God’s Word for You
Daniel 6:24 The king’s command
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Sunday, November 9, 2025
24 Then the king gave a command, and those men who had slandered Daniel were brought and thrown down into the lions’ den—they, their children, and their wives. Even before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions completely overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.
This verse begins with a sudden, savage command. Typical of Middle-eastern despots, and especially those of Babylon and Persia, the king immediately orders the same punishment on Daniel’s slanderers that they had cornered him into ordering for Daniel. He does not actually command that they had to be put to death in front of him, as some might (compare Luke 19:27, “Bring them here and kill them in front of me”). But he orders a just punishment, and not a slow torture, but “the sudden hand of death,” whether by sword or fang, as a kind of mercy, even though accompanied by a moment of terror first.
Just as with some other Old Testament punishments, this one included the conspirators’ children (Esther 9:7-10) and even their wives, who were sometimes spared. One of the reasons for executing the children of a condemned man was to reduce the chances of revenge being carried out by someone who was next-of-kin. Perhaps this had something to do with wicked Abimelech sparing not even one of this brothers when he had them all killed on the same stone (except for the one who escaped, Judges 8:5).
There is one gruesome detail that should be explained to keep certain readers from unnecessary speculations. The text says that the lions “overpowered them” and “crushed all their bones” before they reached the bottom of the pit. But to be clear, “overpowered” here is the same word as in Daniel 3:27 for Daniel’s companions, when “the fire had not had any power over their bodies.” Here, the lions had complete power over the bodies of these condemned families; they were overpowered, which is to say, they were not just savagely hurt and maimed, but they were killed and their bodies, even their bones, were destroyed. Or to put it more delicately, the lions “devoured many a gentleman” on that day. Just as with the destruction of Korah and Dathan and their families, they were completely destroyed and devoured.
This passage helps us answer an old question. There were and still are some people who think that hell is located down under the ground, inside the earth. They gather this from the account of Korah and his family who were swallowed by the earth in the desert and went down alive into the earth. But this is a parallel account, at least of a sort, and unless hell is also in the gullets and bellies of these lions, then no one can or should use Numbers 16:33 as a reference for the location (πoῦ) of hell. In this case, death was a punishment from the government, and the government has that power (Romans 13:4). And the government wields its sword through war, or punishment for crimes, and therefore it might cause a death by accident, or incidentally with others, or impose it on someone without guilt, but it is still in the power of the government “to translate thy life into death.” For this reason, we pray that God will give us officials and officers with good judgment, with compassion, and with mercy. But whether they have those things or not, our obedience to them is still commanded by God. “Whoever does not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed upon him, either death, banishment. confiscation of his property, or imprisonment” (Exra 7:26).
This passage proclaims the law in strict, severe terms. Not only does it remind us of our place under the laws of the land or of the king, but it also reminds us that death is the punishment for sin, and that those who die without faith in Christ will inherit the second death. John teaches us as he explains his own Revelation, “The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of death” (Revelation 20:14-15). Far worse than any agonizing death on earth, hell is punishment that lasts forever and ever.
That terrifying part of Judgment Day is reserved for the devil, for all the rest of the evil angels, for the unbelieving and the godless who do not have Christ, and for the Antichrist above all.
Believers, on the other hand, will not experience any condemning judgment or even any judgment at all that investigates their sins. We who have Christ will face the very same Lord who loved us and who gave his life for us and who has prepared a room for each of us (John 14:2-3). Our sins are swept away like a cloud (Isaiah 44:22), and our judge has nothing but affection for us. He will present us, his church, to himself “without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:27). We will appear before him, thanks to his own divine work, spotless and holy. And he will bring us safely home to Paradise.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.