Hence, they came right to the point, saying: “All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the high royal officers and the governors, have taken counsel together to establish a royal statute and to enforce an interdict, that whoever makes a petition to any god or man for thirty days except to you, O king, should be thrown to the lions’ pit.”a—Daniel 6:6, 7.

 8. (a) Why would Darius find the proposed law appealing? (b) What was the true motive of the high officials and satraps?

⁸ Historical records confirm that it was common for Mesopotamian kings to be viewed and worshiped as divine. So Darius undoubtedly was flattered by this proposal. He may also have seen a practical side to it. Remember, to those living in Babylon, Darius was a foreigner and a newcomer. This new law would serve to establish him as king, and it would encourage the multitudes living in Babylon to avow their loyalty and support to the new regime. In proposing the decree, though, the high officials and the satraps were not at all concerned about the king’s welfare. Their true motive was to entrap Daniel, for they knew that it was his custom to pray to God three times a day before the open windows of his roof chamber.

 9. Why would the new law not pose a problem for most non-Jews?

⁹ Would this restriction on prayer create a problem for all the religious communities in Babylon? Not necessarily, especially since the prohibition was to last only for a month. Furthermore, few non-Jews would view directing their worship to a human for a time as a compromise. One Bible scholar notes: “King-worship made no strange demands upon the most idolatrous of nations; and therefore the Babylonian when called upon to pay to the conqueror—Darius the Mede—the homage due to a god, readily acceded to the demand. It was the Jew alone who resented such a demand.”