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.
The date was 538 B.C. A new government was now in control in Babylon. After less than a century of world dominance, the proud Babylonian Empire had collapsed before the power of the Medo-Persian Empire, headed by King Cyrus.
The reason Cyrus’ victory plays so prominent a part in the Old Testament record is that Babylon was the land where God’s people were living in exile. That exile came to a sudden end when Cyrus smashed the power of Babylon. Cyrus then issued a decree informing the Jewish exiles that they were no longer exiles and that any Jew who wished to return to his ancient homeland was free to do so (Ezra 1:2-4).
Cyrus’ proclamation was remarkable for the privileges it extended to the former exiles. Not only were they free to return home, but when they reached Jerusalem, they were to rebuild the temple, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians. Cyrus even offered funds from his royal treasury for this building project. Jews who chose to remain in Babylon were encouraged to assist the returnees financially. In addition, all of the gold and silver temple vessels that had been seized by the Babylonian armies were to be returned to Jerusalem.
Although about 50,000 exiles accepted Cyrus’ generous offer and returned to Jerusalem, many thousands of exiles chose not to (reasons for this were discussed in the introduction, page 4). The Jews who remained in Babylon were no longer captives now, but free people. Chapter 6 assures us that under these new conditions, God still made sure that he had his man in a key position in the Medo-Persian government, to look out for the welfare of his Jewish children. Indeed, the very generous provisions of Cyrus’ decree may have resulted, at least in part, from the influence of Daniel.
The closing verse of chapter 5 introduced us to Darius the Mede as the man who “took over the kingdom.” The identification of Darius raises a difficult historical problem for several reasons. As indicated earlier, Cyrus, not Darius, was the head of the Medo-Persian Empire that toppled Babylon. It is also well established that after capturing the city of Babylon in 539, Cyrus continued as ruler over the empire for another nine years. Contributing to the difficulty of identifying Darius is the fact that no Median king named Darius is known from secular history.
Several different solutions have been offered as an answer to the problem. The name Darius may be a title of office, perhaps meaning “holder of the sceptre” (Wood, page 155).
A more likely solution is found in the fact that in ancient times men often went under more than one name. Some scholars think that Darius is another name for Gobryas (or Gubaru), whom Cyrus appointed as governor over Babylon when the city fell. According to this theory, Darius then ruled over what had been the center of the Babylonian Kingdom; as the Bible says, he “took over the kingdom.” A study by D. J. Wiseman argues persuasively that Darius is simply another name for Cyrus himself (Notes on Some Problems in the Book of Daniel, pages 9ff).
Although we do not know the exact identity of Darius, this does not give us the right to question whether he ever existed. Our ignorance regarding the identity of this king is no reason to question the truthfulness of the historical record Daniel gives us here.
To govern the vast empire that the Medes and Persians had conquered, Darius appointed 120 regional governors called “satraps” (a title taken from an old Persian word meaning “protector of the realm”). These 120 were responsible to three administrators, chief officers who reported directly to the king. The reason given for this arrangement was “so that the king might not suffer loss.” The vast Medo-Persian Empire extended from present-day Iran in the east to Turkey in the west. The new ruler realized that because of the size of the empire, there were all sorts of opportunities for dishonest people to take advantage of the king, and the royal treasury would suffer. We can assume that the three administrators must have been top men to be entrusted with so large and so important a responsibility.
In a way we are surprised to learn that Daniel was appointed as one of these three executive officers, because at the time he must have been more than 80 years old.
On the other hand, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that Darius chose Daniel for this responsible position. The king would surely have inquired into the record of this veteran Jewish statesman, who had served in the Babylonian government with distinction for more than 60 years. He may even have learned that Daniel had predicted that the Babylonian Empire would fall and be replaced by the MedoPersian Empire. Behind Daniel’s appointment we again see the hand of God. By not letting Daniel disappear into retirement, God was signaling that he still had some important work for Daniel to do. God wanted this faithful servant in a place of influence to assist God’s people—those who chose to leave Babylon, as well as those who chose to stay.
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.”
It doesn’t always happen that the wisest and most skillful men are placed in top government jobs. But God was responsible for what is reported here. To begin with, the exceptional qualities that Daniel possessed were none of his own doing. God had entrusted outstanding gifts to him. In Babylon he had received years of training under Nebuchadnezzar, an outstanding king. Throughout his long career in government service, Daniel distinguished himself by his faithful and dedicated service under a succession of kings.
Daniel’s pattern of service continued as he served under the Medo-Persian government, and King Darius was so impressed that he planned to promote him over the entire kingdom. Again, this comes as no surprise. Regardless of what work God’s children do, we would expect them to do it well, since they alone have the genuine motivation for striving to excel: to seek in all things to glorify God and to serve him by serving people. The apostle Paul urged workers of his day to do their daily work in such a manner “that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive” (Titus 2:10). Christ asks you to reflect favorably on him not only by what you say but also by what you do, so that others “may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
In his responsible position, Daniel continued to seek to do God’s will. He was honest and trustworthy in his conduct of governmental affairs. No corruption or scandal attached to his name. Neither did he neglect things that needed to be done.
As indicated earlier, Daniel’s kind of government service did not go unnoticed by Darius. It did not go unnoticed by Daniel’s fellow officers, either. When they learned that he was scheduled for promotion, they were envious, and we can understand that. Since the other officials were most likely Persians, it rankled them to see this foreigner promoted over their heads. Undoubtedly, religious reasons added to their resentment. They were loyal to the gods of Persia, whom Daniel considered false gods. Since Daniel was not one to hide his faith, he had no doubt testified that the God of Israel was the only true God.
Since the other administrators and satraps could not match Daniel’s record of achievement and faithfulness, they tried to promote their cause by attacking him. At first they searched his performance record for mistakes, for possible evidence of negligence or corruption in his dealings with people.
Daniel almost surely knew of the conspiracy against him. Court intrigue has been known in every kingdom, in every age. Since Daniel regularly did his work in the presence of God, it made little difference that people were spying on him. This finally became clear to his rivals as well. They 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.” What a compliment for this child of God! In order to bring charges against this man, his enemies were going to have to create a situation where his loyalty to God would bring him into conflict with the requirements his government made of him.
We can be thankful we are living as free citizens in a land of liberty. We don’t have to choose between obeying our government and obeying God. But if that time should come for us, as it came for Daniel, we can trust God to show us the way just as he showed Daniel the way.