Daniel in the Lions' Den

The event

With Babylon now under Medo-Persian control, Daniel — already elderly, having served faithfully since his youth under Nebuchadnezzar — was set by King Darius over the entire new administration for his exceptional integrity. Threatened by his rising influence, jealous officials searched for grounds to accuse him and "could find no ground for complaint... because he was faithful." Unable to catch him in wrongdoing, they targeted his faith directly, tricking Darius into signing an irrevocable law forbidding prayer to anyone but the king for thirty days.

Daniel's response was to keep doing exactly what he had always done: three times a day, windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt and prayed. Caught in the act, he was thrown into a den of lions, though Darius — who clearly respected Daniel — spent a sleepless night hoping for his rescue. At dawn he rushed to the den and found Daniel unharmed: "my God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths."

Darius issued a decree honoring "the living God, enduring forever," and the officials who had schemed against Daniel suffered the fate they had designed for him. The account closes Daniel's personal narrative on the same note it began: a man who served faithfully under Babylonian and Persian kings alike, whose consistency of character across an entire lifetime and two empires bore quiet, persistent witness to the God he served.

Dating

The identity of 'Darius the Mede' in Daniel 6 is debated among evangelical scholars, with proposals including Cyrus's governor Gubaru/Ugbaru or a throne name for Cyrus himself. Whichever solution is correct, Daniel places these events immediately after Babylon's fall to the Medo-Persian forces.

Scripture references

• Daniel 6:1-28