“It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps, to be over the whole kingdom.” Daniel 6:1
Critics of God and His word hate the book of Daniel. It is full of miracles and prophecies that are so accurate (many of which have been fulfilled) that they claim Daniel was written much later in history by someone who is recording what already happened. The reason they object to Daniel is because they do not believe God exists and therefore must destroy every thing that is anyway miraculous.
When we come to the end of Daniel 5 and the beginning of Daniel 6
we encounter one of the critic’s objections that make them shout for
joy. They are sure this proves the Bible is full of lies and fairy tales.
Their issue? History does not record any king of the Medes and the
Persians named Darius. This is of course no problem for believers. We
know God does not lie and if He has recorded this fact in scripture
then it happened. We also know that, in time, archaeology and history
will catch up with the truths in the Bible. This was true of Belshazzar who critics at one time contended never existed – till archaeology proved otherwise.
So what do we know about Darius? The Bible speaks of both Cyrus and Darius. Both are named in Daniel and in Ezra when the Medes allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem from their captivity in Babylon. Second Chronicles 36:22 and Ezra 5:13 name Cyrus II, known as “the Great,” as the first Persian king to rule the conquered Babylonian empire. But Daniel 5:30–31 says, “In that night was Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans [Babylonians], slain and Darius, the Mede, took the kingdom, being about threescore and two [62] years old.”
There are two views on who Darius is. Some believe that Cyrus and Darius are the same person using different names. Variations in names are common . For example the king in Esther is called both Ahasuerus and Xerxes. This is likely not the case for we know that
Darius’s father was Ahasuerus (Daniel 9:1), while Cyrus’s father was Cambyses I.
The second view is that that Darius was Gubaru, a Mede whom Cyrus appointed to rule the province of Babylon for fourteen years. This is suggested by Daniel 5:31 which is better translated Darius “received” (not took) the kingdom. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus wrote, “Babylon was taken by Darius, and when he, with his kinsman Cyrus, had put an end to the dominion of the
Babylonians, he [Darius] was sixty-two years old. He was the son of Astyages, and had another name among the Greeks.” This of course is the age Daniel records. The Nabonidus Chronicle also states that Cyrus appointed Gubaru [Gobryas] as the governor of Babylon immediately after the city was conquered.
What can we learn? Daniel, a man of great integrity (as evidenced by the account in Chapter 6), gives more specific information about this ruler than any other ruler. He states his age (5:31), his father (9:1), and his nationality. Daniel knew this was not “Darius the Persian” from 522 BC. He specifically calls him “Darius the Mede.” In other words, he distinguishes between the two. This is important because when legitimate research is done God’s word proves itself for what it it is – truthful and inerrant. It is to be believed in all that is it says for it was dictated by the God of the Universe to us.