"My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions." – Daniel 6:22
God’s favor is a funny thing. While He “adds no sorrow to it,” (Prov. 10:22), other people often do. Like Joseph, Daniel’s exceptional ability and excellence is attributed to the “excellent spirit” within him. His gift, like in the stories of Abel, Isaac, and Joseph before him, also attracts negative attention from the envious people surrounding him. It’s right before the king plans to “put him over the whole kingdom,” (6:3) that a plan is hatched to take care of the “exceptional” one for good. His enemies can’t catch him doing anything bad, so they will legally redefine “good” as “bad,” and catch him red-handed in the act. No one, not even Daniel’s friend, the king, sees it coming. Through the whole ordeal, Daniel is strangely quiet, “like a lamb led to slaughter,” (Is. 53:7). The only action of Daniel in the whole story is to simply do what he, and many faithful Israelites before and after him had always done: to face east, kneel, and pray the shema: “Hear O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD alone…”
The poet-king, David, claimed that the real lions weren’t the ones waiting in the pit, but those who reject peace and scheme against “those who are quiet in the land,” (Ps. 35:20). Daniel silently confronted both, not with words, but with action. He does what is right and quietly accepts the consequences, perhaps praying the words of Psalm 35 himself as he went down into death, only to be raised up to life. Consequently, the trap set for him snared the ones who set it (35:7-8). In the age of outrage, perhaps the miraculous remains hidden in the quiet place, where lambs find a table prepared for them in the presence of their jaw-dropped enemies (Ps. 23).
Reflection:
- How can you remain faithful in the face of challenges?
- Where do you need God’s protection in your life?
- How does this story inspire courage and trust?
- Art: Daniel’s Answer to the King by Briton Riviere – Manchester Art Gallery, https://web.archive.org/web/20200609161444/https://manchesterartgallery.org/media/200/270/GMIII_MCAG_1937_123.1200×1200.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=136770729
- Songs:
- “Breathe Miracles” – Red Rocks Worship
- “Another in the Fire” – Hillsong UNITED