1144 lines
57 KiB
HTML
1144 lines
57 KiB
HTML
<HTML>
|
|
<HEAD>
|
|
<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Daniel VI].</TITLE>
|
|
<meta name="aesop" content="information">
|
|
<meta name="description" content=
|
|
"This site is for those friends and family members who may or may not know Our Lord Jesus Christ, and if not, they may come to know Our Lord through His Prophets."> <meta name="author" content="Brian Duncalfe">
|
|
<meta name="keywords" content=
|
|
"Prophecy, Rapture,hope,bible map,bible maps, God, tribulation,Second Coming,Christ,large print bible,commentary,complete">
|
|
</HEAD>
|
|
<body background="../sueback.jpg" bgproperties="fixed" >
|
|
<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
|
|
on the Whole Bible</h1>
|
|
<h3><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank">Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page</a>
|
|
</h3>
|
|
</center>
|
|
|
|
<HR>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
|
|
<TR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC27005.HTM">Previous</A>]
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC27007.HTM">Next</A>]<BR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
|
Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
|
|
</TD></TR></TABLE>
|
|
<HR>
|
|
|
|
<!-- (Begin Body) -->
|
|
|
|
<CENTER>
|
|
<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>D A N I E L.</B></FONT>
|
|
<BR>
|
|
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. VI.</FONT>
|
|
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
|
|
</CENTER>
|
|
|
|
<FONT SIZE=-1>
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Daniel does not give a continued history of the reigns in which he
|
|
lived, nor of the state-affairs of the kingdoms of Chaldea and Persia,
|
|
though he was himself a great man in those affairs; for what are those
|
|
to us? But he selects such particular passages of story as serve for
|
|
the confirming of our faith in God and the encouraging of our obedience
|
|
to him, for the things written aforetime were written for our learning.
|
|
It is a very observable improvable story that we have in this chapter,
|
|
how Daniel by faith "stopped the mouths of lions," and so "obtained a
|
|
good report,"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:33">Heb. xi. 33</A>.
|
|
|
|
The three children were cast into the fiery furnace for not committing
|
|
a known sin, Daniel was cast into the lions' den for not omitting a
|
|
known duty, and God's miraculously delivering both them and him is left
|
|
upon record for the encouragement of his servants in all ages to be
|
|
resolute and constant both in their abhorrence of that which is evil
|
|
and in their adherence to that which is good, whatever it cost them. In
|
|
this chapter we have,
|
|
|
|
I. Daniel's preferment in the court of Darius,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:1-3">ver. 1-3</A>.
|
|
|
|
II. The envy and malice of his enemies against him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:4,5">ver. 4, 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
III. The decree they obtained against prayer for thirty days,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:6-9">ver. 6-9</A>.
|
|
|
|
IV. Daniel's continuance and constancy in prayer, notwithstanding that
|
|
decree,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:10">ver. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
V. Information given against him for it, and the casting of him into
|
|
the den of lions,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:11-17">ver. 11-17</A>.
|
|
|
|
VI. His miraculous preservation in the lions' den, and deliverance out
|
|
of it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:18-23">ver. 18-23</A>.
|
|
|
|
VII. The casting of his accusers into the den, and their destruction
|
|
there,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:24">ver. 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
VIII. The decree which Darius made upon this occasion, in honour of
|
|
the God of Daniel, and the prosperity of Daniel afterwards,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:25-28">ver. 25-28</A>.
|
|
|
|
And this God is our God for ever and ever.</P>
|
|
</FONT>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_1"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_2"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_3"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_4"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_5"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Daniel Preferred by Darius.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 537.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and
|
|
twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom;
|
|
2 And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel <I>was</I> first:
|
|
that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king
|
|
should have no damage.
|
|
3 Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and
|
|
princes, because an excellent spirit <I>was</I> in him; and the king
|
|
thought to set him over the whole realm.
|
|
4 Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion
|
|
against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none
|
|
occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he <I>was</I> faithful, neither was
|
|
there any error or fault found in him.
|
|
5 Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against
|
|
this Daniel, except we find <I>it</I> against him concerning the law
|
|
of his God.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We are told concerning Daniel,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. What a <I>great man</I> he was. When Darius, upon his accession to
|
|
the crown of Babylon by conquest, new-modelled the government, he made
|
|
Daniel prime-minister of state, set him at the helm, and made him first
|
|
commissioner both of the treasury and of the great seal. Darius's
|
|
dominion was very large; all he got by his conquests and acquests was
|
|
that he had so many more countries to take care of; no more can be
|
|
expected from himself than what one man can do, and therefore others
|
|
must be employed under him. He <I>set over the kingdom 120 princes</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>),
|
|
|
|
and appointed them their districts, in which they were to administer
|
|
justice, preserve the public peace, and levy the king's revenue. Note,
|
|
Inferior magistrates are ministers of God to us for good as well as the
|
|
sovereign; and therefore we must submit ourselves both to the king as
|
|
supreme and to the governors that are constituted and commissioned by
|
|
him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+2:13,14">1 Pet. ii. 13, 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
Over these princes there was a <I>triumvirate,</I> or <I>three
|
|
presidents,</I> who were to take and state the public accounts, to
|
|
receive appeals from the princes, or complaints against them in case of
|
|
mal-administration, <I>that the king should have no damage</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
that he should not sustain loss in his revenue and that the power he
|
|
delegated to the princes might not be abused to the oppression of the
|
|
subject, for by that the king (whether he thinks so or no) receives
|
|
real damage, both as it alienates the affections of his people from him
|
|
and as it provokes the displeasure of his God against him. Of these
|
|
three Daniel was chief, because he was found to go beyond them all in
|
|
all manner of princely qualifications. He was <I>preferred above the
|
|
presidents and princes</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>),
|
|
|
|
and so wonderfully well pleased the king was with his management that
|
|
<I>he thought to set him over the whole realm,</I> and let him place
|
|
and displace at his pleasure. Now,
|
|
|
|
1. We must take notice of it to the praise of Darius that he would
|
|
prefer a man thus purely for his personal merit, and his fitness for
|
|
business; and those sovereigns that would be well served must go by
|
|
that rule. Daniel had been a great man in the kingdom that was
|
|
conquered, and for that reason, one would think, should have been
|
|
looked upon as an enemy, and as such imprisoned or banished. He was a
|
|
native of a foreign kingdom, and a ruined one, and upon that account
|
|
might have been despised as a stranger and captive. But, Darius, it
|
|
seems, was very quick-sighted in judging of men's capacities, and was
|
|
soon aware that this Daniel had something extraordinary in him, and
|
|
therefore, though no doubt he had creatures of his own, not a few, that
|
|
expected preferment in this newly-conquered kingdom, and were gaping
|
|
for it, and those that had been long his confidants would depend upon
|
|
it that they should be now his presidents, yet so well did he consult
|
|
the public welfare that, finding Daniel to excel them all in prudence
|
|
and virtue, and probably having heard of his being divinely inspired,
|
|
he made him his right hand.
