Deeper Reflection
King Darius occupies a prominent place in the story of Daniel being thrown into the lions’ den for his faithfulness to God. Much was said about him. When he was forced to throw Daniel into the lions’ den, because he had established and signed an edict which by “a law of the Medes and Persians” cannot be changed, he was “greatly distressed” (vv.14, 15, 17). He knew that his most trustworthy servant was innocent. So, he “set his mind to deliver Daniel” and he “kept asserting himself to rescue him” (v.14). But he could not. No matter how favourable Daniel was before Darius, this king just could not deliver him. This king was now powerless. But there is an intended contrast in Darius’ powerlessness: God “will Himself deliver you” (v.16) and God is “able to deliver you from the lions” (v.20). Through this helplessness of the most powerful person in the Persian Empire, the writer is “doing a little ‘preventive theology’”¹¹ . He seems to be saying to the people of God, “You may have rulers or others in high places who are well-disposed toward you; but don’t rest in them as your trump card, for even they for all their apparent power can prove as helpless as Samson without hair [Judg 16:17].”¹² When we put our trust in powerful people for security rather than God, we may make them into idols. The writer here “is trying to bash idols before they become idols”¹³ . “Don’t put your confidence in powerful people, there is no help for you there” (Psa 146:3, NLT).

---

¹⁰ Psalm 33:16-19 ¹¹ Dale Ralph Davis, The Message of Daniel, The Bible Speaks Today (IVP, 2013), 90 ¹² Dale Ralph Davis, 90 ¹³ Dale Ralph Davis, 90