It seemed like a good idea to Darius to appoint over the
kingdom one hundred twenty satraps who would be in charge of the entire
kingdom. Over them would be three supervisors, one of whom was Daniel. –
Daniel 6:1-2a (NET)
With this, Daniel appears to
have been provided with a tremendous responsibility for a member of the
covenant people of the Creator God. It is written that “These satraps
were accountable to them,” meaning the three supervisors, “so that the king’s
interests might not incur damage” (6:2b). These words, as the Hebrew
Scriptures, post-Resurrection, ask believers to view them through the lens of
the Christ event, allow an observer to make a consideration of the role of
Jesus. That role was to see that His
(God’s) interests, that being the salvation of a people and the restoration of
His creation, might not incur damage. Others had been sent into the world
for this very purpose. In fact, if one was inclined to press the analogy,
it could be said that Jesus was essentially the third of three “supervisors”
that had been appointed to this purpose, with the first being Adam, and the
second being Israel.
As one makes this analogous comparison between Daniel, doing
so in association with the story of Daniel and the lion’s den, while taking the
extremely wide, cosmic view entailed by connecting the two men together, it is
possible to go on to think of the aforementioned one hundred twenty satraps (which
is a technical term for an official in charge of a region of the empire) as the
steady stream of patriarchs, judges, kings, and prophets that had been either
chosen or raised up by the Creator God to be partially responsible for
protecting that King’s interests from incurring damage.
With regard to Daniel, one can go
on to read that he “was distinguishing himself above the other supervisors and
satraps, for he had an extraordinary spirit” (6:3). Again, it is not
difficult to transfer and make the application of these words to Jesus, recalling
the event of His baptism, when “a voice came from heaven” saying “You are My
one dear Son; in you I take great delight” (Mark 1:11). To this
utterance, Matthew would add that the Spirit of the Creator God descended upon
Jesus and came upon Him (Matthew 3:16). It could certainly be said that,
owing to this descent of the Holy Spirit, Jesus possessed an extraordinary
spirit that would enable Him to distinguish Himself above Adam and Israel and
all of the prophets and holy men of the Creator that had come before Him---thus
preserving the King’s interests.
Of Daniel, it is said that “in
fact, the king intended to appoint him over the entire kingdom” (6:3b).
This would be no less true of Jesus, as His God’s apparent intention was to
appoint His Messiah, that being Jesus, over the entirety of the kingdom that He
Himself was establishing on the earth, as He (Israel’s God) personally embodied
the Messiah so as to act in history to inaugurate this kingdom.
It seems clear that Daniel had
great favor with the king, as did Jesus. As a result, “the supervisors
and satraps were trying to find some pretext against Daniel in connection with
administrative matters” (6:4a). On the local (not cosmic) level, because
Daniel’s position of authority along with the will of the king is being
challenged, it becomes possible to view these supervisors and satraps as the
chief priests, elders, scribes, and rulers with whom Jesus, according to the
Gospel accounts, almost incessantly finds himself in conflict. Just as
there was a movement against Daniel in the area of “administrative matters,” so
too was there a movement against Jesus. Here, without taking the time and
space to go into specifics, one can call to mind the numerous attempts that
were made to challenge Jesus and His teaching (in the common battle for honor),
along with the questioning of His authority to do and say the things that He
was doing and saying.
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