|
|
|
|
2. We must take notice of it, to the glory of God, that, though Daniel
|
|
was now very old (it was above seventy years since he was brought a
|
|
captive to Babylon), yet he was as able as ever for business both in
|
|
body and mind, and that he who had continued faithful to his religion
|
|
through all the temptations of the foregoing reigns in a new government
|
|
was as much respected as ever. He kept in by being an oak, not by being
|
|
a willow, by a constancy in virtue, not by a pliableness to vice. Such
|
|
honesty is the best policy, for it secures a reputation; and those who
|
|
thus honour God he will honour.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. What a good man he was: <I>An excellent spirit was in him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
And he was faithful to every trust, dealt fairly between the sovereign
|
|
and the subject, and took care that neither should be wronged, so that
|
|
there was <I>no error,</I> or <I>fault, to be found in him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
He was not only not chargeable with any treachery or dishonesty, but
|
|
not even with any mistake or indiscretion. He never made any blunder,
|
|
nor had any occasion to plead inadvertency or forgetfulness for his
|
|
excuse. This is recorded for an example to all that are in places of
|
|
public trust to approve themselves both careful and conscientious, that
|
|
they may be free, not only from fault, but from error, not only from
|
|
crime, but from mistake.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. What ill-will was borne him, both for his greatness and for his
|
|
goodness. The presidents and princes envied him because he was advanced
|
|
above them, and probably hated him because he had a watchful eye upon
|
|
them and took care they should not wrong the government to enrich
|
|
themselves. See here,
|
|
|
|
1. The cause of envy, and that is every thing that is good. Solomon
|
|
complains of it as a vexation that <I>for every right work a man is
|
|
envied of his neighbour</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+4:4">Eccl. iv. 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
that the better a man is the worse he is thought of by his rivals.
|
|
Daniel is envied because he has a more excellent spirit than his
|
|
neighbours.
|
|
|
|
2. The effect of envy, and that is every thing that is bad. Those that
|
|
envied Daniel sought no less than his ruin. His disgrace would not
|
|
serve them; it was his death that they desired. <I>Wrath is cruel, and
|
|
anger is outrageous, but who can stand before envy?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+27:4">Prov. xxvii. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
Daniel's enemies set spies upon him, to observe him in the management
|
|
of his place; they <I>sought to find occasion against him,</I>
|
|
something on which to ground an accusation <I>concerning the
|
|
kingdom,</I> some instance of neglect or partiality, some hasty word
|
|
spoken, some person borne hard upon, or some necessary business
|
|
overlooked. And if they could but have found the mote, the mole-hill,
|
|
of a mistake, it would have been soon improved to the beam, to the
|
|
mountain, of an unpardonable misdemeanour. But <I>they could find no
|
|
occasion against</I> him; they owned that they could not. Daniel always
|
|
acted honestly, and now the more warily, and stood the more upon his
|
|
guard, <I>because of his observers,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+27:11">Ps. xxvii. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, We have all need to walk circumspectly, because we have many eyes
|
|
upon us, and some that watch for our halting. Those especially have
|
|
need to carry their cup even that have it full. They concluded, at
|
|
length, that they should not find any occasion against him except
|
|
<I>concerning the law of his God</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
It seems then that Daniel kept up the profession of his religion, and
|
|
held it fast without wavering or shrinking, and yet that was no bar to
|
|
his preferment; there was no law that required him to be of the king's
|
|
religion, or incapacitated him to bear office in the state unless he
|
|
were. It was all one to the king what God he prayed to, so long as he
|
|
did the business of his place faithfully and well. He was at the king's
|
|
service <I>usque ad aras--as far as the altars;</I> but there he left
|
|
him. In this matter therefore his enemies hoped to ensnare him.
|
|
<I>Quærendum est crimen læsæ religionis ubi
|
|
majestatis deficit--When treason could not be charged upon him he was
|
|
accused of impiety.</I> Grotius. Note, It is an excellent thing, and
|
|
much for the glory of God, when those who profess religion conduct
|
|
themselves so inoffensively in their whole conversation that their most
|
|
watchful spiteful enemies may find no occasion of blaming them, save
|
|
only in the matters of their God, in which they walk according to their
|
|
consciences. It is observable that, when Daniel's enemies could find no
|
|
occasion against him concerning the kingdom, they had so much sense of
|
|
justice left that they did not suborn witnesses against him to accuse
|
|
him of crimes he was innocent of, and to swear treason upon him,
|
|
wherein they shame many that were called Jews and are called
|
|
Christians.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_6"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_7"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_8"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_9"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_10"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>A Plot against Daniel.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 537.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>6 Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the
|
|
king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever.
|
|
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.
|
|
8 Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that
|
|
it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and
|
|
Persians, which altereth not.
|
|
9 Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree.
