And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and, his windows being open in his upper chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.
A royal decree had just made prayer to God a crime punishable by the lions' den, and Daniel went home and prayed as always. The verse raises three questions: why pray in full view, why face Jerusalem, and why give thanks at such a moment?
Daniel already knew about the decree when he knelt. One writer weighs what that knowledge cost him.
The Holy Spirit clearly states that Daniel did not act in ignorance. At the time he bowed in prayer before God he knew about the decree. He knew the alternatives. He knew he would have to obey the decree, or be thrown into the den of lions. I have no doubt he weighed the consequences of his actions carefully. Fear of the consequences has turned many a man back from following the truth.
The phrase "as he had done previously" is the hinge of the verse. One writer measures that day against all the days before it.
He does not shut his windows, and he does not increase or lessen his petitions. He is just that day what he had been every day before. He was a very even saint. It was not the great difficulty that took him to his knees three times a day. It was his custom.
Another writer looks at the habit behind that day, and at how Daniel felt about it.
It was not a sudden burst of energy in prayer because the circumstances were difficult and his life was in danger. It was his continual practice. It was not something forced on him; it was his joy… He was a great man with great responsibilities in administration. Yet he could find time to pray three times a day, in settled portions.
Jerusalem lay in ruins. One writer explains what Daniel was declaring by facing it.
But why insist on praying toward Jerusalem? Was it a piece of Jewish superstition? No; it was a magnificent display of divine principle. It was God's own banner raised in the middle of the depressing, humiliating results of Israel's folly and sin. True, Jerusalem was in ruins; but God's thoughts about Jerusalem were not in ruins. It was His centre for His earthly people.
There was a reason his windows faced that way, and another writer traces it back to Solomon.
There was a reason for his windows being open toward Jerusalem. At the dedication of the temple, Solomon had prayed for the people, in case they were ever carried away captive into an enemy's land. He asked God to hear them if they prayed toward the land He gave their fathers, toward the city He had chosen, and toward the house built for His name. He asked Him to maintain their cause. Daniel was therefore resting on the sure word of God in praying this way, for the Lord had said to Solomon, "I have heard your prayer and your plea."
Daniel could have closed the shutters and prayed unseen. Babylon would have drawn its own conclusion.
He had always prayed in this open way. If he suddenly closed the windows and prayed in secret, all Babylon would read it as cowardice, or as agreement with the decree. In that idolatrous city Daniel had borne a public witness to the true God. He was not a secret disciple. To obey the decree would mean breaking the first commandment. He prays and gives thanks "before his God." Men may see him praying, but it is before God, not men, that he prays.
Prayer under threat is understandable. Thanksgiving under threat is harder to explain.
Daniel, when in the very shadow of death, with the plot laid to take away his life, prayed three times a day and gave thanks before his God. To have heard him pray in that great difficulty would not cause so much wonder. But to have his heart in tune for giving thanks in such a sad hour was admirable.
That still leaves the outcome. One writer puts Daniel's answer to it into words.
Daniel could say, "You may throw me into the den tonight, but I will never give up the truth of God. I must stand for that, whatever it costs. I have nothing to do with results — nothing to do with consequences. These I leave entirely with God. My place is simply to obey."
- Unchanged — "As he had done previously" is the key phrase. The decree neither started his praying nor stopped it.
- Unhidden — Closing the shutters would have looked like cowardice or consent. He was no secret disciple, so the windows stayed open.
- Unmoved — He faced a ruined Jerusalem because God's thoughts about that city were not in ruins.
- Undergirded — He stood on a promise. Solomon had asked God to hear captives who prayed toward the city, and God said He had heard.
- Unafraid — He gave thanks while a death plot closed around him. He left the results with God; his part was only to obey.
But those men came in a body, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.
This is the moment the trap closes: the officials who pushed through the thirty-day ban on prayer arrive at Daniel's house. Why were they so sure he would still be praying, and what did they find there?
The conspirators did not gamble. They built a law around a man whose life was predictable. Then they came together to catch him at it.
For their plot to succeed, Daniel's enemies had counted on his known habit of prayer and his unswerving faithfulness to his God. They did not count in vain. They gather before Daniel's house, and there they find, as they expected, that Daniel is praying and making his supplications before his God. The king's decree, the plot of his enemies, and the den of lions do not deter him.
That confidence in his consistency is itself a challenge to the reader:
They were so sure of Daniel's integrity toward the law of his God that they knew he would not stop praying to Him in the open, even at the cost of his life. Do our enemies — or even our friends — have such confidence in our faithfulness toward God and His Christ? We may well doubt it. Let the question search our consciences and stir our hearts deeply.
Daniel's prayer life was no private arrangement, so a visit to his house could produce evidence. The words used for his accusers matter too.
Daniel was no "secret disciple." Everyone knew his habits of prayer. So his enemies knew how to find out whether he was obeying the decree or not. The phrase "these men," used again as in verse 5 (see also vv. 15, 24), no doubt expresses God's own estimate of their wicked conduct.
The verse uses two words for what Daniel was doing: "petition and plea." The older translation quoted below renders the second word "supplication."
Daniel's faith was to be tested to the limit. The law forbidding his prayer was a law of the Medes and Persians that could not be changed, and it had to be carried out. Satan is allowed to go as far as he can. Daniel's was no formal prayer-saying. In praying he was "making supplication" — prayer in its most intense form, an earnest calling on God, fervent and effective, as though his requests could not be refused. And he probably prayed more for others than for himself. Chapter 9 gives a remarkable example, and men who excel in prayer often do the same.
What they found was not a performance staged for the crisis.
Daniel's action was based on the Word of God. He does not shut his windows. He does not add to his petitions or cut them down. That day he is just what he had been every day before. He was a very steady saint. It was not the great difficulty that took him to his knees three times a day. It was his custom, and of course his enemies found him in prayer. What a happy thing for saints to be known as people of prayer, and to be found on their knees like this.
Daniel's enemies saw the same scene very differently.
Yet to his enemies such behaviour must have looked like folly. Think of praying to a God no one can see. Think of turning toward Jerusalem while doing it — a ruined city that showed God's anger against His people. And think of disobeying the king's decree. But folly or wisdom, they had achieved their aim and had trapped Daniel. They could now prove a charge of disobedience and demand the punishment the law required.
Prayer put Daniel in the lions' den. The chapter records what came of it.
