All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, 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.
All the presidents of the ... have consulted together to establish a royal statute ... that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king. The Persian king was regarded as the representative of the chief god, Ormuzd; the seven princes near him represented the seven Amshaspands before the throne of Ormuzd; hence, Mordecai (Esther 3:5) refused such homage to Haman, the king's prime minister, as inconsistent with what is due to god alone. A weak despot, like Darius, much under the control of his princes, might easily be persuaded that such a decree would test the obedience of the Chaldeans just conquered, and tame their proud spirits. So absolute is the king in the East, that he is regarded not merely as the ruler, but the owner of the people.
All ... the governors ... the counselors, and the captains. Several functionaries are here specified, not mentioned in Daniel 6:4; Daniel 6:6. They evidently exaggerate the case to the weak king, as if their request was that of all the officers in the empire.
Shall be cast into the den of lions - an underground cave or pit, covered with a stone. It is an undesigned proof of genuineness that the "fiery furnace" is not made the means of punishment here, as in Daniel 3:1-30:; for the Persians were fire-worshippers, which the Babylonians were not.