(Dan. 6).
“But they could find none occasion nor fault” (verse 4). “But maketh his petition three times a day” (verse 13).
THE great battle in this chapter is about prayer. To whom shall prayer be made? If we look at chapter 9:1 and 11:1, we shall get help in the study of chapter 6. The reference to “the first year of Darius” in both those Scriptures seems to point to the time of this chapter, and to connect Daniel’s prayer in chapter 9 with his prayer in chapter 6. It stirred up the malice of Satan against him. If the angel had not “stood to confirm and strengthen” Darius. Satan would have used his love of flattery to make him remove this man, who had power with God, from the earth. We see in chapter 10 that Satan has his “wicked spirits in high places,” who fight for his diabolical ends in the affairs of nations, and especially those nations that have power and influence in the things of God and his people.
There had been this evil influence at work in Babylon, preparing a furnace for those who would not bow to a false god; now there was a “prince of the kingdom of Persia” preparing the lions’ den for those who would not cease to pray. Such a prayer as the one recorded in chapter 9 raised a war in heaven, and such a man could not be tolerated in Persia, the world empire of the moment. True, the jealous malice of the princes, and the wicked, thoughtless of the king were the second causes; but the angels of God and the angels of the devil were in deadly conflict about God’s servant, and His earthly center, Jerusalem.
The mercy of God makes great distinctions in His judgment. The king was not the originator of the trouble, and did not expect his folly to have such disastrous consequences: he spent the night fasting and was spared the full result of his wicked vanity. Daniel spent his night in the company of God’s angel, and “no hurt was found in him because he believed in His God.” “The devil fought and prevailed not.” God’s servants in chapter 3 found “the Son of God” in the fire; Daniel found the “angel of God” in the lions’ den.
Does not this wonderful story show how God values prayer, and how Satan hates prayer? Does it not throw light on the persistent and determined opposition to prayer in private and in public? The empty prayer meetings, the unlooked for interruptions, the unaccountable outbreaks of ill-feelings, are due to evil power behind the scenes, where the value of prayer is known. Daniel was in a position of public trust and responsibility, his work was very important, but he found time to pray “in his house,” “upon his knees,” and with a view to the center of God’s interests upon earth. The devil has the lions’ den for the man of prayer; but he is “a man greatly beloved” and angels are “caused to fly, swiftly” (9:21), for his words. The fault that the devil found in him was that he “made his petition three times a day.”
The empire of Persia was inferior to that of Babylon. It is represented in the image of chapter 2 by the “breast and arms of silver;” in the beasts of chapter 7. as a bear; in the beasts of chapter 8 as a ram. It was not derived directly from God; the power of the king was not absolute, and there was not the food and protection for those who submitted to its authority as with Nebuchadnezzar. The bear is merely allowed to “arise and devour,” to gratify its bestial appetite; there is no “excellent majesty” or divinely given dominion over all things. The ram merely “pushes” and “becomes great” until another power removes it.
Daniel proved the precious promise made to God’s scattered remnant: “I will be to them a little Sanctuary in all places.” Even his earthly wisdom he received from and attributed to his God, — he “did the King’s business” and he “served his God continually; so that even the eye of jealousy could not find a fault on which to throw the blame of its malice. But “jealousy is cruel as the grave,” and it will find a cloak if even it has to be in the undeniable devotedness of its victim. And in this form of suffering the Lord Himself, of whom Daniel is such a striking type, shared to the full and so touchingly identified Himself with His people in it that He could say, “They have now compassed us in our steps; they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth; like as a lion that is greedy of his prey and as a young lion lurking in secret places” (Psalm 17:11, 1211They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth; 12Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. (Psalm 17:11‑12)). The masterpiece of devilish wisdom is seen in placing “the powers that be” in the position described in the words: “If thou let this Man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend.” How many an unhappy representative of the power, both temporal and spiritual has, in that “hour of the power of darkness,” decided that it is expedient for “this man” to be sacrificed! Daniel has long since gone to his rest, the Lord Jesus is gone to the Father, but “the God of Daniel is the living God, and steadfast forever.”
The princes had no angel to “stand to confirm and strengthen” them that night; and when the morning came, they found no angel in the lions’ den. They thought they had put a seal upon Daniel’s fate, just as the chief priests asked for a seal to be put upon the sepulcher, receiving the sarcastic reply, “Make it as sure as ye can.” “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision” (Psa. 2:44He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. (Psalm 2:4)).
An inferior part of the image may remain, the bear may satisfy its greed, the ram may “push” and “become great,” and even the worldly-minded among the people of God may do the same, but God’s Daniels go their way, for they shall “rest, and stand in their lot at the end of the days.” Their visions, too, they “seal up” a precious secret between God and those who fear Him (12:4, 13).
God’s abundant answer to Daniel’s prayer is seen in Ezra 1. “He did according to His will” when He sent Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the city and sanctuary, and to take the vessels of the temple and lock them up in secret in the house of his god; but He also could and would, in answer to Daniel’s prayer, cause the head of the next empire to command the restoration of the city and sanctuary; He would also give to that chosen man of His purpose “the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places” (Isa. 45:1-31Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; 2I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: 3And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. (Isaiah 45:1‑3)) in order that they might be restored to their people and place! Little did Belshazzar think that so soon he himself would fall by the hand of God whom he blasphemously derided, and those vessels, in which he and his drunken company were drinking, would be restored to their place by the same God who had for His own purposes allowed them to be taken for a time! “Prayer changes things.”
But even all this was not enough for Daniel’s God to shower upon him. It might be enough, and was truly wonderful, for a happy party of repentant Jews to return to their land with permission and material to rebuild, and with the precious vessels committed again to their trust; but the angel who “flew swiftly” to touch the beloved man had secrets to impart which were for his ear alone as God’s friend. The future “from the going forth of the commandment to restore Jerusalem” down to the downfall of the fourth beast, was made known to him. And sorrow of all sorrows a grief that—was yet in store for the heart of God, He made known to His beloved Daniel that after all His pleadings with His chosen people, “Having yet one Son, His well-beloved,” He would “send Him last unto them, saying, They will reverence My Son,” with the only result: “After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off and shall have nothing”— Could it be possible that Daniel’s people would thus requite the Lord? Would their wonderful return from captivity in answer to Daniel’s prayer end thus? What an honor for him to be told this solemn, stupendous secret all those years before. To anticipate the suffering Messiah, “taken away in the midst of His days,” saying, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death”; to, as it were, watch with Him beforehand, and see the “Hope of Israel” dashed to the ground!
We have necessarily anticipated a good deal of what follows in the later chapters in order to see how abundantly Daniel’s prayer was answered and honored. From that time he held a position of remarkable intimacy with God and was permitted to have fellowship with Him in His greatest sorrow, viz., the murder of His beloved Son. Others had similar privileges though perhaps not so great. Ezekiel lost “the desire of his eyes” because God’s beloved sanctuary was destroyed and His people taken away. Hosea knew the shame of a defiled house and the grief of unrequited affection, because the Lord’s house was defiled and His love spurned. Baruch was to be contented with little things because the Lord was having little things. (See Ezekiel 24; Hosea 3; Jer. 45.)
J. B.