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Daniel 6:1-3

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

1. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom; 2. And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel [was] first: that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage. 3. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit [was] in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.

Daniel 6:1-3 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Daniel 6:1

Theological / Devotional

Princes. Aramaic ’achashdarpan, literally, “satraps” (see on ch. 3:2). The various details of the provincial administration of the Persian Empire prior to Darius I’s reorganization are still obscure. Herodotus (iii. 89) states that Darius I created 20 satrapies as main divisions of the empire. Each satrapy was divided into provinces. The inscriptions of Darius give various totals for the satrapies (21, 23, 29), indicating that the king probably changed the number as well as the size of satrapies during his reign. Some Greek historians use the term “satrap” for lower officials, as Daniel apparently did when he used the term to designate provincial governors. Compare the 127 provinces of Esther 1:1 in the time of Xerxes.

By SdaBc