Even after Daniel learned that the king had officially signed his decree, he continued his regular custom of praying at three set times a day. He went to the upper chamber of his house and opened the windows facing toward Jerusalem. Then he got down on his knees to pray, and he offered his grateful praise to God as he always had done.
Then all those who conspired against Daniel came and spied on him. They found him praying to God and asking him for help. So they approached the king and reminded him of his royal decree: “Your Majesty, did you not sign a decree forbidding everyone for thirty days to pray to any god or man except to you, O king, under penalty of being thrown into the lions’ den?”
“Yes, I did, and my decree is final,” the king answered. “It is irrevocable according to the law of the Medes and Persians.”
They then told the king, “We discovered that Daniel, one of the foreign Jewish exiles, pays no heed to you, O king, and ignores the decree you have signed. For he prays to his God three times a day.”
When King Darius heard this, he was deeply grieved and sought to find a way he could rescue Daniel from his fate. For most of that day until sundown, he wrestled within himself over how Daniel could be spared. But these powerful politicians went back to see the king and insisted, “Bear in mind, Your Majesty, that according to the law of the Medes and Persians, every edict or decree of the king is irrevocable.”
So, the king gave orders to have Daniel brought in and cast into the lions’ den. But before they threw him into the lions’ den, the king said to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve so faithfully, he will surely come to rescue you.”
A large stone was then brought and placed over the opening of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet rings of each of his nobles so that Daniel’s fate might not be changed. Then the king returned to his palace, where he spent the night fasting; he had no supper brought to him and could not sleep a wink.
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