Daniel · chapter 6 of 12
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Daniel 6 tells how the high officials, jealous of Daniel, persuade King Darius to sign a decree forbidding prayer to any god or man for thirty days. Daniel keeps praying to God three times a day and is thrown into the lions' den. God sends his angel and shuts the lions' mouths, and the king proclaims that Daniel's God is the living God.
Daniel 6 is the book's second great story of faithfulness under threat of death, after the fiery furnace. This time there is no statue or idol, but a law made against prayer. Daniel is now an old man who has served under several kings, and his life of steady prayer and integrity at work becomes the occasion of his test.
Darius the Mede organizes the kingdom into one hundred twenty satraps, with three administrators over them, one of whom is Daniel. Daniel distinguishes himself so much that the king plans to set him over the whole kingdom. The other administrators and satraps look for a ground of accusation against him in his work, but find no fault or error, because Daniel was faithful. They conclude that they can charge him only with something related to the law of his God.
They go to the king and propose a decree: for thirty days, anyone who makes a petition to any god or man except the king shall be thrown into the lions' den. Darius signs the edict, which by the law of the Medes and Persians cannot be revoked. When Daniel learns that the document has been signed, he goes to his house, where the windows of his upstairs room are open toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he kneels, prays and gives thanks to his God, as he had done before. The conspirators catch him praying and report him to the king.
Darius is distressed and works until sunset to rescue Daniel, but the men remind him that the law cannot be changed. He has Daniel thrown into the den and tells him that his God, whom he serves continually, will deliver him. A stone is sealed over the entrance, and the king spends the night fasting and sleepless. At dawn he hurries to the den and calls out to Daniel. Daniel answers that his God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths, because he was found innocent before him, and he has also done no wrong against the king. Darius has him lifted out, and no wound is found on him, because he trusted in his God. The accusers are thrown to the lions together with their families. Darius writes to all peoples that they should fear the God of Daniel, the living God, whose kingdom will not be destroyed. Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and of Cyrus the Persian.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Daniel's rivals can find no ground of accusation because he was faithful and no negligence or fault was found in him. His integrity at work is so clear that they can attack him only for his faith.
When he learns that the decree has been signed, Daniel keeps doing what he always did: praying in his room, windows open toward Jerusalem, three times a day and giving thanks. He neither turns his prayer into a protest nor hides it; he continues as he had done before.
Daniel explains that his God sent his angel and shut the lions' mouths because he was found innocent before him. The deliverance is God's work and not the result of Daniel's skill.
Darius orders that throughout his kingdom people fear and reverence the God of Daniel, the living God whose kingdom will not be destroyed and whose dominion will have no end, who saves and delivers and works signs and wonders. A pagan king confesses what the book affirms.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Because Daniel distinguished himself among the administrators and satraps by his excellent spirit. — Daniel 6:3
Answer: That they could find a charge against him only in something related to the law of his God. — Daniel 6:5
Answer: Making a petition to any god or man except the king for thirty days, on penalty of the lions' den. — Daniel 6:7
Answer: He went home and prayed three times a day, on his knees with windows open toward Jerusalem, as always. — Daniel 6:10
Answer: He stayed fasting, with no entertainment and no sleep, troubled for Daniel. — Daniel 6:18
Answer: Because his God sent his angel, shut the lions' mouths and found him innocent, and because Daniel trusted in God. — Daniel 6:22-23
Daniel 6 teaches that public faithfulness grows from private habits. Before the crisis, Daniel already prayed three times a day; that is why, when the decree came, he did not have to decide what to do. In a small group you can ask which habits of prayer and daily integrity prepare each person today for a test that has not yet come.
It is also a model for Christian work: his enemies found no fault in his work. This does not mean integrity guarantees avoiding trouble, since Daniel ended up in the den anyway, but that the witness of work well done makes room for faith to be seen. And the ending reminds us that God delivers, even if sometimes in ways we do not expect.
Daniel 6 closes the first half of the book, made up of stories of the court, with a king who confesses the living God. In Daniel 7 the book changes genre: Daniel himself receives visions, beginning with four beasts from the sea and a Son of Man who receives an eternal kingdom.
It was a prayer practice of Israel in exile, recalling Solomon's request at the dedication of the temple that God hear those who prayed toward that place. Praying toward Jerusalem expressed his hope in God's promises for his people and city.
The text says the law of the Medes and Persians could not be revoked once signed. This shows Darius's tragedy: his absolute power binds him to a law he himself signed without foreseeing its consequences. In the book, neither king has the last word; God does.
The text simply narrates what the king did; it does not present it as a model of conduct. It reflects the pattern that the one who plots evil falls into his own trap, a frequent theme in Scripture. The punishment of the families is told as a fact of that time and not as a command of God for us.