SESSION 8
Daniel in the Lion’s Den
(Daniel 6:1-28)
As mentioned prior, they have found a pit with the inscription “this is where those who disobey the King are torn apart by wild beasts.”
Daniel and his three friends are divinely delivered in chapter 1 from a confrontation with the Babylonian government and Nebuchadnezzar its king. They would not compromise and thus defile themselves.
Because of their faithfulness, God gave these men an extra measure of wisdom, greatly impressing king Nebuchadnezzar, who gave them positions of influence and responsibility in his kingdom.
In chapter 2, once again God delivered Daniel and his three friends. The King was going to have all the wise men killed, but Daniel prayed - and God came through and saved them.
Here prayer saved his life, in our chapter today prayer put his life in jeopardy.
In chapter 3, Nebuchadnezzar created a great golden image, Daniels 3 friends stood tall for God and God’s mighty hand was manifest.
Chapter 4 speaks of Nebuchadnezzar’s deliverance. He is delivered from his pride and oppression when, for a period, his sanity and kingdom are removed from him, and he must live like a beast of the field. From his own testimony, it appears he came to genuine repentance and saving faith as a result of God’s working in his life.
Chapter 5 witnesses Belshazzar’s condemnation in contrast to Nebuchadnezzar’s conversion in chapter 4. Both were proud - yet Neb. reprented and Belshazzar did not.
Now, in chapter 6, Daniel’s life is in danger, and he will experience God’s deliverance.
While Daniel deservedly commands center stage of our text, much can be learned from King Darius and even Daniel’s peers, who seek to arrange his downfall and destruction. Once again in the Book of Daniel, we are reminded that God is able to deliver His people, even in a distant land. The inspired and inspiring words of our text have much to teach us.
This is a favorite sunday school story, and often is trivialized to just that. However, we must submit the fact that this 'story' is given just as much space as the record of the 4 great world empires and therefore must contain some deep truths for the child of God.
First, lets finish Ch. 5 - how did Belshazzar die?
The best theory as to when is Oct. 11, 539b.c.
Rabinic sources:
5:30 Yossipon, Yalkut, Shir HaShirim & the Rabbah 3:4 Their tradition holds that Belshazzar's court all new Daniels prophecy would come to pass, so they killed Belshazzar and presented his head to Darius as a peace gesture.
Josephus, in Antiquities X, 11.4 states that the Medes diverted the Euphraties River and took Belshazzar by suprise and killed him.
Secular historians Herodotus and Xenophon both recount that Babylon was having a wild drunken celebration, and the Eurphraties river was diverted, and Cyrus' army came in and found Belshazzar surrounded by his mighty men, with his sword in hand, and they macasacered them all, thus seizing controle of the Babylonian empire.
Isaiah prophesied this downfall about two centuries earlier (Is. 21:1-10)
As seen in Daniel in the Critics Den - The most accurate interpretation of the Babylonian Chroniclses, lines 22-24 read: "On the night of the 11th of Marchesvan, Gobryas descended against Babylon and the son of the King died"
Special Note From our Rabbi Friends:
It is held by them that the Rabbi's and Sages orally passed down the books until the 'men of the great assembly' by God's inspiration wrote out the oral traditions. Bava Basra 15a
They hold that Esther, Ezeckiel, Daniel to name a few were written by the Great Assembly of unnamed, godly, jewish men.
They hold that prophecy could not be written outside of Eretz Yisrael , so all prophecy given during the Diaspora or the excile was maintained orally until they could get back to Jerusalem - back to Israel!
Daniel in the Critics Den
Two books which share the same title are entitled Daniel in the Critics Den. Correctly, two Christian authors have compared Daniel’s experience in the lion’s den to the critics’ attack on the Book of Daniel itself. Chapter 6 is one of the portions under heaviest attack. A message as important and encouraging as that found in our text could be expected to come under attack.
The primary issue of chapter 6 is the identity of Darius. Secular history has no record of a king named Darius. We need no outside confirmation of reliability if we believe the Bible to be divinely inspired, accurate, and authoritative. If we reject the Bible’s authority, historical confirmation of its teachings will certainly be insufficient to change minds.
One explanation suggests Darius is simply another name for Cyrus, a view some respected evangelical scholars hold.1
As mentioned last week - Gobryas was the govenor of Gutium, which is the Land of the Medes as we discovered in an old document in ‘The Bible and Archeology’ pg. 60-64.
