Sometimes in the lives of adults, their childhood innocence, is revealed, when they are astonished with an event’s occurrence. Nothing is more childlike than an adult’s utter amazement and surprise at a matter’s seemingly miraculous development. I believe something like this occurred, when the warworn, fierce and no doubt sometimes cruel, Darius came to the mouth of the den of lions and feebly, even mournfully, called out to Daniel: Are you there, Daniel? Was your God, whom you serve continually, able to save you? Then Daniel responded, saying God had sent his angel and closed the mouths of the lions, and they couldn’t hurt him. To which, Daniel contended proved his innocence in so far as hurting the king’s prospects for unity in the kingdom was concerned, as that pertained to the new territories the king had conquered (Daniel 6:20-22).
Now, that’s an interesting prospect. At times we may simply read over Daniel’s claim of innocence, never really contemplating what is meant in this scripture. However, we must keep in mind that Daniel’s enemies accused him of having no respect for the king or his political efforts to unite the Kingdom of the Medes and Persians with their newly conquered territories, formerly held by the Kingdom of Babylon. Daniel claimed that, because he was sentenced to death by the law of the Medes and Persians, and, if this is understood in the fact that death didn’t occur, then the law had falsely condemned him. Therefore, God had to have intervened in order to keep the law from carrying out its verdict (cp. Daniel 3:28). If this prospect proves logical and true, then God has the authority to change the verdict of the law of the Medes and the Persians. Therefore, those who accused Daniel, did so falsely.
After hearing Daniel’s voice, the king was very happy over the turn of events. Daniel had been saved from the terror of the lions’ mouths, because he trusted in his God. This is the only occurrence in the Book of Daniel of a miracle performed and witnessed by a king of the Medes and Persians. Yet, one cannot read this account and not believe that Darius at least heard of this God. He did express hope, however feebly, in the prospect of the power of Daniel’s God to save him from certain death (Daniel 6:16). Then, with hope almost gone, the king came to the mouth of the lion’s den and called out to Daniel, as though he might have survived the night. Why would a man such as Darius do that? Why would anyone do that, unless they had heard about the great works of the mighty God of the Jews?
It is recorded that Astyages, whom I’ve already mentioned could be the true identity of Darius, was the brother-in-law of Nebuchadnezzar. The Bible is silent about any communication between the Kingdom of the Medes and the Kingdom of Babylon, but this doesn’t mean communication of a friendly sort didn’t occur. It is possible, and perhaps probable, given the relationship between Astyages and Nebuchadnezzar in history, that friendly communication did occur between the kingdoms prior to the war, 16 years after Nebuchadnezzar’s death, which resulted in the overthrow of the Kingdom of Babylon. If this is logical and true, then it is very likely that Astyages, vis-à-vis Darius (Daniel 5:31; 6:1), had prior knowledge of Daniel and his powerful God, long before he conquered Babylon.
Although Darius felt compelled to carry out the judgment of the decree and cast Daniel into the lion’s den, this doesn’t mean he didn’t realize he had been manipulated by the conspirators. No doubt, regardless of the present outcome of those events, the king would have found reason to punish the conspirators in due time. However, due to the fact that Daniel was saved, and the verdict proved false, then this logically proves the conspirators must have had false motives to accuse the innocent. Therefore, the king demanded that they and their families be cast into the den they had sought to make Daniels fate, and before they hit bottom the lions reached up, grabbing them and broke their bones (Daniel 6:24).
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