Missing Sunday School

Robin Lane Fox ( Pagans and Christians ) summarizes Constantine’s telling of the story of Daniel: In the court of Cambyses, Daniel “worked his miracles and prayed intently three times a day. The Magi became jealous of this new superior, and so he cast him to lions in the royal den. By faith and prayer, he triumphed yet again and caused Cambyses to throw the Magi to the lions in his place. ‘Formerly so gentle, the beasts rushed at once onto their victims and tore an destroyed them all with the full fierceness of their nature.’”

Then, inexplicably, Fox tells us that “these events between Daniel and the Magi are known nowhere else” and suggests that the story might be a “free invention” intended to urge his hearers to attack Persia. There are some unusual details in Constantine’s, but the story seems perhaps faintly reminiscent of Daniel 6. Maybe?

One is left fairly speechless, but certain at least that Fox never went to Sunday School.