15 Then these men assembled 16 Then the king commanded, unto the king, and said unto the and they brought a Daniel, and cast king, Know, O king, that the law him into the den of lions. Now the of the Medes and Persians is, That king spake, and said unto Daniel, no decree nor statute which the king Thy God, whom thou servest conestablisheth may be changed. tinually, he will deliver thee.

} a Je. 26. 14. Ac. 25. 11.

ing verse that the king was pressed by his counsellors to carry the decree into execution, and it is probable that the king saw that the case was a perfectly clear one, and that nothing could be hoped for from delay. The law was clear, and it was equally clear that it had been violated. There was no way then but to suffer it to take its course.

b Ps. 37. 39, 40; c. 3. 15, 17.

by three in breadth. The head has been lately knocked off; but when Mr. Rich saw it, the statue was in a perfect state, and he remarks that "the mouth had a circular aperture into which a man might introduce his fist." The second is from an engraved gem, dug from the ruins of Babylon by Captain Mignan. It exhibits a man standing on two sphinxes, and en15. Then these men assembled unto the gaged with two fierce animals, possibly king. The Chaldee here is the same as intended for lions. The third is from a in ver. 6, they came tumultuously.' block of white marble found near the They were earnest that the law should tomb of Daniel at Susa, and thus debe executed, and they probably appre- scribed by Sir Robert Ker Porter in his hended that if the king were allowed to Travels,' (vol. ii. p. 416). "It does not dwell upon it, the firmness of his own exceed ten inches in width and depth, mind would give way, and that he would measures twenty in length, and is hollow release Daniel. Perhaps they dreaded within, as if to receive some deposit. the effect of the compunctious visitings Three of its sides are cut in bas relief, which he might have during the silence two of them with similar representations of the night, and they, therefore, came of a man apparently naked, except a tumultuously to hasten his decision. sash round his waist, and a sort of cap ¶ Know, O king, that the law, &c. That is a settled matter about which there can be no debate or difference of opinion. It would seem that this was a point so well settled that no question could be raised in regard to it, and, to their minds, it was equally clear that if this were so, it was necessary that the sentence should be executed without delay.

on his head. His hands are bound behind him. The corner of the stone forms the neck of the figure, so that its head forms one of its ends. Two lions in sitting postures appear on either side at the top, each having a paw on the head of the man." See Pict. Bible in loc. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God, &c. What is here stated 16. Then the king commanded, &c. See is in accordance with what is said in Notes on ver. 7. Some recent discoveries ver. 14, that the king sought earnestly among the ruins of Babylon have shown to deliver Daniel from the punishment. that the mode of punishment by throwing He had entire confidence in him, and he offenders against the laws to lions was expressed that to the last. As to the actually practised there, and these dis- question of probability whether Darius, coveries may be classed among the nu- a heathen, would attempt to comfort merous instances in which modern inves- Daniel with the hope that he would be detigations have tended to confirm the state-livered, and would express the belief that ments in the Bible. Three interesting this would be done by that God whom he figures illustrating this fact may be seen in served, and in whose cause he was about the Pictorial Bible, vol. iii. p. 232. The to be exposed to peril, it may be remarked first of those figures, from a block of stone, (1) That it was a common thing among was found at Babylon near the great the heathen to believe in the interposimass of ruin that is supposed to mark tion of the gods in favour of the rightethe site of the grand western palace. It ous, and particularly in favour of their represents a lion standing over the body worshippers. See Homer, passin. Hence of a prostrate man, extended on a pedes- it was that they called on them; that tal which measures nine feet in length they committed themselves to them in

:

19 Then the king arose very early vant of the living God, is thy God, in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions.

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, ser

whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?

21 Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever. 22 My God hath sent his aangel,

2 c. 3. 28.

Romans, and doubtless was common in king, live forever. The common form of the Oriental world. It should be ob- salutation in addressing the king. See served, however, that there is consider-Notes on ch. ii. 4. There might be more able variety in the interpretation of the than mere form in this, for Daniel may word here rendered instruments of music have been aware of the true source of the 1007. The margin is table. The Latin calamities that had come upon him, and Vulgate, 'He slept supperless, neither of the innocence of the king in the matwas food brought before him.' The Greek ter; and he doubtless recalled the interest renders it food-idéoμara. So the Syriac. which the king had shown in him when Bertholdt and Gesenius render it concu- about to be cast into the den of lions, and bines, and Saadias dancing girls. Any his expression of confidence that his God of these significations would be appro- would be able to deliver him (ver. 16), priate; but it is impossible to determine and he could not but have been favour which is the most correct. The word ably impressed by the solicitude which does not occur elsewhere in the Scrip

tures.

the monarch now showed for his welfare in thus early visiting him, and by his anxiety to know whether he were still alive.