|
|
10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went
|
|
into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward
|
|
Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and
|
|
prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Daniel's adversaries could have no advantage against him from any law
|
|
now in being; they therefore contrive a new law, by which they hope to
|
|
ensnare him, and in a matter in which they knew they should be sure of
|
|
him; and such was his fidelity to his God that they gained their point.
|
|
Here is,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Darius's impious law. I call it <I>Darius's,</I> because he gave the
|
|
royal assent to it, and otherwise it would not have been of force; but
|
|
it was not properly his: he contrived it not, and was perfectly
|
|
wheedled to consent to it. The presidents and princes framed the edict,
|
|
brought in the bill, and by their management it was agreed to by the
|
|
convention of the states, who perhaps were met at this time upon some
|
|
public occasion. It is pretended that this bill which they would have
|
|
to pass into a law was the result of mature deliberation, that <I>all
|
|
the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, princes, counsellors, and
|
|
captains, had consulted together</I> about it, and that they not only
|
|
agreed to it, but <I>advised it,</I> for <I>divers good causes and
|
|
considerations,</I> that they had done what they could to <I>establish
|
|
it for a firm decree;</I> nay, they intimate to the king that it was
|
|
carried <I>nemine contradicente--unanimously: "All the presidents</I>
|
|
are of this mind;" and yet we are sure that Daniel, the chief of the
|
|
three presidents, did not agree to it, and have reason to think that
|
|
many more of the princes excepted against it as absurd and
|
|
unreasonable. Note, It is no new thing for that to be represented, and
|
|
with great assurance too, as the sense of the nation, which is far from
|
|
being so; and that which few approve of is sometimes confidently said
|
|
to be that which all agree to. But, O the infelicity of kings, who,
|
|
being under a necessity of seeing and hearing with other people's eyes
|
|
and ears, are often wretchedly imposed upon! These designing men, under
|
|
colour of doing honour to the king, but really intending the ruin of
|
|
his favourite, press him to pass this into a law, and make it a royal
|
|
statute, that <I>whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for
|
|
thirty days, save of the king, shall be</I> put to death after the most
|
|
barbarous manner, shall be <I>cast into the den of lions,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
This is the bill they have been hatching, and they lay it before the
|
|
king to be signed and passed into a law. Now,
|
|
|
|
1. There is nothing in it that has the least appearance of good, but
|
|
that it magnifies the king, and makes him seem both very great and very
|
|
kind to his subjects, which, they suggest, will be of good service to
|
|
him now that he has newly come to his throne, and will confirm his
|
|
interests. All men must be made to believe that the king is so rich,
|
|
and withal so ready to all petitioners, that none in any want or
|
|
distress need to apply either to God or man for relief, but to him
|
|
only. And for thirty days together he will be ready to give audience to
|
|
all that have any petition to present to him. It is indeed much for the
|
|
honour of kings to be benefactors to their subjects and to have their
|
|
ears open to their complaints and requests; but if they pretend to be
|
|
their sole benefactors, and undertake to be to them instead of God, and
|
|
challenge that respect from them which is due to God only, it is their
|
|
disgrace, and not their honour. But,
|
|
|
|
2. There is a great deal in it that is apparently evil. It is bad
|
|
enough to forbid asking a petition of any man. Must not a beggar ask an
|
|
alms, or one neighbour beg a kindness of another? If the child want
|
|
bread, must he not ask it of his parents, or be cast into the den of
|
|
lions if he do? Nay, those that have business with the king, may they
|
|
not petition those about him to introduce them? But it was much worse,
|
|
and an impudent affront to all religion, to forbid asking a petition
|
|
<I>of any god.</I> It is by prayer that we give glory to God, fetch in
|
|
mercy from God; and so keep up our communion with God; and to interdict
|
|
prayer for thirty days is for so long to rob God of all the tribute he
|
|
has from man and to rob man of all the comfort he has in God. When the
|
|
light of nature teaches us that the providence of God has the ordering
|
|
and disposing of all our affairs does not the law of nature oblige us
|
|
by prayer to acknowledge God and seek to him? Does not every man's
|
|
heart direct him, when he is in want or distress, to call upon God, and
|
|
must this be made high treason? We could not live a day without God;
|
|
and can men live thirty days without prayer? Will the king himself be
|
|
tied up for so long from praying to God; or, if it be allowed him, will
|
|
he undertake to do it for all his subjects? Did ever any nation thus
|
|
slight their gods? But see what absurdities malice will drive men to.
|
|
Rather than not bring Daniel into trouble for praying to his God, they
|
|
will deny themselves and all their friends the satisfaction of praying
|
|
to theirs. Had they proposed only to prohibit the Jews from praying to
|
|
their God, Daniel would have been as effectually ensnared; but they
|
|
knew the king would not pass such a law, and therefore made it thus
|
|
general. And the king, puffed up with a fancy that this would set him
|
|
up as a little god, was fond of the <I>feather in his cap</I> (for so
|
|
it was, and not a <I>flower in his crown</I>) and <I>signed the writing
|
|
and the decree</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
which, being once done, according to the constitution of the united
|
|
kingdom of the Medes and Persians, was not upon any pretence whatsoever
|
|
to be altered or dispensed with, or the breach of it pardoned.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Daniel's pious disobedience to this law,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
He did not retire into the country, nor abscond for some time, though
|
|
he knew the law was levelled against him; but, because he knew it was
|
|
so, therefore he stood his ground, knowing that he had now a fair
|
|
opportunity of honouring God before men, and showing that he preferred
|
|
his favour, and his duty to him, before life itself. <I>When Daniel
|
|
knew that the writing was signed</I> he might have gone to the king,
|
|
and expostulated with him about it; nay, he might have remonstrated
|
|
against it, as grounded upon a misinformation that <I>all the
|
|
presidents</I> had consented to it, whereas he that was chief of them
|
|
had never been consulted about it; but <I>he went to his house,</I> and
|
|
applied himself to his duty, cheerfully trusting God with the event.
