The National tribune., 1892-06-02
SUNDAY MEDITATION,

A Study Of the International Sunday
School Lesson Appointed for June
IL, 1892.
Subject: Daniel and the Den Of Lions.
Dan, 6,16-2S.
Zone reading these notes should first carefully
study the paragraph from the Holy Scriptures as
J. EXPLANATIONS.
Daniel when about Id years old was carried
off from Jerusalem a captive to Babylon. He
studied three years, and then became an in
mate of the royal family. He was at that time
II years of age. He then interpreted Nebuch-
ad ezzars dream. B. C. $50, the three Hebrew
Children we're rescued from the furnace. Dam
iel was then al years old. Ten years later he
Interpreted second dream for Nebuchadnez-
Ear. Thirty years pass away, and Daniel is "a
years old. Out of jealousy the native Prime
Ministers lay trap for the destruction of Dam
iel They secure an order that no one shall be
permitted to offer prayer to any deity save the
King (who was held to be god for 30 days.
They knew Daniel would not thus cease to
pray to Jehovah. The penalty was death in a
den of lions. Daniel was in tho habit of pray
ing to Jehovah three times every day t6: 10.)
If there were ever a time when prayer was in
demand it was just then, and Daniel used his
privilege
What made matters worse was the fact that
the laws of the Modes and Persians were un-
alterable (6:S, I2) Rawlinson says of said
system of law: In this two principles are in
volved one, the existence Of a settled law or
rule by which the King himself. theoretically
at any rate is bound and which he cannot
alter; the other, the inclusion under this law
or rule of the irrevocability Of royal decree
or promise. Both of these principles are rec
ognized as Medo-Persic by profane writer's. 1t
was applied to Cambyses, ono of the most des-
potic of the Persian monarchs (lierodotus, iii,
3D. and Nerves. son of Darius Hytaspes (He-
rodotus, i, 109-111l."
Darius was the Yiceroy of Cyrus. As Daniel
had been in great prominence under Nebuch-
adnezzar and Belshazzar, SO he became Prime
Minister under Darius. Daniel must all along
have been held in great respect, and it was no
wonder he was promoted.
To get idea of den for lions we may read
the description of one at Fee in Morocco:
THE lions den was large quadrangular
(square) hole in the ground, divided by par
tition into two chambers. This wall has
door E mouth y, which can be opened and shut
from above. The keepers of the lions-mostly
SO entiee lions thither; then they shut the
door from above and clean the other division.
The Emperor sometimes has men cast in"
DR.. Newman now NJ. E. Bishop, in Thrones
aud Palaces of Ninepeh. believes he was at the
very den into which Daniel was cast. He
writes
"In depression four feet deep was found
a lion of dark gray granite, 10 feet long, stand
ing over man with ontstretchcd arms. Here,
nc doubt was the lions den into which Daniel
was thrown; and this sculptured lion, with a
man beneath unharmed, was to commemorate
the wonderful deliverauce Of the prophet"
Ono of the famous paintings of Rubens is
Daniel in the Den of Lions. 1t represents Dam
ell nude, sitting composedly among the wild
beasts. his eyes raised in prayer, his hands
folded across his bosom. The lions move about
him. A human skull is near at hand. All Of
this is of course but the fancy Of the artist.
We recall the fact that in the year l07 A. d.,
Ignatius, the Bishop of Antioch, was seized,
dragged off to Rome, and thrust into the am
phitheater to face the lions. Only few bones
were left, which friends collected, carried to
Antioch aud buried.
Achilleus, Roman commander presumptu-
ously undertook the Government in Egypt
when Diocletian was Emperor. Achilleas made
Alexandria his headquarters. Diocietian at
tackled the city, held it In siege eight months,
seized on AchiIleus aud had him put to death
by having him cast Into den of lions
It appears quite clear from verse 16 that
Darius had the belief Daniels God would pre-
vent him harm. Still the King felt very anx-
ious. He could not sleep that night, and early
as ne could in the morning he went TO The den.
Verse 40 implies he expected to find Daniel
unframed.
The stone over the entrance to the den was
sealed. A writer on Eastern customs says
1.-The importance attached TO a seal In the East
| is SO great that without one 10 document is re-
garded as authentic. The document, especially
among the Assyrians and Babylonians, was it
self often made of baked clay, scaled while II
was wet and burnt afterwards But in many
cases the seal consisted of lump of clay, i'm
pressed with the seal, and attached to the docu-
ment by strings. In q somewhat similar man
ner, doors of t0mbs, or other places intended to
be closed, were sealed with Jumps OF clay, no.
| ticed in Herodotus IL, 121."
An unmentioned author writes: "The seals
| were so attached to the stone, where it touched
the edge of the opening to the den, that il
could not be moved without their being broken
just as the flap of an envelope is sealed with
wax. Two seals were used so that the King
might be sure that the enemies of Daniel did
not open the den to hasten his death, and that
| they might be sure that the King did not open
| it to deliver him. Thus the interference Of
either party was prevented"
g. Suggestions
| /. Men who do wrong to others are sure
sooner or later, to meet similar fate. Lay
| traps for others and you are apt to get caught
| in them. ~. 24) Some one wrote: There
is an Australian missile, called the boomerang
which is thrown so as to describe singular
| curves, and fall at last at the feet of the
| thrower. Sin is kind of boomerang, which
goes off into space curiously, but turns again
upon its author, and with tenfold force strikes
| the guilty soul that launched it."
| We would imagine Milton had this in mind
when he wrote, Like devilish engine, back
recoils upon himself" Solomon said: He
that rolleth stone it shall return upon him.
| prov, %: 27.l SHAKESPEARE said:
Let me speak to the yet unlSnowing world
| How these things came about; so shall ye heal
| OF carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts;
| OF accidental judgments, casual slanRhters;
or deaths put on by cunning and forcd cause
And, In this upshot. purposes mistook
| Falln on the inventors heads. All this can
| Truly deliver"
! Violence brings forth violence. Hence the
| saying, Bloody instructions return to plague
| the inventor" Appius Claudius, a Roman
Decemvir, built prison at Rome, and was al
| length put to death within 1t. Dob, 81 IL
| Ps rs: 6, ~ We remember the men who put
the three Hebrew Children into the furnace
were themselves burned to death. %: 22.) The
men through whose Vaccinations Daniel was
| put into the lions denwere themselves thrust
therein. iHcn
| 2. Wicked men always iavolve their families
in tho sad consequences ofevil-doing. (V. "a,
| This is very serious aspect of sin. 1t is sad
| innnpnnt nfy< -. S1tff far nd off in