Daniel 8: Bah Ram You Shaggy Goat

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 01 March 2026 by Major Michael Ramsay 

 

This book is written in a couple of different languages as we have it today. Chapter 7 that Susan looked at with us is the last Aramaic chapter - if that is on purpose then chapter 7 probably concludes the first section of Daniel rather than beginning the next section but Chapter 8 that we are looking at today (and everything flowing from it) is obviously connected to Chapter 7 as Daniel refers to the first dream when relaying the second one. 

Chronologically speaking, Chapter 8 and Chapter 7 take place before Chapters 5 and 6. In Chapter 5, Babylon falls, Belshazzar is killed and the Persians take over. None of that has happened in Chapter 8 which we are about to read.  Verses 1-4 

8 In the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, I, Daniel, had a vision, after the one that had already appeared to me. 2 In my vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa in the province of Elam; in the vision I was beside the Ulai Canal. 3 I looked up, and there before me was a ram with two horns, standing beside the canal, and the horns were long. One of the horns was longer than the other but grew up later. 4 I watched the ram as it charged toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against it, and none could rescue from its power. It did as it pleased and became great. 

 

Daniel relates this vision to the previous vision of Chapter 7. In this new vision he sees himself in the citadel of Susa. Do we know what that is? A citadel is a fortress. Susa is the capital city of Persia. We remember from Chapter 5 that the Persians and Medes are the ones who overthrow Babylon. In this vision, before that happens, Daniel is standing beside the canal at the Persian capital city and he sees this ram. It grew one horn first and then it grew another, and the second horn was longer than the first. This Ram in the Persian capital city wrecked all kinds of havoc. Continuing reading from Verse 5 to 8: 

5 As I was thinking about this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between its eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. 6 It came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and charged at it in great rage. 7 I saw it attack the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering its two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against it; the goat knocked it to the ground and trampled on it, and none could rescue the ram from its power. 8 The goat became very great, but at the height of its power the large horn was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven 

 

Here is Daniel, still considering the ram with the two horns, and trying to make sense of it when a big shaggy goat appears: this one with a giant unicorn horn coming out of its head who comes out flying or floating above the ground. (I picture almost a Macy’s parade balloon) It attacked the Ram. No one could help the Ram. The goat was really powerful and then his horn breaks off and four little horns grow up, Next, Verses 9-11: 

9 Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land. 10 It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. 11 It set itself up to be as great as the commander of the army of the Lord; it took away the daily sacrifice from the Lord, and his sanctuary was thrown down. 12 Because of rebellion, the Lord’s people and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground. 

 

Picture this with me: first we have a ram from Susa with 2 horns,  who conquers all in its way. Then we have a flying unicorn goat who defeats the ram and then his massive unicorn horn falls off and is replaced by 4 small horns. Now out of one of the 4 horns on the goat, another horn grows. The horn grows towards the promised land and then towards the stars in the sky, some of which it knocks to the ground and tramples. This horn then becomes as great as an army commander as the commander of the Lord’s army  - so what does that mean? Who is the commander of the Lord’s army? Is it the Arch Angel Michael? (see Chapter 10) Is it the military leaders among the Judeans? Who is it? The horn is as great as maybe even an archangel and it takes away the daily sacrifices to the Lord and overthrows the sanctuary. The Lord’s people and the sacrifice are now offered to this horn, instead of God. The horn prospered and truth was thrown to the ground. This is quite the vision. There is more. Verses 13-14: 

13 Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, “How long will it take for the vision to be fulfilled—the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, the surrender of the sanctuary and the trampling underfoot of the Lord’s people?” 

14 He said to me, “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated.” 

 

I don’t know what I can say here before the interpretation other than the word ‘holy one’ is the same word for ‘saint’. Two saints (in the NT that is what Christians were called) are having this conversation that Daniel overhears – some commentators liken these saints to angels or spirit beings but the term ‘messenger’ / ‘angel’ is not used here so a holy one could be anyone set apart for God’s purpose here. Then vv. 15ff. 

15 While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there before me stood one who looked like a man. 16 And I heard a man’s voice from the Ulai calling, “Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of the vision.” 

17 As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate. “Son of man,” he said to me, “understand that the vision concerns the time of the end.” 

