ARAMAIC WORD STUDY – GRINDING UP TO BE ABSORBED – PALAK  פלח   Pei Lamed Cheth

Daniel 6:16: “The king spake and said unto Daniel: “Thy God whom thou serves continually, He will deliver you.” 

In researching my doctoral dissertation, I came across something very curious which may serve to shed some light on King Darius’s statement to Daniel that God would deliver him from the lion’s den.  This portion of the Book of Daniel was written in Aramaic which is very difficult to translate into another language.  There are many variations we can use in arriving at an equivalent word in the English language for many Aramaic words.  Most translators use the word serve for Aramaic word  palak which in a noun form and means a millstone.  In its verbal form it means to grind or cut up into pieces. This was a very curious word for King Darius to use because he wasn’t just saying that Daniel served god but that Daniel had ground himself up into his God. He literally allowed himself to be absorbed by God.  Sounds a little creepy but this is second time I ran across this idea of being absorbed by God.  If you recall my study a few weeks ago on the Day of Atonement the word cleansing in Leviticus 16:30 has a meaning of preparing for absorption.   It appears King Darius was so impressed with Daniels dedication to God that he could only explain it in a way of saying he is absorbed into his God.   

But then he adds something very enlightening.  He says that God will deliver him.  The Aramaic word used here is shazav  which means to rescue or deliver, but it is a deliverance made out of love and affection.  King Darius is saying that if your God loves you so much, He will not let you suffer this fate.  Oh, but there is more embedded in this word.  It is in a Peil  Imperfect form.  Hebrew does not have a reflexive form for the Piel stem, but Aramaic does.  The Piel is a combination Piel (Intensive) and Hithapael  (reflexive).   What King Darius is saying, if we are true to the grammatical for of this word is: “The God that you have totally committed yourself to will deliver you to protect Himself.   In others, it would be major embarrassment to God if he does not rescue you from these lions.  Either because of Daniels devotion to God or King Darius actually believes Daniel is so absorbed into God that if the lions ate up Daniel they would also be eating up God so surely God will deliver him to either protect His name or Himself. 

Now we need to examine just why the lions are so important here.  I found a picture of an ancient artifact that shows King Darius’s son Artaxeres II standing before the figure of the goddess Anahita  riding on a lion.  Anahita is the Sun God of ancient Persia and the protector of Persia.  Mithras, or the lion is the symbol of the Persian identity depicting strength and unity.   That unity was very important as the Persian Empire was made up of many conquered nations, but each conquered nation shared in the governmental structure of the Persian Empire. Daniel was one of its three presidents who was a prince of the Judean Empire.  This lion symbolized the strength of the Persian Empire and it is that strength that would keep the Empire united with the conquered nations.   In was recognized that in unity there was strength and power.  Yet to be unified all had to ascribe to one primary god, in this case the goddess Anahita  was elected as we see  her pictured riding on the lion.  

If anyone violated or placed another god above Anahita, they would have to face the wrath of the lions and hence the lion’s den was kept for that very reason.  The real lions were kept to punish anyone who desecrated the authority of the reigning god or goddess.  That is why it was so easy to set Daniel up and get King Darius to sign the proclamation that no one could worship any other god than Anahita .

This was not just a battle in the physical realm but in the spiritual realm as well. If Daniel survived the lion’s den, then the whole religious order, if not governmental structure of the kingdom would be threatened.  This is why King Darius ordered everyone to worship Jehovah.  The elite of the kingdom saw God Jehovah go toe to toe with sun god Anahita  and it wasn’t even close.  As they threw  Daniel into the lion’s den angel shut the mouths of the lions.  There must have been a lot of lions in there because the servants of Anahita were thrown in next and they with their families numbered almost three hundred and the Bible says they were devoured before they hit the ground.  Once in the lion’s den it is very possible Daniel, who understood the secrets of God, practiced a little yaredu ( dominion)  and those lions became nothing more than house cats. 

Whether Daniel practiced yaredu or not, we do know one thing for certain.  King Darius knew that Daniel had a personal relationship with the God of the universe and not only that this God would protect Daniel because this God Jehovah loved Daniel which is a whole lot more than you can say for Anahita, she turned out to be a no show where her servants were put to the test.