Daniel and the Lion's Den

Daniel 6

English Standard Version Chapter 5

29 Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

30 That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. 31  And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

Daniel and the Lions’ Den

6 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, to be throughout the whole kingdom; 2 and over them three high officials, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss. 3 Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.

This chapter divides nicely into seven parts:

Promotion (1-3)

Plot (4-9)

Practice (10-11)

Penalty (12-17)

Preservation (18-23)

Punishment (24)

Praise and Prosperity (25-28)

This chapter is almost a mirror image of chapter 3, with Daniel’s friends being thrown into the fiery furnace, except this time it is Daniel and not Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego that are the focus of the narrative.

Before we dive in to the text I just want to touch briefly on a historical matter; the identity of the man Darius the Mede. Darius the Mede is a name known only to the Bible, he is not listed in any other source by that name as a king over Babylon.

Some scholars and critics have decided that Darius the Mede is merely a fictional character, and that therefore the Bible is inaccurate on this.

However, it should be noted that the same was said by scholars in the last century about King David and also about Pontius Pilate, until ancient stone tablets were discovered recently bearing their names.

There are a number of active theories amongst Biblical scholars about who this man Darius the Mede might be:

That this might be a throne name for Cyrus the Great

That he is actually a man named Gobaru; a general of Cyrus, mentioned in the Nabonidus Chronicle

That Darius the Mede is actually Cyaxeres II

Each theory has it’s challenges but for me the best explanation is the most recent theory argued by a biblical studies professor named Steven Anderson, that Darius the Mede was the throne name for Cyaxeres II, who was actually Cyrus’s father in law. He would have actually been a Mede, of royal blood and would have been around the age of 62 which is how old Darius the Mede was Daniel 5:31 . Cyrus was a Persian, not a Mede, and wouldn’t have been as old as 62 in the year 539 when Babylon was taken.

Promotion

Kingdoms come and go, but God’s purposes are established. The Neo-Babylonian empire was one of the greatest kingdoms of the ancient world, and Babylon was one of, if not the the world’s greatest city at the time of Daniel. It was famous for it’s hanging gardens, considered one of the great wonders of the world and the city was nigh on impregnable. Surrounded by a deep moat and according to historians the city had walls 75ft thick and 300ft high. The wall was so huge they used to have chariot races on top of it! During the reign of Nebuchadnezzar the empire of Babylon had grown to cover the whole of the levant and the near east, no one thought that Babylon would fall in one day. But it did. In one day the kingdom of babylon fell and was taken by the Medo-Persians.

Vast and powerful empires have come and gone down through the ages; the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Persian’s, Greece, Rome, the Ottoman empire, the Mongol Empire, the third Reich, the Soviet Union. There will come a day when the west will no longer be the dominant force on the world stage, though many living in the west can’t ever imagine that happening, but it’s important that we learn the lessons of the book of Daniel, that no worldly kingdom endures forever, not even in our own days. We can’t place our trust, hope and comfort in western civilisation because one day, it too shall fall.

As we look at this chapter today, though, I want you to see that despite the fall of the Babylonian empire, the murder of the former king of Babylon who Daniel served, and the rise of a new empire over Babylon Daniel continues to be used of God, he continues to prosper. The chapter begins and ends with Daniel growing in influence and prosperity. The purposes of God always succeed, no matter what is happening on the world scene.

New Living Translation He controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars. Daniel 2:21

Daniel prospers under the Babylonian Kings Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, and he prospers under the Medo-Persian Kings Darius and Cyrus.

Right now we see so much tumult in the nations, the world that we all grew up in, that we thought we knew is changing. But we know that God is in control, we know that He is bringing about His plans and purposes and that we don’t need to fear. Many just want things to go back to normal, but what is normal in the grand scheme of things? Perhaps it would be better for us to let go of whatever ‘normal’ was and instead get on with seeking God’s Kingdom in the days we are living in now in 2022. I believe that God will do things in this new era that couldn’t have happened prior to 2020. Difficult as these times have been, I am hopeful, I believe that God is still in control, I know that governments and rulers come and go, but His purposes will never fail.

