Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
Daniel undoubtedly knew that his rivals were jealous of him and that they had been investigating his performance. He knew who was responsible for the new law.
And now he had a big decision to make. Should he try to outwit his opponents? Should he give up and give in to their plot? The thought must have occurred to him: “Should I risk losing my life as well as my position in the government? If tomorrow I am mangled by lions, I won’t be able to help the Jewish exiles any longer.”
What choices did Daniel actually have? To pray to God through Darius? Unthinkable! To stop praying for a month? Just as unthinkable! Could he perhaps pray in secret instead of in front of an open window facing Jerusalem, as was his custom? After all, God hasn’t commanded that his children kneel before open windows in order to pray. Wouldn’t it have been the smart thing for Daniel to do his praying the next 30 days in some other room of his house, away from the prying eyes of those who were out to get him? This too was unthinkable for Daniel. His life of loyalty to God had been lived out in the open. For him suddenly to give his opponents the impression that he had stopped his former way of praying would have amounted to denying his God. It would also have effectively blunted his testimony to the heathen. Daniel was no more ready to compromise as an 80-year-old than he had been as a teenager, when he had refused to eat the king’s food that was unacceptable to a Jew.
When Daniel learned about Darius’ decree, it did not take him long to decide what he would do. He went to the room on the flat roof of his home, which he used as a sort of private apartment when he wanted to be undisturbed. There, before an open window facing Jerusalem, he prayed “just as he had done before.” He prayed this way not for the purpose of defying the king’s order; he simply continued his daily devotions without interruption.
Three times a day he prayed. Like many of God’s children throughout the ages, Daniel found that his devotion to God would thrive most when he regularly set aside fixed times for private meditation. The three prayer hours each day may have been the ones mentioned by the psalmist David:
Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress,
and he hears my voice (Psalm 55:17).
Why should Daniel have prayed facing Jerusalem? King Solomon referred to this custom as God-pleasing when in his prayer at the dedication of the temple, he asked God to hear the prayers of those who “pray to you toward the land you gave their fathers, toward the city you have chosen and the temple” (1 Kings 8:48). The temple in Jerusalem was the place where God met his people with his mercy and where they approached him in repentance and faith. For Daniel, “facing toward Jerusalem and the Temple in prayer was a powerful reminder and reassurance that he was praying to a reconciled Father eager to forgive his penitent children and ready to hear all their other petitions as well” (W. H. Franzmann, Bible History Commentary, Old Testament, page 546).
Under the circumstances it would have been easy for Daniel to complain. But if we look at the description of his prayer in the privacy of his rooftop chamber, we can see that whining about his sad lot in life was the farthest thing from his mind.
We’re told, first of all, that he got down on his knees. Instead of trying to bend God’s ear with self-pity, Daniel bent his own knees in humility. Although in the Persian kingdom Daniel had power and position and prestige, in God’s sight he was an undeserving sinner. Daniel’s prayer showed that he humbly recognized that he had no claim on God; God didn’t owe him a nickel.
Daniel prayed, “giving thanks to his God.” Although he realized this could very well be his last day on earth, although he knew very well that a horrible martyr’s death was planned for him, Daniel still found reason to give thanks to God. What a precious insight into the mind of this man of God! He could actually give thanks for his situation in life. Usually our thanksgiving to God turns out to be thanking God for things we like. But isn’t that a piece of unthankfulness—in effect, telling God, “I like some of the things you do, and I can thank you for those. But to be perfectly honest, God, there are some things you have permitted to enter my life that I can’t be thankful for”? How often we fail to understand the depth of God’s love, the wisdom with which he has planned our lives, the price he pays to lead his children to glory.
Daniel’s prayer is further described in the next section as “asking God for help.” The word used here is related to the Hebrew word for “asking for mercy.” At this difficult time in his life, Daniel begged for God’s mercy. Although he had no claim on God, he knew that the God of Israel had revealed himself as a God of undeserved love. Daniel appealed to God’s promise and asked for grace and strength to face what lay ahead the next day. For all Daniel knew, this might be the last prayer he would ever pray. And so he asked God to strengthen him mercifully, so he wouldn’t buckle under pressure of persecution. What a model prayer, and under conditions that were anything but ideal!
11 Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. 12 So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: “Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or man except to you, O king, would be thrown into the lions’ den?”
The king answered, “The decree stands—in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”
13 Then they said to the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day.” 14 When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sundown to save him.
God was a witness to Daniel’s prayer, but he was not the only one. Daniel’s enemies knew what Daniel’s prayer habits were, and they went to his house to spy on him. They found what they wanted and reported him to the king.
King Darius may have wondered why this prominent group of government officers should have had to ask, “Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or man except to you, O king, would be thrown into the lions’ den?” But the king did not have to wonder for long.
“Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you.” If King Darius had not realized up to now that a conspiracy against Daniel was afoot, these words certainly showed him. Daniel’s rivals could have identified him as “the appointed head of the presidents and satraps,” but by referring to him as “one of the exiles from Judah,” they tried to put him in a bad light. The mere fact that they referred to his Jewish background shows they held it against him. They wanted the king to look upon Daniel as they did: as an outsider, with no real loyalty to king and empire.
God’s Eighth Commandment urges us to put the best possible construction on our neighbor’s words and actions, to take what our neighbor says and does in the kindest possible way. Daniel’s accusers, however, put the worst possible construction on his actions: “He continues to pray because he has no regard for you, O king.”
The king’s reaction was not at all what the conspirators had hoped for. “He was greatly distressed.” They had secretly hoped the king would be furious that one of his subjects—and a top official accusation of disloyalty. The king had not realized his decree would require Daniel to compromise his faith. The last thing the new king wanted was to begin his reign with religious persecution. Adding to his unhappiness was the sober realization that his desire to have his ego flattered was now going to cost him his best government official.
“Therefore, he was determined to rescue Daniel” (literally, “he set his mind on delivering Daniel”). At the moment, all the king could think about was finding a way to save this faithful civil servant. Darius also knew he didn’t have a lot of time, since ancient justice moved swiftly. It was the custom to execute judgment on a criminal the same day his sentence was pronounced. The king therefore made every effort until sundown to free Daniel from his death sentence. No doubt he had his legal experts check whether there was any possibility of canceling the cruel decree he had signed or of making an exception in Daniel’s case. Too late the king realized the law he had signed was unjust. But it was a law of the Medes and Persians.