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6 Fic chapter gives an account of Daniel’s being caft into the den of lions, and the caufes of it, and the fteps leading to it; and alfo of his wonderful deliverance out of it, and what followed upon that. It firft relates how Daniel was made by Darius firft prefident of the princes of the. kingdom, which drew their envy upon him, ¥. 1, 2, 3, 4. and that thefe princes finding they could get no occafion againft him, but in religion, propofed to the king to make a law forbidding prayer to any god for thirty days, which they got eftablifhed, ¥. 5—g. and Daniel breaking this law, is accufed by them to the king, and the penalty, cafting into the den of lions, is infifted on to be executed, ¥. 10—13. which the king laboured to prevent, but in vain; and Daniel is caft to the lions, to the great grief of the king, ¥. 14—18. who vifited the den the next morning, and to his great joy found Daniel alive, ¥. 19—23. upon which, by the law of retaliation, his accufers, their wives and children were caft into it, y. 24. and an edict was publifhed by the king, commanding all in his dominions to fear and reverence the God of Daniel, ¥. 25—28.
y. 1. It pleafed Darius to fet over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, &c.| This is the fame Darius mentioned in the latter part of the preceding chapter; who, as foon as he took the kingdom of Babylon, divided it into an hundred and twenty provinces, as Facchiades obferves; as was the manner of the Medes and Perfians. So Darius the fon of Hyflafpes divided the kingdom of Perfa into twenty provinces, and fet governors over each, according to Herodotus '; to thefe hundred and twenty provinces, feven more were afterwards added thro’ the victories of Cyrus and Cambyfes, and Darius yftafpes, Efth.i.1. Fofepbus *, thro’ forgetfulnefs, makes thefe princes and provinces three hundred and fixty: which fhould be over the whole kingdom; or, 7 the whole kingdom‘, in the feveral parts of it, and take care of all things relative to the civil government of it, both for the honour and advantage of the king, and the good of the fubjects.
¥.2. And over thefe, three prefidents, &c.] To whom the hundred and twenty princes were accountable for their conduct, and to whom the people might apply for redrefs of grievances, if opprefied; perhaps the whole empire was divided into three greater parts, and each part had forty provinces in it, and over it a prefident or deputy of the king; to whom the princes of each province gave in the account of what they received for the king, and what ufe they made of it: (of whom Daniel was the firft); or one’, who was now an old man, having been about feventy years in Babylon, and had had a large experience of the affairs of eivil government, being advanced in the times ot Nebuchadnezzar to high pofts; and very probably Darius had heard of the wifdom of Daniel before he came to the kingdom, as well as the king of Tyre, Ezek. xxviii. 3. and might be informed of his prediction of Bel/hazzar’s death, and the change of the empire; and of Bel/hazzar’s promife to make him the third ruler in the kingdom; and he might alfo himfelf obferve in him an uncommon fagacity and fitnefs for bufinefs of this fort. ‘Fofepbhus “ fays, that Darius took Daniel with him into Media, and made him one of the three prefidents; and indeed no mention is made in this hiftory of the nobles of Babylon, but only of the Medes and Perfians: that the princes might give account unto them, and the king fhould have no damage; or lofs in his revenues, thro’ the fraud and bad management of the princes of the provinces; fince they might be difcovered and checked by the prefidents, who were to audit their accounts: - or, have no trouble *;,in looking over and the accounts of the princes. }
¥. 3. Then this Daniel was preferred above the prefidents and princes, &c.] Not only above the princes, but the prefidents, being the firft of them, as before: or, he was viéforious above themy; he got more credit and applaufe than they did, being more exact, diligent and laborious, faithful and - con{fcientious: because an excellent [pirit was in him; meaning not a fpirit of grace, piety and religion, which the heathen king was no judge of, nor valued him for it, tho’ it was in him; but a fpirit of knowledge of civil affairs, and of prudence in managing them, and of integrity throughout the whole of his conduct: and the king thought to fet bim over the whole realm, or, wherefore the king thought 5
&c. becaufe there was fuch a fpirit in him, which fo qualified him for public bufinefs, he began to think of abolifhing his triumvirate of prefidents, and making Daniel his vice-roy over the whole empire, which very probably they had got fome knowledge of; and this, as well as being above them, drew the envy of them on him, and put them upon the following fcheme. pe TR Vv. 4. Then the prefidents and princes fought to jind occafion againft Daniel concerning the kingdom, &c.] Concerning the management of the affairs of the kingdom, he being prime-minifter of ftate; the prefidents and princes joined together in this enquiry; the princes, becaufe Daniel was fo ftrict and exaét in looking into their accounts, that no | fraudulent meafures were taken to cheat the king of his revenue; and the prefidents, becaufe he was preferred above them: but they could find none occafion, nor fault or corruption *, that he had been guilty of any male-adminiftration, or any corrupt practices: fora/much as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him; no miftake in his accounts; no blunder in his management of things; nothing done amifs, neither wilfully, nor thro’ ignorance, negligence or inadvertence; fo faithful and upright, fo prudent and difcreet, fo exact and careful, that the moft watchful obfervers of him, and thefe envious and his moft implacable cable enemies, could find no fault in him, or any thing, or the colour of it, to ground an accufation upon.
