John Calvin Commentary Daniel 6:18

"Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting; neither were instruments of music brought before him: and his sleep fled from him." — Daniel 6:18 (ASV)

Here Daniel relates the slow repentance of the king because, although he was in the greatest grief, he still did not correct his fault. This happens to many who are not hardened by contempt for God and their own depravity; they are drawn aside by others and are dissatisfied with their own vices, while they still indulge in them.

If only examples of this evil were rare in the world! But they occur everywhere before our eyes. Darius, therefore, is presented to us here as intermediate between the ungodly and the wicked—and the righteous and the holy. The wicked do not hesitate to stir up the Almighty against themselves; and after they have dismissed all fear and all shame, they revel in their own licentiousness.

Those who are ruled by the fear of God, although they endure hard struggles with the flesh, nevertheless restrain themselves and bridle their perverse desires. Others are between these two groups, as I have said: not yet obstinate in their malice and not entirely satisfied with their corruptions, they still follow them as if bound to them by ropes.

Such was Darius. He ought to have consistently repelled the calumny of his nobles. But when he saw himself so entangled by them, he ought to have opposed them courageously and rebuked them for so abusing their influence over him. Yet he did not do so, but rather bent before their fury.

Meanwhile, he laments in his palace and abstains from all food and delicacies. He thus shows his displeasure at the evil conduct he had connived at.

We see then how ineffectual it is for our own conscience merely to condemn us when we sin and to cause us sorrow for our faults. We must go beyond this, so that sorrow may lead us to repentance, as Paul also teaches us (2 Corinthians 7:10).

Darius, then, had brought himself into a difficult situation; while he laments his fault, he does not attempt to correct it. This was, indeed, the beginning of repentance, but nothing more; and when he feels any compunction, this agitates him and allows him neither peace nor comfort.

This, then, is the lesson we are to learn from Daniel’s narrative of King Darius passing that entire night in wailing.

It follows afterwards—