All this fits Gubaru perfectly, and it is only reasonable to conclude that he was the one referred to in Daniel 5:31 as "Darius the Mede." Or Lord of the middle land’. The ‘Middle Ground’ is the mountains near Lebanon, halfway between Babylon and Caspian Sea.
This makes sense!
The Nabuna’id - Cyrus Chronicle states this:
On the 14th Sippar was taken without a battle. Nabuna’id fled. In the 16th Gobryas, governor of the land of Gutium -( this is Media, or the Middle ground between Babylon and The Caspean Sea,) and the soldiers of Cyrus entered Babylon”
thus Darius the Mede is ‘the Royal one of the Middle Ground (Gutium), or Mede, - how do I know this?
In 3002 bc the dynasty of Gutium controled the Media area, northeast of the Tigris and uncompasing Lebanon2! Remember the Cedars of Lebanon! This land became known as Media and was still referred to as the land of Gutium or the Middle Land.
Mede - Son of Japheth - Wide spreading: "God shall enlarge Japheth" (Heb. Yaphat Elohim le-Yephet, #Ge 9:27 Some, however, derive the name from _yaphah_, "to be beautiful;" hence white), one of the sons of Noah, mentioned last in order#Ge 5:32 6:10 7:13 perhaps first by birth#Ge 10:21 comp. #Ge 9:24 He and his wife were two of the eight saved in the ark #1Pe 3:20 He was the progenitor of many tribes inhabiting the east of Europe and the north of Asia#Ge 10:2 -5
With the above inscription, It may well be that ‘Darius’ the Mede or Gutiumite joined with Cyrus’ army and was acting ‘king’ for a time, until Cyrus came to Babylon and appointed him govenor.
As Whitcomb (p. 35) points out, the statement in 6:28--"and the reign of Cyrus the Persian"--may very well imply that both of them ruled concurrently, with the one subordinate to the other (i.e., Darius subordinate to Cyrus).
It would seem that after he had taken care of more pressing concerns elsewhere, Cyrus himself later returned to Babylon (perhaps a 6mo’s to 1 year afterward) and formally ascended the throne in an official coronation ceremony.
It was in the third year of Cyrus's reign (presumably as king of Babylon) that Daniel received the revelations in chapters 10-12.
Yet it is also evident from the cuneiform records referred to above that Gubaru continued to serve as governor of Babylon even after Cyrus's decease.
The tablets dating from 535 to 525 contained warnings that committing specified offenses would entail "the guilt of a sin against Gubaru, the Governor of Babylon and of the District beyond the river [i.e., the regions North of the Tigris]" (Whitcomb, p. 23).
Additional support to Gobryas being Darius the Mede is the fact that Daniel states Darius appointed Satraps and the Babyloniean Chronicle also stated Gobryas apppointed govenors in Babylon.
Rabi Yossipon in (comm. v. 1) in the Rabinic Talmud states conclusively that Darius was Cyrus' father-in-law and confirmed by 'the men of the great assembly' (a group that some Rabbi's insist wrote some of the scriptures - including Esther,Daniel, & Ezekiel.)
Also, Daniel 9:1 states Darius is the son of…Ahasuerus.
Daniel 9:1 Who is Ahasuerus?
One fragment states the Gobryas was the son of Ahasuerus, according to . - Josephus agrees and states that Darius was the son of Ahasuerus.
Xenophon supports this theory by confirming that Ahasuerus was indeed a Median King,
The book of Esther also supports this king. Xerxes is the a variant of Ahasuerus. This is the father of Darius.
Also , we read that Gobryas was considered a Manda - or Barbarian - who were taken into the medians empire, for Astyages ( Josephus agrees and calls him Astyages - Ahasuerus), a Median King in Ecbatana - was also called '...a soldier of the Manda'
The Talmud in Megillah 11b uses 9:1 to validate Darius with Esther 1.
The sages, whom Rabbi's call their wise men and attribute to Rabbinic tradition, also agree with this scenerio. Astyages, a confirmed Median King, is the same as Ahasuerus mentioned in Daniel 9 and Esther 1 (Ahasuerus is the Hewbrew form of Xerxes), and that Darius is his son as mentioned in Daniel chapter 9. This combined with the evidence supported last week supports fully the historical integrity of the book of Daniel!!
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