TOTC Daniel by Joyce Baldwin

Author:Joyce Baldwin
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: More Translations, Religion & Spirituality, Judaism, Reference, Encyclopedias & Subject Guides, Bibles, Criticism & Interpretation, Bible Study, Bible Study & Reference, Old Testament Study, Religion, Sacred Writings, Religious Studies & Reference, Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), Commentaries, Old Testament, Christian Books & Bibles
ISBN: 9781783592579
Publisher: IVP
Published: 2009-10-15T22:00:00+00:00

c. Daniel’s deliverance (6:19–28)

19–23. Sunrise saw the king making his way anxiously (rather than in haste, though that is also implied) to the lion-pit. In his question he speaks of the living God of Daniel, who had probably used the name (cf. Deut. 5:26; Josh. 3:10; Jer. 10:10; etc.). The reply of Daniel proves that his God is indeed living, and has been able to deliver him. The implication that God is and that he rewards those who trust him is the most important discovery Darius could make. While Daniel claims that he has been spared because he was blameless (22), that is, innocent of the charge against him, the narrator claims it was because he had trusted in his God (23). Both are true. Daniel was taken up out of the den, much in the same way as Jeremiah (Jer. 38:11–13), and was found to be entirely unharmed. If we ask how this miracle could be (cf. Heb 11:33), a clue is found in the prophetic literature (Isa. 11:6; 65:25; Hos. 2:18) and in the intention at creation that man should have dominion over the beasts. ‘Part of the glory of the coming regeneration when the king comes back, will be that nature and the lower orders of creation will once again be subject to man redeemed and saved to sin no more.’111 In the man of God the powers of the world to come have broken in, in anticipation of what will be when the king comes to reign.

24. Retribution fell on those who had falsely accused Daniel, and on their wives and families. This is recorded as a fact, without either approval or disapproval. The solidarity of the family when punishment was inflicted is attested in Persian times by Herodotus (3:119). Mass executions under the Nazis have proved the extent to which rulers will go in attempting to achieve their sadistic aims, and in this knowledge the tragic dénouement is less absurd than Montgomery thought.112 If the story is taken at its face-value, and not interpreted as the work of a second-century Jew, the action of the king is entirely understandable. He did not know the prophetic teaching that every man was to die for his own sin (Jer. 31:29, 30; Ezek. 18), but acted according to the accepted standards in Persian society (cf. the massacre in Esth. 9, demanded by the Jews but authorized by the Persian king Ahasuerus).

25–28. The decree recalls that of Nebuchadrezzar (3:29), but whereas his was couched negatively to punish any word against the God of the three men, here awe of him is positively commanded throughout the empire. The ascription is rightly given poetic form in the more recent translations. As for its content, it sums up what Darius learnt of God from the experience. He repeats the name ‘the living God’ (cf. verse 20); enduring for ever picks up the thought expressed in the conventional address to the human king, ‘live for ever’, but asserts that there is a God

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