The point of this chapter is that the devoted man will be the delivered man. Darius, I believe, spent a miserable night, fasting and sleepless. If you and I had gone down to the den of lions, I think we would have found Daniel fast asleep. Faith in God and a clear conscience make a rare pair, especially in a lion's den!
The wider result reached far beyond one man's safety:
Here is a man acting simply on the truth of God, praying toward Jerusalem, though death stared him in the face as the result of his act. What came of it? A glorious testimony to the God of Israel, and the destruction of Daniel's enemies.
- Habit. The whole plot rested on Daniel's known habit of prayer and his unswerving faithfulness — and his enemies "did not count in vain."
- Known. He was no secret disciple. His praying was public, so one visit to his house could produce evidence against him.
- Supplication. What they found was not formal prayer-saying. It was prayer at its most intense — an earnest calling on God, and likely more for others than for himself.
- Unchanged. He neither shut his windows nor multiplied his petitions. The crisis did not create his prayers, and it did not stop them.
- Delivered. The devoted man became the delivered man. The result was a glorious testimony to the God of Israel and the downfall of those who plotted against him.
Then they came near, and spoke before the king concerning the king's decree Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask [anything] of any god or man within thirty days, except of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked.
Daniel's enemies have watched him pray. Now they walk into the throne room. They do not name him first. They make the king confirm his own decree, and only then spring the charge. The verse turns on two things: a law said to be beyond change, and a king they have just trapped into defending it.
The accusers speak in two stages, and the sequence is deliberate. They lock the king into the decree before they say who broke it. Then they describe Daniel's crime in a way that leaves God out of it.
Having gathered their evidence, these men come to the king. They remind him of the terms of the decree, and he has to admit that they are true. Then they bring their charge. They press the point that Daniel is a captive from Judah, that he has no regard for the king, and that he ignores his decree. They say nothing about the fact that he prays to his God and obeys His law.
Darius answers with three words that finish him. His own signature, given when he was being flattered, has now become the chain he cannot break.
But they had gained their point, and so far their wicked scheme had prospered. Delighted with their success, "they came near and said before the king, concerning the injunction" (v. 12). Had the king not signed the decree, they asked? The king replied, "The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked." Sadly, the king was in the hands of these dishonest men. He had accepted their flattery, and now he was their helpless slave. Without knowing it, he had locked his own chains.
The law that boasted it could not change was framed as a protection for the king's subjects. Read closely, it claimed for a man's word something that belongs to God.
Man, whatever his position, is the slave of those who flatter him. Here the king is deceived by his own vanity. He finds himself bound by laws that were set up, so it seemed, to guard his subjects from his whims. The excuse for those laws was that his will and his wisdom never change — but that quality belongs to God alone.
The unchangeable law is not a detail of court etiquette. It marks out what kind of empire this is, and it explains why Darius, unlike the Babylonian king before him, has no way out.
The presidents and princes were shrewd men. They knew the power of flattery and how men love to exalt themselves. So they suggested to Darius a decree that would exalt him. It made him a god, in effect, for the space of a month. Darius fell into this trap. From it we learn that in this kingdom of "silver" the king's power was not as absolute as in the kingdom of "gold". Nebuchadnezzar did just what he liked, with nothing to check him. The Medo-Persian kings had to listen to the advice of their captains and counsellors, and once a law was issued, no one could change it. For all practical purposes there was to be no God but Darius for thirty days!
Here the decree reads "within thirty days." When the plotters first proposed it, the wording was "for thirty days." One Aramaic word lies behind both, and either rendering is fair.
The Aramaic word is often translated "for" as well as "until." In some places where our translators chose "until," "for" would have done just as well. So in Daniel 6:7 it appears as "for thirty days," and in verse 12 as "within."
The whole plot rested on a calculation about one man's character. His enemies were certain he would not stop praying, and they were right.
The decree served two purposes at once: it flattered king Darius, and it got rid of the rival they envied. They had such confidence in Daniel's integrity "concerning the law of his God" that they felt sure of one thing. He would not stop praying to Him in the open, even at the cost of his life. Do our enemies — or even our friends — have the same confidence in our faithfulness toward God and His Christ? We may well doubt it. Let the question search our consciences and stir our hearts deeply!
- Flattery. The plot began by offering Darius the place of a god for a month. Men love to exalt themselves, and the accusers used that as their hook.
- Signature. By signing, the king locked his own chains. He became the helpless slave of the men who praised him.
- Snare. The accusers make him confirm the decree before they name Daniel. Then they call the offence contempt for the king, not devotion to God.
- Steadfastness. The trap closed only because everyone knew Daniel's prayer habit. His enemies counted on his integrity, and they were not wrong.
- Sovereignty. A law that "cannot be revoked" claimed for a man's will what belongs to God alone — and it left even the king powerless to undo his own word.
Then they answered and said before the king, That Daniel, who is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.
The plotters have their evidence, and they bring it straight to the throne . Notice how they word it: his standing as a captive, the king's own signature, and a prayer habit with no God named in it.
Their charge starts not with what Daniel did, but with where he came from. One writer explains why:
Notice the cunning of these servants of the evil one. They remind the king that Daniel came from a captive people. They hope this makes his disobedience look worse. A man of such origin, they suggest, owes the king gratitude for his promotion, and so should feel bound to obey his ruler's command. They would join ingratitude to his act of disobedience. They would also make it look as if the decree was the king's alone. In fact they were its cunning authors. "He pays no attention to you," they say, when in fact it was not so much the king that Daniel disregarded, as these wicked conspirators themselves.
Their words are true as far as they go. What they leave out is the point:
They bring their charge: Daniel is a captive of Judah, he does not regard the king, and he ignores his decree. They refrain from saying that he makes his petition to his God and regards His law.
Leave out the God he prayed to, and a faithful man looks like a rebel:
How skilfully they had framed their indictment! Here was a man who regarded neither the king nor his decree. Was this a fair presentation of the facts? Further, three times a day he made his petition. True; but to whom? They did not say. How could they speak the name of the unseen God, whose awesome presence gave Daniel his strength and comfort? Yet the indictment was complete. Daniel's ways did look like disregard for the king. Escape was impossible.
He knew the law before he knelt. He neither advertised his praying nor concealed it:
There is no sign that the decree was a secret to Daniel. On the contrary, he was fully aware of what had passed into law. But, on the other hand, he could not compromise his God... There is no showing off, but he does not hide it. His windows are open toward Jerusalem, as usual. He bows down before his God three times a day, and prays and gives thanks as he had done before. He gives his enemies the occasion they were looking for.
