Today’s passage: Daniel 6:16-28
Helpful thoughts:
- The fact that the king knew to declare his hope to Daniel implies they were well aware that Daniel was not killed immediately after being cast into the den. He survived the initial drop. (Remember that for later…)
- Darius knew he had done wrong:
- The request for Daniel’s survival through God’s intervention was a normal request. They believed that the innocent could be vindicated through divine intervention (“I was found blameless before Him.”).
- He did not want to eat.
- He could not sleep.
- He rushed back to see if Daniel survived and cried out in anguish.
- Daniel attributed the praise to God and made sure Darius knew that he meant him no harm. Daniel intended to continue to obey God and faithfully serve the king.
- In case you thought the Lions were not hungry…
- Just like Nebuchadnezzar, Darius makes a royal decree to acknowledge the power and sovereignty of God. These Gentile pagan kings of the empires where the Jewish people were exiled after the fall of Judah seemed to have more respect for God than many of the kings of Israel and Judah.
Questions to consider:
- What did the greed of the other officials and satraps result in? Did it only affect them (The families of criminals such as this were punishable by Persian custom. This was not unusual or unexpected)? Do we get to choose the consequences of our sin?
- How could Daniel have responded to Darius differently? Why was his response so wise?
- If Daniel had been eaten by the Lions, what would have happened to him? Where would he have gone? Was it only good that Daniel prayed to God because he lived, or simply because God is worthy of our obedience, regardless of the consequences?