Daniel being cast into the lion’s den was unfair and unjust. Why would God allow that to happen? Ultimately, it would result in Daniel’s rescue, but even more importantly, it would be for God’s glory.
At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones (Dan. 6:24)
No one had to ask Darius to do this, he was ready and willing to bring justice to those who plotted against Daniel. The implication is that the king lost no time in bringing retribution to Daniel’s accusers. These men had not only wronged Daniel, but the king himself. They had insulted him by resorting to trickery to accomplish their purpose. It is unlikely that all 122 officers were thrown to the lions, but only those who reported back to the king Daniel’s “rebellion.” They were the instigators of this plot to get rid of Daniel.
These accusers had carefully laid their snare not realizing that the trap they set for Daniel would become their own undoing (cf. Psa. 37:14-15; Psa. 7:15; 9:15; 35:7-8; Esther 7:9-10). In Proverbs 11:3, Solomon points out: “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.”
It is likely that Darius would have punished these men even if Daniel would have died in the lions’ den. Their foolishness is revealed in the fact that they had not realized this possibility from the first. “What were we thinking?” may now have been running through their minds.
They wouldn’t have known this proverb, but Daniel certainly did, “Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling” (Prov. 26:27). Likewise, in the Psalms, David (Psalm 7) says…
14 Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies. 15 He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made. 16 His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends.
Not all judgment (vengeance) happens in this life. But eventually, even if not until eternity, every wrong will be righted and every good deed rewarded.
These men are identified as those “who had falsely accused Daniel.” Accused is from an Aramiac word meaning, “‘had eaten the pieces of.’ The Aramaic expression is ironic, in that the accusers who had figuratively ‘eaten the pieces of Daniel’ will themselves be literally devoured by the lions.”
When accusing Daniel before the king, his accusers had singled out his nationality as a Jew (Dan. 6:13). Now, like Haman in Esther’s time, they find themselves on the receiving end of God’s solemn promise to the Jews, beginning with Abraham (Gen. 12:3) and extending through Isaac and Jacob (Gen. 27:29; Isa. 49:26), not only to “bless those who bless you,” but to “curse those who curse you.” As with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, Daniel’s preservation is evidence of God’s ongoing promise to preserve Israel.
The king applied the lex talionis (law of retaliation) and cast his friend’s accusers into the very den in which they had placed Daniel (cf. Gen. 12:3; Esth. 7:9-10; Gal. 6:7).
Darius ordered Daniel’s accusers to be thrown into the den of lions—“they, their children, and their wives.” Their demise was an example of the justice we sometimes see in the OT (cf. Esther 7:7-10, also Josh. 7:24; 1 Sam. 15:2-3), where the families of God’s enemies die with them. Something that we have to remember more seriously is that other people will be hurt by our sins. We do not sin in isolation. It does affect others in our orbit. “It is one thing to bear my own judgment. But worst of all is realizing that the consequences of my sin spilled over onto innocent people I love” (William Peel, Living in the Lions Den Without Being Eaten, p. 155).
This reminds me of several Old Testament passages which predict the same kind of punishment coming upon those who intend to harm God’s people. For example, Proverbs 26:27 says, “Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling.” The hostile enemy (described in Prov. 26:23-24) is preparing a hidden trap for someone, but he is the one who will be harmed.
Likewise, Psalm 7:15-16 says, 15 “He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made. 16 His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends.” These verses are axiomatic, describing the normal course of life for the one who plans and then conducts evil. In the providence of God, like a boomerang, it returns back to the evil perpetrator.
Daniel did not take revenge on these men. I want you to recognize that. God never wants us to get revenge on those who “do us wrong,” but return evil with good (Romans 12:17-21). It was God, exercising justice for Daniel. Daniel, like Jesus after him, “22He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” Our responsibility is to trust God and do good to those who attack us. God is the one who will exercise justice and make all things right—if not for us now in this life, He will in eternity, where it really counts!
The message of the expression of falling in the pit you have dug or a stone rolling back upon your own head is a warning against plotting harm, emphasizing a principle of divine justice or the law of “sowing and reaping”—that actions, whether good or evil, will eventually return to the person who initiated them. Of course, the most well-known example illustrating this principle is the biblical story of Haman, who was hanged on the very gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.
And, of course, this is exactly what happened to Daniel’s antagonists, they were eaten by the very lions they had planned would take care of their “Daniel problem.” Let’s learn from this: Whatever evil we plan against another child of God will never pay off in the end, it will fall back upon us. These men were cast into the lion’s den.
This was obviously severe, but it was also according to ancient customs among the Persians. An ancient writer named Ammianus Marcellinus wrote of the Persians, “The laws among them are formidable… by which, on account of the guilt of one, all the kindred perish.”
“What Darius did seems arbitrary and unjust. But ancient pagan despots had no regard for the provision in the Mosaic law (Deut. 24:16): ‘Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.’ (Even in Israel this humanitarian rule had been flouted, as when Abimelech ben Gideon had nearly all his father’s sons massacred, or when Queen Athaliah nearly exterminated the Davidic royal line and Jehu had all Ahab’s sons decapitated.)” (Gleason Archer, Jr. “Daniel,” p. 82).
We question the justice of the command that the wives and children were also implicated. The Mosaic law clearly forbade such cruelty. We read: “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deut. 24:16). The only known instance in which such a thing was done among the Israelites was at the execution of Achan (Josh. 7:24), where his family was stoned along with him.
Though Darius was not instructed by God to destroy the families along with the men, the situation may have been similar to the Canaanites whom God instructed Israel to purge from the Promised Land.
Apparently, Darius’ act of vengeance was not unusual among the Persians. The king may have been afraid that the offspring of those condemned to death would later plot to take revenge upon the king. Wiping out the whole family would certainly take care of that threat.