The king had accepted their flattery. By the time they name Daniel, he has no room left to move:
The king was in the hands of these unscrupulous men. He had accepted their flattery, and now he had become their helpless slave. He himself had fastened his own chains without knowing it. With the king safe in their trap, they revealed what their malicious hearts were after. Their very words only betrayed the depth of their wickedness.
One writer looks past the plotters to the one behind them:
Here we clearly see the skilled hand of the one whose titles include "the accuser of our brothers." No doubt this same Satan has a much more active part in what tries the faith of God's people today than most of them realise. For this very reason they should give themselves all the more to prayer while the fiery trial tests them.
Even his enemies could describe how Daniel prayed. That is worth wanting:
His enemies catch Daniel praying, and I can understand how delighted they are. His condemnation is now certain. They go to the king and remind him of the edict... The world was witness to his resolute godliness. And it is a happy thing if the world has the same thing to say about your habits and mine.
- Origin. The accusers name Daniel first as a captive from Judah. That way his faithfulness sounds like ingratitude from a man who owed the king everything.
- Omission. They report that he prays three times a day, but never say to whom. Take God out of the report, and worship looks like rebellion.
- Occasion. Daniel knew the decree and still prayed at his open window. He made no show of it and no secret of it. That gave his enemies their case.
- Entrapment. They remind Darius of his own decree before they name Daniel. The king ends up a helpless slave to chains he fastened himself.
- Accuser. Behind the human plot, writers see "the accuser of our brothers" at work. The answer to that pressure is more prayer, not less.
Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore distressed thereby, and set his heart on Daniel to save him; and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him.
Daniel's enemies caught him praying, just as they planned, and now the report reaches the throne. The king who signed the decree spends the whole day trying to undo it; he wants one thing, and his own law demands another.
The accusation does more than condemn Daniel. It also shows what the officials were after when they flattered the king into signing, and it makes him face his own signature.
Their personal hatred of Daniel and of his race is now plain, and so is their envy of his position. It is plain too that they had only used the king as their tool to destroy Daniel, while claiming they wanted his absolute supremacy. This brought the king face to face with the fruit of his own doings. He could no longer hide from himself the real purpose of the writing he had signed. How often we are blinded to the nature of our actions until we meet their irreversible consequences!
Two things had to be true for the plot to work: the king had to be vain, and Daniel had to be faithful.
For the success of their plot these men had counted on the vanity of the king and the faithfulness of Daniel. If the king had been proof against their flattery, or if Daniel had been unfaithful to God, their scheme would have failed. But Daniel remained faithful, and the king accepted their flattery, and so far their plot prospered. By accepting their flattery the king became their slave.
The king's hard day's work shows real affection for Daniel. It also shows how little his affection could do.
His efforts showed how much he valued Daniel, and how kind his own heart was. But he was no longer his own master. He himself had declared that the laws of the Medes and Persians could not be changed.
Another writer puts the same failure in one line: the king was trying to rescue two people at once.
Realising his folly, the king made desperate attempts until nightfall to release Daniel — and, along with him, himself — from the tangle he had created. But it was all in vain.
Why did a day of royal effort produce nothing? Because no amount of effort could solve his problem.
Now Darius discovers, too late, the fault in his own decree. To rescue his favourite minister he labours till sundown, but in vain. His was the labour of mercy against the iron claims of justice, of love against law. Clearly both could not stand. If he delivered Daniel, he broke the law and dissolved the bonds of his empire. If he upheld the law, he had to crush all his feelings of mercy and compassion. There was no alternative. So his long labour was useless.
One writer states the king's problem plainly, then sets beside it a king who chose the other way:
The problem Darius wanted to solve was this: how to do what his heart desired and still keep the law he had signed. David faced the same problem with his son Absalom. David could not reconcile love with law. So he ignored the law and acted in love, and the very man he had shown grace to drove him from his throne. Darius ignored the dictates of his heart and upheld the law. He kept his throne, but Daniel was thrown into the den of lions.
The riddle that defeated the king from morning to sunset has one solution, and it is not a legal one.
Oh, that problem, so unsolvable to the mind of man! How can mercy find room to act without breaking the rules of justice? What unbeliever can answer such a question? What system of philosophy can explain the puzzle? But God has explained the whole thing in one sentence — "so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Rom. 3:26). And the cross of Christ stands before the world as the divine answer. There justice finds full satisfaction in the death of the Son of God, and so it lets mercy pour out all her riches on the guilty.
The king's warmth toward Daniel had a cause outside himself. Two later chapters pull back the curtain on this day.
In Daniel 6 we have the outward history; in Daniel 10 and Daniel 11:1 we see the spiritual conflict behind the history. We now learn that the hostility of Daniel's enemies came out of spiritual wickedness working behind the scenes. In the same way, the favour Darius showed Daniel was the result of God's angelic messenger confirming and strengthening the king. Neither Daniel's enemies nor his friends knew much of what these spiritual beings were doing.
- Signed — The king's own hand created the trap. He accepted flattery, and it made him the slave of the men who flattered him.
- Seen — The accusation forced him to see what his decree was for. He hid from that sight until it was too late to undo.
- Sunset — A full day of royal labour changed nothing. Love pulled against a law he himself had called unchangeable.
- Solved — What the king could not reconcile, God has. At the cross justice finds full satisfaction, so mercy can act toward the guilty.
- Sovereign — Unseen powers stood behind the visible struggle, and God's own messenger had strengthened the king who showed Daniel kindness.
Then these men came in a body unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed.
The accusers come back to Darius together, by agreement, not to argue but to remind him that he has no room left to move. The verse turns on a claim about Persian law: what a king signs, a king cannot unsign.
They timed their return. Darius had spent the whole day trying to save Daniel. Now his own words about Persian law worked against him.
His efforts showed how much he valued Daniel. They showed the kindness of his own heart too. But he was no longer his own master. He himself had declared that the laws of the Medes and Persians could not be changed. Daniel's enemies were quick to take advantage of that admission... They asserted their power. Their words, "Know, O king," revealed their purpose to keep it at all costs. So Darius did not dare to play games any longer with the most powerful nobles of his kingdom.
The plot was never about the king's honour. They envied Daniel and wanted him destroyed, and the king was only their tool.
Nebuchadnezzar had ruled by his own will alone. This king was fenced in by law.
