So the administrators and satraps went together
This phrase highlights the unity and collaboration among the officials against Daniel. The Hebrew root for "administrators" (אֲחַשְׁדַּרְפְּנַיָּא, 'achashdarpanayya) and "satraps" (סָֽגְדִין, sagdin) indicates high-ranking officials in the Persian Empire. Historically, these roles were crucial in maintaining the king's authority across vast territories. Their coming "together" suggests a premeditated conspiracy, reflecting the political intrigue and jealousy that Daniel faced due to his exceptional qualities and favor with the king.

to the king
The reference to "the king" underscores the central authority of King Darius in the narrative. In the historical context, Darius the Mede is depicted as a ruler who inherited a complex administrative system. The officials' approach to the king signifies their recognition of his ultimate power to enact laws and decrees, which they intended to manipulate for their purposes.

and said, 'O King Darius, may you live forever!'
This phrase is a customary greeting in ancient Near Eastern royal courts, expressing loyalty and reverence. The Aramaic expression (לְמַלְכָּא דָּרְיָוֶשׁ חֱיִי לְעָלְמִין, lemalka dareyawesh chayi le'almin) is both a formal salutation and a strategic move to flatter the king, setting the stage for their request. It reflects the cultural norms of addressing royalty with honor, while also hinting at the officials' ulterior motives. This greeting serves as a reminder of the transient nature of human power compared to God's eternal sovereignty, a recurring theme in the Book of Daniel.

(6) Assembled.--See margin. Such conduct was very unusual in Eastern Courts, where, as a rule, the strictest decorum and order was preserved. This breach of etiquette must have prepared the king to expect some terrible crisis in the State.

