Literacy International - The Lions Miss A Meal - Part 6

Jul 17, 2026

Upload by Liam

A narrative retells Daniel’s peril when corrupt officials plot against him by persuading King Darius to issue a law forbidding anyone from praying to any god except the king. Daniel continues praying openly three times daily, trusting God rather than seeking secret escape. Officials capture evidence, forcing the king to order Daniel’s arrest and lion den punishment. The story emphasizes integrity, prayerful faith under pressure, and the clash between obedience to God and unjust authority.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time20 min

The Plot Against Daniel

The Unbreakable Law

Daniel’s Decision to Pray

The Trap Springs and the Arrest Order

Literacy International: The Lions Miss A Meal Copyright © 2018 Literacy International [info@LiteracyInternational.net](info@LiteracyInternational.net) English Spiritual Literacy International: The Lions Miss A Meal Part 6 of 12 in a series about Creation "Praise the Lord, You Wild Animals and all Cattle, Small Creatures and flying Birds!" -Psalm 148:7, 10 Copyright © 2018 Literacy International [info@LiteracyInternational.net](info@LiteracyInternational.net) English Copyright © 2018, Literacy International [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) You are free to make commercial use of this work. You may adapt and add to this work, but you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one. You must keep the copyright and credits for authors, illustrators, etc. The Lions Miss A Meal Daniel 6 One of the most feared ways of being killed in the kingdom of the Medes in ancient Persia, or Iran, was to be thrown into the den of lions. There, hungry lions would soon gobble you up. This punishment was kept for especially bad people. In those days, to disobey the king or his commands was very bad, and if you were the one who had done such a thing, your punishment was well known--a one way trip to the den of lions! No one had ever returned alive. The government leaders and their underlings wanted to get rid of the man, Daniel, who was favored by King Darius above them all. King Darius knew Daniel well enough to know that he was completely honest and God-fearing. Those who didn’t like Daniel and wanted to get rid of him knew this, too. But with Daniel as atop administrator, they couldn’t cheat and steal and give untrained, useless friends government jobs. Much as they searched Daniel’s record, they couldn’t find anything to blame on him. Finally, one of them said,“I have an idea. One thing we know about Daniel is that he loves his God so much that he prays all the time to him. How could we make his praying something that broke one of King Darius’ commands?” They talked this back and forth and finally wrote out a proposal for a special command to present to the king. Finally one day Darius agreed to meet with them, and with many smiles and compliments they presented what they had written. One of them said,“To honor you, Oh great King Darius, as only you are worthy tobe honored, and to increase the respect and obedience of the people of your vast empire, all of your government begs you to issue a command that during the next thirty days no person shall pray to anyone but you. Should anyone be so disloyal as to disobey you in this simple test of loyalty, he should, of course, be thrown in the den of lions.” King Darius, without thinking carefully about this matter, called his scribe and told him what to write down, exactly as the officials had suggested to him. With his seal placed on the document, it then became an unbreakable law of the land. The government officials now had this as a trap in which to catch Daniel, and they were happy. When someone brought Daniel a copy of the new law, he said,“What is this? It never came to my desk. This is highly irregular. No new command is ever taken to the king for his decision without my having approved of it first!” The answer was,“They all lied about it and said that everyone, which includes you, had approved it. Of course, the king, thinking that you had approved it, accepted it and made it the law of the land.” Daniel immediately understood what had happened and that the other officials were trying to play an evil trick on both him and King Darius.“Excuse me,” he said to his secretaries,“I’m going home.” They also realized that the other officials were attacking Daniel, and they could see that he was very calm but looking sad. One of them said,“Would Daniel go to the king and ask him to change the law?” And another said,“Absolutely impossible. The king’s reputation wou

FAQs

Why did the officials want Daniel removed from the government?

They wanted to get rid of Daniel because King Darius favored him, and Daniel’s honesty and God-fearing character prevented them from cheating, stealing, and placing unqualified friends.

How did the officials set a trap using King Darius’ command?

They persuaded Darius to issue a law forbidding prayer to anyone except the king, using Daniel’s known habit of praying as the way to ensure he would be caught breaking it.

What did Daniel do when the law forbade prayer to God?

Daniel went home and kept praying three times a day openly, understanding the situation as a battle that he could not fight alone and trusting God’s protection.

Jul 17, 2026

Upload by Liam