Commentary on Daniel Chapter 3 (No. F027iii)

Introduction

Daniel Chapter 3 deals with the erection of and establishment of idols and false worship that was to come from this Babylonian system. This was to be established so that the Chosen of God would be tested and proven under the false systems and the capacity of God to deliver His Chosen was demonstrated through the fiery furnace and also with the lion’s den. He showed that His Host was sent to accompany them in the trials they would follow.

The system that emerged full blown under the Babylonians was to destroy the Biblical system under Judaism and also under Christianity and Islam (http://ccg.org/islam/quran.html) and also the Asian subdivisions that arose from it (cf. also Mysticism (B7_A)).

They also destroyed the Calendar of the Jews and Muslims and Christians alike (cf. Hillel, Babylonian Intercalations and the Temple Calendar (195C), Hebrew and Islamic Calendar Reconciled (No. 053) and God’s Calendar (No. 156)). The modern Gregorian Calendar of pseudo-Christianity is a solar calendar developed from the Roman Calendar developed as the Julian calendar developed from Julius Caesar and Augustus, hence the months July and August.

They thus destroyed adherence to God’s Calendar and the Laws of God.

The initial reaction was to establish idolatry in both emperor worship and the worship of Baal and the mother goddess cult. This became Mariolatry in the Holy Roman Empire. The action was a test of the royal young Jews selected for training in Babylon in the palace. They refused and were then thrown into the fiery furnace which had been superheated to punish them. The Angel of the Lord as a son of God or elohim (see Bullinger fn to v. 25) was sent to protect them and they were seen to be protected and they were spared and those that sought to harm them were killed by the sheer heat of the furnace by which they had sought to kill the three friends of Daniel.

It was by this act that the worship of the One True God came to be protected in the captivity. The greatest enemies of the faith were the Temple Priesthood, the Trinitarian Churches and the Hadithic Muslims (cf. Death of the Prophets and the Saints (No. 122C)).

Daniel Chapter 3

¹Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. ²Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellers, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. ³Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellers, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. ⁴Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, ⁵That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: ⁶And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. ⁷Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. ⁸Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews. ⁹They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live for ever. ¹⁰Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image: ¹¹And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. ¹²There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. ¹³Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then they brought these men before the king. ¹⁴Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? ¹⁵Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? ¹⁶Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. ¹⁷If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. ¹⁸But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. ¹⁹Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. ²⁰And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. ²¹Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. ²²Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. ²³And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. ²⁴Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellers, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. ²⁵He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. ²⁶Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, came forth of the midst of the fire. ²⁷And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellers, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. ²⁸Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. ²⁹Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. ³⁰Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, in the province of Babylon. (KJV)

Bullinger’s Notes on Chapter 3

Verse 1

image. This could not have been an image of a human being. The height and breadth are out of all proportion for this; the former being one to ten instead of one to six. A figure drawn on this scale, will at once be seen to be impossible. Having determined that it is a human figure, tradition then assumes it to have been a proportional figure "on a pedestal", or simply "a bust on a pillar". But there is nothing in the text to suggest this. It would exactly suit an Asherah (App-42). The Hebrew tzelem denotes something shaped by cutting or carving. Ezekiel 16:17, and 23:14, practically make this certain. See the verb in Ezekiel 7:20; and compare what is said in Numbers 33:52.

height . . . breadth. See above note.

threescore . . . six. The numbers of man (App-10). Note the six instruments (compare Daniel 5:7, Daniel 5:10, Daniel 5:15). See note on 1 Samuel 17:4.

Verse 2

the king sent. This great Durbar would hardly have taken place till after the campaign referred to in note on "came" (Daniel 1:1). It was therefore probably held about 475 B. C, in Daniel"s thirty-eighth year, twenty years after Nebuchadnezzar"s dream of himself, the "head of gold" (Dan 2).

to gather together, &c. Note the eight technical terms. Well known to Daniel, but difficult for a Jew in Jer 300 years later to enumerate so minutely and so accurately.

Verse 4

herald. Chaldee. karoza". Not from the Greek kerux, but an old Persian word khresic", a crier, from which comes the Chaldee verb kevar, to make a proclamation, as in Daniel 5:29.

Verse 5

cornet, &c. These names are supposed to be Greek, or from the Greek; but Athenaeus, a Greek grammarian (about A.D. 200-300), says the sambuke ("sack-but") was a Syriac invention. Strabo, in his geography (54 B.C. A.D. 24), ascribes Greek music to Asia, and says: "the Athenians always showed their admiration of foreign customs".

harp. Chaldee. kithros; Greek. kithara. Terpander, a Greek musician (seventh century B. C), the father of Greek music, invented the kithara with seven strings (Strabo says) instead of four, and one is sculptured on a monument of Assurbanipal (Lenormant, La Divination chez les Chaldiens, pp 190, 191).

sackbut. See note on "cornet", above.

hour = moment. Chaldee sha"ah, as in verses: Daniel 3:3, Daniel 3:6, Daniel 3:15; Daniel 4:33; Daniel 5:5.

Verse 15

God. Chaldee "elah. App-4.

Verse 17

is able to deliver us. The Massoretic pointing requires this punctuation: "to deliver us; from the burning fiery furnace He will deliver us".

Verse 20

most mighty men. Chaldee = mighty [ones] of strength.

to bind. Chaldee. kephath. Occurs only here and verses: Daniel 3:21, Daniel 3:23, Daniel 3:24.

Verse 25

the son of God = a son of God (no Art.): i.e. a superhuman being, or an angel. Compare Daniel 3:28, and see App-23. Nebuchadnezzar could know nothing of N.T. revelation.

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