Daniel is a rising star within the Persian kingdom. King Darius appoints him head administrator of the kingdom. In this way, it seems that Daniel has achieved a level similar to that of Joseph under Pharaoh.
However, this status attracts enemies who conspire against Daniel. They convince King Darius to create a law that if anyone prays to a god except Darius within a 30 day time period, he will be thrown into a den of lions.
Daniel, of course, continues to pray to God. His enemies see this and alert Darius. Darius is trapped - he likes Daniel but he must uphold his own last. So, he has Daniel thrown into the den of lions and has it sealed.
Darius cannot eat or sleep all night long and the next day, he goes back to the den of lions. Daniel is still alive. He even says that an angel came and shut the mouths of the lions. Darius then has the conspirators and their families thrown into the den of lions. This seems like an overreaction, but he was probably angry at the conspirators for using his own laws against him. Sure enough, the hungry lions tear the people to shreds.
There is a strong parallel of this chapter to Daniel 3, in which Daniel's friends are thrown into the fiery furnace. Daniel was not among them in Daniel 3 and here, Daniel is alone. In both cases, God sends angels to assist them. The message is similar in both - obey the laws of the foreign lands, but if there is ever a conflict, trust and obey God.
There is also an interesting parallel to the predictions of the 4th beast of Daniel 7, i.e., the very next chapter. The 4th beast was predicted to make war with the saints before being defeated itself. If we take the 4th beast to be the Roman Empire, we know from history that the Roman Empire oppressed the early Christian church by throwing them in with lions. It was a common method. Such a scene was even made for Gladiator, but was taken out and now is in the deleted scenes.
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