Daniel 6 – The Lion’s Den and the Power of Prayer
Daniel 6 is one of the Bible’s most iconic stories—where a faithful man faces death for his prayer life. Under a new kingdom, Daniel’s integrity shines, and the laws of men are overturned by the deliverance of God. This chapter is a profound witness to the power of unwavering faith.
When Lions Roar, Faith Must Not Flinch
Daniel rises under a new empire, but enemies still seek his fall. When laws are weaponized against truth, and faith is outlawed, Daniel refuses to compromise. This chapter calls every believer to courage, constancy, and trust in the face of certain danger.
✔ A decree forbids prayer to any god but the king.
✔ Daniel continues to pray openly.
✔ He is cast into a den of lions.
✔ God shuts the lions’ mouths and delivers him.
📖 Key Verse: “My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths.” – Daniel 6:22
🔎 Faith is not proven by deliverance—but by obedience before the miracle.
Daniel Chapter 6 Overview
Daniel 6:1–9 – The Plot Against Daniel
📖 Daniel 6:1–2 – “It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes… and over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first.”
🔎 Daniel rises to influence under a new empire:
🔹 Though Babylon has fallen, Daniel remains—because character outlasts kingdoms.
🔹 Darius places Daniel above all other officials, recognizing his wisdom, loyalty, and excellence.
🔹 This transition between empires shows that God’s people are not bound by worldly systems—they serve the King above all kings.
➡️ Spiritual Principle: God plants His people in places of power not for comfort—but for influence and witness in times of testing.
📖 Daniel 6:3 – “Then this Daniel was preferred… because an excellent spirit was in him.”
🔎 The reason for Daniel’s favor is clear:
🔹 He has an “excellent spirit”—which points to a life governed by God’s presence and integrity.
🔹 This wasn’t just intelligence or experience—it was spiritual depth, discernment, and dependability.
🔹 Even a pagan king recognizes the supernatural difference in him.
➡️ Devotional Reflection: Excellence in spirit is the mark of a remnant believer—consistent, trustworthy, and filled with light.
📖 Daniel 6:4–5 – “Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel… but they could find none.”
🔎 Righteousness invites resistance:
🔹 Daniel’s faithfulness makes him a target of jealousy and corruption.
🔹 His enemies look for dirt but find none—he is blameless in character and conduct.
🔹 Their only hope is to trap him in his faith—turning devotion into a crime.
➡️ End-Time Echo: Revelation 13 reveals a future where God’s faithful will be accused for keeping His commandments, just as Daniel was for praying.
📖 Daniel 6:6–9 – “Make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee… shall be cast into the den of lions.”
🔎 The trap is set under the guise of loyalty:
🔹 The satraps appeal to Darius’s ego, crafting a law that turns him into a god for 30 days.
🔹 Persian law, once sealed, cannot be changed—making this decree a weapon against conscience.
🔹 This is religious persecution cloaked in patriotism—a law designed to ensnare one man, even at the cost of national justice.
➡️ Prophetic Pattern: In the last days, laws will again be passed that target God’s faithful remnant, disguised as national unity or global peace.
Daniel 6:10–17 – Unshaken by Decree
📖 Daniel 6:10 – “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house… and prayed.”
🔎 Daniel’s faith doesn’t flinch:
🔹 He knows the law is in place—and prays anyway.
🔹 He opens his windows toward Jerusalem, showing where his heart and hope reside.
🔹 This wasn’t new behavior—he had always prayed three times a day, and continued it without hiding or hesitation.
➡️ Spiritual Principle: Conviction that bends to culture isn’t conviction—it’s convenience. True faith stands firm, even when the cost rises.
📖 Daniel 6:11–13 – “Then these men assembled… and found Daniel praying… and made accusation.”
🔎 The trap is sprung—but Daniel walks into it with integrity:
🔹 The accusers anticipated his loyalty to God—and it played out exactly as expected.
