Daniel in the Lions' Den

The Book of Daniel tells of Jews living in exile, serving foreign kings while staying faithful to God. Chapter 6 takes place after Babylon has fallen, under a ruler the book calls Darius the Mede (Dan 5:31). Daniel, by now an old man, has served kings for decades.

Darius organizes his empire under one hundred and twenty regional governors, with three officials over them, and Daniel is one of the three. He is so capable and trustworthy that the king plans to put him over the entire kingdom. His rivals dig for anything they can use against him and find nothing: no corruption, no carelessness. They conclude that the only way to trap him is through his faithfulness to God.

So they flatter the king into signing a decree: for thirty days the king alone may receive prayers, and whoever prays to anyone else will be thrown to the lions. Under the empire's rules, once the decree is signed, not even the king can cancel it.

Daniel knows about the decree, and he keeps his habit anyway. For years he has knelt three times a day in his upstairs room, facing Jerusalem, to pray and thank God, and he does not stop now. Jews in exile prayed facing Jerusalem, as Solomon had asked at the Temple's dedication (1 Kgs 8:48). He doesn't hide, and he doesn't protest.

His enemies catch him and report to the king. Darius is distressed and spends the whole day, until sunset, looking for a way out, but his own law traps him. Daniel is thrown into the den, and the king tells him he hopes Daniel's God will save him. A stone is placed over the opening and sealed with the king's ring and his nobles' rings, so that no one can interfere.

The king spends a sleepless night, refusing food. At dawn he rushes to the den and calls Daniel's name, dreading the answer. Daniel's voice answers from below: he is alive and unharmed, protected by an angel God sent. Daniel is lifted out without a mark on him. The narrator wants us to see why: Daniel relied on God, and God kept him safe.

Then the king punishes the men who had trapped Daniel, and he sends word to every nation in his empire to revere Daniel's God.

Christians see a hint of Easter here: a sealed stone, a long night, and at dawn God's servant found alive. Early Christians painted Daniel among the lions on the walls of the Roman catacombs as a sign of hope.