Daniel in the Lion's Den
Read some poetry connected to the story of Daniel and reflect on its meaning.
This poems are from the English Standard Version of the Bible.
A few verses of the story are in poetic form:
for he is the living God,
enduring forever;
his kingdom shall never be destroyed,
and his dominion shall be to the end.
27 He delivers and rescues;
he works signs and wonders
in heaven and on earth,
he who has saved Daniel
from the power of the lions.”
درفش کاویانی, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Discussion Questions
How does this poetry summarize the story?
What does it say about the true nature of power?
What does it say delivers, rescues, and saves us?
Psalms 7
O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,
lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,
rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.
O Lord my God, if I have done this,
if there is wrong in my hands,
if I have repaid my friend with evil
or plundered my enemy without cause,
let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,
and let him trample my life to the ground
and lay my glory in the dust. Selah
The Lord judges the peoples;
judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.
Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
and may you establish the righteous—
you who test the minds and hearts,
O righteous God!
My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
God is a righteous judge,
and a God who feels indignation every day.
Behold, the wicked man conceives evil
and is pregnant with mischief
and gives birth to lies.
He makes a pit, digging it out,
and falls into the hole that he has made.
His mischief returns upon his own head,
and on his own skull his violence descends.
I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,
and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.
Discussion Questions
Compare the story to Psalms 7. What themes and ideas do you see in common?
How does the first verse (the first two lines) set the tone for the whole poem?
What does the lion in this poem represent?
Daniel's name means "God is my judge." Who is the judge giving justice in this poem? How does this theme of justic connect to the story of Daniel in the Lions' Den?
What happens to the "wicked man" in this poem?
Look for the words "righteousness" and "righteous." Who is righteous in this poem? What does righteous mean? How is the word righteous different than self-righteous? If you were a translator and could choose a different word for righteous, what synonyms could you choose that would work in the poem?