a satrap or governorof amain province (of Persia) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural determined + particle of affirmation
be
לֶהֱוֹ֖ןle.he.Von
H1934
to exist · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
whole
בְּכָלbe.khol
H3606
properly · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
kingdom
מַלְכוּתָֽאmal.khu.Ta'
H4437
dominion (abstractly or concretely) · noun, common feminine singular determined + particle of affirmation
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Exodus 18:21-22 Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, t…
Daniel 5:31 And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.
Esther 1:1 Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and…
1 Peter 2:14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Daniel 6:1-5
We are told concerning Daniel,
I. What a great man he was. When Darius, upon his accession to the crown of Babylon by conquest, new-modelled the government, he made Daniel prime-minister of state, set him at the helm, and made him first commissioner both of the treasury and of the great seal. Darius's dominion was very large; all he got by his conquests and acquests was that he had so many more countries to take care of; no more can be expected from himself than what one man can do, and therefore others must be employed under him. He set over the kingdom 120 princes (Dan 6:1), and appointed them their districts, in which they were to administer justice, preserve the public peace, and levy th…
A hundred and twenty princes - A chief or satrap over every province which belonged to the Medo-Persian empire. Afterwards we find it enlarged to one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, by the victories of Cambyses and Darius Hystaspes. See Est 1:1. Josephus reckons three hundred and sixty satrapies or lordships; but this is most probably an exaggeration or mistake.
John Gill on Daniel 6:1
It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes,.... This is the same Darius mentioned in the latter part of the preceding chapter; who, as soon as he took the kingdom of Babylon, divided it into a hundred and twenty provinces, as Jacchiades observes; as was the manner of the Medes and Persians. So Darius the son of Hystaspes divided the kingdom of Persia into twenty provinces, and set governors over each, according to Herodotus (r); to these hundred and twenty provinces seven more were afterwards added, through the victories of Cyrus and Cambyses, and Darius Itystaspes, Esther 1:1. Josephus (s), through forgetfulness, makes these princes and provinces three hundred a…
Daniel 6:1-2
1. It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom;
1. Placuit coram Dario, et praefecit super regnum praesides provinciarum centum et viginti, qui essent in toto regno.
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.
2. Et super illos essent, atque ut essent super eos, satrapae tres, quorum Daniel unus esset: et ut praesides provinciarum illis redderent rationem: et rex non pateretur damnum.
As to the translation, some translate the last clause of the second verse, "That the king should not have any trouble;" but…
The Church Fathers
We need to take notice that previously the Babylonians, that is, their princes, had used trickery in their jealousy of Daniel to destroy Daniel and his companions and had persuaded Nebuchadnezzar to build the golden statue and to order that it alone be worshiped by those under his authority. So, too, now the Medes use trickery in the elaboration of the edict and decree in order to destroy Daniel.
Daniel received the Holy Spirit and therefore prophesied. So, too, the king promoted him because he had the grace of the Spirit. For the king spoke in this regard, "I have heard of you that the Spirit of the holy God is in you." And farther on it is written, "Then Daniel became distinguished above all the other presidents and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him." And the spirit of Moses also was shared by those who were to be judges.
And so Darius, who was called Ahasuerus, received the kingdom and "appointed one-hundred-twenty satraps and appointed three governors over them, whom Daniel was one of, for the satraps to give account that the king may not be overburdened. And Daniel was over them because a spirit abounded in him, and the king appointed him over his whole kingdom." [Daniel 5:31-6:3] For Darius the Mede, after hearing the things concerning him, both the wisdom which he acquired and his faith and piety from childhood, he appointed him to be first of all his friends and to rule all his kingdom, as Pharaoh did, having granted to Joseph second honor of the throne of his kingdom and assigning all the chiefs of the Egyptians to be obedient to him.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Darius — The holder or supporter, the name of several Persian kings. (1.) Darius the Mede (Dan. 11:1), “the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes” (9:1). On the death of Belshazzar the Chaldean he…
Lieutenants — The Hebrew achash darpan was the official title of the satraps or viceroys who governed the provinces of the Persian empire; it is rendered “prince” in (Daniel 3:2; 6:1)
Medes, Media — (middle land). Media lay northwest of Persia proper, south and southwest of the Caspian Sea, east of Armenia and Assyria, west and northwest of the great salt desert of Iran. Its greatest length was…
Media — Heb. Madai, which is rendered in the Authorized Version (1) “Madai,” Gen. 10:2; (2) “Medes,” 2 Kings 17:6; 18:11; (3) “Media,” Esther 1:3; 10:2; Isa. 21:2; Dan. 8:20; (4) “Mede,” only in Dan. 11:1.…
President — (sarac or sareca, only used (Daniel 6:1) ... the Chaldee equivalent for Hebrew shter, probably from sara, Zend. a “head”), a high officer in the Persian court, a chief, a president, used of the three…
Prince — The title generally applied to the chief men of the state. The “princes of the provinces” (1 Kings 20:14) were the governors or lord-lieutenants of the provinces. So also the “princes” mentioned in…
Prince, Princess — The only special uses of the word “prince” are—
Temptation — (1.) Trial; a being put to the test. Thus God “tempted [Gen. 22: 1; R.V., ‘did prove’] Abraham;” and afflictions are said to tempt, i.e., to try, men (James 1:2, 12; comp. Deut. 8:2), putting their…
Babylon · .Extent of, at the time of Nebuchadnezzar — .Extent of, at the time of Nebuchadnezzar
Indictments · .Daniel, on the charge of — .Daniel, on the charge of
Medo-Persian Kingdom · Divided into many provinces
Transference of the kingdom to Darius the Mede; appointment of the regency; envy of the satraps against Daniel, and their attempt to destroy him.
The narrative of this chapter is connected by the copula ו with the occurrence recorded in the preceding; yet Dan 6:1 does not, as in the old versions and with many interpreters, belong to the fifth chapter, but to the sixth, and forms not merely the bond of connection between the events narrated in the fifth and sixth chapters, but furnishes at the same time the historical basis for the following narrative, vv. 2-29 (vv. 1-28). The statement of the verse, that Darius the Mede received the kingdom when he was about sixty-two years old, connects its…
God rescued and delivered his faithful servant Daniel (5:23; 6:20), whereas Belshazzar’s dead gods could not save him.
Rashi on Daniel 6:1
And Darius the Mede received the kingdom at the age of sixty-two Why does he count his years? To tell you that on the day that Nebuchadnezzar entered the Heichal in the days of Jehoiachin, his adversary, Darius, was born (Seder Olam ch. 28). From the exile of Jeconiah until now were sixty-two years, and the master said: They were exiled in the days of Jehoiachin in the seventh year counting from the conquest of Jehoiakim, which is eight years after the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. There remained to Nebuchadnezzar’s reign thirty-seven years, for he reigned forty-five years, and twenty-three of Evil-merodach’s, as our Sages stated in Tractate Megillah (11b), and the two years of Belsha…
Persia · and twenty-seven provinces — and twenty-seven provinces
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