18 While he was speaking to me, I was in a deep sleep, with my face to the ground. Then he touched me and raised me to my feet. 

 

Daniel is still trying to figure all this out when he heard a voice from the Ulai calling – remember that the Ulai is the canal where he is in his dream. Someone asks Gabriel to tell Daniel what it all means. Is this Gabriel the same one who told Mary and Jospeh they were going to have a baby?...  probably, possibly, I don’t know. Gabriel terrifies Daniel. Daniel bows down before him. Gabriel says ‘Son of Man, your vision is about the end’ - Son of Man here may just mean person or it may mean something more - Then verse 18 says that Daniel was asleep when this was happening – so all of this vision so far seems to be a dream or he is asleep in the vision or something like that but then Gabriel wakes him. Verse 19ff. 

19 He said: “I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end. 20 The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. 21 The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between its eyes is the first king. 22 The four horns that replaced the one that was broken off represent four kingdoms that will emerge from his nation but will not have the same power. 

 

I don’t know to what the phrase ‘the time of the end’ is referring. The next part is a little easier to understand.  This is what Gabriel says – the 2 horned ram is Media and Persia - this ram is defeated by a goat which is the Greeks and the unicorn horn is Alexander the Great. The four horns we know are the kingdoms founded by Alexanders’ successors: the two most famous being Ptolemy whose family ruled Egypt for a long time (Cleopatra was a Ptolemy) and Seleucid ,whose family ruled Persia, Babylon, and most of the middle east for hundreds of years. Verse 23ff: 

23 “In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a fierce-looking king, a master of intrigue, will arise. 24 He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy those who are mighty, the holy people. 25 He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power. 

26 “The vision of the evenings and mornings that has been given you is true, but seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future.” 

 

This part – I have no idea. I know Rome defeated three and the last part of the 4th kingdom represented by the horns of the goat  (Pompey defeated the Seleucids)  but Pompey was Roman; he was not a horn of the Greek goat.  Before that we have Antiochus IV Epiphanes who ruled over Syria and Palestine under the Seleucid dynasty; most writers believe that he is the one referred to in this vision. He could be the horn. He cracked down on worship and even set up an idol to Zeus in the temple, which is possibly the abomination of desolation mentioned elsewhere (9:27, 11:31). I am not convinced about tise other horn. It could be Antiochus IV Epiphanes. But why? I have no idea. What is the point?  

Actually, the whole Hebrew part of the book of Daniel – the rest of the book from here on out - I find more than a little confusing. I think the prophecies are referring to all the things we chatted about – and the bulk of the scholars certainly agree – and I think the rest of the book is talking about all of these same things and I would be happy to leave it just at that - but then Jesus gets involved. He applies, re-applies, or draws an analogy to an ‘abomination of desolation’ that will still be set up sometime in the future, as recorded in Matthew 24. Jesus applies the horrors of Daniel’s vision to the end of time and then leaves us with the caution not to believe people always saying this is the end or that is the end – no one knows the end except God 

So that brings us nicely to verse 27 which says.  

27 I, Daniel, was worn out. I lay exhausted for several days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding. 

I guess that is where this vision leads me – worn out; I was certainly exhausted trying to figure out not only what these visions mean but why they are in the Bible. I certainly have read and re-read it as well as consulted the scholars but I found that for me, like Daniel, that regardless what the commentators say it is honestly beyond my understanding; so then, I will flip ahead a few hundred years and a few hundred pages to Matthew’s Gospel and what he wrote that Jesus said about all this. Reading from Matthew 28, starting at verse 15: 

15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. 

22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time. 

26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. 

29 “Immediately after the distress of those days 

“‘the sun will be darkened, 

    and the moon will not give its light; 

the stars will fall from the sky, 

    and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ 

30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. 

32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, [THAT] generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. 

36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. 

42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. 

45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

 

So when is everything happening at the end of Daniel Chapter 8? I don’t know but I do know that Jesus said that if it has already happened that something like it – only more dreeadful – will happen again in the future and the key for us is to just keep being faithful in the work we are doing for Him. He says it won’t be a missable event when He comes back; so don’t be tricked into thinking it is happening when it is not – but he also says that no one knows when it will happen so make sure you are ready for it when it does occur. And in the context of the book of Daniel I would say that Jesus’  return is like the writing on the wall. You can’t miss it but when it appears it is too late. So the encouragement for us today is that we don’t need to worry about charging goats and evil horns, we just need to keep serving our Lord the way we are now, reading our Bibles, praying and serving here, at the Bread of life, with CCM, and the food truck and so much more and then, in the end, when some are taken and some are left, He promises we will be on the good side of that – whatever the good side of that actually is. 

