Daniel in the Den Lyrics

Lyric discussion by bainrex7 

Cover art for Daniel in the Den lyrics by Bastille

This song most definitely parallels the experience of Daniel from the Old Testament. The chorus is the key.

"And you thought the lions were bad" --- Daniel is thrown into a den of lions in chapter 6 for worshipping God rather than Darius the Mede (God saves him by closing the mouths of the lions and his persecutors are then thrown in)

"Well they tried to kill my brothers" --- Daniel's three companions ("brothers") were thrown into a fiery furnace in chapter 3 because they wouldn't worship a golden statue made in the image of Nebuchadnezzar (they were saved and lived)

"And for every king that died Oh they would crown another" --- In the book of Daniel, there were at least 4 kings in Daniel's time who are explicitly named: Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius, and Cyrus

"But it's harder than you think Telling dreams from one another" --- In the book of Daniel, Daniel has or interprets seven different signs, visions, and dreams: Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great human image in chapter 2; Nebuchadnezzar dream of the great tree in chapter 4; a hand writing on a wall in chapter 5 foretelling the downfall of Belshazzar; Daniel's dream of four beasts and God in chapter 7; Daniel's vision of a ram and a goat with its horns in chapter 8 signifying Persia and Greece (Alexander the Great and his successors); Daniel's vision of the 70 weeks in chapter 9; Daniel's vision in chapters 10-12 of the Lord, the evil prince (angel) of Persia, the archangel Michael, the evil prince (angel) of Javan (Greece), and the destiny of Israel.

The book of Daniel is very mysterious. "Oh to see What it means to be free Of the shadows and the dreams That you claim to see"

My Interpretation

hey thanks for going through that interpretation, it's great! I was wondering, he says "well they tried to kill my brothers" by THEY does he mean those people that threw his brothers in the furnace and not the lions? probably really obvious but hey :)

I think you could interpret "they" in a couple of ways.

In my opinion, it would be the ones who tried to have Daniel's 3 friends, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael (I prefer their Hebrew names rather than their Babylonian names) killed. Daniel 3:8 simply says they were Chaldeans, not very specific. The Chaldeans were the native group of people from the land of Babylon and were generally seen as idol worshippers throughout the Old Testament.

You could also say these same ones were like "lions" in that they tried to do away with Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael.

There's...

My Interpretation

Thanks that's so interesting, I would never have made half those connections! :)