¥. 5. Then faid thefe men, &c.| To one another: we jhall not find any occafion againft this Daniel; whom they fpeak of with great difdain and contempt, calling him this Daniel, this fellow, tho’ in the higheft poft in the kingdom: except we Jind it againft him concerning the law of bis God; about his religion; not that they thought he would be prevailed ‘upon to break the law of his God in any refpect; but they knew he was tenacious of the Fewifh religion, and of all the laws, rites and ceremonies of it; if therefore they could get an aét paffed and figned by the king, which would any ways affect his religion, or any branch of it, or prohibit the performance of it for any time; they hoped to get an advantage of him, knowing that he would not on any confideration forfake or neglect that; which being faid by his enemies, was greatly to his honour.
y. 6. Then thefe prefidents and princes affembled together to -the king, &c.| Waving confulted the matter, and agreed upon and formed a fcheme among themfelves, and drawn up a bill or decree in form, ready to be figned by the king, whom they hoped to perfuade to it; and for that end they got together, and went in a body to him. The word ° fignifies to affemble in a tumultuous and noify way; they thought by their number and noife, their buftle and blufter, to carry their point. Ben Melech compares it with Pf ii. 2: and faid thus unto him, O king Darius, live for ever; this they faid as courtiers, profefling fubjection to him, and affection for him, wifhing him health, long life and happinefs.
¥. 7. All the prefidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counfellors, and the captains, &c.] "There were but three prefidents, and Daniel was one of them, fo that thefe a// were but two; they made the moft of it they could; and very probably not all and every one of the other officers mentioned were prefent; but they were willing to make their requeft appear as general as they could, in order that it might have the greater weight with the king: have confulted together to cfablifo a royal ftatute, and to make a firm decree; that is, they had met together, and had drawn up a bill that might be paffed into a law by having the royal affent, and be made fure and firm by the king’s figning it; which is as follows: that whofoever foail af a petition of any god or man for thirty days, fave of thee, O king, he fball be caft into the den of lions, by which law, all invocation of their own gods was prohibited for a month, as well as of the living and true God; but this they ftuck not at, provided they could gain their point againft Daniel; and they were obliged to exprefs it in this general way to cover their defigns, for had they mentioned a particular deity, as the God of the Yews, or the God of Daniel, their views would have been feen into by the king; and not only religious invocation is here forbidden, but all civil requefts are prohibited: fervants might not afk any thing of their mafters, nor children of their parents, nor wives of their hufbands, nor one neighbour of another; for this feems not to be limited to afking any thing of a man worfhipped as a god; tho’ Saadiah fays, there were fome in Darius’s kingdom that believed in, worfhipped and prayed to, a man; but all men are excluded, ex cept Darius himfelf, of whom only any thing was to be afked for thirty days; which was not only a deifying him, but exalting him above all gods and men; and fuggefting, as if it was in his power to anfwer all the exigencies of his fubjeéts, and fupply all their wants, many of which it was impoffible for him to do. Fo/ephus * mentions this law in a different manner; as if the defign of it was to give the people an intermiffion from devotion for fuch a time, and that they were neither to pray to Darius, nor any of the gods during it; whereas, the exception is exprefs, /ave of thee, O king. The fanction or penalty of it is, cafting into the den of lions; the king’s den of lions, as Jarchi, where his lions were kept; as it is ufual with princes: this very probably was a punifhment common in the eaftern nations, as cafting the chriftians to the lions was ufual with the Romans.
¥. 8. Now, O king, eftablifh the decree, and fign the writing, &c.j For they had not only agreed upon it among themfelves what to propofe, as to the fubftance of it; but they had drawn it up in writing, ready to be figned, which they urge to have done immediately: chat it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Perfians, which altereth not; when once figned by the king: mention being made of both the Medes and Perfians, fhews that thefe two nations were now united in one government; that Darius and Cyrus were partners in the empire; and it is eafy to account for it, why the Aedes are mentioned firft; becaufe Darius was the Mede, and Cyrus the Perfian; the one the uncle, the other the nephew; but afterwards, when a Pezfian only was on the throne, then the Perfian is mentioned firft, E/th. i. 19.
¥. 9. Wherefore king Darius figned the writing and the decree.| Moved to it by the number and importunity of his principal men; and chiefly thro” affectation of deity, which this law gave him; and that he might have an opportunity of ingratiating himfelf into his new fubjeéts by his munificence and liberality, not being aware of the fnare laid for his favourite Daviel.
y¥. 10. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was figned, &c.| This he knew, either by the relation of others, or by the public proclamation of it thro’ the city; however, he did not know of it till it was figned, or otherwife he might have prevented it by applying to the king, in whom he had great intereft,; but now the thing was done, he did not folicit the abrogation of it, knowing it was in vain; nor did he go to the king with complaints againft his enemies, fhewing the defign they had in it; but let things take their own courfe, he being determined to be found in his duty, be it as it would: be went into his houfes he left the court at the proper time of prayer, and went to his own houfe to perform it; he did not, in defiance of this law, go to prayer in the court, or in the ftreets, but retired home, as he was ufed to do: and his windows being opened; not to be feen of men, but that he might have a clear view of the heavens, where his God dwelt, to whom he prayed, and be the more affected with the confideration of his greatnefs and glory: in his chamber toward Ferufalem, it was not in the lower part of the houfe, nor on the top of the houfe, in either of which he might be more eafily feen; but in his chamber, where he was wont to retire, the windows of which were opened fowards Ferufalem;) not towards the king’s palace, as if he prayed to| might have it affirmed by himfelf: the king an= wered and foid, the thing is true, according to the him; and fo eluded the decree; nor towards the eaft, as the heathens did; but towards Feru/alem, which lay to the fouth of Babylon, and that either becaufe of his remembrance of that city, his af- law of the Medes and Perfians, which altereth not; it is true that fuch a decree is made and figned, and it is an unalterable one; fuch as is every eftablifhed and figned decree of the Medes and Perfection to it, and concern for its re-edification; /ams: it is as if he had faid, it is very true what or having fome refpect to the words of Solomon,- i Kings viii. 33, Sc. and fo, according to the, Fewifo writers, it was the cuftom of their people. Ben Gerfom, on the above place, fays, that though they did not pray within the temple, yet they prayed, turning themfelves towards it, as much ‘as poffibly they could; and even when it was de- {troyed, as now, yet they in praying turned to the place whete it had ftood, as Sacdiah, Aben Ezra, and Farchi obferve: and chiefly Daniel did this, becaufe the temple was a type of Chrift, through whom the perfons and prayers of the faints are acceptable unto God: he kneeled upon bis knees three times a day and prayed; kneeling is a prayer-gefture, a token of reverence and humility; this was done three times a day, morning, noon, and evening; fee P/. lv. 17. in the morning, before he went out about the king’s bufinefs; at noon, when he returned home to dinner; and at evening, when all his work was done, and he was about to retire to bed; the hours of prayer with the Yews, feem to have been the third, fixth, and ninth; that is, at nine in the morning, twelve at noon, and three in the afternoon; fee 47s ii. 1, 15. and iii. 1. and x. 9: and gave thanks before his God; for the benefits he daily received from him: or, he confeffed before him‘; the fins he had been guilty of, and owned the favours he partook of: as he aforetime did; as it had been his cuftom from his youth upward, and therefore would not omit it now, on account of this edict.