Let us pray 

 

 

Daniel 6: Darius’ Lions’ Share of Salvation

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 15 February 2026 by Major Michael Ramsay

 

We have been reading through the Book of Daniel and thus far going through chapter by chapter. Therefore, if you have been to church over the previous five weeks you would have read and studied the first five and now 6 chapters with us.

 

The first four chapters were ultimately about King Nebuchadnezzar’s salvation and included a couple of dreams and the famous Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego in the fiery furnace story. Last week there was one chapter dedicated to one of Nebuchadnezzar’s successors, King Belshazzar. We read the story of the writing on the wall and the fall of the Neo-Babylonian / Chaldean Empire. Also in Chapter 5 we are introduced to a new king – Daniel's third he served under, King Darius the Mede. Chapter 5:30-31: “That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.”

 

This is where today’s story picks up... but maybe we should have a sidebar first, before we read the chapter. I was looking up where the different kings are mentioned in the Bible and in history. Nebuchadnezzar is mentioned a lot and Ezra-Nehemiah takes place at the time of Cyrus, who is the next king under whom Daniel will serve. King Darius the Mede, however, isn’t mentioned anywhere other than the book of Daniel – either in the Bible or in history as far as we know. There was a Persian King known as ‘Darius the Great’ who is very famous in history – but he wasn’t around until after Cyrus. Darius the Mede, however, is before Cyrus. I followed that rabbit hole a little bit and came up with two ideas (of the very many out there) that I found interesting. One, ‘Darius the Mede’ could still have existed; he may just be lost to history for now. (I won’t go into that too much) and two, maybe ‘Darius the Mede’ is ‘Cyrus the Great’ or a ruler under Cyrus. Daniel 6:28 can actually be translated as “So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, that is, in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.”

 

Another question, besides ‘who is Darius the Mede?’ that I found interesting is the question, ‘who are the Medes and the Persians?’ Do we know this? We know the Persian Empire. They fought against the Greeks a lot – Xerxes, Darius, Cyrus. We remember Xerxes from the book of Esther. The Persians and the Medes are two different groups of Iranians who are very closely related. Just like Tseshaht and Hupacasath are two different groups of Nuu-chah-nulth People (also Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht); so the Medes and Persians are two nations of Iranians. Iran and the Iranian people, of course, still exists today in the same general area. Alright... to the scriptures... Babylon has fallen, the Iranians have taken over, and Darius is in charge. Reading from 6:1-5:

 

It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, 2 with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. 3 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. 4 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. 5 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 is a high-ranking government employee. But he is somehow able to keep working for many years in various administrations. He was Nebuchadnezzar’s right-hand person and third in command (albeit newly appointed and very short-lived) for Belshazzar and now he is one of three top administrators for Darius. His fellow administrators don’t like Daniel for some reason: it could be prejudice, because he isn’t an Iranian but the Medo-Persians / Iranians did work well with the foreigners in their ranks and according to the books of Ezra-Nehemiah (which take place around this same time), the Hebrews seem to even have had a somewhat favoured position in the empire – but that can go back and forth – we also know the similar story of Esther, Haman and Mordechai which took place in the Persian Empire as well. 

 

It could be that his co-workers just didn’t like him. It could be that he was old and crochety – certainly Chapter 5 can be read that way. It could be that the other officials were jealous. It could be because he was the boss’ favourite, It could be a bunch of things but for whatever reason, Daniel was that one co-worker who nobody seemed to like – accept the boss. Anyway, he was about to be promoted and his co-workers did not like it at all. They tried to find something that he was doing that was not quite right so they could rat him out but Daniel was a stickler for the rules. Verse 5: 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.” Verse 6ff:

 

So these administrators and satraps went as a group to the king and said: “May King Darius live forever! 7 The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den. 8 Now, Your Majesty, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.” 9 So King Darius put the decree in writing.

