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Daniel 6

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1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty satraps, who should be in all the kingdom;

2 and over these, three presidents -- of whom Daniel was one -- to whom these satraps should render account, and that the king should suffer no loss.

3 Now this Daniel surpassed the presidents and the satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to appoint him over the whole realm.

4 Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find a pretext against Daniel with respect to the kingdom; but they could not find any pretext or fault; inasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.

5 Then said these men, We shall not find any pretext against this Daniel, unless we find [it] against him touching the law of his God.

6 Then these presidents and satraps came in a body to the king, and said thus unto him: King Darius, live for ever!

7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects, and the satraps, the counsellors, and the governors have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.

8 Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked.

9 Therefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree.

10 And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and, his windows being open in his upper chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.

11 But those men came in a body, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.

12 Then they came near, and spoke before the king concerning the king's decree: Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask [anything] of any god or man within thirty days, except of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked.

13 Then they answered and said before the king, That Daniel, who is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.

14 Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore distressed thereby, and set his heart on Daniel to save him; and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him.

15 Then these men came in a body unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed.

16 Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast [him] into the den of lions. The king spoke and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will save thee.

17 And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his nobles, that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.

18 Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting; neither were concubines brought before him; and his sleep fled from him.

19 Then the king arose with the light at break of day, and went in haste unto the den of lions.

20 And when he came near unto the den, he cried with a mournful voice unto Daniel: the king spoke and said unto Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, hath thy God whom thou servest continually been able to save thee from the lions?

21 Then Daniel spoke unto the king, O king, live for ever!

22 My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me; forasmuch as before him innocence was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.

23 Thereupon was the king exceeding glad, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.

24 And the king commanded, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and broke all their bones in pieces ere they came to the bottom of the den.

25 Then king Darius wrote unto all peoples, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied unto you.

26 I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel; for he is the living God, and steadfast for ever, and his kingdom [that] which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.

27 He saveth and delivereth, and he worketh signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth: who hath saved Daniel from the power of the lions.

28 And this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 799

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799. "For your great men were the merchants of the earth." This symbolically means that those higher in the Roman Catholic hierarchy are of such a character because they use their various prerogatives, including ones left to their discretion in the regulations of their order, to buy and sell and make material gains.

The great men mean those higher in the Roman Catholic hierarchy, those called cardinals, bishops and primates. They are called merchants because they use the sanctities of the church as merchandise by which to make material gains (nos. 771, 783) - here those who use their various prerogatives, including ones left to their discretion in the regulations of their order, to buy and sell and make material gains.

The reason we say this is apparent from the foregoing declarations, for this follows as a consequence of them. In the foregoing declarations we are told that the sound of harpists and musicians, flutists and trumpeters, shall not be heard in Babylon anymore, that no craftsman of any craft shall be found there, that the sound of a mill shall not be heard there, that the light of a lamp shall not shine there, and that the sound of a bridegroom and bride shall not be heard there; and these symbolically mean, as may be seen above, that in Babylon there will be no affection for spiritual truth (no. 792), no understanding of spiritual truth and so no thought of spiritual truth (no. 793), neither any inquiry or investigation into it (no. 794), nor any enlightenment or perception of it, and so no conjunction of goodness and truth, which is what forms the church (no. 797). The Roman Catholics described lack these things because those higher in rank also buy and sell and make material gains, and thus furnish those lower in rank with their examples. This then is why we are told, "For your great men were the merchants of the earth."

[2] But perhaps someone will say, "What are those additional discretionary prerogatives which can be used as merchandise?"

They are not their annual incomes and stipends, but the dispensations they make by the power the keys give them, namely, their forgiving of sins, even heinous ones, and using this to liberate from temporal punishments; their interceding with the Pope to be able to marry people within degrees of relationship prohibited by law, and to put an end to marriages within degrees of relationship not prohibited, and allowing these themselves without interceding by acts of toleration; their granting special privileges that lie within their power to grant; their use of the power to ordain ministers and confirm them; their use of the gifts they receive in general and in particular from monasteries; their appropriation of revenues from other sources which belong by right to others; and many other things.

These, and not their annual incomes, if they are content with them, cause them not to have any affection for or thought of spiritual truth, any investigation into or perception of spiritual truth, or any conjunction of truth and goodness, because they are the quests of unrighteous mammon, and an unrighteous person continually lusts for natural riches and turns away from spiritual riches, which are Divine truths drawn from the Word.

[3] It can now be seen from this that the declaration, "For your great men were the merchants of the earth," symbolically means that those higher in the Roman Catholic hierarchy are of such a character because they use their various prerogatives, including ones left to their discretion in the regulations of their order, to buy and sell and make material gains.

To this we will add here something more about using the power of the keys to grant dispensations over the commission of crimes, even heinous ones, by which to liberate the guilty not only from eternal punishment, but also from temporal ones, and if they are not liberated, still to protect them by giving them asylum.

Who does not see that this does not fall within ecclesiastical authority, but rather civil authority? That it is to extend ecclesiastical government over everything secular? That it serves to destroy public trust? And that by this power still reserved for them they have the power to bring back their earlier despotic dominion over all the law courts established by kings, thus over the judges, even the highest of them - something they would also do, if they did not fear people's leaving the church.

This is what is meant in Daniel by the fourth beast that came up from the sea and its thinking to change the times and the law (Daniel 7:25).

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

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Habakkuk 2:2

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2 And Jehovah answered me and said, Write the vision, and engrave it upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it.

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