19. Then the king arose very early in the morning, &c. No one can doubt the probability of what is here said, if the 22. My God hath sent his angel. It previous account be true. His deep was common among the Hebrews to attrianxiety; his wakeful night; the re-bute any remarkable preservation from morse which he endured, and his hope that Daniel would be after all preserved, all would prompt to an early visit to the place of his confinement, and to his earnestness in ascertaining whether he were still alive.

danger to the intervention of an angel sent from God, and no one can demonstrate that it did not occur as they supposed. There is no more absurdity in supposing that God employs an angelic being to defend his people, or to 20. He cried with a lamentable voice. impart blessings to them, than there A voice full of anxious solicitude. Liter- is in supposing that he employs one ally 'a voice of grief.' Such a cry would human being to render important aid, be natural on such an occasion. O and to convey important blessings to an¶ Daniel, servant of the living God. The other. The other. As a matter of fact, few of the God who has life; who imparts life; and favours which God bestows upon men who can preserve life. This was the are conveyed to them directly from himappellation, probably, which he had heard self, but they are mostly imparted by Daniel use in regard to God, and it is the instrumentality of others. So it is in one which he would naturally employ on the blessings of liberty, in deliverance such an occasion as this, feeling that the from bondage, in the provision made for question of life was entirely in his hands. our wants, in the favour bestowed on us Whom thou servest continually. At all in infancy and childhood. As this printimes, and in all circumstances: as a ciple prevails everywhere on the earth, captive in a distant land; in places of it is not absurd to suppose that it may honour and power; when surrounded by prevail elsewhere, and that on important the great who worship other gods; and occasions, and on instances above the when threatened with death for your de- rank of human intervention, God may votion to the service of God. This had employ the instrumentality of higher been the character of Daniel, and it was beings to defend his people in trouble, natural to refer to it now. · and rescue them from danger. Comp. 21. Then said Daniel unto the king, OPs. xxxiv. 7, xci. 11; Dan. ix. 21; Matt.

and hath shut the lions' mouths, they should take Daniel up out of that they have not hurt me: foras- the den. So Daniel was taken up much as before him innocency was out of the den, and no manner of found in me; and also before thee, hart was found upon him, because O king, have I done no hurt. he believed in his God. 23 Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that b Ps. 18. 20, 24; 26.6.

Persians] are formidable; among which when adopted as a principle of punishthose which are enacted against the un- ment, is not in accordance with our sense grateful and deserters, and similar abom- of justice in administering laws, yet it is inable crimes, surpass others in cruelty, a principle which pervades the worldby which, on account of the guilt of one, for the effects of crime cannot and do not all the kindred perish'--per quas ob noxam terminate on the guilty individual him. unius omnis propinquitas perit. So Cur- self. And the lions had the mastery of tius says of the Macedonians: 'It is en-them. As the divine restraint furnished acted by law that the kindred of those for the protection of Daniel was withwho conspire against the king shall be drawn, they acted out their proper nature. put to death with them.' Instances of ¶ And brake all their bones in pieces or this kind of punishment are found among ever, &c. Literally, they did not come to the Hebrews (Josh. vii. 24; 2 Sam. xxi. 5, the bottom of the den until the lions had seq.), though it was forbidden by the law the mastery of them, and brake all their of Moses, in judicial transactions. Deut. bones.' They seized upon them as they xxiv. 16. Comp. also Ezek. xviii. Mauer, fell, and destroyed them. in loc. In regard to this transaction, we may observe (a) that nothing is more probable than that this would occur, since, as appears from the above quotations, it was often done, and there was nothing in the character of Darius that would prevent it, though it seems to us to be so unjust. (b) It was the act of a heathen monarch, and it is not necessary in order to defend the Scripture narrative, to vindicate the justice of the transaction. The record may be true, though the thing itself was evil and wrong. (c) Yet the same thing substantially occurs in the course of Providence, or the administration of justice now. Nothing is more common than that the wife and children of a guilty man should suffer on account of the sin of the husband and father. Who can recount the woes that come upon a family through the intemperance of a father? And in cases where a man is condemned for crime, the consequences are not confined to himself. In shame, and mortification, and disgrace; in the anguish experienced when he dies on a gibbet; in the sad remembrance of that disgraceful death; in the loss of one who might have provided for their wants, and been their protector and counsellor, the wife and children always suffer; and, though this took another form in ancient times, and

25. Then king Darius wrote unto all people, &c. Comp. Notes on chs. ii. 47, fii. 29, iv. 1. If there is a probability that Nebuchadnezzar would make such a proclamation as he did, there is no less pros bability that the same thing would be done by Darius. Indeed, it is manifest on the face of the whole narrative that one great design of all that occurred was to proclaim the knowledge of the true God, and to secure his recognition. That object was worthy of the divine interposition, and the facts in the case show that God has power to induce princes and rulers to recognize his existence and perfections, and his government over the earth.

26. I make a decree. Comp. ch. iii. 29. That in every dominion of my kingdom. Every department, or province. The entire kingdom or empire was made up of several kingdoms, as Media, Persia, Babylonia, &c. The meaning is, that he wished the God of Daniel to be honoured and reverenced throughout the whole empire. Men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. That they honour and reverence him as God. There is no certain evidence that he meant that he should be honoured as the only God, but the probability is, that he meant that he should be recognized as a God of great power and