 

There are a few things here. Obviously, this group was intentionally being tricky. They knew Daniel prayed to YHWH so they tricked the King into making it a capital offence to pray to anyone accept the King. There could be a few reasons that the king may go for that. He may think that he is a god or he may be so vain that he thinks that everything should be about him. These are possible motives but the fact that this is only for a month, not forever leads one to believe that it is something other than just that. If he actually wanted everyone to worship him and him alone he could have decreed it from now on instead of just for a time. I would imagine that there certainly was a certain amount of hubris in his command but it seems that it was as much about establishing his authority as anything else – similar to Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. He had newly conquered a lot of his kingdom and wanted to make sure that everyone was loyal to him. Anyway, the plotters flattered the king into doing what they wanted. 

 

They were tricky too: look at Verse 7: the plotters tell the king that “The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed ...[with their request]” This was obviously untrue because Daniel was 1/3rd of the administrators and he didn’t agree. Some of his colleagues /workmates thought that they could trick their boss into getting rid of his favourite employee. (Honestly, I don’t know how they could think that would go well for them.) But – they did it. Part 1 of their plan is complete: They convinced the King to agree to throw anyone to the lions who is caught praying to anyone other than the king. He fell for it. 

 

Now, the moment of truth – how well do they know Daniel? Will he take the bait. We should note here that there is no religious law or practice that we know of now that states that Daniel had to pray to God three times a day; there is no command in the Bible that says that he needs to pray towards Jerusalem every day. It is just something he does in his personal devotions – it is not mandated by religious law or Judean tradition; it is just something he does; so, will he keep praying to YHWH after the law is published – and can they prove it; or will he be sneaky like deceiving people who smuggle Bibles into foreign countries today or who have secret Church meetings? Will he be tricky or will he be bold for the gospel? They are waiting. What will Daniel do? Verse 10-12a:

 

10 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 his God, just as he had done before. 11 Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. 12 So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: “Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human being except to you, Your Majesty, would be thrown into the lions’ den?”

 

When there is trouble, the first thing Daniel does is go home and pray. That makes sense. It says he goes home, into his house, and he goes to a room upstairs. The windows in that room face Jerusalem. He went to that room and knelt down to pray three times a day, as he had always done. Now the plotters – I don’t know how many of them there are. Are there just his 2 hitherto equals or are there others as well? It says there is a group of them so I imagine that a group is more than two people - The plotters, go as a group and sure enough they catch him praying; so, as was their plan, they run to the king and remind him of the law and that it can’t be changed and that anyone who breaks that law is to be thrown to the Lions. 6:12-14:

 

The king answered, “The decree stands—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”

13 Then they said to the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, Your Majesty, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day.” 14 When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sundown to save him.

15 Then the men went as a group to King Darius and said to him, “Remember, Your Majesty, that according to the law of the Medes and Persians no decree or edict that the king issues can be changed.”

 

I find it interesting that when they tell on Daniel – remember that Daniel is one of the 3 top administrators in the kingdom and he is being promoted to number 2 behind only the King – sort of like Darius’ Prime Minister - and his fellow ruling elites refer to him as “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, [who] pays no attention to you.” This reminds me what we are hearing about in the USA today with ICE. Or in Japan: their Prime Minister just won an election with a platform of keeping the foreigners out and possibly limiting / not letting them practice their religion or cultural traditions. Or – it is Olympics time – remember the Paris Olympics? Not only did they seemingly mock God, Christians and Christianity in their opening ceremonies, but they also banned Muslim women athletes from wearing the hijab let alone the niqab or burqa. In Canada too we have just tightened our restrictions on people from other countries being able to live and work here – and Canada's Quebec Law/Bill 21 does not allow the turban, the hijab, the crucifix, or other symbols of religious worship for anyone who is a government employee like Daniel was. The group’s deriding comment about Daniel is that he is a foreigner and they attack him via his religious worship. Much like is happening today in Canada, the USA, and other western and even eastern countries.

 

The king isn’t concerned about that. He made Daniel number 2 in his Kingdom: Daniel in Babylon after Israel falls is again reminiscent of Joseph in Egypt before Israel was founded. The king is very hesitant to kill Daniel and so at sundown it appears that the whole group (however large it is) that wants Daniel gone, goes to the king to remind him of his duty –because of their country’s version of Quebec’s Bill 21- to throw Daniel to the lions, vv. 16-19:

 

16 So 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!”

17 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. 18 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.