Daniel 6 shows that this empire was inferior to the empire of Nebuchadnezzar. He did whatever he wanted to do. He was not restricted in his actions by laws that bound him; he was a law to himself. Darius, when he signed a decree, was bound by it, "according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not change" (Dan. 6:8, 15), even when he must have realised that the law was being used to force him to act against his own desires. The head of the empire was powerless when faced with the law.
Darius wanted to save Daniel, and he could not. His wasted day was a clash between two claims.
His was the labour of mercy against the iron claims of justice, of love against law. It was clear that both could not stand. If he delivered Daniel, he broke the law and dissolved the bonds of his empire. If instead he kept the law, he had to crush all his feelings of mercy and compassion. There was no other choice. So his long effort was useless. Justice barred kindness and demanded satisfaction.
The same dilemma had faced another king, and he chose the other way — with a different cost.
David, in his day, had to face this problem in the matter of his son Absalom. David could not reconcile love with law. So he ignored the law and acted in love. The result was that the man he had shown grace to drove him from his throne. Darius ignored the desires of his heart and kept the law. The result was that he kept his throne, but Daniel was thrown into the den of lions. Every precaution was taken to carry out the king's decree to the letter.
No human throne could satisfy both claims at once. The answer came from somewhere else.
Oh, that problem so impossible for the mind of man! How can mercy find room to act without breaking the rules of justice?... But God has explained the whole thing in one sentence — "so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Rom. 3:26). And the cross of Christ stands before the world as God's answer. There justice finds perfect satisfaction in the death of the Son of God, and so it allows mercy to pour out all her riches towards the guilty.
The law held, the sentence went through, and the accusers appeared to have won both the king and his servant. The narrative says otherwise.
The deed was done, and these men triumphed over both Daniel and Darius. But there was Another on Daniel's side whom his enemies had not counted on. As the rest of the story shows, their short-lived victory was only the prelude to their own defeat and destruction. If God is for His people, no one can succeed against them, however things look at the moment.
The boast of permanence did not last either. This chapter holds two decrees: the one that trapped Daniel, and a later one ordering men to fear his God.
The first was cancelled as to its penalty; the second was soon cancelled as to its performance... No empire can make laws in the things of God. So this "law of the Medes and Persians" was soon broken openly and everywhere!
- Trapped. Darius signed a decree he had not thought through, and the accusers returned to hold him to his own words.
- Powerless. Nebuchadnezzar ruled by will. Darius was tied by his own law, so power at the top proved to be weakness.
- Divided. He spent a whole day trying to make mercy and justice agree, and failed; law won, and Daniel went to the lions.
- Answered. No throne could hold mercy and justice together. The cross does: God is both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
- Overruled. The accusers counted every factor but One, and the law that "could not change" was soon broken anyway.
Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast [him] into the den of lions. The king spoke and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will save thee.
Darius has spent the day trying to save the man he values most, and has failed — his own decree now drags Daniel to the pit. Yet as the sentence falls, the king who signed it speaks the one hopeful word in the room: a word about Daniel's God.
A note on translation: the ESV reads the king's words as a wish — "May your God... deliver you!" The older wording the writers quote states it as fact: "He will deliver you."
Darius wanted Daniel free but had bound himself by law. One writer sets his dilemma beside King David, who faced the same knot over his son Absalom.
The problem that Darius sought to solve was this: how to carry out the desire of his heart and yet keep the law he had put his hand to. David, in his day, faced the same problem in the matter of his son Absalom. David could not reconcile love with law, so he ignored the law and acted in love. The result: the man he had shown grace to drove him from his throne. Darius ignored what his heart told him and upheld the law. He kept his throne, but Daniel was cast into the den of lions, and every precaution was taken to carry out the king's decree to the letter.
The king's words are a testimony to Daniel, and they come just as the stone closes the den.
He had walked with the living God for many a long year. Of one thing I am certain: the living God walked with him to the mouth of the den that day. He went in. Then the king said to Daniel, "Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you." That was a splendid word for him to hear as they rolled the stone to the mouth of the den... What a fine character Daniel had! And what a fine testimony to his service for the Lord — "whom you serve continually."
The king's hope had a history behind it.
By God's grace, Daniel was privileged to bear witness in the court of this king, and that testimony had borne fruit. Now the sorrow that has fallen on Darius brings the fruit to light. He is assured that Daniel's God will not now abandon His faithful servant. Could we think there was no element of faith in this man's confidence in the God of Daniel?
Notice what the king praises. Daniel's continual service was the very crime his decree punished.
The king commends Daniel for doing what directly disobeyed his own decree. He is confident that God will not abandon the man who puts the fear of God above the fear of the greatest man on earth. His conviction was right, and it always is. Yet in this age of faith God's intervention does not always take the direct and miraculous form it took in past ages.
To every human eye the accusers had won. They had the king, the law, and the lions.
The deed was done, and these men triumphed over both Daniel and Darius. But there was Another on Daniel's side whom his enemies had not counted on. As the rest of the story shows, their short-lived victory was only the prelude to their own defeat and destruction. If God is for His people, no one can stand against them and win, whatever things look like for the moment.
The den is closed and stamped with royal authority. One writer sees the shadow of a later sealing in it.
Daniel is cast into the lions' den, as our blessed Lord was given to the lion (Psalm 22:21). A stone is laid on the mouth of the den, and the king seals it with his signet. He is, so to speak, in a grave — as good as dead in the eyes of the world, for who has ever heard of hungry lions not devouring a man? All this brings before us that other place: the tomb in the garden where He was laid, and the stone in front of it. That stone bore the seal of the Roman world power.
The rescue points beyond Daniel. One writer reads it as a pattern of God's dealings with Israel at the end.
Daniel is cast into the lions' den. God preserves him. He will do the same for the remnant of Israel at the end of the age. The judgment which Israel's enemies tried to bring on the faithful among that people falls on themselves.
- Continually — Darius's own word is the key to the chapter. Daniel's service was not a crisis performance but a long habit. His enemies used that habit against him; his king admired it.
- Cost — that continual service is what put him in the den. The king praises the very act that broke his decree. The same faithfulness draws punishment and praise.
- Credit — years of quiet consistency put a confession of God into the mouth of a pagan ruler. Your testimony bears fruit in people you never preached to.
- Company — the plotters counted the king, the law and the lions, and missed Another on Daniel's side. Appearances at the moment of defeat prove nothing.
