Shut Mouths

The Story

Daniel was now an old man, one of the three top officials in the kingdom of Persia under King Darius. He was so excellent at his work that the king planned to put him over the whole kingdom.

The other officials were jealous. They searched for anything to accuse him of, but they found nothing. He was honest and faithful. So they decided the only way to trap him was through his faith in God.

They went to the king and talked him into signing a law: for thirty days, anyone who prayed to any god or man except the king would be thrown into the den of lions. Darius signed it. And under the law of the Medes and Persians, it couldn’t be changed.

Daniel heard about the law. Then he went home, opened his windows toward Jerusalem, and knelt down to pray three times a day, just as he had always done.

His enemies caught him, and the king was heartbroken. He tried until sundown to find a way to save Daniel, but the law was the law. Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den, and a stone was rolled over the opening. “Thy God whom thou servest continually,” the king said, “he will deliver thee.”

The king didn’t eat or sleep that night. At dawn, he ran to the den and called out, “O Daniel… is thy God… able to deliver thee from the lions?”

From the dark came Daniel’s voice: “My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths.” Not a scratch was found on him.

Reflection