What can and what can a ruler not do, even an absolute monarch, the head of a great power of his time? Reading some chapters from the Book of Daniel, at times it appears that he can do almost nothing...
What can and what can a ruler not do, even an absolute monarch, the head of a great power of his time? Reading some chapters from the Book of Daniel, at times it appears that he can do almost nothing. Or at least that he cannot do the main thing: make the decision that in a concrete situation seems to him the only right one. So it is with Darius: he does not want Daniel's death, he would gladly change the decision he had previously made and cancel the decree he himself had issued, but he is unable to do so. The laws accepted in the Persian Empire were irrevocable, and even the king could do nothing about it.
It is hard today to say with certainty whether this was actually so, or whether before us is one of the many legends about the Persian Empire and its rulers. But in this case it does not matter: whatever the case, the author of the book noticed one characteristic feature of the position of a ruler standing at the head of any state that lives according to the laws of the untransformed world. He has power neither over himself nor over the situations in which he finds himself as ruler. And the point here is not the sacredness of laws or authority, and not the fact that, as the well-known saying has it, "the retinue makes the king."
Of course, one can speak in a certain sense and in certain eras about the sacredness of laws, and the influence of a ruler's circle on the ruler is a reality with which any ruler has to reckon. But both of these, and much else that any ruler faces, ultimately represent nothing other than what could be called the logic of power. Of course, much depends on the concrete person. And yet the authors of all the biblical books are unanimous: in the fallen world there is no good power; there is only bad or very bad power. And this is not because all its representatives are necessarily and originally malicious, but because any state has always been and remains a machine, a mechanism that either functions according to the laws proper to it or does not function at all. And the more complex and large-scale the mechanism, the more there manifests in it that evil in which, according to the word of the Gospel, the world lies.
For the author of the Books of Samuel, theocracy is better than monarchy, even an elective monarchy such as it was in the days of Saul and David, not only because charismatic leaders guided by God then come to power, since in those same books real theocracy is described as an institution both spiritually and politically ambiguous, but also, and perhaps even primarily, because it makes it possible to avoid the formation of a state mechanism.
Although, of course, in the fallen world theocracy is no panacea either. For both the prophets and the sages, the Torah is the best legislation possible, but even it will not make society ideal; it can make it only, in Plato's phrase, "second after the best." And in an ordinary society, in a great empire, the ruler at times is left only to suffer pangs of conscience and the inability to help someone whom he does not consider guilty at all. And only these pangs of conscience will he be able to present to God on the day of Judgment as testimony to his best unrealized intentions.
6 Daniel's preferment, Danielis 6:2-4.
Envy against him, Danielis 6:5-6.
The decree against prayer, Danielis 6:7-10.
Daniel's continuance in prayer notwithstanding, Danielis 6:11.
He is informed against and cast into the den of lions, Danielis 6:12-18.
His preservation and deliverance, Danielis 6:19-24.
The death of his accusers, Danielis 6:25.
The decree of Darius, and prosperity of Daniel, Danielis 6:26-29.
6:3 Daniel was first - Belshazzar's promise to Daniel was, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom, Danielis 5:7, Danielis 5:16, Danielis 5:29. The first was general of the army, the second president of the palace, the third of the land and provinces.
6:5 Concerning the kingdom - And so to have made him guilty of treason, or other high misdemeanors, in the king's business.
6:11 Toward Jerusalem - The temple was the place where the Lord placed his name, and promised to appear, and accept his people, all being a type of Christ, through whom only sinners are accepted.As he did aforetime - He did not abate his prayers for the king's command, nor did he break the law purposely, because he did no more than he was wont to do in serving his God.
6:15 Displeased with himself - For having made that foolish decree.To deliver him - To find out some way of delivering him.
6:21 Able to deliver - What he doubted of, we are sure of, that the servants of the living God, have a master who is able to deliver them and bear them out in his service.
6:23 His angel - The same that was with the three children in the fiery furnace, whose presence made even the lion's den a strong - hold, his palace, his paradise. See the power of God over the fiercest creatures! See the care God takes of his faithful servants, especially when they are called to suffer for him! See how ready the angels are to minister to the heirs of salvation!
6:26 In all the earth - In all that great empire. It is usual with the Turk, Tartar, Chinese, to arrogate the same universality.