y. 11. Then thefe men affembled, &c.] Gathered together, and went in a body to Daniel’s houfe; knowing his times of prayer, and where, and in what manner he ufed to pray,: to fee if they could find him at it as aforetime; that fo they might have to accufe him with it. Saadiah fays, they found a girl, and afked her what Daniel was doing? fhe told them, that Daniel was on his knees praying to his God in his chamber; immediately they went, and found as fhe had faid: and found Daniel praying and making fupplication before bis God; they went into his houfe, and up into his chamber, the doors not being locked, pretending perhaps bufinefs with him, and faw him at his devotions; fo that they were able, upon their own knowledge, to bring in an accufation again{ft him for breach of the king’s law, and prove it.
y..12. Then they came near, &c.| They went immediately from Daniel’s houfe to the king’s pa- Jace, and into the king’s prefence; which they could do either by virtue of their offices, or being admitted by the proper officer in waiting: and fpake before the king, concerning the king’s decree, at firft they faid nothing about Daniel, but about the decree, to get it recognized, and afrefh ratified and confirmed; left, under fome pretence ‘or another, the king fhould change it: haf thou not Signed a decree, that every man that hall afk a petition of any god or man within thirty days, fave of thee, O king, shall be caft into the den of lions? they don’t fay peremptorily that he had fighed fuch a decree, but put the queftion to him, that they you put me in mind of, and I will never recede from it, or nullify and make it void. ‘ y. 13. Ihen anfwered they, and fpake before the king, &c,.] Having obtained what they defired, a ratification of the decree, they open the whole affair to him they came about: shat Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king; they call him that Daniel, by way of contempt; and to make him the more defpicable, reprefent him not only as a foreigner, but a captive, and therefore ought to have been humble and obedient, as Facchiades obferves; and. a Fewifh captive too, of all people the moft odious; and tho’ he had been raifed from a low eftate to great honour and dignity, yet fuch was his ingratitude; that he made no account of the king, nor of his orders, but defpifed him: or the decree that thou haft figned, the decree concerning making any petition to God or man for a month, which was figned with the king’s own hand, and was firm and {table; and of which Daniel could not be ignorant, and therefore wilfully, and in a contemptuous manner, acted contrary to it: dut maketh his petition three times a day; to whom they fay not, whether to God or man; but in this general way accufe him, which they thought beft and fafeft; they feared, had they mentioned his God, fomething might have been faid in his favour to excufe him; and to aggravate the matter, they obferve the frequency of his doing it, three times; fo that it was not a fingle fact he is charged with, but what he had repeated again and again.
was fore difpleafed with bimfelf, &c.] Or, at it*® 3.
or, with him; with Daniel, not fo much for what he had done, but that he had not done it with more caution, or more privately, that it might not have been known: or rather, as we render it, with himfelf, that he fhould fo rafhly fign the decree, without confidering the confequences of it;
for he now found that he was circumvented by his princes, and that their defign was not his honour and glory, but the deftruction of Daniel: or the fenfe in general is, that what he heard was very difagreeable, afflictive, and diftreffing to him: and
fet his heart on Daniel to deliver him he refolved,
if poffible, to do it; he applied his mind to it; he turned his thoughts wholly that way, and contrived all ways and means to effect it: R. Mattathiab, in Saadiab, interprets the phrafe of his offering money as a ranfom for his life: and be la- 7 boured till the going down. of the fun to fave bim;
from the will of the princes, and from the jaws of — the lions: very probably it was early in the morning thefe princes found Dawiel at prayer, who went immediately to the king with their accufation; fo that he was all day labouring with all his and main to find out ways and means a darling favourite; he ftucied to put fuch a fenfe upon his decree, that it might not reach Daniel’s cafe; he {trove to make the princes eafy, and to perfuade them to drop the affair, not in, the execution of the decree. nobaatih
¥. 15. Then thefe men affembled to the king, &c.] Who had left him for a while to confider of the cafe; or they departed to confult among themfelves about the king’s propofals to them; or went home to their own houles to dinner, and returned in a body; they came ‘in a tumultuous way, as the word fignifies; fee y. 6. they cluttered about him, and were very rude and noify, and addrefied him in an authoritative and threatening manner: and faid unto the king, know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Perfians is, that no decree nor fratute which the king eftablifbeth may be changed; they perceived that he was delfirous of altering or nullifying the decree he had made, which to have done would have been to his reputation; and to this they oppofe a fundamental law of the realm, that no decree ratified by the king could be altered; to attempt to do this would be a breach of their conftirution, and of dangerous confequence; it would lefen the king’s authority, and be a means of his fubjects rifing up in rebellion againft him: for that there was fuch a law, the king knew as ‘well as they; nor do they fay this by way of information, but to urge him to the execution of the decree; and there is no doubt to be made that there was fuch a fundamental law, tho’ a foolifh one, and which afterwards continued, L/h. i. 19. but the inftance which fome writers give out of Diodorus Siculus ‘, concerning Charidemus, a general of the Athenians, whom another Darius king of Perfia condemned to die for the freedom of fpeech he ufed with him, and afterwards repented of it, but in vain; far his royal power, as the hiftorian ebferves, could not make~ that undone which was done; this is no proof of the immutability of the laws of the Perfiaus, fince the king’s’ repentance was after the general’s death, which then was too late.
