Daniel 6:17

A stone was brought. No ancient lions’ den has yet been excavated, and it is thus impossible to reconstruct an accurate picture of such a place.

Sealed it. The official sealing by the king and his lords had a twofold purpose. It served as a guarantee to the king that Daniel would not be killed by any other means, in case he was not harmed by the lions. Because Darius hoped that Daniel’s God would save His faithful servant from the lions, he would naturally want to take precautions against any interference on the part of the men who were determined to take Daniel’s life. On the other hand the seal provided assurance to Daniel’s enemies that no attempt could be made to save him, in the event he was not immediately torn to pieces by the wild animals. Darius’ counselors may have feared that such an attempt to save Daniel from the pit would be made by Daniel’s friends or by the king as soon as everyone had withdrawn from the place of execution. Hence, their seal, as well as that of the king, was used to make sure that the stone would not be tampered with during the night.

Sealed Egyptian tombs may serve to illustrate the technique of sealing an opening. After the door had been closed for the last time, it was covered with plaster, and either seals were stamped all over the wet plaster or roll seals were rolled over it. A similar procedure may have been followed in the case of the closing and sealing of the lions’ den. The sealing was most probably carried out by means of cylinder seals, which were common among the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians. Every excavation in Mesopotamia brings to light numerous examples of such seals.