🔹 They accuse Daniel with calculated precision, repeating the very law the king signed.
🔹 Notice how Daniel’s prayer life is public enough to be seen—but pure enough that no other fault could be found.
➡️ Devotional Reflection: Would your prayer life be noticeable enough to be targeted? Daniel’s quiet discipline made him a threat to darkness.
📖 Daniel 6:14 – “Then the king… was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him.”
🔎 Darius realizes he has been manipulated:
🔹 He respects Daniel, and now regrets his careless decree.
🔹 His political ego was used against him—now he feels the weight of spiritual guilt.
🔹 The most powerful man in the kingdom is now powerless to undo his own words.
➡️ Prophetic Parallel: Revelation reveals a future time when leaders who pass laws against the righteous will regret it, but won’t be able to reverse the consequences (see Revelation 17:16–17).
📖 Daniel 6:15–17 – “The law… may not be changed.”
🔎 The sentence proceeds, but not without hope:
🔹 Daniel is cast into the den—but the king leaves him with words of faith: “Thy God… will deliver thee.”
🔹 The den is sealed with a stone and the king’s own seal—a foreshadowing of another sealed tomb (see Matthew 27:66).
🔹 Daniel’s obedience now rests in God’s hands alone—his fate is sealed, but his spirit is unshaken.
➡️ Faith Insight: True faith doesn’t always see the outcome—but obeys because it knows the One who holds the outcome.
Daniel 6:18–23 – The Morning After the Miracle
📖 Daniel 6:18 – “Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting…”
🔎 The powerful are restless—while the faithful rest in peace:
🔹 Darius fasts and refuses entertainment—he is convicted and distressed.
🔹 While Daniel sleeps in a den of lions, the king is tormented in a palace of comfort.
🔹 The reversal is divine: the persecutor is anxious, the persecuted is at peace.
➡️ Spiritual Insight: True rest comes not from luxury—but from trust in the living God (see Psalm 4:8).
📖 Daniel 6:19–20 – “Then the king arose very early… and cried with a lamentable voice…”
🔎 Darius races to the den with hope in his voice:
🔹 “A lamentable voice” reveals fear mixed with faith—he wants to believe, but isn’t sure.
🔹 His question—“Is thy God able…?”—echoes the universal question in every crisis of faith.
🔹 Though he’s a pagan king, he now speaks like a seeker—acknowledging Daniel’s God with reverence.
➡️ Devotional Parallel: The world watches the faithful to see if their God is real. Your trial may be the key to someone else’s awakening.
📖 Daniel 6:21–22 – “My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths…”
🔎 Heaven intervenes—not with thunder, but with silence:
🔹 Daniel answers calmly and clearly—he’s alive and unshaken.
🔹 He gives glory to God: an angel was sent, and the lions were restrained.
🔹 He affirms his innocence before God and the king—his loyalty to heaven never made him disloyal to earth.
➡️ Prophetic Echo: Just as angels protected Daniel, God will seal and shield His remnant in the end time (Psalm 91:10–11, Revelation 7:3).
📖 Daniel 6:23 – “So Daniel was taken up… and no manner of hurt was found upon him…”
🔎 Deliverance is total—because faith was complete:
🔹 No harm is found—not even a scratch—mirroring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fire (Daniel 3:27).
🔹 “Because he believed in his God” – this is the reason for his rescue. Not his position. Not his past. Just faith.
➡️ Faith Insight: God still honors those who trust Him completely. Not all are delivered from the den—but all who trust are kept in the den.
Daniel 6:24–28 – Judgment and Testimony
📖 Daniel 6:24 – “And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions…”
🔎 Justice is swift—and complete:
🔹 The same trap Daniel’s enemies designed becomes their own destruction.
🔹 Their families are also thrown in—a harsh Persian custom reflecting total judgment.
🔹 The lions, previously restrained, now reveal their strength—showing that Daniel’s deliverance was truly miraculous.
