“Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.”
My Notes
What Does Daniel 6:25 Mean?
"Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you." After Daniel's miraculous survival in the lion's den, the Persian emperor Darius issues a universal decree. The opening — "all people, nations, and languages" — is standard Persian imperial address, but the content is extraordinary: a pagan king declaring the God of Daniel to be the living God whose kingdom is indestructible (v. 26-27). Daniel's faithfulness produces a pagan emperor's testimony to the watching world.
The greeting "Peace be multiplied" (shlama l'khon yisgei) is the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew shalom — and it comes from a king whose peace was just disrupted by a plot against God's servant that ended with the plotters in the lion's den instead.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Who is watching your 'lion's den' — and what testimony might your faithfulness produce in them?
- 2.How did Daniel's consistent faithfulness (not arguments or preaching) produce an emperor's conversion?
- 3.What does Darius's decree teach about the evangelistic power of visible faithfulness under pressure?
- 4.Where might your obedience in an impossible situation be writing a 'decree' that reaches people you'll never meet?
Devotional
All people. All nations. All languages. All the earth. Peace be multiplied. A pagan emperor addresses the entire planet — and the next six verses are a testimony to the God of a Hebrew captive.
Darius didn't set out to become an evangelist. He was manipulated by his own administrators into throwing Daniel into a lion's den. He spent the night fasting and sleepless, hoping the God Daniel served would deliver him. And when Daniel emerged alive — untouched, unharmed, an angel having shut the lions' mouths — Darius did what no theology program taught him to do: he wrote a letter to the whole earth about Daniel's God.
The living God. The one who endures forever. The kingdom that shall not be destroyed. The dominion that shall be even unto the end. He delivers and rescues. He works signs and wonders. He delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. That's Darius's testimony — a pagan king's confession of faith produced by watching what happened to a faithful man in a desperate situation.
Daniel's faithfulness produced this decree. Not Daniel's preaching. Not Daniel's theological arguments. His faithfulness. He prayed when prayer was illegal. He faced the lions rather than compromise. He trusted God in the impossible. And the result — the visible, undeniable, emperor-converting result — was Darius writing to all people about the God who saves.
Your faithfulness has an audience you can't see. The person watching you navigate your lion's den — the boss, the colleague, the family member, the stranger — might end up writing their own version of Darius's decree. Not because you preached to them. Because they watched you pray when it was costly. And the God who shut the lions' mouths for Daniel shut them for them too — through the testimony your faithfulness produced.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
I make a decree, that in every dominion of my kingdom,.... In every province of his large empire; this explains who are…
Then king Darius wrote unto all people ... - Compare the note at Dan 2:47; Dan 3:29; Dan 4:1. If there is a probability…
Then king Darius wrote - And the substance of this decree, which was made by a heathen king, was to point out the…
Darius here studies to make some amends for the dishonour he had done both to God and Daniel, in casting Daniel into the…
The edict of Darius, enjoining all his subjects to dread and fear the God of Daniel. Cf. the decree of Nebuchadnezzar in…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture