Daniel in the lions’ den

The story of Daniel in the lions’ den is told in Daniel 6. It is the last of six stories about Daniel and his friends, young Jews taken from Jerusalem to Babylon (Daniel 1:1–6). The stories taught God’s people how to stay faithful far from home, under foreign kings.

The story in brief

King Darius made Daniel one of three officials over the kingdom, and Daniel served so well that the king planned to set him over the whole realm. The other officials looked for something to hold against him and found nothing, “because he was faithful” (Daniel 6:4). So they asked the king to sign a law: for thirty days, anyone who prayed to any god or person except the king would be thrown into a den of lions. By “the law of the Medes and Persians,” it could never be changed (Daniel 6:8).

Daniel went home, and with his windows open toward Jerusalem “he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before” (Daniel 6:10). His rivals reported him. The king was deeply troubled and worked until sunset to save Daniel, and his own law held him fast.

Daniel was thrown into the den, and the king said to him, “Your God whom you serve continually, he will deliver you” (Daniel 6:16). A stone was sealed over the opening. Darius spent the night without food or sleep, and at dawn he hurried to the den and called to Daniel. Daniel answered:

My God has sent his angel, and has shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not hurt me.

Daniel 6:22

Daniel was lifted out, and “no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God” (Daniel 6:23). The chapter ends harshly, as the king has the accusers thrown to the lions with their wives and children (Daniel 6:24). Then Darius writes to every nation that Daniel’s God “is the living God, and steadfast forever” (Daniel 6:26).

The setting and background

Daniel 1–6 tells stories of Daniel and his friends at the courts of foreign kings, and Daniel 7–12 records visions. Most biblical scholars date the finished book to the 160s BCE, when the Greek king Antiochus IV tried to stamp out Jewish worship. The stories are older: John J. Collins of Yale traces them to Jewish storytellers in Babylon and Mesopotamia in the Persian or early Greek period. In 1 Maccabees, the dying priest Mattathias reminds his sons that “Daniel was delivered from the mouth of lions for his innocence” (1 Maccabees 2:60).

The king is “Darius the Mede” (Daniel 5:31). History knows no such king between the fall of Babylon in 539 BCE and Cyrus the Persian. Carol Newsom and Brennan Breed suggest that the storyteller drew on the Persian king Darius I.

Daniel prays as exiles had learned to pray. Solomon asked God to hear exiles who “pray to you toward … the city which you have chosen” (1 Kings 8:48), and a psalmist prayed “evening, morning, and at noon” (Psalm 55:17).

What the story means

Daniel’s courage takes the form of an ordinary habit. When the law was signed he did nothing new. He prayed “as he did before” and kept serving the kingdom well. Many Christians find in him a model for daily prayer (see How to pray).

The story shows God with Daniel in the place of danger, as the matching story of the fiery furnace shows a fourth figure walking in the flames with his friends (Daniel 3:25). Scripture also remembers that faithful people are not always rescued. The chapter of Hebrews that praises those who “stopped the mouths of lions” honors others who were tortured and imprisoned (Hebrews 11:33–36). What Daniel’s story promises is God’s presence.

The deaths of the accusers’ families trouble many readers, and the law of Moses itself forbade putting children to death for their parents’ crimes (Deuteronomy 24:16). With young children it is enough to end with Daniel’s rescue and the king’s praise of God (see also Why is the Old Testament so violent?).

How the early church read it

Daniel standing between two lions with his hands raised in prayer is a frequent picture in the Roman catacombs. Richard Harries, the former Bishop of Oxford, explains that in times of persecution it expressed God’s protection of the faithful. Around 200 CE Hippolytus of Rome wrote the first running commentary on a single book of the Bible, on Daniel, to encourage Christians under persecution. In 252 CE Cyprian of Carthage wrote that Daniel and his friends “observed the third, sixth, and ninth hour” of prayer, hours many early Christians kept as well.

What modern scholars notice

W. Lee Humphreys called the court tales of Daniel and Esther “a life-style for diaspora”: a Jew can serve a foreign king loyally and rise high while staying faithful to God. C. L. Seow points out that Daniel 3 and Daniel 6 mirror each other. In both, a royal law forces a choice, the faithful are delivered, and the king confesses the greatness of their God.

Questions for reflection or discussion

1. Daniel prayed “as he did before.” What habits help you stay close to God when life is hard?
2. Why do you think Daniel left his windows open?
3. What do you make of King Darius and his sleepless night?
4. Where have you seen people serve others well while staying true to their faith?
5. When have you known God’s presence in a frightening place?

A prayer

Living God, you were with Daniel in the den. Give us his steady faith, to pray to you morning, noon, and evening and to serve our neighbors well. When we are afraid, keep us trusting in you. Amen.

For kids

Daniel loved God. He lived far from home, in the land of King Darius. Daniel worked hard for the king, and the king liked him very much.

Some other leaders were jealous. They tricked the king into making a new law. “For thirty days, pray only to the king! Anyone who prays to God will go to the lions.”

Daniel heard about the law. He went home and opened his window. He knelt down and prayed to God, three times a day, just like always.

The jealous leaders told the king. The king was very sad. He liked Daniel! But a law is a law. Daniel was put into a den of lions.

The king said, “Daniel, your God will save you.” That night the king could not sleep.

Early in the morning, the king ran to the den. “Daniel! Did your God save you?”

Daniel called back, “Yes! God sent an angel. The angel shut the lions’ mouths. They did not hurt me!”

The king was so happy! Daniel came out without a scratch. Then the king told everyone, “Daniel’s God is the living God!”

Daniel trusted God. You can talk to God anytime, anywhere. God is with you, even when you feel afraid.