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Pfandl, Gerhard; Institute, Biblical Research. Daniel God's Beloved Prophet: His Life and His
Prophecies (p. ii). Biblical Research Institute. Edición de Kindle.
Copyright © 2020, by Biblical Research Institute Silver Spring, Maryland
www.adventistbiblicalresearch.org Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The
Holy Bible, English Standard Version®. Copyright® 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of
Good News Publishers. Scripture quotations marked JPS are taken from the Hebrew Bible
translated by The Jewish Publication Society of America. All rights reserved. Copyright
1917. Scriptures marked KJV are taken from the King James Version. Public domain.
Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright
© 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International
Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All
rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New
American Standard Bible®. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977,
1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scriptures marked RSV are taken
from the Revised Standard Version, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1971. Unless otherwise
indicated, all Bible references are taken from the New King James Version. Daniel: God’s
Beloved Prophet Gerhard Pfandl 1. Bible. Daniel–Criticism, Interpretation, etc. 2. Daniel
(Biblical Figure) BS1555.D365 2020 Printed in the U.S.A. by the Pacific Press Publishing
Association Nampa, ID 83653-5353 ISBN 978-0-925675-45-3

Pfandl, Gerhard; Institute, Biblical Research. Daniel God's Beloved Prophet: His Life and His
Prophecies (p. iv). Biblical Research Institute. Edición de Kindle.

Pfandl, Gerhard; Institute, Biblical Research. Daniel God's Beloved Prophet: His Life and His
Prophecies (p. iv). Biblical Research Institute. Edición de Kindle.

6:1 One hundred and twenty satraps The term satrap means “protector of the
kingdom.”2 According to Xenophon and other Greek historians, it referred to any rank of
subordinate officials in the kingdom and should not be confused with the geographic
regions of the kingdom called satrapies. Herodotus reported that the Persian Empire was
divided into twenty satrapies.3 According to the Behistun inscription from the time of
Darius I (521–486 BC), the empire had twentythree satrapies.4 Since Darius the Mede in
Daniel 6 ruled only over the kingdom of Babylon, the 120 satraps were most likely royal
officials who ruled over smaller divisions within his realm. 6:3 Daniel distinguished
himself Under Darius the Mede, Daniel was recalled from retirement and promoted to
“president.” With two other presidents he had supervisory powers over all the provincial
governors. The Persian Empire at that time was divided into 120 subprovinces under
provincial governors. Eighty years later, in the days of Queen Esther, it was enlarged by
the victories of Cambyses and Darius I, and the provinces numbered 127 (Esther 1:1). 6:4
Against Daniel The king doubtless acted in the state’s best interest by elevating Daniel to
the highest civil office in the state, but he failed to take into account the feelings of
jealousy among his top officials. “Evil angels stirred up the presidents and princes to envy
and jealousy.”5 To place a Jew, a former prime minister of the defeated Babylonians, in
such a high position was too much for them. These politicians, therefore, ordered their
legal sleuths to “dig up dirt” on Daniel’s character, but they couldn’t find any skeletons in
his closet, because he was faithful “concerning the kingdom” (Dan. 6:4). Digging up dirt
and slandering the other contenders has obviously been a favored method of bringing
down the opposition since ancient times. Having failed to find anything in Daniel’s
character or professional activities they could have used to discredit him before Darius,
the governors and satraps turned to his religion. Since there was no apparent conflict
between his religious life and the performance of his duties, they had to invent one. They
knew that Daniel was a strict monotheist, and they knew that he prayed to his God three
times a day (v. 10); they used this knowledge to set their trap. Their claim before Darius
that all the governors, administrators, satraps, counselors, and advisors had consulted
together (v. 7) was greatly exaggerated. The majority were probably scattered across the
kingdom and did not even know what was going on. But their flattery achieved its
purpose. The bait was thrown out and the king took it. 6:7 A firm decree The command
to pray for one month to none but the king—though in this instance especially aimed at
Daniel— may have been suggested by a national custom of earlier times among the
Medes, according to which special honors were rendered to the king. It was [King]
Deioces first who established the rule that no one should come into the presence of the
king, but all should be dealt with by the means of messengers; that the king should be
seen by no man; and moreover that it should be in particular a disgrace for any to laugh
or to spit in his presence. He was careful to hedge himself with all this state in order that
the men of his own age... might by reason of not seeing him deem him to be changed
from what he had been. 6 It seems the king felt that if they saw him habitually, it might
lead to jealousy and resentment, and plots would follow; but if nobody saw him, the
legend would grow that he was a being of a different order from mere men. 6:10 As was
his custom Daniel, like David (Ps. 55:17), prayed three times a day. How widespread a
custom this was in Old Testament times is not known, although according to the Didache
it was practiced in the early church.7 Daniel neither left on pretended business, nor said
his prayers in secret. To rationalize such compromises to preserve his life and position
would have been easy, but he refused to compromise. Knowing very well what was going
on, he was willing to risk his life to honor God, trusting his Lord to deliver him, if He saw
fit. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego he chose loyalty to God over obedience to a
pagan government. Daniel’s house would have been “the normal flat-topped dwelling,
with a room built on one corner of the roof where one could retire for privacy, yet which
had large latticed windows to allow free circulation of air.”8 The custom of turning toward
Jerusalem when praying is based on Solomon’s prayer (1 Kings 8:35), and is still practiced
by many Jews today. Eliezer and Solomon stood when praying (Gen. 24:12–14; 1 Kings
8:22–23). Daniel, like Ezra (Ezra 9:5), Jesus (Luke 22:41), Stephen (Acts 7:60), and Paul
(Eph. 3:14), used the more customary position of kneeling. 6:14 The king... was greatly
displeased The king soon realized that his own officials had led him into a trap to get rid of
Daniel. Although he did his best to save Daniel from the den of lions to which he had
unwittingly condemned him, he was unable to change the law of the Medes and Persians.
When the time came, the king personally accompanied Daniel to the lions’ den,
bemoaning his own stupidity. His only hope now was that Daniel’s God would step in and
deliver His servant, as He had delivered Daniel’s three friends from the fiery furnace.
What a long night the king must have spent with a guilty conscience! 6:16 Den of lions
The den of lions was probably a pit in the ground. The condemned were lowered or
thrown into it from above. In this particular case, a large stone was rolled over the
opening and sealed with the king’s signet ring and that of his nobles. The seal was a
guarantee to Daniel’s enemies that no attempt would be made to save him, but also to
the king that Daniel would not be harmed in any way if, as the king hoped, the God of
Daniel should preserve him from the lions. 6:20–23 Has your god... been able to deliver
you? At dawn, as early as possible, the king hastened to the den. Andre Lacocque
suggests, “Perhaps we should see the king’s hasty return early the next morning (v. 20) in
the perspective of the ancient Babylonian custom that the victim would be pardoned if
he were tortured and had not died by the following day.”9 In any case, Darius must have
had some glimmer of hope that Daniel had survived the night. Arriving at the den, he
called out to Daniel in anguish and hope, and, we can be sure, was overjoyed when he
heard the voice of his trusted servant: “My God sent his angel and stopped the lions’
mouths.” The angel here plays the same role as the “fourth man” in the blazing furnace in
chapter 3. Yes, God is able to deliver, but whether He does or not must be left in His
hands. He did not deliver Daniel from being thrown alive into the den of lions. “In New
Testament times he did not deliver John the Baptist. And in subsequent ages many
martyrs left to perish were comforted as they recalled that one whose fidelity had been
attested by Christ Himself had yet been permitted to suffer.”10 6:24 They cast them into
the den of lions The king acted in the fashion typical of despots of his day. Herodotus
testifies that consigning to death whole families along with condemned men was in
accordance with Persian custom. For example, concerning the rebel Intaphrenes,
Herodotus records that Darius had him arrested with all his household, and except for the
wife, her brother, and her oldest son, he put them all to death. 11

