Daniel and the Lions
Fear knocked on the door
Faith opened it.
No one was there
Not for a moment did King Darius think of what might happen to Daniel when he signed the decree outlawing the petitioning of any god or man save the king himself never did he suspect his counselors were seeking to entrap him so they might legally accomplish the death of his most trusted officer.
Daniel probably found out about the decree in the course of his official duties. As first president and chief executive, any new law would routinely be brought to his attention. When he saw the decree, he immediately realized its object and was appalled at the hatred of his colleagues. So what was his reaction? He hastened to lay the matter before the Lord!
“Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees, three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime” (Daniel 6:10).
Why did he do that? He could have said to himself, “Prayer is a private matter between me and the Lord. In view of the decree, all I have to do now is shut the door and close the windows” But he didn’t reason that way. One might wonder why Daniel had adopted the custom of worshipping in such a public manner in the first place, a manner so different from that which our Lord Jesus enjoined upon us in Matthew 6:6. There was a good reason. Daniel was among idolaters, each one of whom publicly worshipped the image of his god. Daniel was looked upon as an example of the Hebrew captives in Babylon. The Hebrews did not have an image of their God. For Daniel to have worshipped in secret would have been misunderstood to mean that he did not worship at all. Under the circumstances this would have been a reproach to the true God. So he worshipped openly with his face toward Jerusalem, the typical city of God, the great king of the universe, and toward the temple, the typical habitation of God. Three times a day he made confession of the only true God before the various nationalities of Babylon. By so doing he was also an inspiration to his own people, the captive Jews in Babylon. He encouraged faithfulness to God and a separation from idolatry.
These were valid reasons for Daniel’s public worship. To discontinue the custom because of this new law would be an act of cowardice. It did not even enter his mind. He went to his upper chamber, opened the windows wide, knelt down in full view facing Jerusalem, and prayed aloud, addressing himself to the God of Israel. How well his enemies knew his schedule! A representative group was there under his windows listening, to witness Daniel’s violation of the king’s decree.
It would be wonderful to know what Daniel said in that prayer. We can guess that after laying his problem before the Lord and resigning himself completely to the Lord’s will, he would pray for the restoration of Israel, calling to mind God’s gracious promises respecting the Holy Land toward which he was facing, that it would yet be the center of the whole earth and of God’s holy people, that eventually and through these, divine blessings would be extended to every nation, people, kindred and tongue.
Having obtained the evidence they needed, Daniel’s enemies lost no time in reporting it to the king. It is interesting to note that this new law was invoked against no one but Daniel, although there must have been numerous other violators among the idolaters of Babylon. Many would bow before their images through sheer force of habit and be guilty, but only Daniel was cited.
The king saw the trap into which he had been deliberately led for the very purpose of destroying his must trusted and valued counselor. The rule of the kingdom was that a sentence must be executed before sundown of the same day it was incurred, but the king tried every way to have the penalty upon Daniel rescinded or suspended.
Ordinarily when kings desired to be released from some decree, they called upon their wise men and magicians who usually were skillful in suggesting a way out of the dilemma by some technicality. So the king earnestly sought their counsel, telling them of his desire that Daniel be saved from the den of lions in spite of the law he had made. But in this case, there was an alliance of all the wise men of Babylon against Daniel:
“Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, 0 king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is that no decree nor statute which the king established may be changed.” Daniel 6:15
The king continued his efforts until the last minute, but finally the sun went down and he could delay no longer. The sentence must now be carried out. He called Daniel and talked to him, telling him how he had been ensnared and that he could find no way out. Then he made a statement that was strange for a heathen king to make. He said: “Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee!” How this must have warmed Daniel’s heart! Daniel had already resigned himself to the Lord’s will and that perhaps the Lord would permit the lions to kill him. After all, he was old in the Lord’s service. Perhaps his career should now be terminated. But through the lips of a heathen king and just when he needed it most, he received a message of divine assurance: “Thy God … will deliver thee!”
Let us try to picture what happened in the den of lions when Daniel was put into it. Suppose Adam, when he was still in Eden, walked into a den of lions. Would they have hurt him? Of course not. He was their king and benefactor. He had power over them. He was their master. They would have loved his visit. I think it is very likely that God endowed his servant Daniel with this attribute of a perfect man – that of dominion over brute beasts. If so, those enormous cats must have come to him purring with delight! They must have rolled on the ground, playing at his feet like kittens. Daniel immediately realized that something most unusual was happening, that the angel of the Lord was present with him. And Daniel must have at that moment lifted his voice in thanks to God. Later we can imagine that Daniel went to sleep, his head pillowed on the flank of one lion, his feet warmed against the back of another, and lulled by the soft purring of them all!
– Robert Seklemian