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From: Daniel 6:12-28

Daniel Sentenced to be Put in the Lions’ Den (Continuation)

([11] Then these men came by agreement (into the upper chamber of Daniel’s
house) and found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God.) [12]
Then they came near and said before the king, concerning the interdict, “O king!
Did you not sign an interdict, that any man who makes petition to any god or
man within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?â€
The king answered, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes
and Persians, which cannot be revoked.â€ [13] Then they answered before the
king, “That Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no heed to you,
O king, or the interdict you have signed, but makes his petition three times a
day.â€

[14] Then the king, when he heard these words, was much distressed, and set
his mind to deliver Daniel; and he labored till the sun went down to rescue him.
[15] Then these men came by agreement to the king, and said to the king,
“Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no interdict or
ordinance which the king establishes can be changed.â€

[16] Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den
of lions. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually,
deliver you!â€ [17] And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den,
and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that
nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. [18] Then the king went to his pa-
lace, and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep
fled from him.

Daniel’s Miraculous Escape

[19] Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions.
[20] When he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of
anguish and said to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God,
whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?â€ [21] Then
Daniel said to the king, “O king, live for ever! [22] My God sent his angel and
shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not hurt me, because I was found blame-
less before him, and also before you, O king, I have done no wrong.â€ [23] Then
the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of
the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of hurt was found
upon him, because he had trusted in his God.

The King’s Profession of Faith

[24] And the king commanded, and those men who had accused Daniel were
brought and cast into the den of lions—they, their children, and their wives and
before they reached the bottom of the den the lions overpowered them and broke
all their bones in pieces.

[25] Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell
in all the earth: “Peace be multiplied to you. [26] I make a decree, that in all my
royal dominion men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living
God, enduring for ever his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion
shall be to the end. [27] He delivers and rescues, he works signs and wonders
in heaven and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.â€
([28] So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus
the Persian.)

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Commentary:

6:1-28. This passage, which is similar in parts to chapter 3, begins by showing
how difficult it was for the Jews to stay true to their religion in the midst of a pa-
gan society (vv. 1-18); then we see how God comes to their rescue (vv. 19-24);
finally, the pagan king acknowledges the God of Israel (vv. 25-28). As in chapter
5, Daniel is center-stage; in fact, his companions are not even mentioned. The
episode has no particular connection with the previous ones; in fact, it seems
to be a unit in its own right; it rounds off the part of the book dealing with Daniel
at the court of Babylon. The fact that the story involves Darius the Mede, a king
unknown to historical scholarship (see pp. 794f, above), reinforces the impres-
sion that this is a moral tale designed to get across the message that God
helps those who strive to obey the precepts of the Jewish religion.

6:1-18. Daniel seems to be very much part of the social and political world of
Babylon; thanks to his skill and loyalty, he is second only to the king. The plot
against him may have been hatched out of jealousy, but the fact that he was a
foreigner and a Jew probably did not help. His enemies set a sort of legal trap
for Daniel. The king in his vanity issues a decree which, for a period of thirty
days, makes him the only god there is. It is a decree that even he cannot re-
voke — much as he would wish to do so, in order to liberate Daniel from its pe-
nalty. Here Daniel the Jew is not being obliged to do something against his reli-
gion: he is being required to refrain from doing something that his religion enjoins
— to pray to God facing towards Jerusalem (cf. 1 Kings 8:48). Daniel’s opponents
have managed to manipulate the king and change the law, in such a way that
they can accuse Daniel of breaking the law for religious reasons; he cannot be
faulted on any other score.

When Daniel learned about the interdict, he did not change his standard pattern
of prayer (v. 11); there is a lesson here for Christians, as the Fathers point out.
Origen, for example, says: “The commandment to “pray without ceasing” (cf.
Lk 18:1) can be understood and fulfilled only if we believe that the whole of man’s
life is a single, unbroken prayer. One part of this long prayer of life is what we
call prayer, and we should pray no less than three times a day, as is made
clear in the book of Daniel, who prayed three times a day even in the midst of
great dangersâ€ (”De Oratione”, 12, 2).

6:19-24. Through divine intervention (once again by means of an angel: cf. 3:26),
no harm comes to Daniel from the lions. It is as if Daniel is innocent in the sight
of God—a point not lost on the king (v. 22) either; in fact, it spurs him to take
control of the situation, assert his rights, and see that justice is done (vv. 23-24).
Daniel’s fidelity to his religion, and the fact that God protected him in his ordeal,
expose the perversity of the king’s edict, and cause the king to right the wrong
he has done. The sacred writer points out why God intervened miraculously —
because Daniel “trusted in his Godâ€ (v. 23). Daniel’s rivals were punished in line
with the customs of the time, that is, they were punished very severely.

St Augustine comments that the lions refrained from harming Daniel because he
was faithful to God: “Submit to the one who has power over you, and you will be
raised above those who once held you in thrall. In committing sin, man places
above himself what should always be beneath him; he submits to things that are
less than him. [...] Acknowledge the one who has power over you, so that the
things that are below you will see where you stand above them. For when Daniel
acknowledged the power of the Lord God, the lions saw the superiority of Daniel
over them and did not touch himâ€ (”In Epistolam Ioannis”, 8).

6:25-28: The king readily issues a decree that goes against his earlier one (cf.
6:9); the tenor of it is like that issued by Nebuchadnezzar in 4:1-3. So, both the
Babylonian king and Darius the Mede acknowledged the God of the Jews as the
one true God whose kingdom lasts forever; and they reached that point thanks
to the wisdom that God gave the Jews (particularly Daniel) and to the exemplary
fidelity of the Jews to their religion in the midst of trials.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.