- Christ — a sealed stone over a man as good as dead points beyond Daniel to the garden tomb. Beyond that, it points to God's rescue of His people at the end.
And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his nobles, that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.
Daniel is in the lions' den. A stone now covers the opening, stamped with the personal seals of the king and his nobles. The strange part is what the seal is for. It does not keep the lions in. It keeps help out, so that nothing about Daniel's sentence can be undone.
Darius wanted Daniel alive. The seal shows how little his wish counted once he had signed the decree.
The problem Darius tried to solve was how to carry out the desire of his heart and still uphold the law he had signed. David faced the same problem in his day over his son Absalom. David could not reconcile love with law, so he ignored the law and acted in love, and the result was that the man he showed grace to drove him from his throne. Darius ignored what his heart wanted and upheld the law. As a result he kept his throne, but Daniel was cast into the den of lions. Every precaution was taken so that the king's decree was carried out to the letter.
Commentators see behind that deadlock a greater clash of law and love, and God's answer to it.
We may well think here of another law and another love. God, a holy and righteous God and a God of love, found a way to save man. God's holy law condemns man, who is a sinner, and the curse of the law rests on him. God's love is set on the world. He "so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." The curse of the law fell on Him who knew no sin and who was made sin for us. That is how love was shown.
A signet was a hard, engraved stone worn on a ring or a chain and pressed into soft clay.
Stones with words, letters, or symbols engraved on them. In ancient times these were pierced and hung from the arm or neck by a cord or chain, or they were set in rings and worn on the finger. The design was pressed into pieces of clay attached to official documents, which in the East are not considered genuine unless sealed. The seal was also used to guarantee security, or to keep sacred the things not to be revealed.
Applied here, the marks of the king and his lords are a public pledge by the state.
The seal fixed to the stone "on the mouth of the den" was like the seal on the stone rolled to the door of the tomb. Both show that the judicial and governing authority pledged itself to keep its prisoner in secure custody.
The stone shut out every human rescuer. It could not shut out God.
But there was Another on Daniel's side, whom his enemies had not counted on. As the following account shows, their short-lived victory was only the prelude to their own defeat and destruction. If God is for His people, no one can successfully be against them, whatever things may look like for the moment.
Commentators notice the same two things at the tomb of Jesus: a stone and a seal.
The chief priests and Pharisees had been allowed by God to bring about the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. After His death He was buried in the tomb. Not content with getting what they wanted, they obtained permission from Pilate to make "the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard." In both cases man thought he could secure his aim by making rescue impossible. But God was not in his thoughts at all; and what can man do when he dares to fight against God?
The chapter is also read as a preview. A ruler takes the place of God, and those who keep worshipping God are handed over to be destroyed.
Daniel represents the remnant, the faithful few who in those last days will refuse to give up the worship of God. As a result they are cast into the den of lions; they go through the great tribulation of the last days, when Satan the "roaring lion" would devour them, but has his mouth shut; and they come out of it tested, faithful, and true for God, His witnesses.
One writer turns the picture around. For the Christian, the seal is God's own.
A seal also protected from interference. The den was closed and sealed with the king's own signet. This was to guard the den from all interference, whether by friend or foe. No one could tamper with Daniel. What a comfort it is to know that we are guarded from all interference in the same way by the presence of God's seal, the Holy Spirit. Everything that comes to us is by His permission; nothing else can touch us.
- Sealed by weakness — the king wanted to save Daniel and could not. His own law had bound him, and love and law could not be reconciled.
- Sealed by authority — a signet was an engraved stone pressed into clay. It was the state's public pledge that its prisoner stays put.
- Sealed against rescue, not escape — the stone was aimed at anyone outside who might help. It left out the one Helper who mattered.
- Sealed a second time — at the tomb of Jesus men used a stone and a seal again to make rescue impossible. Again God was not in their thoughts.
- Sealed for God — the believer carries God's own seal, the Holy Spirit. Nothing reaches them except by His permission.
Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting; neither were concubines brought before him; and his sleep fled from him.
They seal the stone over the den, and the king goes home to a palace that offers him nothing — no meal, no music, no sleep. The most powerful man in the empire lies awake while his condemned friend lies among lions.
Darius believed God would rescue Daniel. So why could he not rest?
(V. 18). The king was sure God would step in for His servant. Even so, he was full of remorse for what he had done, and he spent a sleepless night fasting.
His misery had more than one source.
But what about his royal master? He passed the dark and weary hours fasting, restless and sleepless. His conscience accused him. His spirit was wounded. His trusted servants had betrayed and humiliated him. His own decree, which came from hell, had trapped him. And he had now become the murderer of the most important and best loved minister in his kingdom. He tosses on his bed in the most wretched condition imaginable.
The detail about instruments is not decoration. Sending for musicians was the standard way a king filled a wakeful night — which is why another sleepless monarch, Ahasuerus, is noted for doing something different.
Having lost his sleep, the king did not, as was the custom in those days, send for instruments of music to pass the tedious hours (see Dan. 6:18). Instead he thought of the book of the records of the chronicles and commanded it to be read before him (Esther 6:1).
No music could reach what was wrong with Darius.
Why did the king not simply set Daniel free?
Darius was trying to solve one problem: how could he do what his heart wanted and still keep the law he had signed? David faced the same problem in his day with his son Absalom. David could not reconcile love with law. So he ignored the law and acted in love. The result was that the man he had shown grace to drove him from his throne. Darius ignored what his heart told him and kept the law instead. The result was that he held his throne, but Daniel went into the den of lions, and they took every precaution to carry out the king's decree to the letter.
He kept the throne and lost his peace.
The palace held the unhappy man. The den held the happy one.
It does not matter whether it is a lions' den in Babylon or a prison in Philippi — faith and a good conscience can make a man happy in either. We doubt whether Daniel ever spent a happier night on this earth than the night he spent in the lions' den. He was there for God, and God was there with him... Who would not rather be Daniel in the den than Darius in the palace? The one is happy in God, the other is deeply displeased with himself. Darius wanted everyone to pray to him; Daniel would pray to none but God. Darius was bound by his own rash decree; Daniel was bound only by the word of the living God. What a contrast!
Another writer draws the lesson of the whole chapter out of the same night.
The point of this chapter is that the devoted man will be the delivered man. I believe Darius spent a wretched night, fasting and sleepless. I think if you and I had gone down to the den of lions we would have found Daniel sleeping soundly. Faith in God and a clear conscience are rare companions to sleep with, especially in a lions' den!
