DANIEL WASN’T IN A LION’S DEN. It was more likely just a hole in the ground—a cistern for storing water. Cisterns in that dry land were often empty and sometimes used to store supplies such as grain. But it seems the Persians in what is now Iran used it at least some of the time as an execution chamber.
I just finished paraphrasing Daniel. You can read the 12 chapters here. And you can look at the maps, charts, and illustrations here and download them as PDFs for $5.
I’ve always had trouble imagining Daniel in a lion’s den. The lion’s den I see in my head is an African cluster of tall brush and thick grass on a plain.
Cisterns I’ve climbed into
But I’ve seen cisterns in Israel. There’s a huge one on the flat-top butte of Masada, where rebel Jews held off the Romans for somewhere between 2-6 months in the winter of AD 72-73 years. Jerusalem fell a couple years earlier, in AD 70. I imagine the cistern there supplied the Jewish fighters throughout that stretch.
Most large cisterns I’ve seen have steps leading down into the pit. That gave people as easy way to retrieve their stored water or grain at whatever the level in the pit. It would have given Daniel, in his 80s by then, an easier walk into the pit.
Jealous of Daniel’s promotion
Daniel ended up in the pit because some Persian officials were jealous of the promotion the king gave him. These were probably native Persians. And they might have shown some prejudice about having an exiled Jew as the king’s Number One.
“Daniel distinguished himself above all other officials in the kingdom. He had a welcoming spirit about him. So the king decided to promote him to top administrator. Daniel would run the entire kingdom as the king’s number one official” (Daniel 6:3).
Officials couldn’t find any way to discredit or disqualify Daniel, so they played off the king’s vanity and Daniel’s devotion to what Daniel seemed to believe was the one and only living God. They asked the king to create an irrevocable law ordering everyone to pray only to him for 30 days.
They caught Daniel praying. Then they reminded the king, who liked Daniel, that this was an irrevocable law.
Sleepless in Susa
The king didn’t get any sleep that night in his palace in the city of Susa. Sometime that night, he must have figured out that he had been played. He must also have felt humiliated after thinking they wanted everyone to pray to him because he was huge in the hearts of the people. That night, he must have felt small.
At daybreak he rushed to Daniel, calling out, “Daniel, are you there?”
Yessir, he was there.
Almost a happy ending
The king was ecstatic. Then the king was angry.
“Next, the king ordered a meal for the lions. He called in the men who maliciously plotted against Daniel. He had them thrown into the lion’s pit, with their wives and children. They didn’t even make it alive to the bottom of the pit. Hungry lions tore them to pieces” (Daniel 6:24).
Not quite a happy ending. But almost.
My final thought about Daniel’s story
It sounds cruel to throw innocent families to the lions. We do it differently today. We blow them up with drones, missiles, and artillery.
Either way, they’re dead. And we’re cruel.
Perhaps there’s more to be said for turning the other cheek than we have previously thought.
Election plug
Vote your heart. Pick a heart from Psalms.
“Put a stop to bad stuff from evil people.
Give power to good people,
Because you are a good God,
Expert in head and heart,
Knowing why people do what they do” (Psalm 7:9).“My heart feels like it’s beating itself to death.
This is killing me” (Psalm 55:4).“These insults break my heart.
I needed someone to show sympathy.
Not a chance.
I needed someone to comfort me.
Nossir” (Psalm 69:20).
Daniel’s maps
We just released these maps, charts, and illustrations for the book of Daniel on Wednesday. There’s a flipbook so you can see everything inside the Daniel Atlas for the Casual English Bible.®
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