Daniel 6:4

Then the Presidents and Princes sought to find occasion against Daniel.

The Hebrew Confessor

It is the nature of the carnal mind, even to hate God, and so it hates that which has God in it. His enemies hated Daniel on account of his faith: Amidst the rabble of deities, gods and goddesses, with all their splendour, and all their circumstantial authority, in Babylon, he was true to his worship of the one living God, true to Jehovah, and true to the covenant, true to the counsel of God, which was then working under all events, and flashing up from time to time, through all secrecies, giving hints of what was understood to be when Christ himself would come; and the mighty spirit of revelation rose in the soul of Daniel. There was nothing in Daniel’s life that ought to have excited hatred. All through life he had maintained his stedfastness of holy life; and they hated that holy life. They hated him also, because he was a man of rare gifts. Notice the effect of the conspiracy. It brought out Daniel s confession: In consequence of his confession, Daniel was thrown into the den of lions. Would you be ready, if the call were to come forth to the lions for Christ’s sake, could you be ready? (C. Stanford)

Daniel: His Trial and his Triumph

I. Let us look at the conduct of there Presidents and Princes as affording illustrations of THE LENGTHS OF WRONGDOING TO WHICH THE SPIRIT OF ENVY, WHEN IT IS ONCE YIELDED TO, WILL CARRY MEN.

II. Let us see, in their speech concerning Daniel, an instance of THE TRIBUTE WHICH, IN ONE FORM OR ANOTHER, VICE IS ALWAYS COMPELLED TO PAY TO VIRTUE.

III. Let us meditate upon the feeble and wicked compliance of the king with their blasphemous request, as revealing THE POWER OF FLATTERY TO LEAD MEN ASTRAY.

IV. Let us study the behaviour of the man of God in the hour of trial, that we may ADMIRE HIS COURAGE, IMITATE HIS SPLENDID EXAMPLE, AND, BY GOD’S HELP, MAKE HIS GLORIOUS VICTORY OURS. (Anon.)

Plotting Presidents

There are four things relating to the proposed statute which are worthy of being noted.

I. One is the influential character of the deputation. It consisted of presidents and satraps, two presidents and perhaps a considerable number of the satraps. It is not likely that all the one hundred and twenty satraps were present in Babylon at one and the same time. The deputation therefore consisted of the highest and most influential officers of state.

2. Another is the turbulence of their zeal. They are said to have “assembled together,” or rather, as in the margin, “came tumultuously.” They approached the king in his palace, not with calm deliberation, but in stormy haste. And the excited eagerness of such influential men, especially as the kingdom had been only recently subjugated and received, could not fail to impress the king.

3. Another is that the proposed statute was recommended by the whole body of his rulers. This was certainly false, as Daniel, the wisest ruler of them all, had never been consulted; and possibly there were others, especially in the remote provinces. It seems, however, likely that all the rulers who were consulted were of one mind as to the desirableness of getting such a statute, and of thereby effecting the favoured Jewish statesman. Such a representation on the part of this influential and resolute body of men would naturally have much weight with the king.

4. And another is the high honour which the statute would confer on Darius. He was to be regarded not only as a god, but as the god for the period of a month. This certainly was a most extraordinary proposal; but it would not seem so extraordinary to Darius as it does to us. His grandfather, Deioces, the king of the Medes, sought to inspire hie people with the idea that he was more than a man; and it was the belief of the Persians that their kings were an incarnation of the Deity. Their proposal was thus in the line both of the popular belief and of the king’s natural desire for self-exaltation. (Thomas Kirk)

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Religion behind righteousness

These presidents should have said, A religion that keeps Daniel so right in his action and policy must be a good religion, although we cannot understand its metaphysics, and although it is opposed in deadly hostility to all our Babylonian and Chaldean conceptions and imaginings. Why not reason so in modern civilization? Here the Christian has great opportunity, for doing good; he may not be able to explain the metaphysics of his Christianity, but what a chance he has for verifying its morality! And to morality the whole thing must come at some point or other. A man can never be so transcendently pious as to take out a licence to be wicked. If you are not correct in your accounts you cannot be correct in your prayers. Your piety is a mistake and a farce if it be not upheld and elucidated with dazzling illustration by your behaviour. Men then in some instances will be constrained to say that a piety which expresses itself in such conduct must be good. Through your morality men may come into God s own sanctuary; through your noble behaviour men may begin to inquire about the Cross which accounts for it: that is your chance. The penetration which belongs to metaphysical reasoning you may not possess; the power which inheres in expository and hortatory eloquence may not be your gift; but the humblest, youngest, simplest man may show what his Christianity has done for him by his industry, his punctuality, his faithfulness, his obedience, his reliableness in all circumstances, his ability to bear the test of every analysis and every pressure. So thus we may form ourselves, by the grace of God, into a great body of witnesses, each in his own way, explaining the divine kingdom, and accounting for the holiest conduct in human life. (Joseph Parker, D.D.)

The Envious Presidents

Lessons to be learnt.

1. That marked outward peculiarities of worship afford a ready subject of attack! Elaborate ceremonials oftentimes vex the minds of plain and practical men, and stir up all kinds of strife and controversy. Therefore it is well not to assign an undue importance, or an undue prominence, to outward ceremonials.

2. That we should not be ashamed frequently and openly to make confession of our faith. The days of religious persecution are past, it is hoped never to return. But the days when a religious profession excites ridicule and scorn are by no means vanished. Many a man who could not be tempted out of his faith has been laughed out of it.

3. That impiety ever is at war with piety, and injustice with justice. Good and evil can never agree together, they must ever be at war.

4. That all of us, like Daniel in the Scriptures, and like Christian, in the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” must pass through the lions to the palace beautiful. This world oftentimes in our hour of gloom seems to us but a den of darkness, a den filled with the wild beasts to which our sins and errors may be fully compared. If we walk along the narrow road of life, we see on both sides dangers and roaring lions, temptations and snares of all kinds, ready to overwhelm us. If we but advance, we shall find that the dangers which appeared to threaten us disappear, the mouths of the lions are stopped, the lions, it may be, are chained. (R. Young, M.A.)