(Bible) a prophet who, during the captivity of the
Israelites in
Babylon in the sixth century B.C., continued to pray to his
God against the
express command of the
king. He was thrown into a lions' den to be devoured but per the story in the
Bible,
God sent an
angel to protect him and he emerged miraculously unharmed the next
day.
a Hebrew prophet captive in
Babylon who, according to the
Old Testament book of Daniel, was delivered by
God from the lions into whose den he had been thrown for refusing to obey a decree of the
king. -Webster's Biographical
Dictionary;
Bible, Daniel 6 9-22
a
character in a book of the same name in the
Bible. The Book of Daniel contains six stories of the
life of Daniel, a Jew who lived in the sixth century B.C., all of which show how he clung to his faith despite a hostile
environment and extreme measures taken to
prevent him from doing so. The most famous story is that of him being thrown into a den of lions by the
king of
Babylon (an ancient city of
SW Asia), who has been told by Daniel's
enemies that he has been worshiping
God, directly against the
law which
states no one could be worshiped except the
king. While in the lion's den, Daniel is visited by angels who
close the mouths of the lions so they cannot
eat him. When the
king finds Daniel unhurt the next
day, he has him taken out of the den, and
throws Daniel's
enemies into the den, where they are devoured.