“What kind of parents do we have here displayed in Persia? Manipulators, liars, murderers, unchecked and unhinged; do you know what those kids would have become? Manipulators, liars, murderers because as the saying goes, “the apple does not fall far from the tree.” You think the wives are innocent? Show me the woman behind the man and I’ll show you the man. Wives have far more influence over their husbands, for good or bad, than they could possibly fathom. And this is why God saw, I believe, this whole picture, these people were gone. I mean, there was no opportunity for a change of life, they were just as guilty as their husbands, they were just as guilty as their parents and so the whole crowd there is thrown into the lions’ den, because the apple does not fall far from the tree” (Leon Woods, Commentary on the Book of Daniel).
Barnes’ Notes comments on this: “The same thing substantially occurs in the course of Providence, or the administration of justice now. Nothing is more common than that the wife and children of a guilty man should suffer on account of the sin of the husband and father. Who can recount the woes that come upon a family through the intemperance of a father? And in cases where a man is condemned for crime, the consequences are not confined to himself. In shame and mortification, and disgrace; in the anguish experienced when he dies on a gibbet; in the sad remembrance of that disgraceful death; in the loss of one who might have provided for their wants, and been their protector and counselor, the wife and children always suffer; and, though this took another form in ancient times, and when adopted as a principle of punishment is not in accordance with our sense of justice in administering laws, yet it is a principle which pervades the world-for the effects of crime cannot and do not terminate on the guilty individual himself.”
We don’t know exactly “why?” this happened, but we know this is what a sovereignly good, just and wise God wanted.
Although this might seem unfair, throughout biblical history God has identified men as representative of their families, tribes or even all of humanity. God usually operates on the principle of federal headship or corporate solidarity. Adam sinned, and as a result we sinned in him and are made liable to death, even infants who did not willfully break a commandment like Adam did. Listen to what Paul writes in Romans 5:12-14:
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned — for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
Lest we cry “foul” that we are all condemned in Adam, though in our eyes we have not sinned like him, do we really want to forfeit that we are declared righteous in Christ, even though we definitely do not deserve that?
Verses 15-19 of Romans 5 goes on to say, most gloriously:
15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
This also fulfills a New Testament Scripture which encourages us to be ready and bold in our witnessing: “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame” (1 Pet. 3:15-16).
Speaking of having a good conscience, it reminds me of a story about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries.
This story has been attributed to Mr. Conan Doyle: A friend of his had often been told that there is a skeleton in the cupboard of every household, no matter how respectable that household may be; and he determined to put this opinion to a practical test. Selecting for the subject of his experiment a venerable Archdeacon of the Church, against whom the most censorious critic had never breathed a word, he went to the nearest post-office, and dispatched a telegram to the revered gentleman: ‘All is discovered! Fly at once!’ The Archdeacon disappeared, and has never been heard of since. (Tit-Bits, a magazine edited by the same man as The Strand, George Newnes, there was an article published on September 18, 1897 (No. 831 – Vol. XXXII)
Darius had no “distress” regarding sentencing these men to death. While Darius was happy with Daniel’s deliverance, he was not happy with Daniel’s accusers. He probably would have cast these accusers to the lions even if Daniel had perished in the lion’s den.
The conspirators had hoped that Daniel would die in the lions’ den, yet that fate was theirs instead. As soon as the accusers were thrown into the den, “The lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces” before their bodies could even fall to the ground! His enemies succumb to the very punishment they had arranged for Daniel (cf. Esther 7:10; Proverbs 1:17-18).
This carnage just confirms that Daniel’s protection was not due to any natural cause, such as any lion’s inability or lack of appetite or being sickly. His survival could be explained only by divine deliverance. God had “stopped the mouths” of these lions (Heb. 11:23) because Daniel was a God-worshiper.
Every Sunday school child knows how God delivered Daniel from the den of hungry lions, and how the evil men who plotted Daniel’s fall had breakfast with the lions that morning (6:24). Someone jokingly remarked that the lions could not eat Daniel because he was all backbone!
On the other hand, David Jeremiah says, “Instead of a tough old Jew, they got a lot of tender, spineless [filleted] Persians for breakfast” (The Handwriting on the Wall, p. 126). Prepared to order!
The commentator, D. A. Carson, remarks here that “By faith (23) he had experienced the powers of the age to come (Heb. 6:5) in which lions are tamed (Isa. 11:7)” (D.A. Carson, New Bible Commentary: 21st Century edition Rev. Ed.).
David Guzik makes two insightful comments:
- First, this illustrates the work of the cross in reverse: the guilty were punished in the place of the innocent.
- Second, this also illustrates a principle of spiritual warfare. God will cause our enemy to be impaled on the same snare set for us (Psalm 7:14-16).
Arno C. Gaebelein made this gospel connection: Well may we think here of another law and another love. God, a holy and righteous God and a God of love, found a way to save man. God’s holy law condemns man, who is a sinner and the curse of the law rests upon him. God’s love is set upon the world, and He “so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The curse of the law came upon Him who knew no sin and who was made sin for us, and therein is love manifested. Daniel is cast into the lions’ den as our blessed Lord was given to the lion (Psalm 22:21), and a stone is laid upon the mouth of the den and it is sealed with the king’s signet. He is so to speak in a grave, as good as dead in the eyes of the world, for who has ever heard of hungry lions not devouring a man. And all this brings before us that other place, the tomb in the garden, where He was laid and the stone before it, which bore the seal of the Roman world power. But as Daniel could not be hurt by the lions, so He who went into the jaws of death could not be holden by death. The tomb is empty and He is victor over death and the grave. All this is blessedly foreshadowed in this experience of God’s prophet.
Grace Still Amazes 