A TEST OF
LOYALTY
Lesson 41
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The Political
Situation in Daniel’s 68th
Year
It was extremely
unusual in ancient times for a
conquering king to give a prisoner of
war a position of authority in his
government. The possibility of
rebellion was just too great.
Incredible as it seems, this happened
to Daniel three times that we know
of. Nebuchadnezzar promoted Daniel to
one of his highest governing
positions after Daniel interpreted
his dream. Belteshazzar promoted
Daniel to one of his highest
governing positions after Daniel read
the handwriting on the wall. Daniel
was also promoted to one of the
highest positions in the kingdom when
Darius became king. Do you think
Daniel’s promotions had anything
to do with his loyalty to God? I
do.
It is my understanding
that Daniel believed God had placed
him in a very powerful political
position within the government of
Darius so that he, Daniel,
might facilitate Israel’s
release from captivity. However,
Daniel was nearing 90 years of age
and knew that if he acted on his own
wisdom, he would interfere with
God’s plans, just as Moses did
when he wrongfully killed the
Egyptian. (Exodus 2:11-14) Daniel
also knew that if his actions
backfired, it could result in a lot
of suffering for his people, just as
it did when Moses and Aaron ordered
the Hebrew slaves to rest from their
labors. (Exodus 5:5) Daniel was
acutely aware that he could dishonor
God if his actions to free his people
aroused suspicion, jealousy or any
hint of rebellion against the Medes
and Persians. Many of the Caldeans
intensely hated the Jews, and any
move on Daniel’s part to free
his people would probably he
construed as treason. If this
occurred and he was convicted in a
court of public opinion, the
punishment was sudden death.
Note: About 70 years
after Daniel died, the
Chaldeans’ hatred for the Jews
escalated on a national scale. The
noble, Haman, obtained a universal
death decree from king Artaxerxes for
all Jews in the Persian kingdom, but
God used Queen Esther to save her
people. Daniel’s dilemma had
other ramifications. During the 70
years of captivity in Babylon, the
Jews multiplied and integrated into
the fabric of the province of
Babylon. Some Jews prospered and
others remained servants or slaves to
the Chaldeans. When Darius
began his reign over Babylon, most of
the original captives from Jerusalem
had died. Therefore, their offspring
who lived in Babylon had little
attachment to a place where they had
never lived or even seen. In fact,
when Cyrus set the Jews free in 536
B.C., Ezra 2 indicates that only a
minority of captives, 29,818 Jewish
males, returned to Jerusalem.
The Greatest Problems
Politically, Daniel
knew that the emancipation of his
people after 70 years in Babylon
could cause a number of problems for
King Darius. If many Chaldeans lost
their servants, they would incur
financial losses, which would produce
terrible social unrest. Daniel was
also aware that during the 70 years
of desolation, tribal nations had
moved into the territory abandoned by
Israel, and a returning Israel could
be embroiled in wars and land
disputes. Even more, the greatest
cause of concern for Daniel was that
Darius did not rule over the land of
Canaan where Jerusalem was located.
Any decree that freed the Jews from
the province of Babylon would also
require a decree by King Cyrus, who
ruled over Canaan. The ultimate goal,
of course, was that the Jews recover
the land they had lost, and all the
circumstances surrounding this
situation greatly perplexed Daniel.
What could he do to facilitate the
freedom of his people? Even if they
were set free, how could Daniel
motivate a majority of the Jews to
return to Jerusalem? Daniel’s
mind churned over these issues for
months because he could see how a
significant exodus from Babylon could
be a political nightmare for King
Darius, as well as King Cyrus.
Jealousy Knows No
Bounds
From Daniel’s
point of view, the upcoming 70th
year, 536/5 B.C., would not be a very
good year to attempt the release of
the Jews. Even though Daniel held one
of the highest positions in the
empire, a new king was on the throne.
This meant a new administration was
in place adhering to a new set of
laws and corporate culture, which
included a large group of powerful
nobles who hated the Jews. As Daniel
pondered his helpless position, it
became apparent to him that
Israel’s deliverance from
slavery would have to be an “Act
of God,” a miracle as great as
the exodus from Egypt. To his credit,
Daniel faithfully carried out his
responsibilities within Darius
administration. The Bible says
of this time-period, “Now Daniel
so distinguished himself among the
administrators and the satraps by his
exceptional qualities that the king
planned to set him over the whole
kingdom.” (Daniel 6:3)
Sometime during
Darius’ first calendar year
(538/7 B.C.), Daniel decided the best
thing he could do was seeking God
through fasting, praying and wearing
sackcloth and ashes. Time was running
out! The 70th year was
approaching fast. So, Daniel sought
in utter humility to see what God
wanted of him. To be in sackcloth and
ashes was a sign of mourning or
extreme humiliation. To the Medes and
Persians, Daniel’s appearance
must have been very odd since Daniel
usually wore clothing appropriate for
his exalted office. Regardless,
Daniel embarrassed (humbled) himself
before God as a man in sackcloth and
ashes demonstrating that God could
use him in whatever meaningful or
menial way God desired.
