Sheriffs

Sheriffs appear once in the Authorized Version, in Daniel 3:2–3, in the list of Babylonian officials summoned by Nebuchadnezzar to the dedication of his golden image on the plain of Dura. The Aramaic word translated sheriff (tiphtaye) designates a class of legal or judicial officers, possibly district administrators responsible for law enforcement in the provinces of the Babylonian empire.

The list in Daniel 3 names seven or eight categories of Babylonian officials — satraps, governors, deputies, sheriffs, treasurers, counselors, judges, and rulers — representing the entire administrative hierarchy of the empire. Their summoning to bow before the image, and the death penalty decreed for those who refused, formed the backdrop for the testing of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who refused to bow and were cast into the fiery furnace. The precision of the title list reflects the authentic flavor of Babylonian court practice that characterizes the Aramaic sections of Daniel.