Charles Spurgeon Commentary Daniel 6:4-7

"Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find occasion against Daniel as touching the kingdom; but they could find no occasion nor fault, forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. Then these presidents and satraps assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever. All the presidents of the kingdom, the deputies and the satraps, the counsellors and the governors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a strong interdict, 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." — Daniel 6:4-7 (ASV)

Forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.

Then these presidents and princes assembled together before the king and said this to him: "King Darius, live forever! All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counselors, and the captains have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree that whoever asks a petition of any God or man for thirty days, except from you, O king, will be cast into the den of lions." We do not know with what ingenious arguments they moved the king's mind to approve this, but we think we can imagine them.

He had just conquered Chaldea; they would, therefore, say, "It will be an excellent test of the obedience of your new subjects if you test them on the point of their religion; try whether they will for thirty days abstain from addressing their deities."

Perhaps, too, since Darius had a colleague on the throne—the younger Cyrus, who was much more popular than he—they may have egged him on by hinting that Cyrus was much too vain. They may have further suggested that, therefore, if he would not allow anyone to address a petition, even to Cyrus, for thirty days, it would tend to show who was really loyal to Darius and would also test Cyrus's temper. I cannot tell how they did it, but somehow or other they managed to lead the foolish old man to carry out their designs.