Daniel 6

Daniel in the lions' den

An old man, a law written to trap him, and a night with the lions. Daniel 6 is about praying with the window open when it would be so much easier to close it.

The story

Daniel is an old man by now. He was taken to Babylon as a teenager and has outlasted the empire that took him. The new ruler, Darius, has made him one of three presidents over a hundred and twenty governors, and is planning to put him over everything. The other officials go looking for something on him and come up empty. The text says there was no error or fault, because he was faithful. So they decide the only way to get him is through his religion.

They go to the king as a group and flatter him into a law. For thirty days, nobody prays to any god or human except Darius, or they go to the lions. Darius signs. Under the law of the Medes and Persians, a signed decree can't be undone, even by the king who signed it.

Daniel hears the law has been signed. He goes home, to the room where the windows face Jerusalem, kneels, and prays three times a day, giving thanks, exactly as he'd always done. The text is careful with that phrase: as he did before. He doesn't make a show of it. He also doesn't hide it. The officials find him at it, which is what they were waiting for.

They go to the king. Didn't you sign a law? Yes. Well, Daniel ignores it. Darius realizes what he's done and spends the rest of the day trying to find a way out. There isn't one. His own officials remind him: the law can't change. At sunset Daniel is thrown into the pit, and the king says to him, as the stone is sealed with the royal ring: your God, the one you serve so consistently, he'll deliver you. It reads like a hope more than a promise.

The king goes home and doesn't eat, doesn't sleep, sends the musicians away. At first light he hurries to the den and calls out in a troubled voice: Daniel, has your God been able to save you from the lions? And Daniel answers. My God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, because I was innocent before him, and before you too. They lift him out without a scratch.

The men who accused him are thrown in, with their families, and the lions have them before they hit the floor. The text doesn't soften that. Darius writes to his whole empire ordering people to tremble before Daniel's God, the living God, who rescues and delivers. And Daniel, the text says, prospered on into the reign of Cyrus.

The verse to keep

Daniel 6:10WEB

When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his room toward Jerusalem) and he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before.

Gen Zsame meaning, your words

When Daniel found out the law had been signed, he went home to his room, where the windows faced Jerusalem, got on his knees three times that day, and prayed and thanked God, exactly like he always had.

The verse everyone quotes from this chapter is about lions. The one that matters is about a habit that didn't change when it got dangerous.

What it actually means

The trap only works because Daniel is completely consistent. His enemies bet their whole plan on him not changing his habits for thirty days, and they were right. The question the story asks isn't ‘would you face lions?’ It's ‘do you have anything so built into you that people could set their watch by it?’ Daniel's faith isn't a heroic moment. It's a routine that a crisis happened to expose.

Notice that Daniel doesn't protest the law, doesn't argue with the king, doesn't pray louder. He just carries on. There's a difference between defiance and steadiness, and the story is about the second. He'd served pagan kings loyally for decades. This wasn't rebellion against the state. It was one line he wouldn't cross, and he didn't cross it quietly or loudly. He just didn't cross it.

And the honest caveat: the lions don't always stay shut. Hebrews 11 lists people who ‘stopped the mouths of lions’ and, a few verses later, people who were sawn in two. Same faith, different outcomes. Daniel's friends said it best a few chapters earlier, in the furnace story: God is able to save us, and even if he doesn't, we won't bow. Daniel 6 shows the rescue. It doesn't promise one.

Worth arguing about

1Daniel's enemies could predict his prayer life. Could anyone predict yours?
2He didn't close the windows and he didn't open them wider. What's the difference between being faithful and making a point?
3Darius wanted to save Daniel and couldn't. What's it like to be the person with power who's still trapped?

Read it yourself: Daniel 6

World English Bible. 28 verses.

¹It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred twenty local governors, who should be throughout the whole kingdom; ²and over them three presidents, of whom Daniel was one, that these local governors might give account to them, and that the king should suffer no loss. ³Then this Daniel was distinguished above the presidents and the local governors, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. ⁴Then the presidents and the local governors sought to find occasion against Daniel as touching the kingdom; but they could find no occasion or fault, because he was faithful. There wasn’t any error or fault found in him. ⁵Then these men said, “We won’t find any occasion against this Daniel, unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.” ⁶Then these presidents and local governors assembled together to the king, and said this to him, “King Darius, live forever! ⁷All the presidents of the kingdom, the deputies and the local governors, the counselors and the governors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a strong decree, that whoever asks a petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of you, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. ⁸Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, that it not be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which doesn’t alter.” ⁹Therefore King Darius signed the writing and the decree. ¹⁰When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his room toward Jerusalem) and he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before. ¹¹Then these men assembled together, and found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God. ¹²Then they came near, and spoke before the king concerning the king’s decree: “Haven’t you signed a decree that every man who makes a petition to any god or man within thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?” The king answered, “This thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which doesn’t alter.” ¹³Then they answered and said before the king, “That Daniel, who is of the children of the captivity of Judah, doesn’t respect you, O king, nor the decree that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.” ¹⁴Then the king, when he heard these words, was very displeased, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he labored until the going down of the sun to rescue him. ¹⁵Then these men assembled together to the king, and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians, that no decree nor statute which the king establishes may be changed.” ¹⁶Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Your God whom you serve continually, he will deliver you.” ¹⁷A stone was brought, and laid on 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. ¹⁸Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting. No musical instruments were brought before him; and his sleep fled from him. ¹⁹Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste to the den of lions. ²⁰When he came near to Daniel in the den, he cried with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, is your God, whom you serve continually, able to deliver you from the lions?” ²¹Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! ²²My God has sent his angel, and has shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not hurt me, because innocence was found in me before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.” ²³Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. ²⁴The king commanded, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions—them, their children, and their wives; and the lions mauled them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they came to the bottom of the den. ²⁵Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages who dwell in all the earth: “Peace be multiplied to you. ²⁶“I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. “For he is the living God, and steadfast forever. His kingdom is that which will not be destroyed. His dominion will be even to the end. ²⁷He delivers and rescues. He works signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.” ²⁸So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

Whole book: Daniel

Keep going

🔥 The fiery furnace 🎲 Esther 🧱 Nehemiah rebuilds the wall 🦁 Bible verses for courage 🌱 Bible verses about faith 🌑 Bible verses for fear ⏳ Bible verses about patience