Sealed with a Stone: Daniel in the Lions' Den and the Sepulchre of Christ
Old Testament: Daniel 6:16-17, 19, 22
Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of the lions. And the king said to Daniel: Thy God, whom thou always servest, he will deliver thee. And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den: which the king sealed with his own ring, and with the ring of his nobles, that nothing should be done against Daniel. ... Then the king rising very early in the morning, went in haste to the lions' den: ... My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut up the mouths of the lions, and they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him justice hath been found in me: yea and before thee, O king, I have done no offence.
New Testament: Matthew 27:66; Matthew 28:1-2, 6
And they departing, made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting guards. ... And in the end of the sabbath, when it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre. And behold there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and coming, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. ... He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, and see the place where the Lord was laid.
The connection
Daniel was condemned for praying. When the law against it was signed, "he knelt down three times a day, and adored, and gave thanks before his God, as he had been accustomed to do before" (Daniel 6:10). The king who judged him "was very much grieved" and "even till sunset he laboured to save him" (6:14), and could not. Daniel was cast to the lions, and "a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den: which the king sealed with his own ring" (6:17). The king rose "very early in the morning" and went in haste to the den, and Daniel answered from inside it: "My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut up the mouths of the lions" (6:19, 22). Christ was condemned by a governor who found no fault in Him and could not bring himself to free Him. His enemies "made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting guards" (Matthew 27:66). "When it began to dawn towards the first day of the week", the women came, and "an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and coming, rolled back the stone": "He is not here, for he is risen, as he said" (28:1-2, 6). A sealed stone, a night, a hurried visit at dawn, an angel, and the one given up to death found alive. St Ephrem names the type: "A type of Thee therefore was Daniel ... one in the den, which the Gentiles sealed up", and says of the sealing, "When they craftily sealed Thy sepulchre, they made Thy Glory greater." Aphrahat sets the two side by side: "They sealed the pit of Daniel, and guarded it with diligence; and the grave of Jesus did they guard with diligence", and as the mouths of the lions were closed against Daniel, the mouth of death was closed against Christ. The Catechism calls the empty tomb an essential sign, the first thing met in the Easter events (CCC 640).
Moral sense
What put Daniel in the den was his prayer, and what brought him out was the God he prayed to. He did not change his habit to stay safe; he prayed "as he had been accustomed to do before", and "no hurt was found in him, because he believed in his God" (6:10, 23). The seals meant to keep him in became the proof that no one had rescued him but God, as the guards at the sepulchre became witnesses to what they were set to prevent.
Anagogical sense
Daniel was taken out of one den; Christ broke open death itself. The mouths of the lions were shut for a night, but the last mouth, the grave, will be shut for good: "O death, where is thy victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:55). At the end "death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying" (Apocalypse 21:4), and the dawn visit to a sealed stone will have no more need of repeating.
The Fathers
St Ephrem the Syrian, Hymns on the Nativity VIII: "When they craftily sealed Thy sepulchre, they made Thy Glory greater. A type of Thee therefore was Daniel, and also Lazarus; one in the den, which the Gentiles sealed up, and one in the sepulchre, that the People opened." Aphrahat, Of Persecution 18: "Daniel they cast into the pit of lions, and he was delivered and came up out of its midst uninjured; and Jesus they sent down into the pit of the abode of the dead, and He ascended, and death had not dominion over him ... They sealed the pit of Daniel, and guarded it with diligence; and the grave of Jesus did they guard with diligence".
Warrant
Patristic. St Ephrem calls Daniel in the sealed den a type of Christ in the sepulchre (Hymns on the Nativity VIII), and Aphrahat draws the comparison point by point: the accusation, the governor who grieved, the sealed and guarded pit, the closed mouths of the lions and of death, and the accusers put to shame (Demonstrations, Of Persecution 18). Checked in the Greek: the Greek of Daniel 6:17 has lithon ... kai esphragisato ho basileus, a stone ... and the king sealed it, and Matthew 27:66 has sphragisantes ton lithon, sealing the stone; Daniel 6:19 has to proi en to photi, at daybreak, and Matthew 28:1 te epiphoskouse, as it began to dawn; Daniel 6:22 has apesteilen ton angelon autou, He sent His angel, and Matthew 28:2 angelos kyriou. The den is lakkos, the word the Septuagint uses for the grave in Psalms 87:5, 7, "I am counted among them that go down to the pit". Daniel's second time in the den (Daniel 14:30-40) keeps the same shape: seven hungry lions, bread brought by Habacuc, and on the seventh day the king finds him alive. Dunk found the entry while reading the verses where lions devour.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 640.
The verses
Daniel 6:16 · Daniel 6:17 · Daniel 6:19 · Daniel 6:22 · Matthew 27:66 · Matthew 28:1 · Matthew 28:2 · Matthew 28:6