|
|
Now observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Daniel's constant practice, which we were not informed of before
|
|
this occasion, but which we have reason to think was the general
|
|
practice of the pious Jews.
|
|
|
|
(1.) He <I>prayed in his house,</I> sometimes alone and sometimes with
|
|
his family about him, and made a solemn business of it. Cornelius was a
|
|
man that <I>prayed in his house,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+10:30">Acts x. 30</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, Every house not only may be, but ought to be, a house of prayer;
|
|
where we have a tent God must have an alter, and on it we must offer
|
|
spiritual sacrifices.
|
|
|
|
(2.) In every prayer he gave thanks. When we pray to God for the
|
|
mercies we want we must praise him for those we have received.
|
|
Thanksgiving must be a part of every prayer.
|
|
|
|
(3.) In his prayer and thanksgiving he had an eye to God as his God,
|
|
his in covenant, and set himself as in his presence. He did this
|
|
<I>before his God,</I> and with a regard to him.
|
|
|
|
(4.) When he prayed and gave thanks he <I>kneeled upon his knees,</I>
|
|
which is the most proper gesture in prayer, and most expressive of
|
|
humility, and reverence, and submission to God. Kneeling is a begging
|
|
posture, and we come to God as beggars, beggars for our lives, whom it
|
|
concerns to be importunate.
|
|
|
|
(5.) He <I>opened the windows of his chamber,</I> that the sight of the
|
|
visible heavens might affect his heart with an awe of that God who
|
|
dwells above the heavens; but that was not all: he <I>opened them
|
|
towards Jerusalem,</I> the holy city, though now in ruins, to signify
|
|
the affection he had for its very stones and dust
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:14">Ps. cii. 14</A>)
|
|
|
|
and the remembrance he had of its concerns daily in his prayers. Thus,
|
|
though he himself lived great in Babylon, yet he testified his
|
|
concurrence with the meanest of his brethren the captives, in
|
|
remembering Jerusalem and preferring it before his <I>chief joy,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+137:5,6">Ps. cxxxvii. 5, 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
Jerusalem was the place which God had chosen to put his name there;
|
|
and, when the temple was dedicated, Solomon's prayer to God was that if
|
|
his people should <I>in the land of their enemies</I> pray unto him
|
|
with their eye towards the land which he gave them, and the city he had
|
|
chosen, and the house which was built to his name, then he would
|
|
<I>hear</I> and <I>maintain their cause</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+8:48,49">1 Kings viii. 48, 49</A>),
|
|
|
|
to which prayer Daniel had reference in this circumstance of his
|
|
devotions.
|
|
|
|
(6.) He did this <I>three times a day,</I> three times every day
|
|
according to the example of David
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+55:17">Ps. lv. 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Morning, evening, and at noon, I will pray.</I> It is good to have
|
|
our hours of prayer, not to bind, but to remind conscience; and, if we
|
|
think our bodies require refreshment by food thrice a day, can we think
|
|
seldomer will serve our souls? This is surely as little as may be to
|
|
answer the command of <I>praying always.</I>
|
|
|
|
(7.) He did this so openly and avowedly that all who knew him knew it
|
|
to be his practice; and he thus showed it, not because he was proud of
|
|
it (in the place where he was there was no room for that temptation,
|
|
for it was not reputation, but reproach, that attended it), but because
|
|
he was not ashamed of it. Though Daniel was a great man, he did not
|
|
think it below him to be thrice a day upon his knees before his Maker
|
|
and to be his own chaplain; though he was an old man, he did not think
|
|
himself past it; nor, though it had been his practice from his youth
|
|
up, was he weary of this well doing. Though he was a man of business,
|
|
vast business, for the service of the public, he did not think that
|
|
would excuse him from the daily exercises of devotion. How inexcusable
|
|
then are those who have but little to do in the world, and yet will not
|
|
do thus much for God and their souls! Daniel was a man famous for
|
|
prayer, and for success in it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:14">Ezek. xiv. 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
and he came to be so by thus making a conscience of prayer and making a
|
|
business of it daily; and in thus doing God blessed him
|
|
wonderfully.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. Daniel's constant adherence to this practice, even when it was made
|
|
by the law a capital crime. When he knew that <I>the writing was
|
|
signed</I> he continued to do <I>as he did aforetime,</I> and altered
|
|
not one circumstance of the performance. Many a man, yea, and many a
|
|
good man, would have thought it prudence to omit it for these thirty
|
|
days, when he could not do it without hazard of his life; he might have
|
|
prayed so much oftener when those days had expired and the danger was
|
|
over, or he might have performed the duty at another time, and in
|
|
another place, so secretly that it should not be possible for his
|
|
enemies to discover it; and so he might both satisfy his conscience and
|
|
keep up his communion with God, and yet avoid the law, and continue in
|
|
his usefulness. But, if he had done so, it would have been thought,
|
|
both by his friends and by his enemies, that he had thrown up the duty
|
|
for this time, through cowardice and base fear, which would have tended
|
|
very much to the dishonour of God and the discouragement of his
|
|
friends. Others who moved in a lower sphere might well enough act with
|
|
caution; but Daniel, who had so many eyes upon him, must act with
|
|
courage; and the rather because he knew that the law, when it was made,
|
|
was particularly levelled against him. Note, We must not omit duty for
|
|
fear of suffering, so, nor so much as <I>seems to come short</I> of it.
|
|
In trying times great stress is laid upon our <I>confessing Christ
|
|
before men</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+10:32">Matt. x. 32</A>),
|
|
|
|
and we must take heed lest, under pretence of discretion, we be found
|
|
guilty of cowardice in the cause of God. If we do not think that this
|
|
example of Daniel obliges us to do likewise, yet I am sure it forbids
|
|
us to censure those that do, for God owned him in it. By his constancy
|
|
to his duty it now appears that he had never been used to admit any
|
|
excuse for the omission of it; for, if ever any excuse would serve to
|
|
put it by, this would have served now,
|
|
|
|
(1.) That it was forbidden by the king his master, and in honour of the
|
|
king too; but it is an undoubted maxim, in answer to that, We are to
|
|
obey God rather than men.