Pfandl, Gerhard; Institute, Biblical Research. Daniel God's Beloved Prophet: His Life and His
Prophecies (p. 65). Biblical Research Institute. Edición de Kindle.

Pfandl, Gerhard; Institute, Biblical Research. Daniel God

's Beloved Prophet: His Life and His Prophecies (p. 64). Biblical Research Institute. Edición
de Kindle.

Pfandl, Gerhard; Institute, Biblical Research. Daniel God's Beloved Prophet: His Life and His
Prophecies (p. 63). Biblical Research Institute. Edición de Kindle.

Pfandl, Gerhard; Institute, Biblical Research. Daniel God's Beloved Prophet: His Life and His
Prophecies (p. 62). Biblical Research Institute. Edición de Kindle.
DANIEL 8 The Sanctuary Cleansed OBJECTIVES • To present the 2300 days prophecy in its
historical and literary context. • To understand why Antiochus IV Epiphanes cannot be the
little horn. MEMORY TEXT • Matthew 24:15–16 “Therefore when you see the
abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place
(whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the
mountains.” Introduction The vision in Daniel 8 is the climactic conclusion of the symbolic
presentations in the book. What follows from 8:15 to the end of the book is
supplementary to the vision of chapter 8. At the end of chapter 8, we are told that “no
one understood” the vision (8:27). In chapter 9, therefore, Daniel seeks further
understanding, and the visiting angel admonishes him to “understand the vision,”
explaining, “I have now come forth to give you skill to understand” (9:22). Chapter 10,
which introduces the last vision in the book, begins with the statement that Daniel
“understood the message and had understanding of the vision” (10:1). Seventh-day
Adventists believe that Daniel 8:9–14 refers to the great controversy between Christ and
Satan. In particular it concerns the contrast between God’s plan of salvation and the
counterfeit system of the little horn. This passage is at the heart of the prophetic
messages of Daniel, as well as at the center of the Adventist sanctuary doctrine. A correct
understanding of these texts, therefore, is important for a proper perspective of the
sanctuary message and the three angel’s messages, the first of which

Pfandl, Gerhard; Institute, Biblical Research. Daniel God's Beloved Prophet: His Life and His
Prophecies (p. 107). Biblical Research Institute. Edición de Kindle.