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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Daniel 6:26 - 6:26
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(6:25-27)
The consequences of this occurrence.
As Nebuchadnezzar, after the wonderful deliverance of Daniel's friends from the burning fiery furnace, issued an edict to all the nations of his kingdom forbidding them on pain of death from doing any injury to these men of God (Dan 3:29), so now Darius, in consequence of this wonderful preservation of Daniel in the den of lions, gave forth an edict commanding all the nations of his whole kingdom to fear and reverence Daniel's God. But as Nebuchadnezzar by his edict, so also Darius, did not depart from the polytheistic standpoint. Darius acknowledged the God of Daniel, indeed, as the living God, whose kingdom and dominion were everlasting, but not as the only true God, and he commanded Him to be reverenced only as a God who does wonders in heaven and on earth, without prejudice to the honour of his own gods and of the gods of his subjects. Both of these kings, it is true, raised the God of Judea above all other gods, and praised the everlasting duration of His dominion (see Dan 3:29, 32 [Dan 4:2]f., and Daniel 3:31 [Dan 3:28]ff., 6:27 [Dan 6:26]f.), but they did not confess Him as the one only God. This edict, the, shows neither the conversion of Darius to the worship of the God of the Jews, nor does it show intolerance toward the gods of his subjects. On v. 26 (Dan 6:25) cf. Daniel 3:31 (Dan 4:1). As Nebuchadnezzar, so also Darius, regarded his kingdom as a world-kingdom. On 27a (Dan 6:26) cf. Dan 3:29. The reverence which all the nations were commanded to show to Daniel's God is described in the same words as is the fear and reverence which the might and greatness of Nebuchadnezzar inspired in all the nations that were subject to him (Dan 5:19), which has led Hitzig justly to remark, that the words לֵאלָהֵהּ פָּלְחִין לֶהֱוֹן (they must worship his God) are not used. God is described as living (cf. v. 21 [Dan 6:20]) and eternal, with which is connected the praise of the everlasting duration of His dominion, and of His rule in heaven and on earth; cf. Dan 2:44 and 3:33 (Dan 4:3). The דִּי after מַלְכוּתֵהּ is not a conjunction, but is the relative, and the expression briefly denotes that His kingdom is a kingdom which is not destroyed; cf. Daniel 4:31 (Dan 4:34). סוֹפָא עַד, to the end - not merely of all heathen kingdoms which arise on the earth, i.e., to their final destruction by the kingdom of the Messiah, Dan 2:44 (Kranichfeld), for there is no thought of the Messiah, Dan 2:44 (Kranichfeld), for there is no thought of the Messianic kingdom here at all, but to the end of all things, to eternity. In v. 28 (Dan 6:27) this God is lauded as the deliverer and wonder-worker, because in the case of Daniel He had showed Himself as such; cf. Daniel 3:32 (Dan 4:2). יַד מִן, from the hand, i.e., from the power of; cf. Psa 22:21.