6:23,24
The king was delighted and gave orders to have Daniel set free. There was not even a scratch on Daniel. Then Daniel’s accusers, along with their wives and children, were thrown into the lion’s den in Daniel’s place, and they were all eaten up! We might think it unfair that the wives and children suffered too. There are two things to say, and the second is the most important. Firstly, these were cruel times, as much of history is. There is a lot of talk about the evils of colonisation. Many wrong things were done, but a lot of the time it is implied that the existing cultures were all very nice. In the vast majority of cases they were not! All human civilisations commit evil deeds. The second thing is that what we do affects others. No man is an island! How I live my life has an impact on others. So we should be careful about how we live our lives.
6:25-28
King Darius’s response spread to all the nations in the empire. The actual words imply it was to “all the nations and people of every language in all the earth”. Obviously his own sphere of influence did not quite spread that far! Anyway, he instructed all the people to fear and revere the God of Daniel. He then made a declaration about God. The statement is a far stronger and more theologically accurate statement than that made by too many church leaders today! It closes with “reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus”. Those who argue that Darius and Cyrus are one and the same say that the word “and” can be translated as “that is”.
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