He did none of these things. This is what he did. He went into his house; up the stairs to his bedroom; opened the window toward the far-off city of his birth; knelt down and prayed to his God. He did this at morning, at noon, at night—three times a day as he had always done.
III
Daniel did just what his enemies had expected. He walked right into their trap, rather than disobey his conscience. It took a brave heart to do that. To be thrown into the den of lions meant certain death.
“Ha! ha!” laughed the plotters, “now we have him;” and they came in the morning to report to the king.
“O great king,” they said, “this foreigner, Daniel, pays no regard to the law that thou hast signed, but openly worships his God three times a day.”
Then the king was very angry with himself for having signed the law. All that day he tried to find some way to save Daniel, but could not; for the laws of Babylon, once made, could not be changed.
The same evening, the plotters came again, accusing Daniel. Then the king could wait no longer and sent for Daniel.
“O Daniel,” said the king, “the law must be obeyed. It may be that thy God whom thou servest continually will deliver thee.”
Daniel made no reply.
Then the king sadly ordered the soldiers to take Daniel to the lions.