Then the men went as a group to the king and said to him, “Remember, O king, that according to the law of the Medes and Persians no decree or edict that the king issues can be changed.”
16 So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”
17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed. 18 Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep.
There was no longer any doubt in the king’s mind that his own servants had involved him in a plot against Daniel’s life.
These conspirators, first of all, had persuaded him to issue the fateful decree. Then they were conveniently on hand to witness Daniel’s continuing prayer. And now they were pressuring the king to enforce the death penalty. Darius realized he had been used by evil men. They were interested not primarily in the welfare of the empire but only in furthering their own careers.
Meanwhile, the corrupt politicians soon realized that the king knew he had been trapped and that he was now looking for some loophole that would enable him to save Daniel. To make sure the king could not make an exception in Daniel’s case, they reminded the king that the decree he had signed was absolute and could not be changed.
With a heavy heart, King Darius gave the order to carry out the death penalty. He ordered his guards to arrest his faithful old servant and to throw him to the lions. Although he was prepared for this, it still must have come as a shock to Daniel. Not only that he was under arrest, but under the death sentence—and for the crime of talking to his heavenly Father!
As the guards prepared to march Daniel off to his death, the king spoke this wish: “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!” Remember that Darius spoke as a heathen. According to his belief, the gods often intervened in the affairs of men. The king tried to assure Daniel that if any god would intervene for a worthy man, Daniel’s God surely would for him. How unusual that a heathen king would attempt to comfort a man he had just sentenced to death!
The pit was perhaps a cave, most likely with one opening at the top and another at one side, through which the animals were admitted. The person to be fed to the lions was let down through the opening at the top. The side opening was blocked with a stone and sealed. The seal, perhaps similar to the one that sealed our Lord’s tomb, was made of wax or clay and was imprinted with the seal of both the king and his nobles. The stone therefore could not be moved without the approval of both the king and his officials.
The king returned to his palace, sick at heart. He realized he was responsible for a terrible miscarriage of justice that was going to send an innocent man to a gruesome death. The fact lay heavily on his conscience. He had no appetite, and he was unable to sleep. The statement “without any entertainment being brought to him” is a puzzling one, primarily because Bible scholars are not sure what the Aramaic word translated as “entertainment” really means. The Greek translation of the Old Testament translates it as “food,” as does Luther’s German Bible. Dictionaries give various meanings: “musical instruments,” “dancing girls,” “concubines.” What complicates the problem for the translator is that the passage here is the only time this particular word is used in the entire Old Testament. This much is clear: the king’s attendants brought none of the customary entertainment to the king, since he was deeply disturbed.
It is not difficult to imagine some of the thoughts that came to Daniel during the night he spent in the den of lions. It would have been easy for him to think God had forgotten him. The thought must have occurred to him, “What a strange way for the Lord to end a life spent in his service! For 80 years I have been loyal to the God of my fathers. As a youth I was deported and have had to spend my whole life in a heathen land. And now this is how my life in this faraway land is to end—torn limb from limb by hungry lions!”