_DANIEL IS MADE CHIEF OF THE PRESIDENTS: THEY, CONSPIRING AGAINST HIM, OBTAIN AN IDOLATROUS DECREE. DANIEL, ACCUSED OF THE BREACH THEREOF, IS CAST INTO THE LION'S DEN. HE IS SAVED, HIS ADVERSARIES DEVOURED, AND GOD MAGNIFIED BY A DECREE._ _Before Christ 538._ THIS chapter contains the history of... [ Continue Reading ]
IT PLEASED DARIUS— That is, Cyaxares, whose father is called Assuerus, in the book of Tobit, Tob 14:15 as he is also by Daniel, chap. Daniel 9:1 meaning in both places Astyages, or the king of Media, who concurred with the Assyrian monarch in the destruction of Nineveh. Herodotus and Xenophon make m... [ Continue Reading ]
SOUGHT TO FIND OCCASION— _Observed Daniel, if possibly they might find any fault in him, respecting those things which pertained to the king._ Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THESE PRESIDENTS AND PRINCES ASSEMBLED TOGETHER— _Came in a concourse._ The true import of the verb הרגשׁו _hargishu,_ seems to be, "they tumultuously met;" see the margin of our English translation. The princes came in a concourse, and together assailed the king with their proposal: they force... [ Continue Reading ]
ACCORDING TO THE LAW, &C.— There was a law in this monarchy, that no ordinance or edict, made with the necessary formalities, and with the consent of the king's counsellors, could be revoked: the king himself had no power in this case. Diodorus Siculus says, that Darius, the last king of Persia, wou... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS WINDOWS BEING OPEN, &C.— According to the ancient custom of the Jews, those who were in the country, or in foreign lands, turned themselves towards Jerusalem; and those who were in Jerusalem turned themselves towards the temple to pray, conformably to Solomon's consecration-prayer, 1 Kings 8:48.... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT DANIEL, WHICH IS OF THE CHILDREN OF THE CAPTIVITY— This is added to aggravate his fault: "One who was a foreigner, and brought thither as a captive, dared to offer a public affront, to the laws of a king whose favour and protection he enjoyed." We cannot have a more striking instance than this... [ Continue Reading ]
SEALED IT WITH HIS OWN SIGNET, AND WITH THE SIGNET OF HIS LORDS— That neither one nor the other of the parties might separately do any thing for or against Daniel. The Vulgate reads the last clause, _That nothing might be done against Daniel;_ indicating the king's desire, that the lions' den might... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER WERE INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC BROUGHT BEFORE HIM— _Nor were sweet odours brought to him._ Houbigant. Several of the other versions read, _Nor was food,_ or _provision set before him._ See Houbigant's note.... [ Continue Reading ]
O KING, LIVE FOR EVER— לעלמין _lealmin, in saecula,_ or "long live the king;" an usual mode of addressing the monarch. When he in his turn addressed the people, it was, as we have seen, "Your peace be multiplied;" see Daniel 6:25. And when the people saluted one another, it was according to the mode... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALSO BEFORE THEE, O KING, HAVE I DONE NO HURT— "Thou knowest my fidelity in every thing respecting my service. If upon this occasion I have disobeyed thy orders, it was only from a sense of that duty which I owe to a much greater master.... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE HE BELIEVED IN HIS GOD— Or, _Because he had believed in his God._ The author of the epistle, to the Hebrews attributes to the _faith_ of Daniel the having _stopped the mouths of lions._ The Chaldean word may signify _faith, confidence, hope._ Houbigant renders it, _Because he had hoped,_ or... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CAST THEM—THEIR CHILDREN, &C.— By the law of retaliation, which inflicted upon calumniators the same punishment that they would have brought upon others. They punished the children with their parents, as supposing that they would be infected by their ill example. We have various instances of th... [ Continue Reading ]
HE IS THE LIVING GOD— The characters of the Deity in this and the next verse are very just and sublime, and suited to his nature, and were probably such as Darius had learnt from Daniel. Some think that he was a convert to the worship of the true God; and this, together with the favours shewn to the... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THIS DANIEL PROSPERED IN THE REIGN OF DARIUS, &C.— These two reigns are clearly distinguished. Daniel was in honour successively under the reign of five princes, Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-merodach, Belshazzar, Darius, and Cyrus. We cannot read this chapter, without admiring the zeal and integrity of D... [ Continue Reading ]