Daniel 14:27-42
In those days, the Babylonians went to the king and demanded: Hand over to us Daniel, who has destroyed Bel and killed the dragon, or we will kill you and your family. When he saw himself threatened with violence, the king was forced to hand Daniel over to them. They threw Daniel into a lions’ den, where he remained six days. In the den were seven lions, and two carcasses and two sheep had been given to them daily. But now they were given nothing, so that they would devour Daniel. In Judea there was a prophet, Habacuc; he mixed some bread in a bowl with the stew he had boiled, and was going to bring it to the reapers in the field, when an Angel of the Lord told him, Take the lunch you have to Daniel in the lions’ den at Babylon. But Habacuc answered, Babylon, sir, I have never seen, and I do not know the den! The Angel of the Lord seized him by the crown of his head and carried him by the hair; with the speed of the wind, he set him down in Babylon above the den. Daniel, servant of God, cried Habacuc, take the lunch God has sent you. You have remembered me, O God, said Daniel; You have not forsaken those who love You. While Daniel began to eat, the Angel of the Lord at once brought Habacuc back to his own place. On the seventh day the king came to mourn for Daniel. As he came to the den and looked in, there was Daniel, sitting in the midst of the lions! The king cried aloud, You are great, O Lord, the God of Daniel! Daniel he took out of the lions’ den, but those who had tried to destroy him he threw into the den, and they were devoured in a moment before his eyes. Then the king said: Let all the inhabitants of the whole earth fear the God of Daniel; for He is the Saviour, working signs and wonders in the earth, Who has delivered Daniel out of the lions’ den.
Haydock
Verse 27. Jew, or “a Jew is king;” Daniel governs all. Grot.
Verse 28. House. Religion is daring. Darius was weak, and only a sort of viceroy, left by Cyrus. Houbig.
Verse 30. The den of lions. Daniel was twice cast into the den of lions: once under Darius, the Mede, because he had transgressed the king’s edict, by praying three times a day; and another time under Evilmerodac, by a sedition of the people. This time he remained six days in the lions’ den; the other time only one night. Ch.
Verse 31. Carcasses: people condemned, (C.) or dead. Houbig.
Verse 32. Habacuc. The same, as some think, whose prophecy is found among the lesser prophets: but others believe him to be different. Ch. — About twenty years before there was no prophet in Judea. C. iii. 38. Habacuc, the eighth of the minor prophets, lived before the Babylonian monarchy was formed. C. i. 6. W. — Yet he might still survive. If this had not been a true history, such an extraordinary mode of conveyance would not have been mentioned. Cappel imagines it was an allusion to Philip, the deacon, and fabricated by some Christian. But Theodotion found it in Heb. (Houbig.) and he was no friend to Christianity when he wrote; though he had once followed Tatian, and the Marcionites. H.
Verse 39. Seventh. He had not come before, supposing he was dead, till at last a rumour got to his ears, notwithstanding the precautions of the Babylonians, who hoped that Daniel would be starved to death. Houbigant, Proleg. p. 2. p. 425 which end here.
Verse 40. Daniel. Gr. adds, “besides thee there is no other.” H.
Verse 41. Den, by the law of retaliation. C. vi. 24. M.
Verse 42. Then, &c. is not in Greek nor in the ancient MSS. of S. Jerom. The verse may be taken from C. ii. 26. C.