Daniel 6:6-27

November 29, 2020

Daniel 6:6-27

Initial thoughts

• Many of us know this story, but not as many have actually read it.

• “Daniel is most surely the most peculiar book in the Hebrew Bible. It is also clearly the latest. (Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, v. 3, The Writings, p. 747)

• Daniel is the apocalyptic book of the Hebrew Bible and is split into a couple parts:

  • 1st Half (Chapters 1-6) the stories of Daniel and his three friends who are paragons of faithfulness and piety, none have the nuance and complexity of other people in the Hebrew Bible

  • Second Half (chapters 7-12) written around 167-165 BCE

  • Revelation draws on a lot of imagery from Daniel (as do the Gospels in the apocalyptic passages)

    • David- the new Joseph interpreting the dreams of the king, but not in a way which can be acted upon - David’s revelations are uniquely deterministic - a prescriptive vision of what will, as opposed to the other prophets who declare what may be.

  • Written in two languages - Daniel 1-2:4 are in Hebrew, Daniel 2:5-7 are in Aramaic, and the rest is in Hebrew

  • “The Book of Daniel, then, is an imperfect composition...In style, its Hebrew sections are seriously flawed, in literary terms...it falls far below earlier biblical texts” Alter, The Hebrew Bible

    • There are also numerous historical inaccuracies that Daniel “bends”: to fit prophecy (i.e. Darius was a Persian-not a Mede, There were 20 satraps, not 120, etc)

Bible Study

• Historically very unlikely, this is a theological story, not a historical account

  • Darius was Persian, not a Mede

  • Herodotus (who was a historian) records there were 20 satraps, not 120

  • Very unlikely that a royal edict were initiated by government bureaucrats

  • Darius, unlike Caesar and Pharaoh, never claimed divine status for himself, so it is unlikely he would have made such an edict. Even if he did- why limit it to 30 days?

    • “If Darius is really a metaphor for a king closer to the time of the appearance of the Book of Daniel, Antiochus IV Epiphanes (his title means, after all, “God Manifest”), the ego trip might be somewhat more understandable.” W. Sibley Towner, Interpretation: Daniel

  • Interesting literary comparisons to Esther (which also has historical inaccuracies)

    • “As with the authorization to massacre the Jews in Esther, this story turns on the fiction that no royal decree in the Persian empire could be revoked. Such a practice is extremely unlikely, and the writer may have picked up the idea from Esther.” (Robert Alter)

• Lion’s den- actually a pit in which lions were kept, not a lair of lions

  • Natural explanations of why the lions did not eat Daniel (e.g. the King had them fed before he was thrown in the pit) lose sight of the story’s intent: Danial is miraculous saved by God because he was faithful and pious

• Daniel

  • Identified simply as a foreigner, similar to his companions in Daniel 3. At the root is xenophobia and discrimination against foreigners by natives. 

  • “For a foreigner, one’s speech accent, dressing, and other ‘cultural quirks’ mark him or her as an outsider. It matters not how long one has been living in the adopted home country. The so-called natives will always identify the outsider with the seemingly innocuous question, ‘So where are you originally from?’ To assimilate or not to is the ever-present challenge for the exile/refugee/immigrant.” (Andrew M. Mbuvi, Africana Bible, p. 276)

  • Praying three times a day facing Jerusalem is a modern practice that is first recorded here. Whether it goes all the way back to the Babylonian exile is unknown.

    • The command to not pray toward Jerusalem is more than simply oppressing religious freedom; it is also demanding that the Jews give up hope of returning to Jerusalem- yet another attempt to assimilate the Jews into the Empire.

  • “It was Daniel’s commitment to his Jewish heritage and religious convictions (notice how ‘praying facing Jerusalem’ bears resemblance to Muslims who pray facing Mecca) that lands him in the lion’s den following the complaints of the ‘natives’; to the authorities about his prayer habits” (Mbovi, p. 277)

• Reversal of fortunes - very common in scripture

  • Daniel doesn’t ever appeared worried, but remains steadfast, confident in God’s ability to save him or content with what is to come

  • The King goes from being very upset (v. 15) to very content (v. 24)

  • The bureaucrats go from prosecuting Daniel to being fed to the lions (along with their wives and children- which is horrifying)

• The idea that all of Persia began worshipping Yahweh is “monotheistic wish-fulfillment fantasy...There is, of course, no way in which such an act would have a historical basis.” Alter

Thoughts and Questions

• Interesting parallels between Daniel 6 and Jesus’ passion

  • In both, the political and religious bureaucrats are threatened by authority and look for a legalistic way to undermine it

  • Both are arrested while at prayer

  • Both are brought for judgment before Empirical authority (Darius and Pilate) who are portrayed as having their hands-tied and forced to comply with the law leading to a death-sentence of the righteous

  • Both are “left for dead” in a cave/pit sealed by a stone

  • In both the dead miraculously are saved

  • The obvious difference is that Jesus was killed and Daniel was not

• “The message of resurrection in Daniel 12 strikes very close to the heart of reality in Africa today. The continent has been so ravaged by diseases, droughts and famines, wars and counter wars, and coups and counter coups that death is a reality that is ever too close to home… Hope for any sense of a better life seems to have disappeared for many people. Yet, a glimmer of hope prevails - resurrection hope! That Africa is home to the fastest growing church in the world speaks of a spiritual conviction of justice in the afterlife… Daniel’s overall message of faith and hope in a God who is in control even when human reason seems to indicate otherwise means that even death is not the end of the story.” (Mbovi, p. 278)

Opening music: Misirlou, One Man 90 Instruments by Joe Penna/MysteryGuitarMan at MIM

Closing Song by Bryan Odeen