|
|
|
|
(2.) That it would be the loss of his life, but it is an undoubted
|
|
maxim, in answer to that, Those who throw away their souls (as those
|
|
certainly do that live without prayer) to save their lives make but a
|
|
bad bargain for themselves; and though herein they make themselves,
|
|
like the king of Tyre, <I>wiser than Daniel,</I> at their end they will
|
|
be fools.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_17"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Daniel in the Den of Lions.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 537.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>11 Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and
|
|
making supplication before his God.
|
|
12 Then they came near, and spake before the king concerning
|
|
the king's decree; Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man
|
|
that shall ask <I>a petition</I> of any God or man within thirty days,
|
|
save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The
|
|
king answered and said, The thing <I>is</I> true, according to the law
|
|
of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.
|
|
13 Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel,
|
|
which <I>is</I> of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth
|
|
not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but
|
|
maketh his petition three times a day.
|
|
14 Then the king, when he heard <I>these</I> words, was sore
|
|
displeased with himself, and set <I>his</I> heart on Daniel to deliver
|
|
him: and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver
|
|
him.
|
|
15 Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the
|
|
king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians <I>is,</I>
|
|
That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be
|
|
changed.
|
|
16 Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast
|
|
<I>him</I> into the den of lions. <I>Now</I> the king spake and said unto
|
|
Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver
|
|
thee.
|
|
17 And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den;
|
|
and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet
|
|
of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning
|
|
Daniel.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here is
|
|
|
|
1. Proof made of Daniel's praying to his God, notwithstanding the late
|
|
edict to the contrary
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>These men assembled;</I> the <I>came tumultuously together,</I> so
|
|
the word is, the same that was used
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>,
|
|
|
|
borrowed from
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+2:1">Ps. ii. 1</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>Why do the heathen rage?</I> They came together to visit Daniel,
|
|
perhaps under pretence of business, at that time which they knew to be
|
|
his usual hour of devotion; and, if they had not found him so engaged,
|
|
they would have upbraided him with his faint-heartedness and distrust
|
|
of his God, but (which they rather wished to do) they <I>found him on
|
|
his knees praying</I> and <I>making supplication before his God. For
|
|
his love they are his adversaries;</I> but, like his father David, he
|
|
<I>gives himself unto prayer,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:4">Ps. cix. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
2. Complaint made of it to the king. When they had found occasion
|
|
against Daniel concerning <I>the law of his God</I> they lost no time,
|
|
but applied to the king
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
and having appealed to his whether there was not such a law made, and
|
|
gained from him a recognition of it, and that it was so ratified that
|
|
it might not be altered, they proceeded to accuse Daniel,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
They so describe him, in the information they give, as to exasperate
|
|
the king and incense him the more against him: "He is <I>of the
|
|
children of the captivity of Judah;</I> he is of Judah, that despicable
|
|
people, and now a captive in a despicable state, that can call nothing
|
|
his own but what he has by the king's favour, and yet <I>he regards not
|
|
thee, O king! nor the decree that thou hast signed.</I>" Note, It is no
|
|
new thing for that which is done faithfully, in the conscience towards
|
|
God, to be misrepresented as done obstinately and in contempt of the
|
|
civil powers, that is, for the best saints to be reproached as the
|
|
worst men. Daniel regarded God, and therefore prayed, and we have
|
|
reason to think prayed for the king and his government, yet this is
|
|
construed as not regarding the king. That excellent spirit which Daniel
|
|
was endued with, and that established reputation which he had gained,
|
|
could not protect him from these poisonous darts. They do not say, He
|
|
makes his petition to his God, lest Darius should take notice of that
|
|
to his praise, but only, <I>He makes his petition,</I> which is the
|
|
thing the law forbids.
|
|
|
|
3. The great concern the king was in hereupon. He now perceived that,
|
|
whatever they pretended, it was not to honour him, but in spite to
|
|
Daniel, that they had proposed that law, and now he is <I>sorely
|
|
displeased with himself</I> for gratifying them in it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, When men indulge a proud vain-glorious humour, and please
|
|
themselves with that which feeds it, they know not what vexations they
|
|
are preparing for themselves; their flatterers may prove their
|
|
tormentors, and are but <I>spreading a net for their feet.</I> Now, the
|
|
king <I>sets his heart to deliver Daniel;</I> both by argument and by
|
|
authority he labours <I>till the going down of the sun</I> to
|
|
<I>deliver him,</I> that is, to persuade his accusers not to insist
|
|
upon his prosecution. Note, We often do that, through inconsideration,
|
|
which afterwards we see cause a thousand times to wish undone again,
|
|
which is a good reason why we should <I>ponder the path of our
|
|
feet,</I> for then <I>all our ways will be established.</I>
|
|
|
|
4. The violence with which the prosecutors demanded judgment,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
We are not told what Daniel said; the king himself is his advocate, he
|
|
needs not plead his own cause, but silently commits himself and it to
|
|
him that judges righteously. But the prosecutors insist upon it that
|
|
the law must have its course; it is a fundamental maxim in the
|
|
constitution of the government of the Medes and Persians, which had now
|
|
become the universal monarchy, that <I>no decree or statute which the
|
|
king establishes may be changed.</I> The same we find
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Es+1:19,8:8">Esth. i. 19; viii. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
The Chaldeans magnified the will of their king, by giving him a power
|
|
to make and unmake laws at his pleasure, to slay and keep alive whom he
|
|
would. The Persians magnified the wisdom of their king, by supposing
|
|
that whatever law he solemnly ratified it was so well made that there
|
|
could be no occasion to alter it, or dispense with it, as if any human
|
|
foresight could, in framing a law, guard against all inconveniences.
