John Calvin Commentary Daniel 6:17

"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 lords; that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel." — Daniel 6:17 (ASV)

There is no doubt that God’s counsel provided that the nobles should seal the stone with their own rings, thus closing the mouth of the cave and making the miracle more glorious. For when the king approached the next day, the rings were all intact, and the seals all unbroken.

Thus, the preservation of this servant of God was clearly by divine aid and not by human contrivance. From this, we see how boldly the king’s nobles had compelled him to do their will. For he might seem deprived of all royal power when he handed over to them a subject dear and faithful to him, and ordered him to be thrown into the lions’ den.

They are not content with the king's compliance; they force another concession from him—the closing up of the mouth of the cave. Then they all seal the stone, so that no one could release Daniel. We see, then, that once liberty has been taken away, all is over, especially when anyone has become a slave by his own faults and has followed the counsel of the ungodly.

For, at first, such slavery will not go so far as to make a man do everything he is ordered, since he seems to be free. But when he has surrendered himself to such slavery as I have described, he is compelled to transgress not once or twice, but constantly and without stopping.

For example, if anyone deviates from his duty through either the fear of man, flattery, or any other corrupt desire, he will concede various things, not only when asked, but when urgently compelled. But when he has once submitted to the loss of freedom, he will be compelled, as I have already said, to consent to the most shameful deeds at anyone's bidding.

If any teacher or pastor of the Church should stray from the right path through the influence of ambition, the one who caused his decline will come to him again and say, "What! Do you dare to refuse me? Did I not obtain from you, yesterday or the day before, whatever I wanted?"

Thus he will be compelled to transgress a second time to please the person to whom he has allied himself, and will also be forced to repeat the transgression repeatedly. In the same way, princes who are not free agents because they are under the tyranny of others, if they allow themselves to be overcome against their conscience, set aside all their authority and are pulled in all directions by the will of their subjects.

This example, then, is set before us in the case of King Darius, who, after inflicting unjust punishment on Daniel, adds this, He must be enclosed in the cave, and then, the stone must be sealed—and for what purpose?—so that the sentence would not be changed; meaning, he did not dare to attempt anything in Daniel’s favor.

We see, then, how the king endured the greatest disgrace because his nobles had no confidence in him. They refused to trust him when he ordered Daniel to be thrown into the lions’ den, but they demanded a guarantee against his release and would not allow him to attempt anything.

Thus we see how shamefully they withdrew their trust from their king. Next, they used their authority against him, lest he should dare to remove the stone that had been sealed; for then he would incur the charge of falsehood for corrupting the public signatures, and of deception for falsifying the public documents.

Therefore, this passage warns us against prostituting ourselves by becoming enslaved to the lusts of men. Let everyone serve his nearest neighbors as far as love allows and as custom demands.

Meanwhile, no one should allow himself to be pulled in different directions against his conscience, because when he loses his freedom to act, he will be forced to endure many insults and to obey the vilest commands. We see this exemplified in the case of those who pander to the greed, ambition, or cruelty of princes; for once they are under the power of such men, they become most miserable victims. They cannot avoid the most extreme hardships; they become wretched slaves and bring down upon themselves, a hundred times over, the anger of both God and men.