¥. 26. Then the king commanded, &c.] Being over-awed by his princes, and fearing they would confpire againft him, and ftir up the people to rebel; and confulting his own credit, left he fhould be thought fickle and inconftant; he ordered the decree to be put in execution again{ft Daniel, and. delivered his favourite into their hands: aud cbey brought Daniel, and caft him. into the den of lions not the princes, but proper officers employed by them: according to the additions to this book of Daniel, there were feven lions in this den, ch. xiv. 31. but according to Fo/eph ben Gorion ®, there were ten, who ufed to devour ten fheep, and as many human bodies, every day; but this day they had no food, and eat nothing, that they might be more greedy, and devour Daniel the fooner: now the king {pake and faid unto Daniel, being brought into his prefence in his palace, before he was caft into the den; or at the mouth of the den, whither the king accompanied him: thy God whom thou ferveft continually, be will deliver thee; he calls the Lord, Daniel’s God, not his own, as he was not, he ferved other gods; yet he fuggefts that Daniel was right in ferving him continually, in praying to him daily, the very thing for which he was cait to the lions; and expréfles his confidence that his God he ferved would deliver him from being devoured by them; which he might conclude, trom the innocency, integrity, and faithfulnefs of Daniel, and from his being fuch a peculiar- favourite of God, as to be indulged with the knowledge of
| future things; and perhaps he might have heard of the deliverance of his three companions from the fiery furnace: tho’ the words may be rendered, as they are by fome, as a with or prayer, may thy God, &c. deliver thee» 1 cannot, I pray he would; it is my hearty defire that fo it might be.
¥. 17. And a fione was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den, &c.] Not an heap of ftones, but a fingle one, a very large one, fufficient to ftop up the mouth of the den, that nothing might enter in at it, or be caft into it: this ftone was brought by proper perfons, and a fufficient number of them, according to the order of the king, or his princes, or both; for what archi fays, ot there being no {tones in Babylon, only bricks, and of the angels bringing this {tone out of the land of J/rael, is all fabulous: but for what end it fhould be brought and laid, is not eafy to fay; if it was laid here by the order,of the princes, it could not furely be to keep any of his friends from going in to deliver him, for who would venture himfelf there? nor to keep Daniel in it, fince it might be concluded, that as {oon as ever he was caft in, he would be feized upon by the lions, and devoured at once; unlefs it can be thought, that thefe men faw, that when he was thrown in, the lions. did not meddle with him; which they might attribute to their having been Jately fed, and therefore that he might be referved till they-were hungry, they did this: if it was by the order of the king, which is very likely, the reafon might be, he’ believed, or at leatt hoped, that God would deliver him from the lions; but left his enemies feeing this, fhould throw in ftones or arrows, and kill him, the mouth of the den was ftopped, fo Farchi and Saadiab: no doubt but this was fo ordered by the providence of God, as well as the fealing of it, that the miracle of the deliverance might appear the more manifeft: and the king fealed it with bis own fignet, and with the fignet of the lords, that none might dare to remove it; fo the ftone that was laid at the door of Chrift’s fepulchre was fealed with a feal, Mast. xxvii. 66. the reafon of fealing it follows, that the purpofe might not be changed concerning Daniel; the view the lords had in it was, that the king might not change the fentence paft on Daniel, or take any methods to deliver him; and the view the king had in it might be, that fhould he be faved. from the lions, as he hoped he would, that no other fentence might pafs upon him, or he be delivered to any other kind of death, y. 18. Then the king went to his palace, &c.