Josippon

Darius the Mede received the kingdom of the Chaldeans in his old age and reigned in Babylon [Dan 6:1]. And it came to pass when Darius was sitting on his throne, he sent for Daniel to be brought before him. They placed a chair for Daniel, and he sat before Darius. The king said to him: "Are you Daniel?" He replied: "I am." He said to him: "Give me advice, and I will follow it, for the spirit of the Lord of the Heavens is in you. Pray, do not withhold your advice from me, for I have grown old and my strength has left me. For the ways of youth exhaust me, and wars have always weakened me, for I have begun my dotage and can no longer bear the burden of judging among men, whether to condone or condemn, for the matter is too heavy for me." Daniel answered King Darius, saying: "Let the king charge three officials, men of strength and men of truth to bear the heavy burden of the people and judge between a man and his neighbor to ease from you the weight of the people's burden and let the king rest in his house. Any important matter that is too difficult for them, let them approach the king and he will judge; so, let the king and his throne be relieved and not be wearied further with the people's burden." The king did so and charged two army officers over the people; Daniel he appointed over the two to judge the people, and the king was at peace in his palace.

Darius sent a letter unto every land of his realm, saying: "The Lord of the Heavens gave into my hand all the kingdoms of the earth, and the burden of bearing them weighs heavily upon me, for my spirit has reached old age. Therefore, I have taken counsel from Daniel, who has advised me with true counsel, so I hearkened to his advice and rest and relax in my house, and the bearing of the burden has eased. So now render honor to the God of Daniel and believe in him and seek him always and approach him, for he is great over all the gods. And let all the men in my kingdom know that I did this according to the counsel of Daniel. I have appointed two army chiefs over every land of my realm; unto them all the people will take heed in judgment to lighten the burden of the people from me. I have appointed Daniel over these two officers to obey him in all that he will order them in judging the people and would not contradict his words and do all that he will command them. I have made him my deputy, and the two army chiefs I have placed under his command. He that disobeys the king's law shall not live." All the people gave heed to the king's command and to what would lighten his burden, and the king found peace in his palace. Daniel was second to the king; he was the one who went out and went in before the king. And the chiefs and the rulers and the nobles and the governors of state honored Daniel, for the spirit of his God was in him.

The two army chiefs, along with the other chiefs, the deputies, the rulers, and the magnates of the kingdom became jealous of Daniel. They all convened to slander Daniel by finding some libel to cause him to stumble before the king and the chiefs. They all agreed to inscribe a law and to make a covenant, saying "that every man whether great or small, chief or governor or commander of soldiers who will petition any god to ask or request or beseech anything from this day unto thirty days hence save for the king himself, will be food for the lions: neither will he be pardoned by the king, nor may he be ransomed by any amount, however high, to uphold an inscribed law." During all this, Daniel knew nothing of their plot, for they had furtively plotted against him, saying: "If we do not entrap him in the law of his God, we will not be able to trip him up." But they did not understand that just as Daniel was faithful to his God, so his God was faithful to him.

The men wrote these words that they had agreed on in a document, and each one signed it with his hand and sealed it with his seal in order to enforce the law of the document. The chiefs came to the king with the document in their hand. The king reached out and took it and read it in all innocence and did not pay attention to their deceitful plot against Daniel. And he authorized the law of the document with all that was written in it. And the king signed and gave it to the royal scribes to keep until it was needed.

After some days, the men prowled, spying around Daniel's home to learn what he was doing so that they could find a pretext to slander Daniel as they had conspired. While they were walking to and fro near Daniel's house, they found a young girl playing by Daniel's doorway and asked her: "Where is Daniel, and what is he doing?" She replied: "There he is on the upper story of his house praying by the window that faces the House of God that is in Jerusalem and giving glory and praise to his God." The men took courage and went up to him to the upper story. There they found him kneeling, his palms extended toward heaven, for three times a day Daniel used to pray and give thanks to his God: for he who prays, speaks with God, and reads the Torah, God speaks with him. This is what Daniel did, and this was his custom daily. And so, when the men came to Daniel's house and he was praying, he was not afraid of them, nor did his heart fear the sound of their noise until he finished his prayer. Then they all fell upon him and seized him and brought him to the king.

When the king saw Daniel seized by the chiefs, he was anxious and greatly amazed, and he realized that on account of him they had established the law. The king said to the chiefs: "What have you done to Daniel? What is between you and him?" The men answered the king, saying: "Did we not write and sign before you, according to the law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be changed or broken, that everyone who bows down to any god during this entire month, save for the king himself, would be food for the lions? Behold, Daniel was found inside his house praying to his God against the king's commandment, and the laws of the Medes and Persians are not to be disobeyed. Now do not insult us by breaking our law. Give him to us that we may throw him into the lions' den, lest there be another affront against the laws of the Medes and Persians." The king answered the chiefs, saying: "You have conspired against Daniel. You must not provoke him. Leave him alone, for he is a Jew and his God is awesome and terrible and mighty, and he will demolish and destroy you!" But the chiefs held on to Daniel to destroy him and drop him into the lions' den. The king stirred to help him, to save him, but no one would help the king rescue Daniel, for all hastened to bring about his downfall to destroy him. But the king refused to listen to them, and the chiefs quarreled with the king over Daniel until sunrise.