One writer sees in the sealed den and the dark hours a hint of something later.
Can we read all this without thinking of One in a later day? Because He was faithful to His Father and God, He was numbered with the transgressors and went down among lions (Ps. 57:4; 22:13). Yet the same power that delivered Daniel saved Him from the lion's mouth. Here we have a faint foreshadowing of our Saviour's night of sorrow. He was delivered into the hands of sinners... and He went down to a grave closed with a stone and sealed with recognised, God-given authority.
- The decree. Darius kept the law he had signed instead of following his heart. He saved his throne at the cost of his friend.
- The remorse. Remorse drove the fast. His own conscience accused him for what he had set in motion.
- The music. Kings called for music to get through a sleepless night. Darius turned it down. No entertainment can reach a wounded conscience.
- The contrast. The man in the palace cannot sleep. The man among lions can. Faith and a clear conscience make a better bed than a royal couch.
- The morning. The devoted man was the delivered man. The night that broke the king was the night God kept His servant, and it points ahead to a later night, a sealed stone, and a greater deliverance.
Then the king arose with the light at break of day, and went in haste unto the den of lions.
The king's own signet had sealed the den, and he had spent the night without food, music, or sleep. At first light he runs to the pit he sealed himself, to find out whether Daniel's God has saved him.
The haste in this verse is the overflow of a night described in the verse before. One writer traces the whole sequence — the signed decree, the sleepless hours, the run to the den — back to a heart that was never behind the sentence it passed.
We have seen plainly that the heart of Darius was not in what was done. Now the deed was over, and remorse filled him — despite his own stated assurance that God would deliver Daniel. He spent the next night fasting. He did without his usual music. His sleep left him. Rising early in the morning, he went in haste to the den of lions. All his thoughts were for the time centred on Daniel.
The king is in a palace and Daniel is among lions. One writer gives the better night to the prisoner.
The king had fallen into a snare; but Daniel was in good keeping. It was all right with him. "The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe." A lion's den at Babylon or a prison at Philippi — it makes no difference. Faith and a good conscience can make a man happy in either. We question whether Daniel ever spent a happier night on this earth than the night he spent in the lions' den. He was there for God, and God was there with him... Who would not rather be Daniel in the den than Darius in the palace?
Another writer lists what the night cost the king himself.
His conscience accused him. His spirit was wounded. His trusted servants had betrayed and humiliated him. His own decree had trapped him, and it had made him the murderer of the most important and best loved minister in his kingdom. He tosses on his bed in the most wretched condition imaginable. At the first streak of day he is found at the mouth of the lions' den.
What the king says at the den reverses the whole tone of the plot against Daniel. The accusers had built their case entirely on the king's honour; the king now has nothing to say about himself.
Early in the morning the king hurries to the den of lions, and, to his relief, finds that God has indeed intervened. In calling to Daniel he addresses him as "the servant of the living God," and again he recognises that Daniel has served God continually. In their charge the wicked men had made everything of the king and nothing of God; the king makes everything of God and nothing of himself.
One writer reads the sealed den alongside the sealed tomb of Jesus.
Daniel is cast into the lions' den, as our blessed Lord was given to the lion (Psalm 22:21). A stone is laid on the mouth of the den and sealed with the king's signet. He is, so to speak, in a grave, as good as dead in the eyes of the world — for who has ever heard of hungry lions not devouring a man? And all this brings before us that other place — the tomb in the garden where He was laid. The stone before it bore the seal of the Roman world power.
The morning ends with Daniel lifted out untouched. One commentator explains why the king was legally free to lift him out at all, and where the protection actually came from.
The law had been upheld, and Daniel had suffered its punishment. So no one could now object on the ground of the unchangeable laws of the Medes and Persians. Darius could use his authority and command that Daniel be taken up out of the den. When they took him up, "no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God"... God produced faith in Daniel's soul, and that faith brought God in. He shielded His servant from the malice of his enemies, holding back the natural, ravenous instincts of the lions. The apostle, with Daniel in mind, speaking of the prophets, says, "Who through faith… stopped the mouths of lions" (Hebrews 11:33).
- Night — The king fasted, refused music, and lost his sleep. His early rising ends a night of remorse, not of rest.
- Contrast — The man in the palace was wretched; the man in the den was safe. Faith and a good conscience make a person happy in either place.
- Haste — His own decree had trapped him and his own conscience accused him. He runs to the den with every thought fixed on Daniel.
- Confession — At the den he calls Daniel "servant of the living God." The accusers had made everything of the king; the king now makes everything of God.
- Morning — A sealed stone, a man as good as dead, a visit at dawn: the scene points on to the sealed tomb in the garden. Daniel comes up unharmed because he trusted in his God.
And when he came near unto the den, he cried with a mournful voice unto Daniel the king spoke and said unto Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, hath thy God whom thou servest continually been able to save thee from the lions?
At dawn the most powerful man in the empire ran to a sealed pit and shouted a question at the prisoner inside. That one question holds a title he grants, a service he admits, and a doubt he cannot shake.
The cry came after a long night. One man slept through it; the other did not.
The point of this chapter is that the devoted man will be the delivered man. I will guarantee that Daniel had the best of it that night. I believe Darius spent a wretched night, fasting and sleepless. I think if you and I had gone down to the den of lions we would have found Daniel sleeping soundly. Faith in God and a good conscience are rare bedfellows, especially in a lion's den!
The night before, the king had told Daniel that his God would deliver him. By morning that confidence had shrunk to a question. Regret explains the change.
The heart of Darius was clearly not in what was done. Now the deed was carried out, and despite his stated assurance that God would deliver Daniel, remorse filled him. All his thoughts were centred on Daniel... God had not forgotten His servant. Daniel had faced the full display of Satan's power. Yet he was not, and could not be, injured, for he was under the all-powerful protection of the living God.
Darius does not call him a governor or a favourite. The title he shouts into the pit is a public verdict on a life.
And see in the end what remarkable honour Daniel received. He stood publicly identified with the one living and true God. "O Daniel," cried the king, "servant of the living God." Truly he had earned this title for himself. He was, without question, a devoted and decided servant of God... Nothing could be more marked. Nothing shows more clearly how much God values plain decision and true-hearted devotion. It does not matter where, when, or by whom it is shown.
The king repeats a phrase he used when Daniel went in. Compare his words with the charge his officials had brought.