Verses 6-9 - Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever. All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, 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, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. 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 altereth not, Wherefore King Darius signed the writing and the decree. The Septuagint, in regard to those verses, is much briefer, and reveals a better text. "Then those men came and said before the king, We have made a decree and a statute, that any man who offereth prayer or presents petition to any god for the space of thirty days, save only to Darius the king, shall be cast into the den of lions; and thus Darius decreed, and confirmed it." The fact that requests to uther men are not forbidden is to be observed. The long catalogue of officials is omitted; the whole conspiracy is the work of Daniel's co-presidents. Theodotion and the Peshitta are in practical agreement with the Massoretic text. To understand the point of this decree, that seems to us so absurd, and comprehend how any one with sufficient mental vigour left to be placed by Cyrus as governor in Babylon could be led to yield to confirm it, we must recognize the state of matters in Babylon. During the reign of Nabunahid there had been many religious changes. The seclusion of the monarch had led to the neglect of many of the regular rites of the gods of Babil. The policy he pursued of bringing the gods of various provinces to Babylon tended, as did the similar policy in Rome, to draw off from the importance of the national religion by forming rival cults. One of the first acts of Cyrus's reign was to order the replacing of these deities in their ancient shrines. This would necessarily be most distasteful to the worshippers of these imported deities. There would be much murmuring among the huge heterogeneous population; and there would be thus a well-grounded fear of a religious riot. A bold soldier as Gobryas (Darius) was, he probably was but a timid ruler, and nothing would he dread more than a religious riot. Would it not be a plausible way of meeting this difficulty to order for one month all worship to cease? The British Government in India regulates the religion of the inhabitants as summarily, forbidding religious observances that are liable to cause excitement in votaries of rival creeds. Thus Moses assigned, as a reason for refusing to sacrifice in Egypt, the wrath of the Egyptians (Exodus 8:26). The offering of a prayer among heathen peoples generally meant the offering of sacrifices, also accompanied possibly by processions. That the decree was made by Darius in the absence of his favourite minister might have two reasons: either from the fact that the word used (hargishoo) implies that the presidents rushed in tumultuously into the royal presence; that there was an emergency which must be met by instant action; or that, being a weak man, he did not wish his other counsellors to think that he was so under the influence of this Jew that he could do nothing without first consulting him; so, by way of showing his independence, he signed the decree. As for the practical deification of himself required from the subject races, that would not appear to him a matter of importance. It might even seem to him as the surest way of doing away with the rancour of religious rivalries to give these conflicting creeds a common object. He, Gobryas, was the representative of Cyrus, in whom deity was incarnate, therefore let them worship him in his representative capacity. That Daniel should be affected by this decree might easily never occur to Gobryas Jewish worship, now that the temple at Jerusalem was in ruins, must have become very much the synagogue worship of the present day. A worship that had neither idols nor sacrifices, neither temple nor altar, would seem to the Babylonians, and for that matter to the Medians and Persians also, as much the same as atheism. Christianity seemed so to the Roman Government. Darius, then, would readily think that Daniel could make no serious objection to this order That Daniel always spoke of a God in heaven did not matter much, since, to all appearance, he never worshipped him. Some have maintained that the punishment was an impossible one. It is certain that Asshur-bani-pal inflicted a similar punishment on Saulmugina, a rebel King of Babylon, and did it in honour of the gods. The main objection has been urged from the mistaken assumption that the text implies that the lions' den was a bottle shaped dungeon. There is nothing in the narrative that necessitates this. In regard to the decree, there is reference to the "laws of the Medea and Persians," "the Medea" being placed first. It has been attributed to court flattery, as Darius was a Merle; probably, however, there may be another explanation. The small canton of Ansan, over which Cyrus was king, lay between Elam and Media, but belonged more to the former than to the latter of these countries. Both countries bad been overrun by a nomadic race, the Manda, under Astyages, who had overthrown Cyaxarcs the King of Media. Against Astyages Cyrus rebelled, and gathered to him the Medea, Elamites, and other cognate races. Dr. Winckler thinks that, on his victory over Astyages, Cyrus assumed the name Persian, Parsu, from his race. The name Parsua appears in connection with the Medea in an inscription of Shalmaneser, where it seems to indicate a small kingdom occupying much the same geographical posit;on as Ansan. By taking this old name, not impossibly Cyrus avoided making the Medea feel themselves subject to the Elamites, or the Elamites to the Medea, or either to the little kingdom of Ansan. The Median had comparatively recently been an imperial power, therefore its laws and constitution would be placed before the more recently prominent Persian. One thing that must be observed is that, while the writer of Daniel mentions Medea separate from Persians, he mentions them conjointly. Had the writer been under the delusion attributed to him by all critical interpreters, that the Median Empire came between the Babylonian and the Persian, he would not have represented the Median courtiers as saying anything about the Persians or their laws; the Medes, and the Medea alone, would be considered. According to the Greek account, from which it is alleged Daniel drew his information, Persia was a small, undeveloped country before Cyrus raised it to empire. What right, then, would it have to have its laws mentioned in the same breath with those of imperial Media? If, however, Cyrus had been raised to such power, so as to be able to encounter successfully Astyages and his Scythian hordes by the adhesion to his cause of the Medea, the laws of the Medea might well get a preference, as the Medea were, in all probability, more numerous than the Persians, though the laws of the Persians would be mentioned. The claim that these laws were immutable must be regarded as on a par with several other Eastern exaggerations. Signed the writing and the decree. The reading of the Septuagint seems superior, "And so King Darius decreed (ἔστησε), and confirmed it." At the same time, the verb resham, translated "sign," really means "engrave," and therefore might naturally enough be used for affixing a seal to a clay tablet; only hetham is the word usually used for "sealing" a document. Behrmann thinks it does not refer to the signature of the sovereign, but to the engraving the decree on the clay. If we imagine yeqeem to have fallen out before "sara, we have a reading not unlike the LXX. In the seventh verse there is a list of officials omitted from the Septuagint; it is almost identical in members with that which we find in ch. 3, but in a slightly different order, only the sareqeen are added and the edargazereen omitted.

Parallel Commentaries ...


So
אֱ֠דַיִן (’ĕ·ḏa·yin)
Adverb
Strong's 116: Then, thereupon

the administrators
סָרְכַיָּ֤א (sā·rə·ḵay·yā)
Noun - masculine plural determinate
Strong's 5632: Chief, overseer

and satraps
וַאֲחַשְׁדַּרְפְּנַיָּא֙ (wa·’ă·ḥaš·dar·pə·nay·yā)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural determinate
Strong's 324: A satrap, governor, of a, main province

went together
הַרְגִּ֖שׁוּ (har·gi·šū)
Verb - Hifil - Perfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 7284: To gather tumultuously

to
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5922: Above, over, upon, against

the king
מַלְכָּ֑א (mal·kā)
Noun - masculine singular determinate
Strong's 4430: A king

and said,
אָמְרִ֣ין (’ā·mə·rîn)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 560: To say, tell, command

“O King
מַלְכָּ֖א (mal·kā)
Noun - masculine singular determinate
Strong's 4430: A king

Darius,
דָּרְיָ֥וֶשׁ (dā·rə·yā·weš)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 1868: Darius -- two person kings

may you live
חֱיִֽי׃ (ḥĕ·yî)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine singular
Strong's 2418: To live

forever!
לְעָלְמִ֥ין (lə·‘ā·lə·mîn)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 5957: Remote time, the future, past, forever


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OT Prophets: Daniel 6:6 Then these presidents and satraps assembled together (Dan. Da Dn)