Texts in Conversation
In Daniel, an angel shuts the lions' mouths so they cannot hurt Daniel. In the Shepherd of Hermas, Hermas is told in similar language that an angel shut a huge beast's mouth, which may present his escape as a rescue like Daniel's.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Daniel 6:22
Hebrew Bible
16 So the king gave the order, and Daniel was brought and thrown into a den of lions. The king consoled Daniel by saying, “Your God whom you continually serve will rescue you!” 17 Then a stone was brought and placed over the opening to the den. The king sealed it with his signet ring and with those of his nobles so that nothing could be changed with regard to Daniel. 18 Then the king departed to his palace. But he spent the night without eating, and no diversions were brought to him. He was unable to sleep. 19 In the morning, at the earliest sign of daylight, the king got up and rushed to the lions’ den. 20 As he approached the den, he called out to Daniel in a worried voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, was your God whom you continually serve able to rescue you from the lions?” 21 Then Daniel spoke to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent his angel and closed the lions’ mouths so that they have not harmed me because I was found to be innocent before him. Nor have I done any harm to you, O king.” 23 Then the king was delighted and gave an order to haul Daniel up from the den. So Daniel was hauled up out of the den. He had no injury of any kind because he had trusted in his God.
Shepherd of Hermas 23:4
Early Christian
3 She answered me, “Did you meet nothing on the way?” I said to her, “Lady, I met a monstrous beast, able to destroy whole peoples; but, by the power of the Lord and by His great mercy, I escaped it.” 4 “You escaped it well,” she said, “because you cast your care on God, and opened your heart to the Lord, believing that nothing else could save you except His great and glorious Name. Therefore the Lord sent His angel, the one over the beasts, whose name is Segri, and shut its mouth so that it would not harm you. You have escaped a great tribulation because of your faith, and because, though you saw such a huge beast, you did not doubt in your mind.
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Notes and References
“... Thegri is otherwise unknown in early Jewish or Christian angelology. His invisible action in 1.9 (Hermas has to be informed of it here) echoes that of the angel of Dan 6:22-23. Angels in charge of beasts and cosmic powers is a traditional motif, but Thegri is a mystery. [...] Hermas: [...] ("he shut its mouth so that it might not hurt you"); Dan 6:23 (Theodotion): [...] ("he shut the mouths of the lions and they did not harm me"); cf. Heb 11:33. The influence of Daniel, especially chaps. 10-12, is pervasive in Vision 4 ...”
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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