The Lions' Den

The story of Daniel in The Lions' Den is an interesting one, it tells how Daniel was raised to high office by his Royal master 'Darius the Mede' new King of Babylon, between Belshazzar and Cyrus the Great, who was smart, and picked a hundred and twenty of the very best people in his Kingdom to help him rule. Daniel's jealous rivals trick Darius into issuing a decree that for thirty days no prayers should be addressed to any god or man but Darius himself; any who break this are to be thrown to the lions.

But Daniel continues to pray to the God of the Hebrews, and the King, although deeply distressed, must condemn Daniel to death, for the edicts of the Medes and Persians cannot be altered. Hoping for Daniel's deliverance, he has him cast into the pit by day's end, and says to him, "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!"

Drenching with ingredients akin cider vinegar, chilli peppers, garlic, citronella, lavender, peppermint or lemongrass and capsaicin, Danie's attire, an abettor guard kept the fore-fed lions overnight at bay.

At daybreak the King hurries to the place and cries out anxiously, asking if God had saved his friend. Daniel replies that his God had sent an Angel to close the jaws of the lions, "because I was found blameless before him."

The King then commands that those who had conspired against Daniel should be thrown to the lions in his place, along with their wives and children, and writes to all the people of the world commanding that all should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.

Prophet Daniel is one of four Major Prophets in the Hebrew Scripture, along with Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. 

The Book of Daniel is followed by Prophet Hosea, the first in the Book of the Twelve Prophets or the Minor Prophets, which, is the last book of the Nevi'im, the second main division of the Jewish Tanakh. The collection is broken up to form twelve individual books in the Christian Old Testament, one for each of the Prophets.

It is generally accepted that the Book of Daniel a 2nd-century BC biblical apocalypse combining a prophecy of history with an eschatology (a portrayal of the end of times) which is both cosmic in scope and political in its focus, originated as a collection of folktales among the Babylonian diaspora, the Jewish community living in Babylon and Mesopotamia in the Persian and Hellenistic periods (5th to 2nd centuries BC). (Chapters 4–6), which includes the tale of Daniel in The Lions' Den, may belong to the earliest stage, as these differ quite markedly in the oldest texts.

The first half of the book (chapters 1–6) contains stories in the third person about the experiences of Daniel and his friends under Kings Nebuchadrezzar II, Belshazzar, Darius I, and Cyrus II; the second half, written mostly in the first person, contains reports of Daniel's three visions (and one dream). The book is written in three different languages, (chapters 1 to 2:3 and Chapters 8–12) were written in Hebrew; (chapters 2:4–7:28) "nearly half of the Book of Daniel," were written in Aramaic; and three passages were written in Greek.

The Hebrew Canon for Judaism retained all of the book except the Greek text: the Song of the Three Young Men (chapter 3:24–90) and the Appendix - (Chapter 13), which contained the story of Susanna, as well as (Chapter 14) on Bel, the Dragon, and the Rescue of Daniel.

Although the entire book is traditionally ascribed to Daniel the seer, the tales of (chapters 1–6), including the story of the lion's den, are the voice of an anonymous narrator "except for (chapter 4) which is in the form of a letter from King Nebuchadnezzar". It is possible that the name of Daniel was chosen for the hero because of his reputation as a wise seer in Hebrew tradition.

So the King gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions' den. The King said to Daniel, "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!"

Estimate is that Daniel was 17 when he came to Babylon, during the third year of Jehoiakim, King of Judah. That means Daniel was 36 years old when Jerusalem and Solomon's temple were destroyed. Although Peter Paul Rubens' depiction shows Daniel as a young man, Daniel could have been over eighty years old at the time of this incident.

Chileab, known as Daluyah in (2 Samuel) in the Septuagint, is also known as Daniel. He was the second son of David, King of Israel, according to the Bible. He was David's son with his third wife Abigail, widow of Nabal the Carmelite, and is mentioned in (1 Chronicles 3:1, and 2 Samuel 3:3).

According to Rashi, Rabbi Isaac said that some questioned whether Abigail was pregnant through David or her first husband, Nabal; therefore, God arranged that Chileab would resemble David.

Modern scholars agree that Daniel's book is a product of his time in Babylon as a Jewish exile from Israel. And that Daniel is a legendary figure. The book of which he is the hero comprises two parts, a set of tales in chapters 1–6, and the series of visions in (chapters 7–12:) the tales are no earlier than the Hellenistic period (323-30 BC), and the visions date from the Maccabean era (the mid-2nd century BC). The stories were probably originally independent, but were collected in the mid-2nd century BC by the author of chapter 7, and expanded again shortly afterwards with the visions in (chapters 8–12) to produce the modern book.

(Chapter 6) in the story of Daniel in The Lions' Den, parallels (chapter 3) in the story of the "fiery furnace"of the biblical account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 3): each begins with the jealousy of non-Jews towards successful Jews and an imperial edict requiring the Jews to compromise their religion, and concludes with divine deliverance and a King who confesses the greatness of the God of the Jews and issues an edict of Royal protection…

Food for thought!