Daniel 6:7
All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.
All the high officers of the realm acted together to have the king sign a law they had framed, forbidding anyone for thirty days to ask anything of any god or man except the king himself, on pain of being thrown to the lions.
The scheme sprang from jealousy of the honors given to Daniel, against whom no fault could be found except his loyalty to the law of his God, and the king was won by flattery without seeing their hatred aimed at destroying God's servant.
Daniel knew the decree was meant to make his faithfulness a crime, yet he kept his established practice of praying openly three times a day with his windows open, refusing to be turned from communion with the King of kings.
For that obedience he was cast into the lions' den, but God did not forsake him and sent His angels to guard him and shut the lions' mouths so that he was unharmed.
His course shows that no earthly power has the right to dictate whom men shall worship or pray to, and that steadfast integrity even under threat of death finds in God a present helper and deliverer.
Setting and Royal Scheme
Darius the Median had taken the throne formerly held by Babylonian rulers and at once reorganized the government, setting 120 princes over the kingdom and three presidents over them with Daniel first, so that the princes would give accounts to them and the king would suffer no loss. Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king meant to set him over the whole realm. The plotters against him were the very Babylonian wise men whose lives Daniel had earlier pleaded to spare, moved by jealousy because Daniel found favor with kings and nobles and was honored as the greatest man in Babylon, and they planned to end his life by this statute.
The proposal was driven by jealousy over the honors bestowed on Daniel. The leading men sought occasion for complaint against him but found none, for he was faithful and blameless and no error or fault was found in him. They were forced to acknowledge they could find no ground against him except concerning the law of his God, so they laid a snare inspired by envy and hatred to remove him from the king's favor. All the presidents, governors, princes, counsellors, and captains consulted and counseled together in united action to establish the royal statute and have the king sign the decree they had prepared.
The decree forbade anyone in the realm for thirty days to ask a petition of or pray to any God or man save Darius the king. Violation was to be punished by casting the offender into the den of lions. The presidents and princes prepared the decree and presented it to Darius for his signature, appealing to his vanity and flattering him that carrying it out would greatly add to his honor and authority. Darius was ignorant of their subtle purpose and animosity against Daniel and did not discern that they meant to harm God's servant, and yielding to flattery he signed it without understanding their motive. His enemies rejoiced that they had trapped him.
Faithfulness and Divine Deliverance
Daniel knew the thirty-day ban on asking a petition of any God or man save the king was laid to destroy him and to turn his faithfulness into grounds for accusation, yet he did not confine himself to the king's business but kept close to prayer and communion with the King of kings. He refused to let the decree deter him and continued his established custom of going to his chamber and praying aloud three times a day with his windows open toward Jerusalem to the God of heaven. His address to God was already in the Lord's keeping even before he was cast in. By continuing his customary prayers he brought the rulers' attention to his case.
Because of that faithfulness he was cast into the den of lions according to the decree. God did not forsake him there but sent holy angels to minister to him, to protect him, and to close the lions' mouths so they did him no harm. His continuance in prayer thus gained him a chance to testify that God alone should be worshiped, and his deliverance from the lions showed that the God he worshiped was the true and living God. His course shows that no earthly power has the right to dictate whom one may worship or pray to, and his faithfulness stands as an example of courage and devotion even at the risk of death.
In every perplexity, opposition, and even persecution, steadfastness to principle cultivated from youth finds a present helper and deliverer in God. God still has angels to help, and now is the time to cultivate integrity of character. The decree trampled God's law, and because God's law was disregarded the Medo-Persian realm was visited by divine wrath.