HEBREW WORD STUDY (ARAMAIC) : CONTINUALLY SERVE

HEBREW WORD STUDY (ARAMAIC) – CONTINUALLY SERVE  – PALAH  BITHEDIRA’  פלה בתדירא

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

This portion of the Book of Daniel was written in Aramaic which is very difficult to translate into another language.  The writer uses a strange word for serve.  The word in Aramaic is palak which in a noun form means a millstone.  In its verbal form it means to grind or cut up into pieces.  It is possible that what King Darius is referring to is Daniel’s fanaticism, the God that you have ground yourself up into or maybe, the God who has ground you up into little pieces.

Then he adds the noun bor which has the prefix beth which is the preposition for on or in and the suffix Aleph which is a definite article the.  It means a circle or to dwell within the circle. What King Darius could possibly be referencing is that Daniel has allowed God to ground him up into his little circle that there was no hope of his seeing any other way.  There was just no possible way that Daniel would serve any other 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.  This is found in a Peil  Imperfect form.  Hebrew does  not have a reflexive form for the Piel stem, but Aramaic does.  The Peil is a combination Piel (Intensive) and Hithapael  (reflexive).   What King Darius is saying is: “The God that you have totally committed yourself to will deliver you because he loves you and wants to protect Himself.”   In others:  “It would be major embarrassment to God if he does not rescue you from these lions. 

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.   Anahita and Mithras were the primary gods of the Persian Empire. 

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.  

This was not just a battle in the physical realm but in the spiritual realm as well. That 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 angels 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.  

Sometimes God will not only deliver you out of a trial because He loves you but He will also do it to protect His name.