Biblical Civil Disobedience: Daniel Prays Despite The King's Objection (Daniel 6 Commentary)

Another example of justified civil disobedience in the Bible involves an incident recorded in Daniel 6:1-28. In this account, King Darius (the king of Persia) issues an unwise edict that any man who petitioned any god or man except him for thirty days should be cast into a den of hungry lions.

However, when the faithful and wise Hebrew prophet Daniel learns of this wicked decree, he ignores it and openly prays to God on his knees from his window opened towards Jerusalem.

What is the ungodly command/decision made by the government?
To refrain from praying to the God of heaven for thirty days.

What was the godly response to the king's ungodly command/decision?
Daniel courageously ignores this ungodly decree and prays to God anyway because he knows he must obey God rather than men.

The Bible does not indicate that Daniel used any violence or force in his blatant act of civil disobedience. Indeed, the only violence in this account is that which is carried out by the Persian state as directed by King Darius. The response of Daniel, seen in his willingness to die for his beliefs, is something that overcomes the violence and unjust capital punishment. When a violent Persian state targeted a godly Hebrew prophet, it thought it had found easy prey of which to make an example for others.

King Darius used violence as a strategy. Daniel relied upon his unswerving faith, which produced a beautiful physical restraint in the face of overwhelming injustice. Daniel overcame the enemy's strategy not through brute force but through reckless faith and an abiding trust that God would protect him.

Read the entire account in Daniel 6.

++++++++++++++

Daniel in the Lions’ Den
(Daniel 6:1-28)

16 So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.”

17 Then a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signets of his lords, that the purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed.

Keep reading Daniel 6 online:

This video is an excerpt of a full-length video teaching entitled "Civil Disobedience and the Bible" by Jerry Robinson.

++++++++++++++

This is one of just a handful of examples of explicit civil disobedience that is condoned in scripture.

++++++++++++++