Daniel 6:3: “Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes because an excellent spirit was in him and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.”

The more I read this passage over the more I became fascinated with this idea of an excellent spirit. At this point in my study I cannot honestly say what an excellent spirit is or what it means. But, I do think I know what it does not mean. I do not maintain a personal Facebook page but the ministry does and I went on Facebook prior to and after the elections and it was after reading some of the mean spirited comments from Christians that brought me to this verse. Some of the things I read I would definitely not put in the category of an excellent spirit.

I mean look at Daniel. We have a man who had every reason to hate his employer, his king. Here he was a good Godly man forced to serve a pagan Persian king whose religious faith was to follow Zoroastrianism.  I don’t know if you are familiar with Zoroastrianism but it is one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions dating back to ancient Iran 3,500 years ago. It is very similar to the Hebrew religion and yet very different. Their god is known as Ahura (like in Star Trek) and Mazda (like in the car) who is considered the supreme deity and means Wise Lord. They believe Ahura Mazda is almighty but not omnipotent.  It emphasizes a duty to protect nature which puts it in the pantheistic fold.  Indeed Darius was a king who respected the environment and all creation.  What could be more godly than that?  My own personal take, is that satan is a counterfeiter.  As C.S. Lewis describe in his book Screw Tape Letters, the mentoring demon told his pupil, (without quoting from the book) something like this: It was ok that his target went to church. Let him sing his hymns, read his liturgy and say his prayers.  Just don’t let him go over the edge.  The enemy will allow us to get very close, so close that if it were possible even the elect would be deceived.  In short I believe the nature of this belief system would be indicative of the fact that his was a satanic religion. Yet everyone, even Darius saw an excellent spirit in Daniel.

First thing we need to realize is that chapters 2 through 7 in Daniel are in Aramaic and the remaining portions are in Hebrew. The Dead Sea Scrolls have uncovered no less than five copies of the Book of Daniel, all perfectly in harmony with each other. The Septuagint does have some extra material not found in our English translations, but that doesn’t apply to this passage.

The word excellent in Aramaic is yatar which is a little different than the Hebrew word.  The Hebrew word has more of the idea of an abundance.  Yet, the Aramaic word carries the idea of pre-eminence. King Darius was very astute, he had to be to survive as a king.  He probably noticed something different in Daniel from all the other wise men. Daniel seemed to be more focused on his relationship with God than the other wise men. The others were constantly seeking the favor of the king, yet Daniel would be seeking only the favor of his God. Here was someone whose spirit was pre-eminent over the flesh.  He was a man who walked in the spirit or rucha as the Aramaic text gives it. In the Aramaic rucha is often rendered as spirit, mind or wind. Well that doesn’t help much, maybe this will. Rucha is spelled Resh, Vav, Chet. The Resh represents something new, the Vav shows a connection between earth and heaven and the Chet represents a transformation.

Where all the other wise men were spouting the party line and the same old same old, Daniel would speak of new things, things of God, things that would bring about a transformation. Perhaps what Darius saw was a man who did not care about making an impression by speaking the party line, but one who would speak the truth of God. He sensed his rucha or spirit or mind. The king recognized that there was something about Daniel that was pure and holy. Perhaps because Daniel had a pure heart.

In the play Fiddler on the Roof, you have the scene at the wedding when an argument breaks out and people start forming sides and when emotions were at their height, they consulted the rabbi: “What do you think, rabbi?”   The rabbi replies: “I think we should all sit down.” Things suddenly become peaceful. People respected the word of the rabbi, not because of what he said, but because they sensed he had an excellent spirit. 

I will never forget when I was a student at Moody Bible Institute and I was working the information booth during Founders Week.  A tall, distinguished man, with a bright twinkle in his eye and a warm smile came up to the booth and asked if there were any messages for George Schuler. I checked and told him there were none and he walked away.  I said out loud to no one in particular just over sure amazement at the presence of this man, “Wow, I bet he is someone special.”  A person standing next to me overheard me and asked why.  I said: “I don’t know, it was if he was…” The person next to me finished for me: “A blessing?”  I said, “Yeah, that is it exactly.” Then I was told it was George Schuler a former faculty member in the music department of Moody and Gospel hymn writer. I asked what songs he wrote and I was told his most famous song was: “Make Me A Blessing.” I could not help but think: “How apropos.” He lived the music he wrote but more than that, I believe I saw a yatar rucha, an excellent spirit.

So how do you get this excellent spirit? Let’s look again at the Aramaic word for excellent yatar which not only means excellent but also pre-eminent. When your spirit joined with the Spirit of God takes the leadership role over the flesh you have an excellent spirit. In fact the proof that you are walking in the Spirit is that people will recognize this without you having to say: “I don’t do that because I’m good church people.”  Somehow they will know you don’t do that without you having to say so. I remember when I was working as an investigator and my boss gave me a word of advice. “If a person has to tell you he is a good Christian, put up the red flags.” As far as I know my boss was not a Christian but he sure had his share of those who claimed to be.  If you have to tell someone you are a Christian, that you are speaking to them in love, then I sincerely doubt you are manifesting an excellent spirit.