|
|
But, if this maxim be duly applied to Daniel's case (as I am apt to
|
|
think it is not, but perverted), while it honours the king's
|
|
legislative power it hampers his executive power, and incapacitates him
|
|
to show that mercy which upholds the throne, and to pass acts of
|
|
indemnity, which are the glories of a reign. Those who allow not the
|
|
sovereign's power to dispense with a disabling statute, yet never
|
|
question his power to pardon an offence against a penal statute. But
|
|
Darius is denied this power. See what need we have to pray for princes
|
|
that God would give them wisdom, for they are often embarrassed with
|
|
great difficulties, even the wisest and best are.
|
|
|
|
5. The executing of the law upon Daniel. The king himself, with the
|
|
utmost reluctance, and against his conscience, signs the warrant for
|
|
his execution; and Daniel, that venerable grave man, who carried such a
|
|
mixture of majesty and sweetness in his countenance, who had so often
|
|
looked great upon the bench, and at the council-board, and greater upon
|
|
his knees, who had power with God and man, and had prevailed, is
|
|
brought, purely for worshipping his God, as if he had been one of the
|
|
vilest of malefactors, and <I>thrown into the den of lions,</I> to be
|
|
devoured by them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
One cannot think of it without the utmost compassion to the gracious
|
|
sufferer and the utmost indignation at the malicious prosecutors. To
|
|
make sure work, the stone <I>laid upon the mouth of the den</I> is
|
|
<I>sealed,</I> and the king (an over-easy man) is persuaded to seal it
|
|
<I>with his own signet</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
that unhappy signet with which he had confirmed the law that Daniel
|
|
falls by. But his lords cannot trust him, unless they add their signets
|
|
too. Thus, when Christ was buried, his adversaries <I>sealed the
|
|
stone</I> that was rolled to the door of his sepulchre.
|
|
|
|
6. The encouragement which Darius gave to Daniel to trust in God:
|
|
<I>Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
Here
|
|
|
|
(1.) He justifies Daniel from guilt, owning all his crime to be serving
|
|
his God continually, and continuing to do so even when it was made a
|
|
crime.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He leaves it to God to free him from punishment, since he could
|
|
not prevail to do it: <I>He will deliver thee.</I> He is sure that his
|
|
God can deliver him, for he believes him to be an almighty God, and he
|
|
has reason to think he will do it, having heard of his delivering
|
|
Daniel's companions in a like case from the fiery furnace, and
|
|
concluding him to be always faithful to those who approve themselves
|
|
faithful to him. Note, Those who serve God continually he will
|
|
continually preserve, and will bear them out in his service.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_24"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Daniel's Preservation and Deliverance.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 537.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>18 Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night
|
|
fasting: neither were instruments of music brought before him:
|
|
and his sleep went from him.
|
|
19 Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in
|
|
haste unto the den of lions.
|
|
20 And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable
|
|
voice unto Daniel: <I>and</I> the king spake and said to Daniel, O
|
|
Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest
|
|
continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?
|
|
21 Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever.
|
|
22 My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths,
|
|
that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was
|
|
found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.
|
|
23 Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that
|
|
they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up
|
|
out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because
|
|
he believed in his God.
|
|
24 And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had
|
|
accused Daniel, and they cast <I>them</I> into the den of lions, them,
|
|
their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of
|
|
them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at
|
|
the bottom of the den.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here is,
|
|
|
|
I. The melancholy night which the king had, upon Daniel's account,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
He had said, indeed, that God would deliver him out of the danger, but
|
|
at the same time he could not forgive himself for throwing him into the
|
|
danger; and justly might God deprive him of a friend whom he had
|
|
himself used so barbarously. He <I>went to his palace,</I> vexed at
|
|
himself for what he had done, and calling himself unwise and unjust for
|
|
not adhering to the law of God and nature with a <I>non obstante--a
|
|
negative</I> to the law of the Medes and Persians. He ate no supper,
|
|
but <I>passed the night fasting;</I> his heart was already full of
|
|
grief and fear. He forbade the music; nothing is more unpleasing that
|
|
songs sung to a heavy heart. He went to bed, but got no sleep, was full
|
|
of <I>tossings to and fro</I> till the dawning of the day. Note, the
|
|
best way to have a good night is to keep a good conscience, then we may
|
|
lie down in peace.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The solicitous enquiry he made concerning Daniel the next morning,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:19,20"><I>v.</I> 19, 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
He was up early, <I>very early;</I> for how could he lie in bed when he
|
|
could not sleep for dreaming of Daniel, nor lie awake quietly for
|
|
thinking of him? And he was no sooner up than he <I>went in haste to
|
|
the den of lions,</I> for he could not satisfy himself to send a
|
|
servant (that would not sufficiently testify his affection for Daniel),
|
|
nor had he patience to stay so long as till a servant would return.
|
|
When he comes to the den, not without some hopes that God had
|
|
graciously undone what he had wickedly done, he cries, <I>with a
|
|
lamentable voice,</I> as one full of concern and trouble, <I>O
|
|
Daniel!</I> art thou alive? He longs to know, yet trembles to ask the
|
|
question, fearing to be answered with the roaring of the lions after
|
|
more prey: <I>O Daniel! servant of the living God,</I> has <I>thy God
|
|
whom thou servest</I> made it to appear that he is <I>able to deliver
|
|
thee from the lions?</I> If he rightly understood himself when he
|
|
called him <I>the living God,</I> he could not doubt of his ability to
|
|
keep Daniel alive, for he that has life in himself quickens whom he
|
|
will; but has he thought fit in this case to exert his power? What he
|
|
doubted of we are sure of, that the <I>servants of the living God</I>
|
|
have a Master who is well able to protect them and bear them out in his
|
|
service.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The joyful news he meets with-that Daniel is alive, is safe, and
|
|
well, and unhurt in the lions' den,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:21,22"><I>v.</I> 21, 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
Daniel knew the king's voice, though it was now a lamentable voice, and
|
|
spoke to him with all the deference and respect that were due to him:
|
|
<I>O king! live for ever.</I> He does not reproach him for his
|
|
unkindness to him, and his easiness in yielding to the malice of his
|
|
persecutors; but, to show that he has heartily forgiven him, he meets
|
|
him with his good wishes. Note, We should not upbraid those with the
|
|
diskindnesses they have done us who, we know, did them with reluctance,
|
|
and are very ready to upbraid themselves with them. The account Daniel
|
|
gives the king is very pleasant; it is triumphant.
