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Shepherd of Hermas

About this book
Chapter 23

1 After I had passed the beast and gone on about thirty feet, suddenly a young woman met me, dressed as if coming out of a bridal chamber, all in white and wearing white sandals, veiled up to her forehead, with a turban as a head covering, and her hair was white. 2 I recognized from the earlier visions that it was the Church, and I became more cheerful. She greeted me, saying, “Good morning, my good man”; and I greeted her in return, “Good morning, lady.” 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. 5 So go and declare His mighty works to God’s chosen, and tell them that this beast is an image of the great tribulation to come. So if you prepare yourselves in advance, and repent and turn to the Lord with your whole heart, you will be able to escape it, if your heart is made pure and without fault, and if for the rest of your days you serve the Lord blamelessly. Cast your cares on the Lord and He will set them right. 6 Trust in the Lord, you who are of two minds, for He can do all things—yes, He turns His anger away from you, and again He sends His plagues on you who are double-minded. Woe to those who hear these words and disobey; it would have been better for them if they had not been born.”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Daniel 6:22 and Shepherd of Hermas 23:4

Hebrew Bible · Early Christian

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Summary

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.

Passages

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.
200–101 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Daniel

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.
90–140 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Shepherd of Hermas

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 ...”
Carolyn Osiek, The Shepherd of Hermas: A Commentary, Herm (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1999), 94.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Daniel 6:22 and Shepherd of Hermas 23:4

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