| After he had accompanied Dawiel to the den, and he was'caft into it, the ftone was laid to the mouth of it, and that fealed; this was after fun-fet, for he had laboured till then to ferve him, ¥. 14. perhaps it was late at night: aad pajfed the night fafing; vexed for what he had done, in figning the decree; fretting becaufe he could not fave Dawiel, and his heart full of grief for him, and fo had no ftomach to eat; went to bed without his fupper, lay all night fafting, and would not eat a bit, nor drink a drop of any thing: zeither were inflruments of mufic brought before him, as ufed to be after fupper, and played upon; his heart was too full, and his mind and thoughts fo intent on Daniel’s cate, that he could not liften to mufic, or bear the found of it. archi interprets it a table, vo fit down at, and eat, being furnifhed and well ferved, as was ufual; but this is implied in the preceding claufe. Aben Ezra, Saadiah, and Facchiades, explain it by fongs and mufical inftruments, harps and pfalteries; and Saadiah adds, girls to fing and dance. De Dieux, from the ufe of the word in the Arabic language, thinks, that incenfe is meant, which was ufed at feafts, and in the palaces of princes. And bis fleep went from him, whilft he was up he could take no pleafure in eating and drinking, and hearing mufic; and when he was in bed, he could not fleep for thinking what he had done, and what was the cafe of Daziel.
y¥. 19. Then the king arofe very early in the morning, &c.] Or, in the morning with light’; as foon as ever light appeared, or the day broke: the word for morning is doubled, and one of the letters in it is larger than ufual; and all which denote not only his very great earlinefS in rifing, but his earneftnefs and folicitude for Daniel, to know whether he was alive or no: and went in hafte unto the den of lions; he did not fend a fervant, but went in perfon, and with as much expedition as poffible, tho’ a king, and an old man; this fhows the great love and ftrong affection he had for Dawiel, and his concern for his good and welfare.
y¥. 20. And when he came to the den; be cried with a lamentable voice unio Daniel, &c.] Expreffing grief and forrow his heart was full of; it was rather like howling than fpeaking; thus he cried before he faw Daniel, or heard him fpeak: when he was near to the den*, as it may be rendered; and he was between hope and fear about Daniel’s fafety, when within fight of the den, and hearing of Daniel, fhould he be alive to fpeak: but when he came nearer and {aw him, then the king /pake and
faid to Daniel, O Daniel, fervant of the living God,
_ art thou alive? this is a plain cafe, that the God whom thou ferveft is the living God, fince he has faved thee; and that thou art a true and faithful fervant of his, feeing he has wrought fuch deliverance for thee:. is thy God whom thou ferveft continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? has he made it to appear that he is able to deliver from them? has he really done the thing? he could fcarcely believe for joy, being filled with amazement; for thefe words are not to be confidered as expreffive of any doubt or hefitation he had of the power of God to fave him; for he had declared he
_had before, yea his confidence that he would deliver him; but of his wonder and admiration at it, the thing being fo extraordinary and amazing.
y. 21. Then faid Daniel unto the king, &c.] Whaofe voice he knew, tho’ the tone of it was fo much altered: O king, live for ever; he does not reproach him for delivering him into the hands of his enemies, and fuffering him to be caft into that place, which he might have prevented, had he had more refolution; he knew it was done with reluctance, tho’ with weaknefs; which he does not upbraid him with, but freely forgives him, and withes him health, long life, and profperity.
