Is this justice?

[Eugene]

Hi

Thursday’s 1st reading was from Daniel 6:12-28. Verse 25 reads:

25 The king then sent for the men who had accused Daniel and had them thrown into the lion pit, and their wives and children too; and before they reached the floor of the pit the lions had seized them and crushed their bones to pieces.

I am puzzled as to why the kids and wives were thrown to the lions as well? I am almost certain they had nothing to do with their father/husband’s decisions. It seems grossly unfair! In today’s day and age there would be a huge outcry if wives and children were given the same punishment as the men.

There are other stories in the Old Testament as well where this happens.

Any comments?

 

[Fidelis]

It seems grossly unfair! In today’s day and age there would be a huge outcry if wives and children were given the same punishment as the men.

Right there is part of your answer. This event didn’t happen in this day and age-- it happened about 2500 years ago in a very different culture from ours. If I were to venture a speculation, I’d say this was pretty standard procedure for that place and culture, and that the officials in questions held their office (with all it’s perks and advantages) with full knowledge of the penalties of failing their king. Keep in mind that the world was a much more brutal time in ages before ours-- especially before the arrival and influence of Christianity.

Also keep in mind that by relating these (and other) events, the biblical writers are not endorsing them, just reporting them. It is left for us (especially in the light of our Christian faith) to derive lessons from them, not to be preoccupied in judging people of long ago by standards they knew nothing about).

 

[Aloysium]

. . . I am puzzled as to why the kids and wives were thrown to the lions as well? I am almost certain they had nothing to do with their father/husband’s decisions. It seems grossly unfair! In today’s day and age there would be a huge outcry if wives and children were given the same punishment as the men. . . .

Just guessing that in those days, as today, power rules in the world, but the rules were rather different. The King could do whatever he wanted; Darius went so far as to fancy himself a god. (“Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human being except to you, Your Majesty, would be thrown into the lions’ den?”) It must have seemed like a good practical idea to wipe out the entire family so no one would seek vengeance and as a warning to others not to mess with him. He liked Daniel and he had been tricked and lied to. In seeing Daniel alive and being wished an eternal life, it probably dawned on him that he did not create himself, nor could he prevent his own death.

Daniel 6:25 Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth: “May you prosper greatly!
26 “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.
“For he is the living God
and he endures forever;
his kingdom will not be destroyed,
his dominion will never end.
27 He rescues and he saves;
he performs signs and wonders
in the heavens and on the earth.
He has rescued Daniel
from the power of the lions.”
28 So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus[a] the Persian.

Fair or not fair about behavior in those days, there were not only astronomically fewer numbers of people killed but also proportionally less. I truly do not see us as being more just today.

 

[GEddie]

Fair or not fair about behavior in those days, there were not only astronomically fewer numbers of people killed but also proportionally less. I truly do not see us as being more just today.

Only if you factor in abortion.

But realistically, infanticide has always existed. It is only more of a public issue now.

ICXC NIKA

 

[Fidelis]

Only if you factor in abortion.

But realistically, infanticide has always existed. It is only more of a public issue now.

ICXC NIKA

And, also unlike earlier times, it is for the first time being aggressively and publicly touted as a human and legal right while at the same time avoiding the fact (or being in complete denial) that it is the killing of an innocent human being. This goes for other forms of sinful activity as well.

 

[GEddie]

And, also unlike earlier times, it is for the first time being aggressively and publicly touted as a human and legal right while at the same time avoiding the fact (or being in complete denial) that it is the killing of an innocent human being. This goes for other forms of sinful activity as well.

Because human rights as such were not an issue in earlier times (for values of “earlier” more than ten generations ago).

While it is totally true that prior societies must not be judged by modernist standards, neither should we be quick to praise them relative to our own.

ICXC NIKA

 

[mikekle]

Only if you factor in abortion.

But realistically, infanticide has always existed. It is only more of a public issue now.

ICXC NIKA

abortion is rampant all over our country, and a large number of people are happy about this, yet at the same time, when/ if someone went out and murdered lots of babies,(for any reason), this would be breaking news all over the world, thats all people would be talking about for weeks, there would be an outpouring of support and grief…It seems people are only upset about the killing of babies, when it happens under certain conditions and other times, the killing of hundreds of babies does not even make the news…??? Strange world we live in today!!!

Concerning the OP, God also sent 2 bears to maul and kill 42 young kids, for simply making fun of a balding guy, so this tells me what mankind and God consider to be evil or wrong is probably alot different. Im sure there were some kids in Sodom and Gomorrah too, but here again, God leveled those cities and all those in them…kids included

 

[Reuben_J]

Hi

Thursday’s 1st reading was from Daniel 6:12-28. Verse 25 reads:

25 The king then sent for the men who had accused Daniel and had them thrown into the lion pit, and their wives and children too; and before they reached the floor of the pit the lions had seized them and crushed their bones to pieces.

I am puzzled as to why the kids and wives were thrown to the lions as well? I am almost certain they had nothing to do with their father/husband’s decisions. It seems grossly unfair! In today’s day and age there would be a huge outcry if wives and children were given the same punishment as the men.

There are other stories in the Old Testament as well where this happens.

Any comments?

Agree with the other posts before this. Broad encompassing punishment was very common those days by kings and rulers. Sometimes it was done for spectacular effect, the gravity of the punishment meant to deter others to commit the same offense

The king of the Assyrians smashed enemy babies outside the city wall to frighten and give maximum effect to intimidate and humiliate the Israelites.

It was common too in ancient China where the emperors would give inclusive punishment by executing the whole member of the family that even included slaves and household workers.

 

[thistle]

Hi

Thursday’s 1st reading was from Daniel 6:12-28. Verse 25 reads:

25 The king then sent for the men who had accused Daniel and had them thrown into the lion pit, and their wives and children too; and before they reached the floor of the pit the lions had seized them and crushed their bones to pieces.

I am puzzled as to why the kids and wives were thrown to the lions as well? I am almost certain they had nothing to do with their father/husband’s decisions. It seems grossly unfair! In today’s day and age there would be a huge outcry if wives and children were given the same punishment as the men.

There are other stories in the Old Testament as well where this happens.

Any comments?

D-R Bible, Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 24. Accused. They were punished as false witnesses; (Calmet) and the king justly made them suffer what they would have inflicted on the innocent, being convinced that Daniel had only acted according to his devotion. (Worthington) — These wretches deserved to perish, though they had spoken nothing but the truth. (Haydock) — Wives. Many examples of such punishments occur, (Calmet) as it was presumed the children and wives were infected by the bad example, and would imitiate it, (Junius) if they had not concurred already. (Menochius) — This must have been the case, to make it just. (Haydock) See Joshua vii. — Abominandœ leges, says Ammianus, (23) speaking of the customs of Persia, per quas ob noxam unius omnis propinquitas perit. (Calmet)