And the king commanded, and they brought those men which
had
accused Daniel
Not all the hundred and twenty princes, and the two presidents;
but the chief of them, who were most busy in getting the decree
signed; watched Daniel's house, and what he did there; brought
the charge against him to the king, and were most solicitous and
urgent to have the decree put in execution against him: and
they cast them into the den of lions;
the servants of the king, who were sent to fetch them, and who
brought these by the king's orders, cast them into the same den
of lions that Daniel had been in: thus often the pit wicked men
dig for others, they fall into themselves; so Haman man was
hanged on the gallows he prepared for Mordecai: them, their
children, and their wives;
which might be according to the laws of this monarchy in capital
offences, relating to affairs of state, as this was for an
accusation of a prime minister of state, to take away his life;
though such things were common with arbitrary princes, for the
terror of others; so Haman and his sons were hanged up by
Ahasuerus: this may seem cruel and inhuman, though it might be
that the wives and children of these men advised them to do what
they did, and were encouragers and approvers of it. Josephus
F13 relates, that the enemies of
Daniel, when they saw no hurt came to him, would not ascribe it
to the providence of God, but to the lions being full of food;
upon which the king ordered much meat to be given them, and then
the men to be cast in to them, to see whether because of their
fulness they would come unto them or not: and the lions had
the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in
pieces, or ever they came at the bottom of the
den;
the lions seized them at once; and though they did all they could
to defend themselves, fighting with them; yet the lions were too
powerful for them, and overcame them, and not only tore off their
flesh, but broke their bones in pieces, and that as they were
falling, before they came to the bottom, or the lower part of the
den; this was a plain proof that it was not through fulness, or
want of appetite, that the lions did not fall upon Daniel and
devour him: this affair happened in the first year of Darius,
which, according to Bishop Usher F14, and Dean Prideaux
F15, and Mr. Whiston F16, was
in the year of the world 3466 A.M., and 538 B.C.; Mr. Bedford
F17 places it in 537 B.C.
F13 Antiqu. l. 10. c. 11. sect. 6.
F14 Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3466.
F15 Connexion part 1. p. 125, 128.
F16 Chronological Tables, cent. 10.
F17 Scripture Chronology, p. 711.