➡️ Prophetic Insight: The fate of those who plot against God’s people will fall upon themselves (see Psalm 7:15–16, Revelation 18:6).
📖 Daniel 6:25–27 – “Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages…”
🔎 A royal proclamation glorifies the true God:
🔹 Darius, like Nebuchadnezzar before him, becomes an unlikely evangelist.
🔹 His decree recognizes God’s living nature, His eternal kingdom, and His power to save.
🔹 Daniel’s testimony has moved from private persecution to public proclamation.
➡️ Spiritual Pattern: When the faithful stand firm, God receives glory before kings and nations (Matthew 10:18, Revelation 14:6–7).
📖 Daniel 6:28 – “So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.”
🔎 Daniel remains—unchanged by kingdoms, but changed by God:
🔹 He thrives under multiple empires because his allegiance is to a higher King.
🔹 This closing verse reminds us that faithfulness is not seasonal—it’s lifelong.
🔹 Though enemies rise, Daniel outlasts them all—because God preserves His witnesses.
➡️ Faith Principle: You may not always escape the trial—but if you remain faithful, you will endure beyond the systems that oppose you.
Daniel Chapter 6 - Deeper Study
Overview: A Law That Tested Loyalty
🔹 Timeframe: Early reign of Darius the Mede, post-Babylonian transition.
🔹 Setting: Persian empire, centered in the capital where Daniel served.
🔹 Theme: Faithfulness under fire and deliverance from the pit.
Key Takeaways
🔑 Integrity will always face opposition.
🔑 God honors those who honor Him—even when it’s dangerous.
🔑 The law of man can never override the law of God.
🔑 Prayer is our protest against worldly decrees.
🔑 Deliverance comes from above, not from influence or rank.
Prophetic Patterns & Dual Fulfillment
🔮 Laws against prayer – Foreshadow future laws against worship and Sabbath (Revelation 13:15–17).
🔮 A sealed decree – Mirrors the unchangeable nature of prophetic judgment and testing in end times.
🔮 An angel shuts the lions’ mouths – Represents God’s protection of His remnant through divine intervention.
Historical & Cultural Context
📜 Medo-Persian law – Once written and sealed, a decree could not be changed, even by the king.
📜 Daniel’s age – Likely in his 80s, showing that spiritual strength does not retire.
📜 Lion dens – Used by Persians for execution; they were often starved to ensure fatality.
💡 Final Reflection: Would You Pray If It Were Illegal?
When law and faith collide, your actions reveal your loyalty. Daniel didn’t hide. He didn’t hesitate. He knelt.
📌 Is your faith public—or only safe when convenient?
📌 Have you made prayer your anchor—or a last resort?
📌 Will you trust God even if the lions roar?
🚀 Faith shines brightest in dark places. And God still shuts the mouths of lions.
Daniel and the Lions’ Den
Dan 6:1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom;
Dan 6:2 And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first: that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage.
Dan 6:3 Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.
Dan 6:4 Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.
Dan 6:5 Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.
Dan 6:6 Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever.
Dan 6:7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.
Dan 6:8 Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.
Dan 6:9 Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree.
Dan 6:10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.
Dan 6:11 Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.
Dan 6:12 Then they came near, and spake before the king concerning the king’s decree; Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.
Dan 6:13 Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.
Dan 6:14 Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him: and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him.
Dan 6:15 Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed.
Dan 6:16 Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.
Dan 6:17 And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.
Dan 6:18 Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went from him.
Dan 6:19 Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions.
Dan 6:20 And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?
Dan 6:21 Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever.
Dan 6:22 My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.
Dan 6:23 Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.
Dan 6:24 And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den.
Dan 6:25 Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.
Dan 6:26 I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.
Dan 6:27 He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.
Dan 6:28 So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Date Written
605–536 BC
Written By
Daniel – a Hebrew prophet during the Babylonian exile
Language
Hebrew (Chapters 1-2:4a, 8-12)
Aramaic (Chapters 2:4b-7)
Verses
28