Wenstrom Bible Ministries Marion, Iowa Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom wenstrom

1. Wenstrom Bible MinistriesMarion, IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.wenstrom.org

2. Wednesday February 20, 2013Daniel: Daniel 6:6 (6:7)-Daniel’s Fellow Supervisors and Satraps Conspire Against Him and Greet DariusLesson # 177

3. Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 5:31.

4. Daniel 5:31 (6:1) Now, Darius the Mede received the kingdom at sixty-two years of age. 2 It was considered a good idea by Darius to establish one hundred twenty satraps over the kingdom in order that they would be in authority over the entire kingdom 3 and in addition, out from, over them, three supervisors, of whom, Daniel was one of them in order that these satraps would exist in the state of having to give an account to them so that the king would never be able to suffer loss.

5. 4 Then this Daniel was distinguishing himself above the supervisors as well as satraps because an extraordinary spirit was in him. Consequently, the king intended to establish him over the entire kingdom

6. 5 as a result, the supervisors as well as the satraps were repeatedly attempting to find a pretext against Daniel with regards to governmental affairs. However, repeatedly, they were totally unable to find any pretext in the form of corruption because he was trustworthy. Indeed, no negligence in the form of corruption was found against him.

7. 6 Therefore, these men concluded, “We will never be able to cause a pretext to be found against this Daniel unless we cause it be found in connection with the law originating from his God.” (My translation)

8. Daniel 6:6 Then these commissioners and satraps came by agreement to the king and spoke to him as follows: “King Darius, live forever!” (NASB95)

9. “Then these commissioners and satraps came by agreement to the king” presents the result of the previous statement recorded in Daniel 6:5 (6:6).

10. Therefore, as a result of concluding that they must cause a pretext to be found against Daniel with regards to the law of his God, Daniel’s fellow supervisors and satraps conspired together in coercing Darius to issue a decree which put Daniel’s life in danger.

11. “These commissioners and satraps” is composed of the masculine plural form of the noun sā·rǎḵ (סָרַךְ) (saw-rate´), “commissioners” which is followed by the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the masculine plural noun ʾǎḥǎš∙dǎr∙pǎn (אֲחַשְׁדַּרְפַּן) (akh-ash-dar-pan´), “satraps” which are modified by the plural form of the demonstrative pronoun ʾil∙lên (אִלֵּין) (il-lane´), “these.”

12. The noun sā·rǎḵ means “supervisor, superintendent” referring to an individual who would be in charge of the other satraps and would hold them accountable.

13. Daniel 6:2 (6:3) records that out from the one hundred twenty satraps, three individuals, one of whom was Daniel, were selected to be in authority over the other satraps.

14. The noun ʾǎḥǎš∙dǎr∙pǎn were governors of certain types of provinces and were the highest officials in his kingdom.

15. “Came by agreement” is the third person masculine plural hafʿel (Hebrew: hiphil) active perfect form of the verb reḡǎš (רְגַשׁ) (reg-ash´), which means “to conspire together” and is used with Daniel’s fellow supervisors and satraps as its subject.

16. Thus this word denotes that they came by secret agreement or cooperation for a deceitful purpose.

17. The word indicates that they formed a conspiracy to kill Daniel.

18. The NET Bible has the following note on this word, they write “The Aramaic verb רְגַשׁ (régash) occurs three times in this chapter (vv. 7, 12, 16). Its meaning is widely disputed by commentators, and the versions vary considerably in how they render the word. The suggestion that it means ‘to come thronging’ (BDB 1112 s.v.; cf. NAB) seems inappropriate, since it is unlikely that subordinates would enter a royal court in such a reckless fashion.

19. The ancient versions struggled with the word and are not in agreement in their understanding of its meaning. In this chapter the word apparently means to act in agreement with other parties in the pursuit of a duplicitous goal, namely the entrapment of Daniel. Cf. NIV, NCV ‘went as a group’; NRSV ‘conspired and came to the king.”

20. The hafʿel (Hebrew: hiphil) stem of the verb reḡǎš is intransitive and denotes Daniel’s fellow supervisors and satraps exhibited the state of collusion when coming to Darius and coercing him to issue a decree for the express purpose of having Daniel executed.

21. “To the king” is composed of the preposition ʿǎl (עַל) (al), “to” and its object is the masculine singular form of the noun mě∙lěḵ (מֶלֶךְ) (meh´-lek), “the king.”

22. The noun mě∙lěḵ means “king” and of course is used with reference to Darius the Mede referring to the fact that he was governmental head of Babylonian kingdom.

23. The word is the object of the preposition ʿǎl, which functions as a marker of disadvantage meaning that this conspiracy formed against Daniel by his fellow supervisors and satraps was to the detriment of the king or it put Darius at a disadvantage.

