6 Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever! 7 All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. 8 Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 9 Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction. ~ Daniel 6:6–9
Envy is a terrible slave master. It will make you do some despicable things,
not excluding lying with the intent to cause murder, as these men did. It knows
no bounds, no limits, has no friends, has no loyalty. Envy is a cunning
emotion, and these men were caught in its vice grip.
The Scriptures say that it pleased King Darius to set 120 satraps over the
whole kingdom. A satrap was a governor of a province or a ruler. So, the
kingdom was probably divided into 120 provinces, and each province had a
governor or some high-ranking official called a satrap over each one.
Then the king was pleased to set three top officials over the 120 satraps
(Daniel 6:1–2). Everything was working out just fine until envy set in. You
see, Daniel began to distinguish himself from the others through his work ethic
and his honesty. So, the king was further pleased to set Daniel over them all.
That’s when the others had enough of Mr. Goody Two Shoes, and that
green-eyed giant of envy raised his nasty head. And they began to plot. They
tried to find some kind of dirt on Daniel, anything, anything at all. But try
as they may, they could not find anything because Daniel was an honest,
hardworking, squeaky-clean man, righteous in all of his ways. They came to the
conclusion that they would never find anything illegal against him. So, they
would have to invent something. But that is nothing new; it still happens
today.
The punishment for their setup of Daniel was death by the same
means they had intended for him. Envy will convince you that it will get you
whatever it is that you desire from someone without punishment. But there are
always consequences for every action we make, whether good or bad. Don’t allow
that green-eyed monster to convince you otherwise.
Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Believe The Lies.
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