|
|
|
|
1. God has preserved his life by a miracle. Darius had called him
|
|
Daniel's god (<I>thy God whom thou servest</I>), to which Daniel does
|
|
as it were echo back, Yea, he is <I>my God,</I> whom I own, and who
|
|
owns me, for <I>he has sent his angel.</I> The same bright and glorious
|
|
being that was seen in <I>the form of the Son of God</I> with the three
|
|
children in the fiery furnace had visited Daniel, and, it is likely, in
|
|
a visible appearance had enlightened the dark den, and kept Daniel
|
|
company all night, and had <I>shut the lions' mouths, that they</I> had
|
|
not in the least <I>hurt him.</I> The angel's presence made even the
|
|
lions' den his strong-hold, his palace, his paradise; he had never had
|
|
a better night in his life. See the power of God over the fiercest
|
|
creatures, and believe his power to restrain the roaring lion that
|
|
<I>goes about continually seeking to devour</I> from hurting those that
|
|
are his. See the care God takes of his faithful worshippers, especially
|
|
when he calls them out to suffer for him. If he keeps their souls from
|
|
sin, comforts their souls with his peace, and receives their souls to
|
|
himself, he does in effect <I>stop the lions' mouths,</I> that they
|
|
cannot hurt them. See how ready the angels are to minister for the good
|
|
of God's people, for they own themselves their <I>fellow servants.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. God has therein pleaded his cause. He was represented to the king as
|
|
disaffected to him and his government. We do not find that he said any
|
|
thing in his own vindication, but left it to God to clear up his
|
|
integrity as the light; and he did it effectually, by working a miracle
|
|
for his preservation. Daniel, in what he had done, had not offended
|
|
either God or the king: <I>Before him</I> whom I prayed to <I>innocency
|
|
was found in me.</I> He pretends not to a meritorious excellence, but
|
|
the testimony of his conscience concerning his sincerity is his
|
|
comfort--<I>As also that before thee, O king! I have done no hurt,</I>
|
|
nor designed thee any affront.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. The discharge of Daniel from his confinement. His prosecutors
|
|
cannot but own that the law is satisfied, though they are not, or, if
|
|
it be altered, it is by a power superior to that of the Medes and
|
|
Persians; and therefore no cause can be shown why Daniel should not be
|
|
fetched out of the den
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The king was exceedingly glad</I> to find him alive, and gave orders
|
|
immediately that they should <I>take him out of the den,</I> as
|
|
Jeremiah out of the dungeon; and, when they searched, <I>no manner of
|
|
hurt was found upon him;</I> he was nowhere crushed nor scarred, but
|
|
was kept perfectly well, <I>because he believed in his God.</I> Note,
|
|
Those who boldly and cheerfully trust in God to protect them in the way
|
|
of their duty shall never be made ashamed of their confidence in him,
|
|
but shall always find him a present help.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. The committing of his prosecutors to the same prison, or place of
|
|
execution rather,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
Darius is animated by this miracle wrought for Daniel, and now begins
|
|
to take courage and act like himself. Those that would not suffer him
|
|
to show mercy to Daniel shall, now that God has done it for him, be
|
|
made to feel his resentments; and he will do justice for God who had
|
|
shown mercy for him. Daniel's accusers, now that his innocency is
|
|
cleared, and Heaven itself has become his compurgator, have the same
|
|
punishment inflicted upon them which they designed against him,
|
|
according to the law of retaliation made against false accusers,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+19:18,19">Deut. xix. 18, 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
Such they were to be reckoned now that Daniel was proved innocent; for,
|
|
though the fact was true, yet it was not a fault. They were <I>cast
|
|
into the den of lions,</I> which perhaps was a punishment newly
|
|
invented by themselves; however, it was what they maliciously designed
|
|
for Daniel. <I>Nec lex est justior ulla quàm necis artifices
|
|
arte perire suâ--No law can be more just than that which adjudges
|
|
the devisers of barbarity to perish by it,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+7:15,16,9:15,16">Ps. vii. 15, 16; ix. 15, 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
And now Solomon's observation is verified
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+11:8">Prov. xi. 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>The righteous is delivered out of trouble,</I> and <I>the wicked
|
|
cometh in his stead.</I> In this execution we may observe,
|
|
|
|
1. The king's severity, in ordering their wives and children to be
|
|
thrown to the lions with them. How righteous are God's statutes above
|
|
those of the nations! for God commanded that the children should not
|
|
die for the fathers' crimes,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+24:16">Deut. xxiv. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
Yet they were put to death in extraordinary cases, as those of Achan,
|
|
and Saul, and Haman.
|
|
|
|
2. The lion's fierceness. They had the <I>mastery of them</I>
|
|
immediately, and tore them to pieces <I>before they came to the bottom
|
|
of the den.</I> This verified and magnified the miracle of their
|
|
sparing Daniel; for hereby it appeared that it was not because they had
|
|
not appetite, but because they had not leave. Mastiffs that are kept
|
|
muzzled are the more fierce when the muzzle is taken off; so were these
|
|
lions. And the Lord is known by those judgments which he executes.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Da6_28"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec5"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Decree of Darius.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 537.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>25 Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and
|
|
languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto
|
|
you.