We’re told that Daniel distinguished himself early on in Darius’s regime, he became one of the three most trusted confidents to the king. This we’re told is because there was an excellent spirit in him. This isn’t a reference to the holy spirit, but rather it refers to Daniel’s character and ability.

Lexham Research Lexicon of the Aramaic Portions of the Hebrew Bible יַתִּיר

extraordinary — beyond what is ordinary or usual; highly unusual or exceptional or remarkable.

He was exceptional, he was remarkable, beyond the ordinary. We know that by the time Darius came to the throne Daniel would have been an older man, probably in his mid to late 70’s. He has already been used of God so powerfully, but he is still ready to serve and work for Darius with all that he’s got. From what we can tell he put his everything in to what God had put right in front of him. Sometimes in life we can while away the hours wishing we were somewhere else, doing some other more prestigious job with more benefits and kickbacks. When we spend our time looking over longingly at what God has other people building, we stop looking at what is right in front of us. The lesson here is that your calling is to apply yourself with a spirit of excellence to build whatever is infront of you right at this moment.

Plot

English Standard Version Chapter 6

4 Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him. 5 Then these men said, “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.”

6 Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever! 7 All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. 8 Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 9 Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction.

Imagine this; Daniel, a man in his 70’s who has lived nearly his whole life in this city and they can’t dig up one piece of dirt on him! No skeletons in the closet, no secrets, no hidden scandal, Daniel was faithful, no error or fault was found in him. He was trustworthy, that’s what the word ‘faithful’ means here, he had integrity. Oh that we would be found to have integrity, not just by our friends but by our enemies. Daniel’s enemies had to admit they couldn’t find anything on him! You know, Daniel doesn’t proclaim his own trustworthiness, Daniel doesn’t proclaim his own faithfulness, no, he let’s his adversaries do it for him. This is something we ought to take to heart, to live a life like Daniel, above reproach, so that even our enemies speak well of us. And never to feel the need to be our own advocate, let others speak well of us and leave our reputation in God’s hands.

These men knew that the only way they could catch Daniel out was in his obedience to God. If they could somehow make Daniel’s obedience to God illegal for a peroid of time they could get him.

So the petition is that no one is allowed to petition or in other words pray to any god or man for thirty days except to the king. The satraps and governers lie to the king, they say ‘all of the high officials agree, this has to be done’, but they didn’t, did they? Daniel hadn’t agreed to it! Always be wary of people who when trying to win you over to their way of thinking are reckless with the facts. Don’t think that this doesn’t still happen in the corridors of power or even sadly within the church; it is a kind of political spirit that gets a hold of people, an ideological bandwagon is created and everyone must jump on board, logic and reason go out of the window in favour of emotional pleas and false information.

The king is hoodwinked and he signs the decree.

Performance

English Standard Version Chapter 6

10 When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. 11 Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God.

We read that Daniel knew about the document, he knew it had been signed. He was aware of the decree, that it had now been signed and had become legally binding. To pray to God was now illegal for the next thirty days, Daniel knew this. So what does he do, how does he then perform in light of this? Does he hold off praying since it’s only 30 days, God will understand. Does he decide to change his prayer habits, perhaps decide to pray in his head instead of out loud? Or maybe just close his windows so he can’t be discovered? Does he flout the new law and head out into the streets to protest it. No, Daniel changes nothing, he does as he has done always, kneeling down in his room with the windows open facing jerusalem he prays, giving thanks to God.

Daniel knew that doing anything other than as he had always done would be seen as compromise.

The men hide out and find him praying and quickly report him to the king for breaking the law. I want you to see here that Daniel knowingly broke the law of the land, but in doing so was simultaneously obedient to God. This is something peculiar, and not a common thing to happen, but it does happen, here in Daniel and also in a number of other places in scripture, namely when the Hebrew midwives refused to kill male babies by the order of Pharoah

Exodus 1:15–21 ESV

15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” 17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. 18 So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” 20 So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

And also in the new testament when the chief priests, rulers and elders of the Jews command the apostles not to preach the name of Jesus any longer:

Acts 4:17–20 ESV

17 But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” 18 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

We know that Christians are to be subject to the governing authorities and not resist their authority and that is absolutely the case:

Romans 13:1–2 ESV

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

But does this mean that a Christian should therefore always obey and never question whatever the governing authorities decree or demand? Clearly based on the story of Daniel, the Hebrew midwives and the apostles in Jerusalem there are certain exceptions. Namely, if the governing authorities, govern in such a way as to prevent the worship of God or the preaching of the gospel or pass laws forcing Christians to do things which go against the pattern of holy living laid out in holy scripture.