¥. 22. My God hath fent his angel, &c.| Daniel takes up the king’s expreffion, and confirms it; he afferts God to be his God, of which he had given him a proof in fending his angel to him that night; either one of the miniftring fpirits about him, or the angel of the covenant, the fame with him, faid to be like the Son of God, that was feen in the fiery furnace, even the Meffiah in human
1 SIA NIH IDA fumma aurora cum luce, Junius & Tremellius; in tempore aurore cum luce, Pies fh. > Sa hp) IAP cum appropinquaffet ad foveam, Pagninus; quumque appropinquaret ad foveam, Pifcator.
form: dnd hath fout the lions mouths, that they have not hurt me; by taking away hunger from them, of by ftriking terror into them; fo that they had either no inclination to hurt him, or were afraid of him: fora/much as before him innocency was found in me; either before God, or before his angel, Daniel appeared to be an innocent and ri teous perfon; therefore the Lord pleaded his caufe,_ and made it to appear that he was juft, and his caufe good; for this is not to be underftood of - the merits of his works, and the caufality of them to juftify and fave; for here he is {peaking not of ° the righteoufnefs of his perfon, but of his eaufe, and not of eterna], but temporal falvation: and » alfo before thee, O king, have Idone no burt; either to his perfon or government; nothing that was criminal and finful, but what was jufb and right, ferving daily his God; and this was plain to the king, what he knew and owned and tho’ he had aéted contrary to the decree the lords. had craftily obtained, yet it was not out of difrefpeé to the king, but in obedience to his God; and in doi of which he had done nothing prejudiciak to the king’s interett.:.
¥. 23. Then was the king exceeding glad for hime,
&c.] For Daniel, becaufe of his fafety, becaufe he: was alive, and in health, and unhurt; and the fpeech he made was very acceptable to him, agreeable to his fentiments, and which he was fatished was juft and true: or with, or for himfélf*; being now eafed of a guilty and diftraéted confcience: and commanded that they fhould take Daniel up out
‘of the den; that is, he ordered thofe that were with him, his fervants that attended him, either to roll away the ftone, and fo let him out; or to let down ropes, and draw him out, or ladders by which he might afcend; for one would think it would not have been fafe for them to have gone down into it, to take him up: thefe orders the king gave with+ out the confent of his lords, being animated to it by the miracle wrought: fo Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upox him no bruife by throwing him into the den, We wound was made by the lions, or his flefh in the leaft torn by them: decaufe he believed in bis Gods” ferved and worfhipped him; of which fervice and worthip faith is a particular branch, and is put for the whole, and without which it is not pleafing and acceptable to God; he trufted in the Lord, he’ committed himfelf to his power and providence;
he left himfelf wholly in the-hands of the Lord, to difpofe of him, whether for life or death, ashe pleafed; he believed he was able. to deliver chim, but he was not anxious about it: for this feems not to defign any particular act of faith, with re- {pect to this miracle wrought for him, but his general truft and confidence in God; and the apottle feems to have reference to this, when among other things he afcribes to faith the ftopping of the mouths of lions, Hed. xi. 33. ow Datel ¥. 24. And the king commanded, and they brought thofe men which had accufed Daniel, 8c.) Not all the hundred and twenty princes, and, the two prefidents; but the chief of them, who were moft bufy in getting the decree figned; watched i houfe, and what he did there; brought the cl againft him to the king, and were moft folicitous — and urgent to have the decree ‘put in execution
againft him: and they caft them into the den of —
lions; the fervants of the king, who were fent to fetch them, and who brought thefe by the king’s orders, caft them into the fame den of lions that Daniel had been in: thus often the pit wicked men dig for others, they fall into themfelves; fo Haman was hanged on the gallows he prepared. for Mordecai: them, their children, and thew wives, which might be according to the laws of this monarchy in capital offences, relating to affairs, of ftate, as this was for an accufation of a primeminifter of ftate, to take away his life; tho’ fuch things were common with arbitrary princes, for the terror of others; fo Haman and his fons were hanged up by Ahafuerus: this may feem cruel and inhuman, tho’ it might be, that the wives and children of thefé men advifed them to do what they did, and were encouragers and approvers of it. ofepbus ™ relates, that the enemies of Daniel, when they faw no hurt came to him, would not afcribe it to the providence of God, but to the lions being full of food; upon which the king ordered much meat to be given them, and then the men to be caft in to them, to fee whether becaufe of their fulnefs they would come unto them or no: and the lions had the maftery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces, or ever they came at the bottom of the dew; the liens feized them at once; and tho’ they did all they could to defend themfelves, fighting with them; yet the lions were too powerful for them, and overcame them, and not only ’ tore off their flefh, but broke their bones in pieces, and that as they were falling, before they came to the bottom, or the lower part of the den; this was a plain proof that it was not thro’ fulnefs, or want of appetite, that the lions did not fall upon Da. niel and devour him: this affair happened in the firft year of Darius, which according to Bifhop Ufber *, and Dean Prideaux °, and Mr. Whifton °, was in the year of the Fulian period 4176, and before Chrift 538; Mr. Bedford + places it in 537. ¥. 