|
|
26 I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men
|
|
tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he <I>is</I> the living
|
|
God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom <I>that</I> which shall
|
|
not be destroyed, and his dominion <I>shall be even</I> unto the end.
|
|
27 He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders
|
|
in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power
|
|
of the lions.
|
|
28 So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the
|
|
reign of Cyrus the Persian.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Darius here studies to make some amends for the dishonour he had done
|
|
both to God and Daniel, in casting Daniel into the lions' den, by doing
|
|
honour to both.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. He gives honour to God by a decree published to all nations, by
|
|
which they are required to fear before him. And this is a decree which
|
|
is indeed fit to be made unalterable, according to the laws of the
|
|
Medes and Persians, for it is the <I>everlasting gospel,</I> preached
|
|
to those that <I>dwell on the earth,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+14:7">Rev. xiv. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Fear God, and give glory to him.</I> Observe,
|
|
|
|
1. To whom he sends this decree--<I>to all people, nations and
|
|
languages, that dwell in all the earth,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
These are great words, and it is true that all the inhabitants of the
|
|
earth are obliged to that which is here decreed; but here they mean no
|
|
more than <I>every dominion of his kingdom,</I> which, though it
|
|
contained many nations, did not contain all nations; but so it is,
|
|
those that have much are ready to think they have all.
|
|
|
|
2. What the matter of the decree is--that <I>men tremble and fear
|
|
before the God of Daniel.</I> This goes further than Nebuchadnezzar's
|
|
decree upon a similar occasion, for that only restrained people from
|
|
<I>speaking amiss</I> of this God, but this requires them to <I>fear
|
|
before him,</I> to keep up and express awful reverent thoughts of him.
|
|
And well might this decree he prefaced, as it is, with <I>Peace be
|
|
multiplied unto you,</I> for the only foundation of true and abundant
|
|
peace is laid in the fear of God, for that is true wisdom. If we live
|
|
in the fear of God, and walk according to that rule, peace shall be
|
|
upon us, peace shall be multiplied to us. But, though this decree goes
|
|
far, it does not go far enough; had he done right, and come up to his
|
|
present convictions, he would have commanded all men not only to
|
|
tremble and fear before this God, but to love him and trust in him, to
|
|
forsake the service of their idols, and to worship him only, and call
|
|
upon him as Daniel did. But idolatry had been so long and so deeply
|
|
rooted that it was not to be extirpated by the edicts of princes, nor
|
|
by any power less than that which went along with the glorious gospel
|
|
of Christ.
|
|
|
|
3. What are the causes and considerations moving him to make this
|
|
decree. They are sufficient to have justified a decree for the total
|
|
suppression of idolatry, much more will they serve to support this.
|
|
There is good reason why all men should fear before this God, for,
|
|
|
|
(1.) His being is transcendent. "He is the <I>living God,</I> lives as
|
|
a God, whereas the gods we worship are dead things, have not so much as
|
|
an animal life."
|
|
|
|
(2.) His government is incontestable. He has a <I>kingdom,</I> and a
|
|
<I>dominion;</I> he not only lives, but reigns as an absolute
|
|
sovereign.
|
|
|
|
(3.) Both his being and his government are unchangeable. He is himself
|
|
<I>stedfast for ever,</I> and with him is no shadow of turning. And his
|
|
<I>kingdom</I> too is <I>that which shall not be destroyed</I> by any
|
|
external force, nor has his <I>dominion</I> any thing in itself that
|
|
threatens a decay or tends towards it, and therefore it shall be
|
|
<I>even to the end.</I>
|
|
|
|
(4.) He has an ability sufficient to support such an authority,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
He delivers his faithful servants from trouble and rescues them out of
|
|
trouble; he <I>works signs and wonders,</I> quite above the utmost
|
|
power of nature to effect, both <I>in heaven and on earth,</I> by which
|
|
it appears that he is sovereign Lord of both.
|
|
|
|
(5.) He has given a fresh proof of all this in <I>delivering</I> his
|
|
servant <I>Daniel from the power of the lions.</I> This miracle, and
|
|
that of the delivering of the three children, were wrought in the eyes
|
|
of the world, were seen, published, and attested by two of the greatest
|
|
monarchs that ever were, and were illustrious confirmations of the
|
|
first principles of religion, abstracted from the narrow scheme of
|
|
Judaism, effectual confutations of all the errors of heathenism, and
|
|
very proper preparations for pure catholic Christianity.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He puts honour upon Daniel
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+6:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>So this Daniel prospered.</I> See how God brought to him good out of
|
|
evil. This bold stroke which his enemies made at his life was a happy
|
|
occasion of taking them off, and their children too, who otherwise
|
|
would still have stood in the way of his preferment, and have been upon
|
|
all occasions vexatious to him; and now he <I>prospered more than
|
|
ever,</I> was more in favour with his prince and in reputation with the
|
|
people, which gave him a great opportunity of doing good to his
|
|
brethren. Thus <I>out of the eater</I> (and that was a lion too)
|
|
<I>comes forth meat, and out of the strong sweetness.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<!-- (End Body) -->
|
|
|
|
<HR>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
|
|
<TR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC27005.HTM">Previous</A>]
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC27007.HTM">Next</A>]<BR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
|
Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
<HR>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
|
|
<TR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="BOTTOM">
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!--Matthew_Henry's_Commentary_on_the_Whole_Bible:_Daniel_VI.--><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank"><b>Back to Bibles Net . Com - Online Christian Library </b></a><br>
|
|
<a href="http://biblesnet.com/download.html" target="_blank"><br>
|
|
<b>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Free Download</b></a><br>
|
|
<br>
|
|
<A HREF="http://biblesnet.com/contactus.html" target="_blank"><strong>Contact Us </strong></A><br>
|
|
|
|
</TD></TR></TABLE>
|
|
<HR>
|
|
</BODY>
|
|
</HTML>
|