I. This excellent spirit to which Daniel owed his preferment was a spirit of self-control. He kept his body under. He held the mastery of his animal nature. He laid the iron hand upon his appetites and passions. He crucified the flesh. "He purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine that he drank."
II. This excellent spirit was a spirit of genuine piety.Much as we admire the temperance, the lofty courage, the sublime moral heroism of Daniel, we must go deeper than this to find the secret of his strength. He was, above all, a man of God. He endured, as seeing Him who is invisible. He had constant intercourse with heaven. To him God was a reality, a living and reliable Friend, to whom he could take every difficulty, and on whom he could trust in every danger. Yet all this tenacity to religious principle was united with a courtesy and urbanity that secured the admiration of all, and bespoke the true gentleman. He knew how to be firm and yet polite; conscientious, yet forbearing.
III. The excellent spirit to which Daniel owed his preferment was a spirit of unshaken faith in God. All through his troubles and they were many and great he never lost confidence in God, never failed to betake himself to Him in prayer. Beautiful as Daniel's character was, he felt himself a sinner before God. No penitent ever was more humble in his confessions than he. No saint ever expressed himself more clearly as altogether dependent on Divine and covenant mercy. Of all the prophets of the Old Testament none more distinctly predicted the coming of Jesus; none indicated more plainly the object of His coming as a substitute to atone for the guilty. All Daniel's hope for salvation was founded on the Messiah's work, who should "finish transgression and make an end of sins, and make reconciliation for iniquity and bring in everlasting righteousness."
J. Thain Davidson, ForewarnedForearmed,p. 233.
References: Daniel 6:3. S. Macnaughton, Real Religion and Real Life,p. 292.Daniel 6:4-10. R. Payne-Smith, Homiletic Magazine,vol. xii., p. 351.Daniel 6:5. Christian World Pulpit,vol. xviii., p. 149.