25. Then king Darius, &c.| Being thoroughly convinced of the miracle, and of the powerful interpofition of divine providence in it, and of the omnipotence of God, and of his concern in the government of the world; that all might be acquainted with the fame, wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; he being at the head of the Babylonifh monarchy, which included many nations and people of various languages; and which was increafed, and ftill increafing, by the victories of Cyrus, who was partner with him in the empire; fee ch. iii. 4, 29: peace be multiplied unto you, an increafe of all kind of profperity; an ufual falutation or wifh with the eaftern people. ¥. 26. I make a decree, that in every dominion of my kingdom, &c.] In every province of his large empire; this ‘explains who are meant by all people, nations, &c. before-mentioned; namely, fuch as were within his dominions; for to no other could his decree reach: this decree is very different from that he had made a few days before, forbidding any man to afk any thing of any god or man for the fpace of a month; but now his order is, that men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, that they would ferve with fear and trembling, and re- anf | 393 worfhipped; and who manifeftly appeared to be his God, and to be the true God, by his’ wonderful deliverance of him: for he is the living God, and ftedfaft for ever; that has life in himfelf, and is the author and giver of life to others, and ever remains fo, without any variation or fhadow of turning; he is everlafting and unchangeable, permanent and immutable in his nature; fteady and ftedfaft in his purpofes and promifes, in his conduct in the government of the world, and in the courfe of his providences: aud his kingdom that which fhall not be deftroyed, and bis dominion thall be even unto the end; unto the end of time; other kingdoms will be deftroyed, but his will not; all other rule, dominion, and authority will be at an end, but his will continue for ever; his kingdom is an everlafting one: this doétrine Darius had learned from Daniel, as Nebuchadnezzar before had done; fee ch. ii. 44. and iv. 3.
Ww. 27. He delivereth and refcueth, &c.- As he did the three companions of Daniel from the fiery furnace, and now Daniel himfelf from the lions den: and be worketh figns and wonders in beaven, and in earth; which are out of the common courte of nature, and not according to the laws of it; fuch as hindering the natural force of fire from burning, as in the cafe of the three children; and {topping the mouths of lions from devouring Damiel, as follows: who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions; or, from the hand * of. them; from their deftroying paws,, and devouring jaws; which was nothing Iefg than a miracle, and a proof of the divine omnipotence, and of his power of doing wonders,
¥. 28. So this Daniel profpered in the reign of Darius, &c.] This Daniel, of whom fo much has been faid in all the preceding chapters, and who. had been fo lately and fo wonderfully delivered from the lions den, the fame flourifhed throughout the reign of Darius the Mede; continued a favourite with the king; retained his honour and | dignity; and kept his pofts and places of truft and profit. Darius the Mede reigned two years; tho’ Farchi, fays he reigned but one, and was flain in war; for which he refers to Fofeph ben Gorton, who has not a word of it. And in the reign of Cyrus the Perfian; who, as Facchiades fays, was the fon-inlaw of Darius, and inherited the kingdom after him; which is true, for he married the daughter of Cyaxaves or Darius, who was his uncle, and fucceeded him as fole monarch of the empire: he reigned with him the two years he had the government of the Babylonifh monarchy; and when he died, it folely devolved on him, who reigned feven years after, as Xenophon * relates; but the canon of Ptolemy afcribes nine years to his reign, which includes the two years he was partner with Darius. Daniel was in the fame favour with this prince as the former, who in the firft year of his reign proclaimed liberty to the Fews, to return to their country, and build their temple; whether Danie/ lived throughout his reign is not certain; he was alive in the third year of it, as appears from ch. x. 1. fome take Darius and Cyrus to be one and the fame perfon, and render this laft claufe as. explanative of the former, eves or that is, in the reign verence and adore the God that Daniel ferved and of Cyrus the Perfian'.