Unknown to Daniel,
King Darius had planned to promote
Daniel above the other two governors
of his empire. Darius decided to do
this because he had contracted a
degenerating health problem. Darius
favored Daniel because Daniel was
“pure in heart,” a very
unusual quality among people in
politics, then and now. Darius also
wanted to make Daniel, “the
Jew,” his number two man in the
kingdom because this would
strategically protect his throne when
he became too weak to meet the
day-to-day needs of his office.
Unlike the other two administrators,
Darius knew Daniel to be loyal to him
instead of having an inner ambition
to acquire the throne. Besides,
Darius knew that a Jew would not
aspire to be king over an empire of
Medes and Persians. By putting Daniel
in the number two seat, his throne
would be safer from the schemes of
ambitious politicians and
administrators.
Somehow, this
information about Darius’ plan
was leaked to the administrators and
they were filled with jealousy and
rage. No self respecting Mede or
Persian would be subject to a Jew!
Jealousy and hatred for Daniel,
“the Jew”, led them to
search for anything they could mar
Daniel’s reputation and
disqualify him from such a position
of honor. They studied Daniel’s
personal history and tried to find a
flaw in his character, but were
unable to find anything. The
Bible says, “At this, the
administrators and the satraps tried
to find grounds for charges against
Daniel in his conduct of government
affairs, but they were unable to do
so. They could find no corruption in
him, because he was trustworthy and
neither corrupt nor negligent.
Finally these men said, ‘We will
never find any basis for charges
against this man Daniel unless it has
something to do with the law of his
God.’”(Daniel 6:4,5) Given
the hatred and determination of his
enemies and the notorious behavior of
politicians down through the ages,
these are amazing words!
Putting the Squeeze on
Daniel
Finally, the
administrators and satraps concluded
that the only way to stop Darius from
promoting Daniel was to prove to
Darius that Daniel’s loyalty to
his “Jewish” God was higher
than Daniel’s loyalty to the
king. They figured the question of
loyalty would prove their point to
Darius. When it came to politics,
kings have to be gods. Their
ego and government rests upon nothing
less than total submission and
devotion to their will. If no one
wants to obey the king, how can he be
king? Therefore, “loyalty
tests” were used by ancient
kings to ferret out people with bad
attitudes toward the authority of the
king. This may explain why Darius did
not quibble or hesitate to issue a
loyalty decree. Loyalty tests were
simple. During the specified month,
suspects were arraigned and
questioned before a court of
political leaders. If the suspect
freely confessed allegiance to the
king as the highest authority on
Earth, the suspect would then affirm
his loyalty to t he king with an
oath. However, if the suspect was
hostile toward the king or plotting
rebellion, a “loyalty test”
became a life and death issue, even
though the suspect may not have been
caught doing anything wrong. This is
why loyalty tests were so effective.
If the suspect refused to take an
oath affirming his allegiance and
submission to the king, he was
declared a rebel and killed
immediately. On the other hand, if he
lied about his allegiance to the king
and gave an oath of loyalty, his
sympathizers would see that he was a
common coward and a liar. Who would
respect such a disgusting person?
This technique for testing loyalty
was simple and effective.
Incidentally, the Caesars also used
loyalty tests. Thousands of
Christians perished because they
would not bow down before the
“man-god,” Caesar. (John
19:15; Romans 10:9) During the Great
Tribulation, God will also use a
simple loyalty test. A test of
worship will put the
“squeeze” on every person
and our deepest loyalties will be
“squeezed out” for every
person to see. (See Revelation
13:8-18.)
The Perfect Plot
The crafty
administrators asked Darius for
permission to conduct a “loyalty
check” for three reasons. First,
a loyalty test was a well-known
tactic. Since the province of Babylon
was a new territory for Darius, a
loyalty test appeared to be a
“good idea” to help secure
his throne. Second, if Daniel should
slip through the 30-day decree trap,
Darius would never know the real
motives behind the
administrators’ request for the
loyalty test. Third, if Daniel were
caught in their trap, he would be
“legally” killed because
the law demanded the sudden death of
anyone caught in rebellion against
the king. If Daniel were destroyed,
the administrators would not be
implicated in Daniel’s death, or
so they thought.
When the
administrators asked the king for a
loyalty decree, they must have known
that Darius did not know about
Daniel’s current state of
humiliation. If Darius had been aware
of Daniel’s behavior, praying to
his God three times a day in
sackcloth and ashes, this knowledge
would have foiled their plot.
