Daniel Chapter 6 Verses 6-9

6 Then these presidents and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live for ever! 7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an interdict, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. 8 Now, O king, establish the interdict and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 9 Therefore King Darius signed the document and interdict.

These envious accusers show up in a group to work their plan. Notice how this type of person also seems to travel in a pack! Darius should have noticed that Daniel was not present, but as we will soon see, Darius was completely unsuspecting. He did not know that these men were out to deprive the king of his most trusted advisor.

The Proposed Law: For one month, all petitions and all prayers in the realm may be directed toward Darius only. Those who disobeyed would be cast into a den of lions.

Why did Darius agree with this suggestion?

1. It was a very flattering suggestion.
2. It reinforced the idea that the empire was now under new management. It would help unify the kingdom under Darius and Cyrus.
3. It was a reasonable time limit. What harm could it cause to impose this seemingly modest requirement for only 30 days?
4. Darius was under the impression that Daniel had agreed to this plan. (Verse 7 says all the presidents of the kingdom had agreed to the plan when in fact they had not.)
5. Whereas the sanction was severe, Darius no doubt thought that it would not be needed. Who could possibly fail to follow this simple 30 day requirement?

Why were offenders to be cast into a den of lions instead of into a fiery furnace?

The Persians used fire in their religious ceremonies and thus would not have cast anyone into fire as a form of punishment. Edwin M. Yamauchi has written the following in this regard: (Persia and the Bible, pp. 401 and 447.)

But it is especially to fire and water that they offer sacrifice. To fire they offer sacrifice by adding dry wood without the bark and by placing fat on top of it; and then they pour oil upon it and light it below, not blowing with their breath, but fanning it; and those who blow the fire with their breath or put anything dead or filthy upon it are put to death. [quote from Strabo]

Fire stands at the center of the Zoroastrian cult; no ceremony can take place without fire being present. [quoting Eckehard Kulke]

If Daniel were written by a second century Jew living in Palestine as some suggest, then how did such an author know about such a subtle difference between the Chaldean and Persian methods of execution? (This is the same author who they say was so badly mistaken about the well known history of the time.)