MMA Fighters — Lion's Den

Story in the Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible

Daniel in the lions' den is a story found in chapter 6 of the Book of Daniel. It tells of how the biblical Daniel is saved from lions by the God "because [he] was found blameless before him". It parallels and complements chapter 3, the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: each beginning with the jealousy of pagans directed towards Israelites who had not forfeited their faith in God for the worship of idols like all the others followed by an imperial edict requiring them to compromise their religion, and concludes with divine deliverance and a king who confesses the greatness of the God of the Israelites and issues an edict of royal protection. The tales making up chapters 1–6 of Daniel date no earlier than the Hellenistic period, and might date earlier to the Persian period after the Babylonian captivity and were probably originally independent, but were collected in the mid-2nd century BC and expanded shortly afterwards with the visions of the later chapters to produce the modern book.