day; to whom they say not. whether to God or man;
but in this general way accuse him. which they
thought best and safe, st; they feared, had they men-
tioned his God, something might have been said in
his fayour to excuse him; and. to aggravate the mat-
ter. they observe the frequency of his doing it. three
times; so that it was not a single fact he is charged
with. but what he had repeated again and again.
Vet. 14. Then the king, when he heard these words,
was sore displeased With himself, &c.] Or at it {]; or
with him; with Daniel, not so much for what he had
done, but that he had not done it with more caution,
or more privately, that it might not have been known:
or rather, as we render it. with himself, trial he should
so rashly sign the decree, without considering the .con-
sequences of it; for he now found that he was cir-
cumvented by his princes, .and that their design was
not Iris hunour and glory, but the destruction of Da-
niel: or the sense in g.eneral is, that what he heard
was very disagreeable, affiictive, and distressing to
him: and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; he re-
solved. if possible, to do it; he applied his mind to it;
he turned his thoughts wholly that way, and contrived
all ways and means to effect it: R,. Mattathiah, in
Saadiah, interprets the phrase of his offering money as
a ransom for his life: and he laboured till the going
down of the sun to save him; from the will of the
princes, and from the jaws of the lions: very probably
it was early in the morning these princes found Daniel
at prayer, who went immediately to the king with
their accusation; so that he was all day labo,uring
with all his might and main to find out ways and means
to save his darling favourite; he studied to put such a
sense upon his decree, that it might not reach Daniel's
case; he strove to make' the princes easy, and to per-
suade them to drop the affair, and not insist on the
execution of the decree.
Ver. 15. Then these men assembled to the king, &c.]]
Who had left him for a while to consider of the case;
or they departed to consult among themselves about
the king's proposals to them; or went home to their
own houses to dinner, and returned in a' body; they
came in a tumultuous way, as the word signifies; see
yet. 6. they cluttered about him, and were very rude
and noisy, and addressed him in an authoritative and
threatening manner: and said unto the king, know. 0
king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, that no
decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be
changed; they perceived that he was desirous of al-
tering or nullifying the decree he had made, which to
have done would have been to hiS reputation; and to
this they oppose a fundamental law of the realm, that
no decree ratified by the king could be altered; to at-
tempt to do this would be a breach of their consti-
tution, and of dangerous consequence; it would lessen
the king's authority, and be a means of his subjects
rising up in rebellion against him: for that there was
such a law, the king knew as well as they; nor do
they say this by way of information, but to urge him
to the execution of the decree; and there is no doubt
to be made that there was suc. n a ftmdamental law.
thougtt a foolish one, and which afterwards continued.
Esth. i. 19. but the insta.nce which some writers give
out of Diodorus Siculusf, concerning Charidemus, a
general of the Athenians, whom another Darius king
of Persia condemned to die for the .freedom .of specch
he used'with him. and after.wards .repented of it, .but
in vain; for his royal power, as the historia,n observes,
could not make that undone which was d9ne; this is
no proof of the immutability of the laws of the Per-
sians, since the king's repentanC. e ..,was after the general's
death, which then was too late.
Ver. 16. Then the king commanded, &c.] Being
overawed by his princ.es. and fearing they would .con-
spire against him, and stir up the people to rebel; and
consulting his own credit. lest he should b.e thought
fickle and inconstant; he ordered the decree to be put
in execution against Daniel, and deli.vercd his favouri.t.e
into their hands: and they brought Daniel, and.cast him
into the den of lions; not the princes. but proper .offers
employed by them: according to the additions to this
book of Daniel. there Were .seven lions in this den, ch.
xiv. 31. but, according to Joseph ben Curion .g, there
were ten, who used to devour ten Sheep, arid as many
human bodies. every day; but this day they had .no
food, and ate nothing, that they. might be more gr.eedy.
and devour Daniel the sooner: now the king spake and
said unto Daniel; being brought i.nto his presence ,in
his palace, before he was cast into the den; or at the
mouth of the den. whither the king accompanied him:
thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver
thee; he calls the Lord Daniel's God, not his own, as
he was not. he served other gods; yet he suggests.
that Daniel was right in serving ,ifim con.tinually. in
praying td him daily, the very thing for which he was
cast to the lions; and expresses Iris confid, ence tkat his
God he served would deliver him from being devoured
by them; which he might conclu.de, fro/n ,the inno-
cency. integrity. and faithfulness of Daniel, and from
his being such a peculiar favour. ite of God as to be i,n-
dulged with .the knowledge of f,uture things; and per-
haps he might have heard of the deliverance of his
three companions from the fiery fur, nace: though the
words may be rendered, as they are by- some, as a wish
or prayer, may thy God. &c. deliver thee h; I cannot.
I pray he would; it is my hearty desire that s.o ,it
might be.
Vet. 17. And a stone was brought, and laid upon the
mouth of the den, &c.] Not a heap of s,tones, but a
single one, a very large one.. sufficient to stop .up the
month of the den, that nothing might enter in at it, or
be cast into it: this stone was brought by proper per-
sons, and a sufficient number of them, according
the order of the king, or his princes, or both; for wha,t
Jarchi says, of there being no stones in ,Baby.Ion, 0nly
bricks, and of the angels bringing this stone out of tl.}e
land of Israel, is all fabulous: but for what end it should
be brought and laid is not easy to Say; if it was laid
here by the order of the princes. it could not surely he
to keep any of his fi'icnds from going in to deliver him,

{e} \^yhwle\^ super eo, Montanus; super ipsum, De Dieu.
{f} Bibliothec. Hist. I. 17. p. 510.
{g} Hist. Heb. I. 1. c. 10. p. 34.
{h} \^Knbzvy\^ liberet te, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Grotius, 
Cocceius, Michaelis.