When they saw that the king was with him, they all said to the king: "Let the king know and see, if he is not surrendered into our hands, we shall know that you too violated the laws of the Medes and Persians." The king realized that they had plotted against him because of Daniel, so he gave up and surrendered him to them. The king said to them: "Tell me, if his God should save him from the jaws of the lions, where would you hide your shame and ignominy? You yourselves would substitute for him as food for the lions." They all answered the king thus: "So be it!" The king argued with his chiefs until daybreak. And the king said to Daniel: "Behold, these lords have conspired to cast you into the lions' den, and the Lord God of Heaven who has given unto you his spirit of holiness, he will stop their mouths from harming you. I am innocent before your God, for I sought to save you, but I could not."

They dragged Daniel and threw him into the den. Enclosed within the den were ten lions: their customary prey each day was ten sheep and ten human corpses, but they had kept them without prey and fed them nothing so that they would hasten to devour Daniel. But when Daniel descended into the den of the lions, they greeted him with friendliness and licked him and wagged their tails and rejoiced to greet him like dogs behave that rejoice at their master when he returns from the field. The chiefs rolled a huge stone to shut the den, and the king sealed the opening of the den with his ring and the rings of the chiefs, and each went to his house. Daniel continually praised the name of his God in a voice of thankful joy all the night unto the morning while the lions crouched around him and listened to the sound of his singing. But the king went to his house mournful and bitter; he ate no bread nor drank water or wine. Musical instruments were not played before him, as was the custom. He did not undress, for he mourned Daniel exceedingly. Sleep escaped him, for he was saddened because of the chiefs' plot against Daniel. In his anguish, the king said, as he tossed from side to side: "O let it be morning that I may see what has befallen Daniel."

It was on that day when Daniel was put down into the lions' den that Habakkuk, the prophet in the land of Judah, was coming from his harvesting toward evening, and he gave a feast for his harvesters and was carrying their meal in his hand in order to serve them. Behold, his God spoke to him, saying: "Go and bring this meal to Daniel my servant in the land of the Chaldeans in the lions' den wherein he was lowered." And he said: "Alas, my Lord, who will bring me there at this time, for the route is too far for me?" Behold, an angel of God bore him by a lock of his head, the meal in his hand, and the angel placed him inside the den by Daniel, and he ate and drank with Daniel. The angel took him out and brought him back to the place from which the angel had carried him, even before the harvesters had finished eating. And Daniel continued to praise and exalt his God, for he was certain of His salvation. For he who prays to his God, speaks with his God, and reads the Law, his God speaks with him—and Daniel did not despair of his mercies.

Meanwhile, morning broke, and the king arose and hurried to the den. There the king heard the song of Daniel and the sweetness of his praise. The king could not speak with him, for his voice was broken by crying. The king got hold of himself and called: "Daniel! Daniel! Has God spared you from the lions' jaws and you were not devoured?" And Daniel answered: "Indeed God has spared me from the lions' jaws, for he muzzled their mouths, and they greeted me happily as if they were men of my household, for thus commanded my God in whom I trust; and a meal too was brought to me by Habakkuk in the spirit of my God. My lord the king, I did not sin against you, and no offense against you can be found in me; you will find neither treachery nor crime in me."

The king sent for the chiefs, Daniel's accusers; and they all came to the king, and he was standing by the den. He said: "Examine and observe the seal of your rings upon the den and say if it has been broken." They examined it and said: "It is as we have left it." The king commanded, and they rolled the stone from atop the den and hastened to raise Daniel out of the den, whole and unharmed, without injury. All the men were astonished at the wonders of the God of Daniel. They said: "The God of Daniel is the greatest of all gods." The king called his servants; they seized the chiefs who accused Daniel, along with their wives and sons, and cast them down into the lions' den. And even before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions rushed toward them, for they had not eaten since the day before, and they swallowed them; they gnawed and pulverized their bones. The lions roared at them in the den, and the sound of their roaring was heard from afar, and all the people trembled from their sound and said: "The lions have escaped the den." Then the king returned to his house, he and Daniel.

God added honor, greatness, grace, and merit to Daniel in the eyes of the king. The king ordered to be proclaimed throughout his entire kingdom: "There is among all the gods no god like the God of Daniel, terrible in wonders and marvels. Who among you, of the people of his inheritance, may his God be with him and let him go up and rebuild the great House of God which is in Judah. I will give from my treasures gold and silver for all repair work until it is finished." He sent letters by mounted emissaries unto every city throughout his entire realm to let the Jews go and rebuild the House of God that is in Jerusalem. This was in the first year of the reign of Cyrus over the kingdom of the Chaldeans.

The king sent letters to all chiefs of the regions across the river and to the governors to be ready to join together to assist the Jews and supply all their needs in building materials: trees, stones, tailors, oil, wine, and every building need until they have completed the construction; also bulls and sheep for their sacrifices and that no man hinder them in all their work. And the Jews, every worthy man, rose to go to the House of God, about forty thousand. Among them, at their head was Ezra the Scribe and Eliaqim the priest and Yeshua and Mordecai and the rest of the family leaders of Judah and Benjamin. They proceeded unto the crossing of the river, and they came to Jerusalem and began to lay the foundation for the House of God.

When they were busy laying the foundations, evil men, enemies of Judah from the other nations, arose: Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian. They wrote an accusation against the Jews, servants of the Lord of Heaven, and sent a letter to the kings of Media and Persia, saying: "Let it be known to you that if the city of Jerusalem be built, it will be a snare for you and a great offense and a source of conspiracy against you, for from the earliest days the Jews inhabited the city, strong and hard men, harmful to kings and rulers throughout the land. For this Nebuchadnezzar besieged them and exiled them to Babylon. Then the kings were at peace and quiet, each in his place. Therefore, we have come to inform you about all these our beliefs, for we have eaten bread from the table of the king, and heaven forbid that we witness the downfall of the kingdom." When the letter reached the king, the work ceased until the second year of King Darius.