19 At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. 20 When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”

 

I find this very interesting. The king obviously does not want to lose Daniel. Lots of people want Daniel out of the way, but the king is not passive in this story. He actively wants Daniel to somehow survive. He has hope that somehow Daniel might make it. He can’t sleep at all that night. He doesn’t want to eat. He doesn’t want to watch anything or do anything. He just wants it to be tomorrow to find out what will happen. You know what it is like when the die is cast, there is nothing you can do but pray and hope. Maybe it is like when you have written an exam and everything is riding on your mark and you have to wait to find out how you did, or you wrote a proposal, or applied for a job and you don’t know what happened; or maybe there has been an accident and you don’t know if your family member was in the accident or not and you are just praying that she is okay. My father-in-law was a politician. They would fight a whole campaign and then on election night after the polls were closed just sit glued to the TV to see the results coming in. There is nothing more that can be done. You just watch and pray that not only your team wins but that you survive. You are not defeated. 

 

The example of powerlessness and waiting that strikes fear in my heart still when it comes to my mind is when I was in grade six. Of course there was no internet when I was in Grade 6 – and I didn’t do my homework one day, I forgot – and here it is Wednesday night and the school library is closed and Thursday, the following morning, the teacher will ask for a random group of students to present their assignments – and like I said there is no internet and no way for me to do my homework before tomorrow. So I prayed that I would not be in the group that is picked to present the next day. I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t want to do anything. I just needed to find out my fate. I think this is what it is like for Darius. He has tried to think of something that he can do to save his friend and/or prized employee but he can’t. All he can do is wait through the night – hoping.

 

As he seals Daniel in the lion’s den he says, Verse 16, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!” And then after the sleepless night, Verse19-23, 

 

At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. 20 When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?” 

21 Daniel answered, “May the king live forever! 22 My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.”

23 The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

 

The King is relieved; the king is overjoyed. God had saved Daniel from the lions as he saved his companions from the furnace many years before. God protected him. The king is relieved. He is overjoyed. He had hope; he had faith – he did race to the den of lions as fast as he could, as early as he could. He was hoping – I am reminded of the Disciple John, on Easter morning, when he ran faster than anyone and arrived at the empty tomb. As one might expect to see the lifeless body of Jesus, one might expect to see the lifeless body of Daniel – but each were alive! John said, he believed but he still did not understand! Remember too in the Gospels, the centurion who came to Jesus asking him to save his little girl who passed away– I imagine that before King Darius knew Daniel was alive, he hoping would have felt the same as the centurion expressed, “I believe, help my unbelief.” These are Darius’ feelings. He then experiences the miraculous salvation of YHWH: He is overjoyed. Verse 24:

 

24 At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

 

This is interesting. The king who was so concerned about the laws of the Medes and the Persians that he signed the assumed execution of his trusted official, his friend because it was the law, he here quickly decides that not only should all his friend’s accusers die but so should their families – and apparently God agrees because they all seem to have died quickly - before they even hit the ground. The officials, however many of them there were, took quite a chance (because apparently this outcome was always a possibility) and it cost not only them but also their whole families their lives. I do wonder how many lions there were and how hungry or angry they were. I do wonder how many people died that day – 10 officials and all of their wives and kids? 50 officials and all their families? 120? I don’t know but their gamble didn’t pay off and the stakes were very high. They gambled that they could defeat Daniel by tricking the king, but even though they successfully tricked the king, God defeated them and the king was keen to see that they experienced the consequences.

 

God saved Daniel in a miraculous way just as King Darius hoped beyond hope and maybe didn’t even quite dare to believe. This brings us to the point of this chapter, as Darius speaks up on his version of a Testimony Sunday for all the hear, verses 25-28:

 

25 Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth:

“May you prosper greatly!

26 “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.

“For He is the living God

and He endures forever;

His kingdom will not be destroyed,

His dominion will never end.

27 He rescues and He saves;

He performs signs and wonders

in the heavens and on the earth.

He has rescued Daniel

from the power of the lions.”

28 So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

 

As YHWH rescued Daniel, and as He revealed Himself King Darius so too He reveals Himself to you and I and He can rescue us from everything that concerns us today!

 

Let us pray

www.sheepspeak.com