Please read Daniel Ch 6 prior to reading the post, and read post one, two, three, four, five  and six in this series first.

Chat GPT summary of Daniel 6: King Darius appoints Daniel as one of his top administrators, sparking jealousy among other officials who conspire against him. Knowing Daniel’s devotion to God, they persuade the king to enact a law forbidding prayers to anyone except the king for thirty days, punishable by death in a lions’ den. Daniel continues his daily prayers to God, and, despite his regret, Darius is forced by law to order Daniel’s punishment. God miraculously protects Daniel, shutting the lions’ mouths. The next morning, Darius joyfully finds Daniel unharmed, praises Daniel’s God, and orders the conspirators thrown into the lions’ den instead. The chapter ends with Darius decreeing reverence for Daniel’s God across his kingdom.

BATG Political Economy Commentary: We’re now on the downhill slide of the chiastic structure we mentioned two posts ago, where the main message of Daniel was found to be that God humbles the prideful, and raises up leaders from the lowliest of men. In Chapter Six (which is paired with Chapter Three) we see more of the machinations of kingdoms of men, where people are always striving for power (or proximity to power) and privilege in this world, which includes a lust which is so strong that men will gladly kill anyone that comes in their way. The chapter begins with Darius trying to get the kingdom’s affairs in order, with an effective management structure, and he places Daniel in one of the three top leadership positions. And Daniel’s character continues to shine through, “this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him.” So much so that Darius intends to place him above all the other leaders. Once again we see that kingdoms of men come and go, yet the Kingdom of God (as represented by Daniel) continues to grow in faithfulness. Daniel is not rocked by various transitions because he leans on The Rock. As he faithfully serves, God continues to raise him up in positions of influence. As we noted in Chapter One, Daniel was faithful in the little things (e.g., he resolved in his heart not to defile himself with the king’s food) and that steady faithfulness over days, weeks, months, years and now decades continues to bring glory to God and shows a stark contrast between the kingdoms of men and Kingdom of God. Yet another earthly king finds that the only one he can really trust is Daniel, the man of God. And that is the primary encouragement of this post for us today. Our task is to be daily faithful in the tasks that God gives us and God will raise us into the positions of influence that will accomplish his purposes. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have aspirations of leadership. While the text doesn’t tell us this, it is entirely possible that Daniel did aspire to be a key confident of Kings. After all, we saw earlier he gratefully took positions of leadership, and engaged with King Nebuchadnezzar to raise up his friends as well. But what the text is clear on is that the path to worldly influence is Godly obedience!

This will become all the more clear when we see the schemes of his jealous competitors, who recognize that Daniel’s very strength (his commitment to his God and His law) are the only possible means of attack for them. They come to King Darius with a plan that everyone agrees with (or do they?) that for 30 days everyone can only pray or petition Darius, under punishment of death. And Darius signs the irrevocable petition. You know the rest of the story (and can read the summary above) but we can add a few more comments to this chapter. First, Daniel once again is tested. Will he trust in the Lord and be faithful to him to the point of death? He does, and God once again exalts Daniel and tears down his enemies. Because of Daniel’s faithfulness, yet another kingdom of men is led to praise the Kingdom of God, as King Darius ultimately proclaimed that all people are to fear “the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end.” But another important point we must not miss: the appeal to Darius’s vanity was based on a lie; Daniel did not agree. Lies and deceit are tools of Satan (the father of lies) and we should expect that they will regularly be found in the kingdoms of men, as they are here. We are warned to be wary against appeals to our pride by flattery, yet Darius credulously* swallows their lie hook, line, and sinker, much to his regret. And what were these men thinking? Did their sin and wickedness completely blind them to the danger they would unleash to themselves? Let’s say that Daniel had not been rescued by God. In what scenario is Darius not going to seek revenge on these underlings that played him? This was never going to end well for them. The deceitfulness of sin is so blinding that we can rationalize our destruction so easily.

As an example of that for us today, I was especially hard hit by the news a few weeks ago of yet another Godly preacher of great influence falling due to moral sin. He was 73 years old with family and grandkids, with worldwide influence through his preaching and teaching ministry, and he sacrificed all these relationships in pursuit of the passing pleasures of sin. At that age! Could he not finish strong?

Will I finish strong?

Will you?

Few men do. Daniel did. The path to worldly influence is godly obedience, wherever God has each of us today.

* When I was a squadron commander in the Air Force, our Wing Commander would have a monthly mentoring session with all his Sq/CC’s. One of his early sessions was a warning to be wary of fawning praise by those that are under you. “All of a sudden now your jokes are all funnier, everything you say is wiser, and they’ll all want to kiss your @#$. But know that when you pass that flag (the command of the squadron) to the next CC, they’ll forget you were ever here.” Leaders need to be on alert to reality of the pursuit of power from those below as well. Most people are pursuing their own little kingdom of men, and appeals to our pride can be a big part of their scheme.