Remember, in the eyes of the German state at the time it was those who hid the Jews who were the criminal law-breakers and those who hunted them down who were the upstanding citizens.

We must remember that ultimately our obedience is owed to God, and every human governmental system is ultimately accountable to Him, the King above all kings.

Penalty

English Standard Version Chapter 6

12 Then they came near and said before the king, concerning the injunction, “O king! Did you not sign an injunction, that anyone who makes 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 and said, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 13 Then they answered and said before the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or the injunction you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.”

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 injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.”

16 Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!” 17 And a 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.

Daniel’s breaking of the new law is reported to the king straight away and the king, greatly distressed, does all in his power to find a way to get Daniel out of it. But as night came, Daniel is taken to the lions den and thrown in.

They have actually found an ancient lions den like the one mentioned here in Morocco. They were like pits, with an open top usually covered with a grate and a side entrance usually covered with a large stone.

You see some portayals of the lions den with maybe three or four lions but there would likely have been more, perhaps up to 10 lions in the den with Daniel.

Preservation

English Standard Version Chapter 6

18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him.

19 Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. 20 As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” 21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.” 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 harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God

The king, who has not slept all night, gets up early after fasting and heads to the lions den. You could say it’s almost an act of faith!

The King calls out to Daniel and uses the title ‘the living God’ to address Daniel’s God. How would he have known to address God in such a manner? Because Daniel would have told him, He had likely heard all about Daniel’s God from Daniel himself.

Daniel tells the king that he God has sent an angel to shut the lions mouths, and clearly their paws too, because they did him no harm. Daniel says that this is because he has been found blameless before God. What I love about this is that Daniel goes into the den of lions willing to accept his fate, whatever happens to him. He doesn’t beg the king to spare his life, we don’t read that he is crying out to God to save him as he goes into the den. He is ready to accept God’s sovereign plan for his life, whatever it looks like. Was he so calm because he knew God would deliver him because of his innocence? Maybe, but many faithful Christians have met with grisly ends and not been delivered; they were fed to lions in the Colluseum and God didn’t stop the mouths of the lions there. The point is, Daniel knew he couldn’t lose, if the lions ate him, he would go to be with God knowing he had been faithful, if God delivered him it would be a wonderful witness to the king of God’s power to save.

You know, there’s a wonderful picture of Jesus here too. Romans 6 tells us that the wages of sin is death, wherever there is sin, there is death. Death is only as old as the fall. So where there is no sin, there is no death. Just as it was innocence that saved Daniel from the lions, so it was Jesus’s complete perfect innocence that meant death could have no hold on him. He could go down into the grave, step down into the den but death couldn’t hold him, it had no power over him, and out He came in resurrection life. The only life beyond the grave is found in Christ, because he is the only one who can deliver us from the death we deserve.

Punishment

English Standard Version Chapter 6

24 And the king commanded, and those men who had maliciously 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.

This is a severe punishment, and it’s how we know there must have been a lot of lions in that pit. Nor were the lions toothless, old, or not hungry as lots of sceptical scholars have tried to claim. All of those people were destroyed by the lions before they even hit the bottom of the pit. Another warning that sin has swift and terrible, real world consequences. Non of us know the hour or day when our lives will be required of us, for many that day will come swiftly and unexpectedly. Many enjoy living in sin, but no one will enjoy dying in it.

Praise and Prosperity

English Standard Version Chapter 6

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 people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel,

for he is the living God,

enduring forever;

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.”

28 So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

So just as Nebuchadnezzar issued a decree that no one should speak anything amiss about God in Daniel 3 after S, M and A’s deliverance from the fiery furnace, now Darius the Mede sends out a decree praising the God of Daniel! This is amazing, God is using the mouths of pagan kings to glorify himself in the earth. And how incredible to remember that your trials, the tests and tribulations you walk through have the capacity to become testimonies that cause people to see the glory of God and praise Him!

Pray