A sealed stone separates Daniel from a den of lions. Darius has marked it with his ring seal, putting the sentence beyond appeal. Yet the king's last words leave one question unanswered: Can the God Daniel continually serves save him?
By morning, Darius will rush to the den and call out in anguish. But Daniel's ordeal does not begin with the lions. It begins with jealous officials, a law devised as a trap, and a daily prayer practice that Daniel refuses to abandon.
Praying three times a day puts Daniel in danger. It also provides the occasion for an entire kingdom to witness the power of the living God.
It also provides the occasion for an entire kingdom to witness the power of the living God.
Why Daniel's rivals targeted his prayer
Darius appoints 120 governors to rule his kingdom and places three supervisors over them. Daniel distinguishes himself, and Darius plans to put him in charge of the whole kingdom. As with his ability to interpret royal dreams, Daniel becomes valuable to kings because they cannot easily dismiss God's work in him.
That distinction also makes him a threat. The other supervisors and governors search for wrongdoing they can use against him, but his conduct gives them nothing. They conclude that any accusation must concern his God. Daniel's faith is so visible and consistent that his enemies can plan their scheme around it.
They persuade Darius to impose a thirty-day ban on prayer to anyone else, with the lion's den as punishment. This is not an abstract dispute between private belief and royal power. Daniel's rivals design the law around what they know he will do. They do not expect him to stop praying. Their plan depends on his refusal to stop.
Daniel in the lion's den begins at an open window
Daniel knows the law has been signed. He still enters his upstairs room, kneels beside windows opening toward Jerusalem, and prays three times a day, just as he had before. He does not stage a public confrontation or try to provoke Darius. He simply refuses to let a manufactured decree dictate his worship.
He simply refuses to let a manufactured decree dictate his worship.
He also gives thanks while living in exile. His prayer is more than a desperate attempt to escape punishment. Before the den is sealed, Daniel's posture makes his allegiance clear. Babylon is where exile has taken him, but he continues to face Jerusalem when he prays.
When the officials expose him, Darius recognizes the trap too late. He works until sunset to find a way to save Daniel, but the order stands. Daniel is thrown among the lions, a stone covers the entrance, and the king seals it. Darius can only say, "May the God you serve continually save you." The king who approved the law must now wait upon the God it tried to silence.
The closed mouths that changed Darius's law
At daybreak, Darius rushes to the den and calls Daniel the servant of the living God. His question is direct: Has the God Daniel always worshiped saved him from the lions? From behind the sealed stone comes the answer the king scarcely expects to hear.
Daniel says God sent an angel to close the lions' mouths. When he is lifted from the den, no injury is found, not even a scratch, because he trusted God. The rescue does not make Daniel's decision safe in retrospect. It shows that the king's seal, the officials' plot, and the lions did not have final authority.
It shows that the king's seal, the officials' plot, and the lions did not have final authority.
The reversal extends beyond Daniel. A prohibition meant to punish his worship gives way to Darius's kingdom-wide declaration that everyone must fear and respect Daniel's God. The king proclaims that the living God endures forever, rescues and saves, and has delivered Daniel from the lions. The lions' mouths are closed, and Darius replaces the law meant to silence Daniel's prayers.
