DANITES

See DAN No. 2.

DAN-JAAN

(Dan-jaʹan) [possibly, Dan played a pipe; or simply, Dan of Jaan].

A place mentioned only once, on the route followed by Joab when taking the census ordered by David. (2 Sam. 24:1-6) The description seems to place its location in the extreme N of Israel, since it is stated that they went “on to Dan-jaan and went around to Sidon.” The fact that Beer-sheba is mentioned in the following verse (vs. 7) calls to mind the common expression “from Beer-sheba to Dan,” used by David in instructing Joab about the census. (1 Chron. 21:2) Dan-jaan may therefore refer to the city of Dan or possibly a suburb of that northern city.—Compare Judges 18:28, 29, where Dan and Sidon are also mentioned jointly; see also DAN No. 3.

DANNAH

(Danʹnah).

A city situated in the mountainous region of Judah. (Josh. 15:49) Though its exact location is unknown today, some suggest it may be Deir esh-Shemesh (or Simya), about nine miles (14.5 kilometers) W of Hebron.

DARA, DARDA

(Daʹra, Darʹda) [possibly, thorn thistle].

A descendant of Judah through Zerah (1 Chron. 2:4, 6); possibly the same as the Darda whose wisdom, though great, was not equal to Solomon’s.—1 Ki. 4:31; see MAHOL; ZERAH No. 3.

DARIC

A Persian gold coin weighing approximately .27 ounce troy (8.4 grams) and hence presently evaluated at $9.48. The obverse side of one daric, coined for two centuries from the latter part of the sixth century B.C.E. onward, depicts a king in a half kneeling position, with a spear in his right hand and a bow in his left. The reverse side shows the oblong punch impression made when the coin was stamped. At 1 Chronicles 29:7 one of the figures for temple contributions during David’s reign is stated in terms of darics, although the Persian daric was unknown in David’s time. Evidently the writer of Chronicles converted the original figure into terms then current and familiar to his readers.—Ezra 8:27.

[Picture on page 419]

Gold daric

DARIUS

(Da·riʹus).

In the Biblical record, the name is applied to three kings, one a Mede, the other two Persians. Herodotus (vi, 98) equated the name with the Greek term Her·xeiʹes as meaning “the one who restrains” or “the keeper, ruler.” The Greek-English Lexicon by Liddell and Scott (p. 310) considers that the Greek form of Darius (Da·reiʹos) is derived from the Persian darâ, meaning “a king.” Lexicographers Brown, Driver and Briggs believe that the Hebrew form of the name (Dar·yaʹwesh) derives from a root meaning to “raise, make high.” Thus, some consider it possible that “Darius” may have been used, at least in the case of Darius the Mede, as a title or throne name rather than a personal name.

1. Darius the Mede, successor to the kingdom of the Chaldean king Belshazzar following the conquest of Babylon by the forces of Cyrus the Persian, at which time Darius was about sixty-two years of age. (Dan. 5:30, 31) He is further identified as “the son of Ahasuerus of the seed of the Medes.”—Dan. 9:1.

DANIEL IN THE LIONS’ PIT

Darius, exercising his administrative capacity, appointed one hundred and twenty satraps (a term that means, basically, “protector of the realm”) to serve throughout the realm, and also three high officials who had jurisdiction over the satraps, acting on behalf of the king’s interests. The prime concern of the arrangement may well have been financial, as the collecting of revenues and tributes for the royal coffers was one of the chief duties of satraps. (Compare Ezra 4:13.) One member of the triumvirate of high officials assigned was Daniel, who so distinguished himself over the other officials and satraps that Darius contemplated making him prime minister. (Dan. 6:1-3) Evidently due to envy, though perhaps due as well to resentment of the restraint against corruption and graft that Daniel’s integrity doubtless produced, the other two high officials, in league with the satraps, devised a legal trap. Appearing as a throng before the king, they presented for the king’s signature an edict, ostensibly favored by the entire body of all ranking government officials (Daniel not being mentioned, however), and prohibiting the making of “a petition to any god or man” other than Darius for thirty days. The penalty was for the violator to be thrown into the lions’ pit. The decree had all the appearances of serving to establish Darius, a foreigner, firmly in his newly received position as king of the realm and of being an expression of loyalty and support on the part of the government officials advocating it.

Darius signed the decree and soon was faced with the result, one that should have revealed to him the hidden purpose of the edict. For continuing prayer to Jehovah God, Daniel, as the edict’s first violator (compare Acts 5:29), was thrown into the lions’ pit despite Darius’ sincere efforts to find a way of circumventing the unchangeable statute. Darius expressed trust in the power of Daniel’s God to preserve him, and, after a sleepless night and fasting, hurried to the lions’ pit and rejoiced to find Daniel still alive and unharmed. The king then not only had Daniel’s accusers and their families thrown into the