When the time came for Debbie and I to name our first child, we chose Daniel. Chapter 6 demonstrates why Daniel was such a fitting name for the prophet, and why it continues to be a good choice today.
"Daniel" literally means "God is my judge" in Hebrew. At first, you might think that there could be more encouraging terms to describe God's relationship to us. Perhaps, "the Lord is my Savior" or "the Lord is my Defender"? But choosing to look upon God as our Judge? Not a very warm and fuzzy image.
And yet...I believe the emphasis in that phrase should be placed, as it was for the biblical Daniel, on the fact that it is God who will be doing the judging in this person's life. After all, everyone has a judge. For many people, it is the world, or society, or their family, or their employer, or their government. For Daniel, he repudiated the judgment of the empire of the time and instead insisted that GOD would be his judge.
And that is just how events unfolded in the prophet's life. When his political enemies looked for a way to get rid of Daniel, they knew that he was incorruptible and a man of integrity. They realized that his destruction could only come on some kind of religious grounds because he was so devoted to his God (vs. 5). So they decided that they could get Daniel into trouble for his practice of praying to God. But how could they make that rise to the level of a capital offense?
They persuade King Darius to sign a law stating that no one in the empire can pray to anyone or anything other than Darius for a period of 30 days. They must have argued that this would have been good for empire cohesion and unity. I'm sure it appealed to his ego, too. The punishment for breaking this law, which is unchangeable by the way, was to be death by lions. A little too hastily, Darius signs the law into effect.
The trap is set. When Daniel discovers the new rule, he faces a choice: obey the laws of men or of God. Though the punishment means facing a den of lions, Daniel chooses to let God be his judge rather than any earthly ruler. When his enemies catch Daniel praying to the Lord, as was his custom, they have him arrested and brought before Darius for sentencing. The king realizes too late that he has been set up, and reluctantly follows the law and has Daniel thrown into a pit of hungry lions. The den is sealed overnight.
The next morning arrives to show that Daniel has survived the night through the intervention of a mighty angel sent by God. Thus acquitted by a death penalty that failed, Daniel is released - and his accusers and their families are thrown into the lions' den in his place. They were not miraculously rescued, but met their natural fate.
Once again, God is revealed as being faithful to those who are faithful to Him, much like He did with the fiery furnace in Daniel 3. There is a good reason why we should determine that God will be our judge!
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