Early in the morning the king hurries to the den of lions, and, to his relief, finds that God has indeed stepped in. In calling to Daniel he addresses him as "the servant of the living God," and again he recognises that Daniel has served God continually. In their charge the wicked men had made everything of the king and nothing of God; the king makes everything of God and nothing of himself.
Daniel came up from the pit unhurt. One writer traces that rescue further back than the miracle, to the faith of the man inside.
This reveals the whole secret of his protection and deliverance. God Himself produced faith in his soul, and that faith brought God in. He shielded His servant from the hatred of his enemies by holding back the wild, hungry instincts of the lions. The apostle, with Daniel in mind, speaking of the prophets, says, "who through faith... stopped the mouths of lions" (Hebrews 11:33). It was one of the victories of faith that should encourage the people of God to trust in Him and to count on Him at all times.
The king says your God, not my God. How far did his respect go, and what did it lead to?
Nebuchadnezzar forbade anyone to speak evil of the God of Israel, and he praised the King of heaven who had humbled him. But Darius commands that everyone everywhere acknowledge the God of Daniel and of Israel. He is the only living God, whose kingdom is everlasting, and He had indeed delivered the man who trusted in Him. It appears that Darius had some respect for God and for Daniel's godliness. It was not his God, but the God of Daniel: still he honours Him, and even calls Him the living God.
One writer reads the sealed den as more than history. It sketches a rescue still to come.
Daniel represents the remnant, the faithful few who in those last days will refuse to give up the worship of God. As a result they are cast into the den of the lions. They go through the great tribulation of the last days. Satan, the "roaring lion", would devour them, but his mouth is shut. They come out of it tried, faithful, and true for God, His witnesses.
- Continual — the king could name Daniel's unbroken service at the pit. Daniel earned that title in ordinary days, not in the crisis.
- Devoted — the devoted man became the delivered man. The king lost his sleep; the man among the lions rested.
- Able — the king asked whether God could. Faith brought God in, and the lions' mouths stayed shut.
- Living — God proved the title Darius used, and the king who once said "your God" ended by commanding a whole empire to fear Him.
- Prophetic — the den pictures the faithful shut in with the roaring lion. They come out unhurt, as God's witnesses.
Then Daniel spoke unto the king, O king, live for ever!
A law against prayer had put Daniel in the lions' den overnight. At daybreak the first sound from the pit is not a groan but a greeting to the king who put him there. That greeting raises two questions: how could Daniel speak so kindly to this king, and on what ground could he expect God to keep him alive?
One writer weighs the king's night against the prisoner's, and finds the chapter's rule in the difference.
The point of this chapter is that the devoted man will be the delivered man. I would guarantee that Daniel had the best of it that night. I believe Darius spent a wretched night, fasting and sleepless. I think if you and I had gone down to the den of lions we would have found Daniel sleeping soundly. Faith in God and a good conscience are rare bedfellows, especially in a lion's den!
There is no reproach in what Daniel says. The man the king's own law had sentenced opens with a wish for that king's long life, and then names God as his own.
"O king, live forever," sounded loyally and joyfully from the lips of the man of God. "My God," he said — claiming Him as his own by a right and title now renewed — "sent His angel, and shut the lions' mouths." Yes, God was able to deliver, and had done so.
Daniel does not say "God." He says "my God." One writer presses that small word on the reader, and shows how anyone can be sure of it.
Dear friend, can you say, as Daniel did, "My God"?… When I say "my," it means something I own — someone I know. He is mine — my God. And how can I be sure that God is my God? The Lord Jesus Christ had no sin. On the cross He bore our sins and the judgment of God, and at last He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"… God forsook Him so that you and I might be accepted.
Daniel was not spared the den. One writer says what was really in that pit with him, and why the lions could never touch him.
God had not forgotten His servant. Daniel had faced the full display of Satan's power, yet he was not injured, and he could not be. He was under the almighty protection of the living God. So he was able to answer the king's question, after the usual loyal greeting: "My God has sent His angel, and has shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me."
Daniel gives a reason for his rescue: he was innocent — before God first, and then before the king. One writer draws a rule from that order.
Notice, however, that Daniel claimed that "innocency" was found in him before God. The lesson is this. Without a good conscience in His sight, we could not know we were under God's protection. We could not claim His help — or, to put it better, expect it. Before the king Daniel was as clear as he was before God. Like the apostle Paul, he had a conscience free of offence towards God and towards men.
The story also looks forward. One writer reads Darius and Daniel as pictures of two figures in the last days.
Darius himself seems a man we can take a good deal of interest in. He drew back from what he had done. But as a picture he stands for the Beast — man's complete turning away from God. Daniel represents the remnant, the faithful few who in those last days will refuse to give up the worship of God. As a result they are thrown into the den of the lions. They go through the great tribulation of the last days. Satan, the "roaring lion," wants to devour them, but his mouth is shut. They come out of it tried, faithful, and true for God.
- Devotion — "the devoted man will be the delivered man." The prayers that put Daniel in the den are why he walked out of it.
- Deliverance — Daniel was not lucky. God's almighty protection covered him all night, so the lions could not hurt him.
- Possession — Daniel did not say "God" but "my God"; the cross is what lets anyone else say it too.
- Conscience — Daniel was clear before God first, then before the king. A good conscience is the ground for expecting His help.
- Preview — the faithful few of the last days meet the same roaring lion. His mouth is shut too, and they come out tried, faithful and true.
My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me; forasmuch as before him innocence was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.
Daniel has spent a night in a den of lions. At first light the king comes to the den, not knowing whether he will hear a voice or silence. Daniel's answer names three things: who acted, how He acted, and why.
Scripture says almost nothing about the night itself. One writer notes that silence, and what Daniel says anyway.
Daniel replies to the king with a glad voice: "My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths, and they have not harmed me." Scripture has drawn a veil over what happened through that night. Scripture tells us only that God's angel was there — no doubt a visible sign from God — and that the lions' mouths were shut. Daniel's mouth is opened in praise and thankfulness as he now confesses what God has done.
God did not spare Daniel the den. He kept him alive inside it.
God had not forgotten His servant. Daniel faced the full display of Satan's power. Yet he was not, and could not be, injured, for he was under the almighty protection of the living God.
Daniel does not simply say "God." He says "My God," and one writer turns that little word into a question for the reader.
