Daniel in rabbinic literature

[2][3] According to this view, Daniel and his friends were eunuchs, and were consequently able to prove the groundlessness of charges of immorality brought against them, which had almost caused their death at the hands of the king.

When Daniel explains to Nebuchadnezzar the dream of the tree that was cut down, the rabbis viewed it in the context of Isaiah 56:1, which is sometimes rendered "Do what is right, and give alms."

The midrash[7] explains that Daniel advised him[8] to atone for his sins by good deeds, and for his misdeeds by kindness to the poor.

Asking permission to kiss the idol on the mouth, he stepped before it and conjured the frontlet in the following words: "Although I am only a man of flesh and blood, yet I stand here as God's messenger.

Daniel remained there unharmed for six days, being fed during that time by the prophet Habakkuk, whom an angel had in an instant transported from Judea to Babylon, holding him by the hair of his head.

Although Daniel was not forced to sin in any way, he was prepared to sacrifice his life rather than omit his prayers; hence it was easy for his enemies to convict him of having violated the royal order.

[16] Daniel's enemies insisted that the lions were tame because they were not hungry, whereupon the king commanded that the accusers themselves spend a night with the beasts.

As a result, the enemies of Daniel, numbering 122, with their wives and children, making a total of 366 persons, were torn by 1,469 lions.