“So the administrators and the
satraps went as a group to the king
and said: ‘O King Darius, live
forever! The royal administrators,
prefects, satraps, advisers and
governors have all agreed that the
king should issue an edict and
enforce that anyone who prays to any
god or man during the next 30 days,
except to you, O King, shall be
thrown into the lions’ den. Now,
O King, issue the decree and put it
in writing so that it cannot be
altered in accordance with the laws
of the Medes and Persians, which
cannot be repealed.’ So King
Darius put the decree in
writing.” (Daniel 9:6-9)
Daniel Springs the
Trap
“Now when Daniel
learned that the decree had been
published, he went home to his
upstairs room where the windows
opened toward Jerusalem. Three times
a day he got down on his knees and
prayed, giving thanks to God, just as
he had done before. Then these men
went as a group and found Daniel
praying and asking God for help. So
they went to the king and spoke to
him about the royal decree: ‘Did
you not publish a decree that during
the next thirty days anyone who prays
to any god or man except to you, O
king, would be thrown into the
lions’ den?’ The king
answered, ‘The decree stands-in
accordance with the laws of the Medes
and Persians, which cannot be
repealed.’ Then they said to the
king, ‘Daniel, who is one of the
exiles from Judah, pays no attention
to you, O king, or to the decree you
put in writing. He still prays three
times a day.’ When the king
heard this, he was greatly
distressed; he was determined to
rescue Daniel and made every effort
until sundown to save him.”
(Daniel 6:10-14)
Did you notice how
fast Daniel willfully
disobeyed the king’s decree? Why
did one of the kingdom’s highest
officials publicly defy the law of
the king? The answer lies in the fact
that Daniel understood the reasons
behind the loyalty test.
Daniel remembered his three friends
and their fiery furnace test, and he
knew he was being tested just like
his three friends. Evidently, Daniel
was notified of the decree suddenly
and without warning. I find it
interesting that Daniel did not go to
his immediate superior, King Darius
and plead his case! When Daniel
learned of the loyalty test, he ran
to (not from) his prayer room. This
action says volumes about
Daniel’s loyalty to the God of
Heaven!
When Daniel humbled
himself before God and the man
wearing sackcloth and ashes,
Daniel’s heart was ready and
willing to submit, even to death, if
that was God’s will. Daniel was
willing to do anything God
required of him to facilitate the
release of his people. Daniel’s
loyalty to God is extraordinary and
God’s approval of Daniel is
amazing. In fact, Daniel’s
loyalty became the very tool that God
used to glorify His name before the
Medes and Persians so that He could
deliver the Jews from captivity! If
the plot to kill Daniel was clever,
God’s use of the situation was
even more so. God used the
administrator’s hatred of
Daniel, Darius’ affection for
Daniel, and Daniel’s loyalty
(and ultimately the lion’s den)
to set Israel free from slavery.
Watch how these elements combined to
accomplish God’s plan.
King Darius Humiliated
The next morning,
“…the king gave the order,
and they brought Daniel and threw him
into the lions’ den. The king
said to Daniel, ‘May your God,
whom you serve continually, rescue
you! A stone was brought and placed
over the mouth of the den, and the
king sealed it with his own signet
ring and with the rings of his
nobles, so that Daniel’s
situation might not be changed. Then
the king returned to his palace and
spent the night without eating and
without any entertainment being
brought to him. And he could not
sleep.” (Daniel 6:16-18)
Daniel was arraigned
before King Darius. When the king saw
the old prophet in sackcloth and
ashes, he became furious with his
administrators. He saw through their
plot. Daniel, “the Jew,”
was no rebel and Darius knew that. In
fact, Daniel was the only
administrator the king could trust!
According to the law, however, Daniel
was subjected to the usual
“loyalty’ interrogation and
without hesitation, confessed to
praying to his God three times a day.
Daniel did not offer excuses, plead
his case or beg for his life. Even
more importantly, he did not swear an
oath of loyalty to King Darius as the
highest authority. King Darius
churned with grief. He condemned
himself all night for failing to
consider the intense hatred of his
administrators for Daniel, “the
Jew.” How ironic the twist of
events. Darius was planning to
promote Daniel, but now he would have
to kill him instead. Darius knew
Daniel was unjustly condemned, but
not even the king himself could
change the law of the Medes and
Persians. With these words, “May
your God, whom you serve continually,
rescue you!” Darius bids
farewell to Daniel. The king gives
the order and with his own signet
ring and the rings of those who hated
the old Jew, seals Daniel’s fate
to be thrown into the lion’s
den. Daniel was a peace, Darius was
in torment, and the administrators
were on their way to a secret
celebration party.
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