Daniel 6:24

"Then the king commanded, and they brought those men that had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces, before they came to the bottom of the den."

DANIEL'S ENEMIES PUNISHED

Critics have interpreted "the accusers of Daniel" here as meaning all of the 120 satraps, the presidents, the counselors, the governors, and the deputies, and then have alleged that the lions' eating up that many people before they ever hit the bottom of the "den" is a monstrous absurdity; but the only real absurdity is the allegation of the critics. As Keil put it:

"Those critics who thus spake have themselves fabricated the idea of throwing 122 men with their wives and children into the lions' den ... this they have done, trying to make the account absurd; but the text states no number of the condemned."[32]

We have already noted that in all probability, only the two presidential colleagues of Daniel were the actual accusers of the prophet and that, accordingly, only those two with their wives and children were executed.

It is extremely interesting that Josephus has supplemented the information here with a number of observations which sound much like the truth, although of course Josephus' words never carry the authority of Scripture.

"Now when his enemies saw that Daniel suffered nothing, they would not allow that he was saved by God's providence; but they said the lions had been well fed before Daniel was cast in, and that the lions were not hungry. Therefore the king commanded that the lions should be fed a great deal of flesh; and when they had filled themselves, the king ordered Daniel's enemies to be cast in, to learn if they would touch them or not. The lions spared them not but tore them in pieces, so the king knew that it was God who had spared Daniel."[33]