satraps or governors to manage the kingdom. It would be like splitting it up into 120 states with a single leader for each state. Makes sense for a large kingdom like this. Then instead of having 120 people directly reporting to him, he took 3 guys and set them above the governors to make sure things were kept on the up and up.

Daniel in his eighties was given a great responsibility as one of the three administrators, overseeing 1/3^rd of Darius’ kingdom.

Daniel 6:3

“³ Daniel distinguished himself above the administrators and satraps because he had an extraordinary spirit, so the king planned to set him over the whole realm.”

So far we have seen that Daniel was a man of God. He was faithful in trying situations, he let the Holy Spirit guide him to be tactful when needed or to speak plainly to make a point, and we have seen that he was a man of prayer.

When you look at the actions of Daniel, the way he let God guide him, the way he carried himself, it should be no surprise that he stood out from the crowd. The king noticed that Daniel was not like the others.

A couple of things come to mind that may have stood out.

Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this age” – Daniel probably stood out as one who was not interested in what everyone thought or did. He would not have been the trendy sort. A good reminder for us to focus on what God wants for our lives and not what the world thinks is best.

Hebrews 13:5 “Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have” – This was probably a rare characteristic in satraps and administrators, they were likely like many of the power hungry politicians we have today and were more interested in lining their pockets than doing what was right. We to need to be content with what God has given us.

Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people.” – A characteristic Daniel displayed when he refused to defile himself. Something that we should all remember in that everything we do is in service to our Lord and Savior.

Exodus 20:3 “Do not have other gods besides me.” – Not sure if the king would have noticed this, but I would bet that during his vetting of Daniel he would have heard about his faith and that he remained true to his God. We need to make sure we do not make work, money, sports, and other things gods that we put before our God. God needs to be front and center in our lives at all times.

James 1:19 “…Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.” – A characteristic that comes with wisdom, one that Daniel has demonstrated and one that is hard to master. It is one of those things I pray that God helps me with regularly.

When we honor God in how we live our lives, people will see these types of things and more in us. For Daniel, the way he lived his life and conducted himself as an administrator lead the king to want to put him in charge of all of the kingdom. Probably safe to say that Darius felt he could trust Daniel.

Daniel 6:4

“⁴ The administrators and satraps, therefore, kept trying to find a charge against Daniel regarding the kingdom. But they could find no charge or corruption, for he was trustworthy, and no negligence or corruption was found in him.”

Daniel was so squeaky clean that his peers and those they led were not comfortable with him. Some of the other administrators and satraps were likely skimming a little of the action and really did not like that Daniel wasn’t doing the same. It scared them that if he got promoted, it was going to be his job to protect the king from those on the take. It was going to be Daniel’s job to keep them from lining their own pockets.  

They looked and looked and could not find anything to pin on Daniel. I would say that Daniel was an honest, ethical, and trustworthy person. If these guys looked as hard as I suspect they did trying protect their livelihoods and maybe even their lives, they would have dug deep. Daniel was likely one of those guys that what you saw out in public is what you would see when he was at home with the door shut and curtains closed. He was the same person whether people were watching or if he was all alone. 

It is fairly easy to show up at church on Sunday and to act like everything is ok for a couple of hours each week. It can be done, but it is harder to keep your struggles and your sin from those that you see at work every day. It is even harder still to hide it from your family. All of us have sin we struggle with in one form or another, and if people invested the time and energy to find it, they could. Now I am not saying Daniel was sinless, but in the actions pertaining to his job as administrator, in things that the king would be concerned about, he was found to be upstanding and without fault.

Daniel 6:5

“⁵ Then these men said, “We will never find any charge against this Daniel unless we find something against him concerning the law of his God.””

These guys really did not want Daniel to be their boss and finally figured out that the only way they could get him was to find a way to make it so Daniel’s faith would be against the law. Obviously, Daniel was open about his faith in the One and Only God and the administrators and satraps knew enough about The Mosaic Law to come up with a plan to trap Daniel.

Daniel 6:6-7

“⁶ So the administrators and satraps went together to the king and said to him, “May King Darius live forever. ⁷ All the administrators of the kingdom, the prefects, satraps, advisers, and governors have agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an edict that for thirty days, anyone who petitions any god or man except you, the king, will be thrown into the lions’ den.”

They came up with a plan that would trap Daniel. With this plan, if Daniel obeyed his God, he would be breaking the law of the land and hence should be punished. A quick and painful death by the sound of it.  

This created a big problem for Daniel as he would have been very familiar with the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 20:3

“Do not have other gods besides me.”

If the king agrees to their request and makes it illegal for Daniel to pray to the One True God and tell him that he needs to pray to Darius, they will have him between that proverbial rock and a hard place.

Daniel 6:8-9

“⁸ Therefore, Your Majesty, establish the edict and sign the document so that, as a law of the Medes and Persians, it is irrevocable and cannot be changed.” ⁹ So King Darius signed the written edict.”

They appealed to the king and encouraged him to pass a law that would not be that big of a deal to most pagan kings. Their gods never answered their prayers anyways, so why not have the people take a break and divert their prayers.

The king signed the edict and in turn was an unwitting accomplice to what was thought to be Daniel’s impending demise.

We continue to see that God was working in Daniel’s life. The Spirit of the Lord continued to equip Daniel for the task at hand, as He does for all of us who follow Jesus. The Holy Spirit will continue to work is us, mold us, and shape us into the person He wants us to be. He will continue to equip us so that we will not be conformed to this age, He will help us to resist the temptations before us, He will help us to do everything as if it is unto the Lord, He will help us to tear down the altars in our own lives, give us the wisdom we need, and give us the necessary gifts to carry out our God given mission.

Our God is an amazing God who loves us, and His only request is for us to repent of our sins and choose to follow Him.

If Jesus is your Lord, make the conscious choice each day to Follow Him.

If Jesus is not your Lord, reach out to me, click the salvation message on our website, or talk to a Christian you know to take that critical first step.

God Bless,

Robert