24. It indicates that this plot against Daniel would put the king in a terrible position of weakness.

25. This plot would put Darius in a terrible position of executing Daniel who he esteemed and admired and desired to put in authority over the entire kingdom.

26. “‘King Darius, live forever!’” is a formal greeting by Daniel’s fellow supervisors and satraps to give respect and good wishes to Darius.

27. It is hyperbole since they don’t expect him to live forever.

28. It simply denotes that they wish that Darius would live a long life.

29. Daniel 6:6 (6:7) Consequently, these supervisors as well as the satraps conspired together to the detriment of the king and said the following to the king, “King Darius, live forever!” (My translation)

30. Daniel 6:6 (6:7) tells the reader that Daniel’s fellow supervisors and satraps came by secret agreement or cooperation for a deceitful purpose and which purpose was to kill Daniel.

31. Thus, we see that Daniel is the object of a great governmental conspiracy to kill him.

32. The word “conspiracy” refers to an “evil, unlawful, treacherous or surreptitious plan formulated in secret by two or more persons.”

33. Therefore, if we paraphrase this definition we can say that Daniel’s fellow satraps and supervisors agreed together in secret to find a basis for a charge against him.

34. Conspiracy is evil (Ps. 64:4-5; Prov. 17:11).

35. Daniel 6:4 (6:5) reveals that Daniel is the object of jealousy and envy and is being persecuted because Darius intended to establish him in authority over the entire Babylonian kingdom because he was exceptional in his abilities and talents.

36. Daniel’s fellow satraps and supervisors were acting upon their jealousy of Daniel and were envious of him.

37. Their actions served to persecute Daniel.

38. Conspiracies are malicious plots or plans to harm or to kill, which may be directed against other people, or even against God.

39. Conspiracies are sometimes motivated by political aspirations, but may be simply an outlet for wrongdoing.

40. The Scriptures reveal conspiracies to sin (Micah 7:3; cf. Psalm 52:2; 64:6; Proverbs 16:27, 30; Jeremiah 11:9-10; Ezekiel 22:25), to murder (Jeremiah 18:23; cf. Genesis 37:17-23; 2 Samuel 11:2-17; 2 Chronicles 24:20-21), to commit genocide (Esther 9:24-25; cf. 2 Samuel 21:1-6; Esther 3:5-9).

41. The Bible records conspiracies to hinder the work of God (Nehemiah 4:7-8cf. Nehemiah 4:11,15) as well as conspiracies to overthrow the king (2 Kings 15:10; cf. 1 Kings 15:25-28; 16:8-10,15-18; 2 Kings 9:14-24; 10:9-11; 12:19-21; 2 Chronicles 24:25-26 the assassination of Joash; 2 Kings 14:17-19; 2 Chronicles 25:27 the assassination of Amaziah; 2 Kings 15:15,23-25,30; 21:23-24; 2 Chronicles 33:24-25 the assassination of Amon; Esther 2:21-22; 6:2).

42. The Scriptures record conspiracies against King David (2 Samuel 15:10-12; cf. 1 Samuel 23:7-13, 15, 19-23; 2 Samuel 15:31; 1 Kings 1:5-10; 2:28).

43. The Bible records false accusations of conspiracy against kings (Amos 7:10-11; cf. 1 Samuel 22:6-8,13-16; Nehemiah 6:5-9; Daniel 2:9), against cities and nations (Jeremiah 48:2; cf. Isaiah 7:5-6; Jeremiah 49:30-33; Ezekiel 11:2-3; Daniel 11:24-25; Habakkuk 2:10).

44. The Word of God records conspiracies against God (Psalm 2:1-3; cf. Psalm 21:11; 83:5-8; Hosea 7:11-16; Nahum 1:9-11) and His servants (2 Chronicles 24:20-21; cf. Psalm 31:13; 35:4; 36:4; 37:12; 38:12; 52:2; 56:5; 59:3; 64:2; 71:10; 83:3; 105:24-25; Jeremiah 11:18-19 a plot against Jeremiah; Jeremiah 18:23; Lamentations 3:60-61), against His Son, Jesus Christ (Matthew 12:14; cf. Mark 3:6; Luke 6:11; cf. Matthew 26:3-4; Mark 14:1; Luke 22:1-2; John 11:53; Ac 4:27), and against Paul (Acts 23:12-16; cf. Acts 9:20-25; 14:1-7; 18:12; 20:3,19; 23:30).

45. The Bible condemns conspirators (Isaiah 33:15-16; cf. 2 Samuel 12:1-12; Proverbs 3:29; 6:12-15; 12:20; 14:22; 24:1-2,8; Isaiah 8:12; Micah 2:1; Zechariah 8:16-17).