Daniel Three ... A Background Study

Daniel 3 begins by stating that Nebuchadnezzar had ordered an image of gold to be built. Verse 1 says that its height was sixty cubits and its width was six cubits, which means the statue was 90 feet tall and nine feet wide. The passage doesn't mention the image that was portrayed by the statue. The image was built for everyone in the Babylonian kingdom to worship. Kings at that time often considered themselves to be gods, so it is possible that the golden statue was a statue of Nebuchadnezzar.

Verse 3 says that the king assembled the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates and the rulers of the different provinces of the Babylonian kingdom for the dedication. It must have been an extraordinary occasion to go to the trouble of assembling all those rulers for the dedication of this statue. Nebuchadnezzar gave orders that everyone in every nation, regardless of language, was to fall down and worship this image. It needs to be noted here that this passage is written in Aramaic, which would have been spoken by practically everyone in the Babylonian empire. Officials from different parts of the kingdom would have spoken different languages but would have had the Aramaic language in common.

Verse 5 says that the people were to fall down and worship the image as soon as they heard "the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltry, bagpipe and all kinds of music." This is in direct violation of God's command in Exodus 20:4,5, which states, "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God." Anyone who refused to worship the image would immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.

Verse 7 records that, just as the king had commanded, people fell down and worshipped the image whenever they heard the instruments. However, verse 8 records that some Chaldeans went before the king charging that Jews were refusing to worship the image that had been set up.  They reminded the king of the decree and of the consequences of refusing to worship the image.

In verse 12, they told the king that some Jews named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were refusing to worship the image. The bluntly said they these men disregarded the king and neither served the king's gods or worshiped the golden image that he had set up.

This enraged Nebuchadnezzar, and he ordered these Jews to be brought before him so he could question them in person. Verse 14 says that he asked them if it was true that they do not serve the king's gods or worship the golden image that he had set up. Verse 15 says that he gave them the opportunity to abide by his order. But if they refused, they would be cast into the blazing fire. Nebuchadnezzar clearly did not think that anyone, human or divine, could save them from the king's wrath.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego told the king that they did not need to give an answer and that God is able to rescue them from the fire. God is also able to deliver them from the hand of the king. Verse 18 records them telling the king that they would not fall down and worship the golden image, even if God did not rescue them from the furnace. They knew that falling down and worshipping an idol was wrong, and they were not going to do it under any circumstances; not even in the face of death. They certainly knew that God had the capability to rescue them from the furnace, but that was not the sole reason they were being obedient. They were following God out of a pure motive, not just for what they could get out of it.

Their answer infuriated the king even more than before, and he ordered that the furnace be heated to seven times its normal temperature. The king clearly intended for this to be a very brutal punishment. The Expositor's Bible Commentary says that the king went to absurd lengths, as if he were dealing with asbestos figures instead of flesh-and-blood men. *So fierce was the fire that to even come near it was fatal. Equally absurd was Nebuchadnezzar's command that the three men be fully dressed with their hats on so that the flames would completely envelop them.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego fell into the furnace, even though the guards charged with taking them to the furnace had perished. Verse 24 quotes the king asking if three men were bound and cast into the furnace. The officials who were with him confirmed that was the case. The king replied that he saw four men walking around free in the midst of the furnace unharmed. He said that the appearance of the fourth "is like a son of the gods." It is generally believed that the Angel of the LORD is the fourth figure that the king saw in the furnace. The Angel of the LORD appears only in the Old Testament, so it is widely believed (and is the opinion of the writer) that the Angel of the LORD is Jesus Christ in pre-incarnate form. *Since Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan, he would likely have thought that the all-powerful of God of Israel had sent a lesser heavenly being to rescue the Jews. It is doubtful that the king was intentionally referring to the Son of God, even though that is precisely who he was seeing.

The king called them out of the furnace, and three men walked out from the midst of the fire. When the officials examined the prisoners, they did not show any sign that they had suffered the slightest harm. Their hair was not burnt, their clothes were undamaged, and they didn't even have the smell of fire on them. Everything the king and his officials had just seen defied any natural explanation.

In verse 28, the king gives the only appropriate response. He gives praise to God for God's deliverance of His servants. They defied the king's command and refused to worship or serve any God but their own God. The king's choice of words in verse 28 clearly shows his awe and respect for God's power, but suggests that this incident did not lead Nebuchadnezzar to turn his life over to the God of Israel. However, as a result, the king made a decree that anyone who said anything offensive against the God of Israel would be executed and that person's house would be reduced to a pile of rubble. Verse 30 closes the chapter by saying that the king caused Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego to prosper in the province of Babylon. We can infer, however, that it was actually God who caused them to prosper as a result of their faithfulness.

*= Denotes taken from the Expositor's Bible Commentary