Daniel and the Lions' Den

So the governors and satraps hated Daniel (Daniel 6:4).  Why??  He was a good worker, honest, smart -- a good boss.  Why be against a good man promoted to being your boss?  That says something about human nature, about unwarranted hatred.

The decree to worship the king alone (6:7) wasn't just affecting Daniel.  It was a law for everybody.  Even if Daniel was the only person for whom they were intending to enforce the law, the other exiled Jews didn't know that.  Think how the families and the priests and everybody would have responded to this command.  And think how they would respond when they heard of Daniel's death-sentence and his 'resurrection.'

The law of the Medes and Persians could not be changed (6:15).  The sentence had to be carried through.  Not even the one who made the law could set it aside.  That's sort of the way God's law is.*    When Adam sinned, God's law ("in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die") could not be changed.  Man had to die.  And as in the story of Daniel, the Man was sentenced to death.  And yet, after He/he was sealed in the lions' den, He/he came out alive.



* Footnote: The difference between God's law and Darius's law is that the inviolability of the law of the Medes and Persians was something of their own design.  But God's law being unchangeable and inviolate is because it simply IS; it's not, like, y'know, God being stubborn or something.