The Lion's Pit: In this familiar chapter, Daniel’s enemies conspire to get him thrown into the lions’ pit for making petitions to his God. Just as we wonder where Daniel is in chapter 3, so we wonder where Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) are in chapter 6, for there is no mention of them. We can be sure that they, like Daniel, would have continued their daily prayers in spite of the threat of being devoured by wild animals, yet there is no explanation for their absence. This is likely because chapters 3 and 6 were originally independent stories. Moreover, there must have been other faithful Jews in the realm as well; but there is no accounting of them, whether any obeyed the king or defied him. These are representative accounts; they are not meant to be exha…