Can you say, like Daniel, "My God"? If you do not learn to say "My God" on earth, you will never learn to say it in eternity… When I say "my," it means something I possess — someone I know. I possess Him — my God. And how can I be sure that God is my God? The Lord Jesus Christ had no sin. On the cross He bore our sins and the judgment of God. At last He cried out, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" God forsook Him so that you and I might be accepted.
Daniel gives the reason for the rescue, and it runs two ways: toward God and toward the king. Where the ESV says "blameless," older translations say "innocency."
Notice, though, that Daniel claimed God found "innocency" in him. Here is the lesson. Without a good conscience in His sight, we could not know that we are under God's protection, nor could we claim, or rather expect, His help. Before the king Daniel was as clear as he was before God. Like the apostle Paul, he had a conscience free of offence toward God and toward men.
A clear conscience is not a matter of personality. One writer explains how you get one and how you keep it.
This reminds us of the apostle Paul. He says to his accusers, "So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man." That is what all Christians should do. And how do you get and keep a conscience free of offence toward God? You get it first of all when the blood of the Lamb washes you clean. You keep it by walking in dependence on God and in obedience to Him.
Two men passed the same hours. Only one of them rested.
The point of this chapter is that the devoted man will be the delivered man. I will guarantee that Daniel had the best of it that night. I believe Darius spent a wretched night, fasting and sleepless. I think if you and I had gone down to the den of lions we should have found Daniel sleeping soundly. Faith in God and a good conscience are rare bedfellows, especially in a lion's den!
The plotters wrote a law they thought could not fail. They had left out one thing.
The men who drew up the decree left God out of their calculations. They had not counted on any power being able to restrain the ferocity of the lions. They had made no provision in their decree that anyone thrown to the lions must be killed by the lions. So the law was fulfilled and Daniel was saved.
Commentators also read this chapter as a picture of something still ahead.
Daniel represents the remnant, the faithful few who in those last days will refuse to give up the worship of God. As a result they are cast into the den of the lions. They go through the great tribulation of the last days. Satan the "roaring lion" would devour them, but his mouth is shut. They come out of it tried, faithful, and true for God.
- Sent. God did not cancel the den. He sent His angel into it and shut the lions' mouths, with Daniel still lying where his enemies had put him.
- Mine. Daniel says "my God," not just "God" — a God he has and knows for himself.
- Clear. He points to innocence before God and no harm done to the king. That is a conscience clean in both directions: washed by the blood of the Lamb, kept by obedience.
- Rested. The devoted man is the delivered man. The accused slept; the king who signed the decree lay awake fasting.
- Reversed. The plotters left God out of their reckoning. So the law stood and Daniel lived — a picture of a faithful few who come through the roaring lion's worst.
Thereupon was the king exceeding glad, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.
The king pulls Daniel out of the den alive, without a scratch, and Scripture pauses to tell us why. The reason is not the king's change of heart, nor Daniel's rank, but his trust in God.
One writer traces Daniel's untouched body back to something God had first worked inside him.
When they took him up, "no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God" (v. 23). The whole secret of his protection and deliverance is revealed here. God Himself produced this faith in his soul. That faith brought in God, who shielded His servant from the malice of his enemies. He held back the natural, ravenous instincts of the lions. The apostle, with Daniel in mind, speaking of the prophets, says, "who through faith … stopped the mouths of lions" (Hebrews 11:33).
In the previous verse Daniel points to his clear conscience; here the narrator points to his faith. One writer holds both together, then turns the question on the reader.
He simply states what his walk before God had been, and what his conduct had been in relation to the king. "So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him." Why? "Because he had trusted in his God" (v. 23). Do you believe in God? If you are a believer in God, you are sure to be blessed.
The men who framed the law had thought of everything except God. Their own wording left the door open for the outcome recorded in this verse.
The men who drew up the decree left God out of their calculations. They had not counted on any power being able to restrain the ferocity of the lions. They made no provision in their decree that anyone thrown to the lions must be killed by the lions. So the law was fulfilled and Daniel was saved. These malicious men were exposed for what they were. They were thrown into the den of lions with their families, caught in the trap they had laid for the man of God.
Daniel was not smuggled out. One writer imagines Darius answering the accusers the next morning.
My law has been honoured, my throne left stainless, and my heart's desire granted as well. Daniel has already been cast into the den of lions. He satisfied the fullest claims of a broken law, and then he was taken out again… So I am as righteous in refusing to hear the charge against him today as I was in putting him into the den yesterday! My First President is free — righteously free! — and every breath of accusation must from now on be silenced for ever.
The same writer then applies the picture to the believer. Daniel went in himself; the believer did not.
Now to apply. What happened to Daniel personally has taken place for the believer substitutionally.
One writer compares Daniel with his three friends in the fiery furnace.
"Then the king was exceedingly glad… 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." A happy testimony! Daniel honoured God, and God honoured Daniel. No harm came to his three friends in the burning fiery furnace. They had refused to worship the image. No harm came to Daniel. He had refused to stop worshipping God. Their conduct was negative; his was positive. They said "no"; he said "yes."… Faith, like a gold coin, has two sides: the negative that refuses evil, and the positive that chooses good.
Commentators also read the chapter as a picture of things to come. One looks past Daniel to a greater sufferer.
Can we read all this without thinking of One who came later? Because of His faithfulness to His Father and God, He was counted among the lawbreakers, and went down among lions (Ps. 57:4; 22:13). Yet He … was saved from the lion's mouth by the same power that delivered Daniel.
Others read Daniel himself as standing for a faithful few in a coming day of pressure.
Daniel represents the remnant, the faithful few who in those last days will refuse to give up the worship of God. As a result they are cast into the den of lions. They go through the great tribulation of the last days, when Satan the "roaring lion" would devour them. But his mouth is shut, and they come out of it tested, faithful and true for God.
- Believed — the cause. The verse names the reason Daniel came out unharmed: faith. God worked it in him, and it brought God Himself into the den.
- Believed — while they calculated. His enemies counted on the lions, the law and the king, but left God out. Their own decree said "cast in," not "killed" — and it destroyed them instead.
- Believed — and righteously freed. Daniel served the penalty in full and came out with the law honoured and every accusation silenced. What happened to him personally has been done for the believer in his place.
- Believed — and said yes. His friends refused to worship the image; Daniel refused to stop worshipping God. Faith both turns from evil and chooses good, and neither kind was harmed.
- Believed — and pointed forward. Commentators see the night among lions as a faint picture of Christ's suffering, and Daniel as a picture of a faithful few who come out tested and true.