1 Nebuchadnezzar H5020 the king H4430 made H5648 an image H6755 of gold, H1722 whose height H7314 was threescore H8361 cubits, H521 and the breadth H6613 thereof six H8353 cubits: H521 he set it up H6966 in the plain H1236 of Dura, H1757 in the province H4083 of Babylon. H895
The workman H2796 melteth H5258 a graven image, H6459 and the goldsmith H6884 spreadeth H7554 it over with gold, H2091 and casteth H6884 silver H3701 chains. H7577 He that is so impoverished H5533 H5534 that he hath no oblation H8641 chooseth H977 a tree H6086 that will not rot; H7537 he seeketh H1245 unto him a cunning H2450 workman H2796 to prepare H3559 a graven image, H6459 that shall not be moved. H4131 Have ye not known? H3045 have ye not heard? H8085 hath it not been told H5046 you from the beginning? H7218 have ye not understood H995 from the foundations H4146 of the earth? H776 It is he that sitteth H3427 upon the circle H2329 of the earth, H776 and the inhabitants H3427 thereof are as grasshoppers; H2284 that stretcheth out H5186 the heavens H8064 as a curtain, H1852 and spreadeth them out H4969 as a tent H168 to dwell in: H3427 That bringeth H5414 the princes H7336 to nothing; he maketh H6213 the judges H8199 of the earth H776 as vanity. H8414 Yea, they shall not be planted; H5193 yea, they shall not be sown: H2232 yea, their stock H1503 shall not take root H8327 in the earth: H776 and he shall also blow H5398 upon them, and they shall wither, H3001 and the whirlwind H5591 shall take H5375 them away as stubble. H7179 To whom then will ye liken H1819 me, or shall I be equal? H7737 saith H559 the Holy One. H6918 Lift up H5375 your eyes H5869 on high, H4791 and behold H7200 who hath created H1254 these things, that bringeth out H3318 their host H6635 by number: H4557 he calleth H7121 them all by names H8034 by the greatness H7230 of his might, H202 for that he is strong H533 in power; H3581 not one H376 faileth. H5737 Why sayest H559 thou, O Jacob, H3290 and speakest, H1696 O Israel, H3478 My way H1870 is hid H5641 from the LORD, H3068 and my judgment H4941 is passed over H5674 from my God? H430 Hast thou not known? H3045 hast thou not heard, H8085 that the everlasting H5769 God, H430 the LORD, H3068 the Creator H1254 of the ends H7098 of the earth, H776 fainteth H3286 not, neither is weary? H3021 there is no searching H2714 of his understanding. H8394 He giveth H5414 power H3581 to the faint; H3287 and to them that have no might H202 he increaseth H7235 strength. H6109 Even the youths H5288 shall faint H3286 and be weary, H3021 and the young men H970 shall utterly H3782 fall: H3782 But they that wait H6960 upon the LORD H3068 shall renew H2498 their strength; H3581 they shall mount up H5927 with wings H83 as eagles; H5404 they shall run, H7323 and not be weary; H3021 and they shall walk, H3212 and not faint. H3286
Their idols H6091 are silver H3701 and gold, H2091 the work H4639 of men's H120 hands. H3027 They have mouths, H6310 but they speak H1696 not: eyes H5869 have they, but they see H7200 not: They have ears, H241 but they hear H8085 not: noses H639 have they, but they smell H7306 not: They have hands, H3027 but they handle H4184 not: feet H7272 have they, but they walk H1980 not: neither speak H1897 they through their throat. H1627 They that make H6213 them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth H982 in them.
Thou, H607 O king, H4430 sawest, H1934 H2370 and behold H431 a great H2298 H7690 image. H6755 This H1797 great H7229 image, H6755 whose brightness H2122 was excellent, H3493 stood H6966 before H6903 thee; and the form H7299 thereof was terrible. H1763 This image's H6755 head H7217 was of fine H2869 gold, H1722 his breast H2306 and his arms H1872 of silver, H3702 his belly H4577 and his thighs H3410 of brass, H5174
And Aaron H175 said H559 unto them, Break off H6561 the golden H2091 earrings, H5141 which are in the ears H241 of your wives, H802 of your sons, H1121 and of your daughters, H1323 and bring H935 them unto me. And all the people H5971 brake off H6561 the golden H2091 earrings H5141 which were in their ears, H241 and brought H935 them unto Aaron. H175 And he received H3947 them at their hand, H3027 and fashioned H6696 it with a graving tool, H2747 after he had made H6213 it a molten H4541 calf: H5695 and they said, H559 These be thy gods, H430 O Israel, H3478 which brought H5927 thee up out of the land H776 of Egypt. H4714
Of a truth, H551 LORD, H3068 the kings H4428 of Assyria H804 have destroyed H2717 the nations H1471 and their lands, H776 And have cast H5414 their gods H430 into the fire: H784 for they were no gods, H430 but the work H4639 of men's H120 hands, H3027 wood H6086 and stone: H68 therefore they have destroyed H6 them.
And the weight H4948 of the golden H2091 earrings H5141 that he requested H7592 was a thousand H505 and seven H7651 hundred H3967 shekels of gold; H2091 beside ornaments, H7720 and collars, H5188 and purple H713 raiment H899 that was on the kings H4428 of Midian, H4080 and beside the chains H6060 that were about their camels' H1581 necks. H6677 And Gideon H1439 made H6213 an ephod H646 thereof, and put H3322 it in his city, H5892 even in Ophrah: H6084 and all Israel H3478 went thither a whoring H2181 after H310 it: which thing became a snare H4170 unto Gideon, H1439 and to his house. H1004
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Daniel 3
Commentary on Daniel 3 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Daniel's Three Friends in the Fiery Furnace - Daniel 3:1-30
Nebuchadnezzar commanded a colossal golden image to be set up in the plain of Dura at Babylon, and summoned all his high officers of state to be present at its consecration. He caused it to be proclaimed by a herald, that at a given signal all should fall down before the image and do it homage, and that whosoever refused to do so would be cast into a burning fiery furnace (Daniel 3:1-7). This ceremony having been ended, it was reported to the king by certain Chaldeans that Daniel's friends, who had been placed over the province of Babylon, had not done homage to the image; whereupon, being called to account by the king, they refused to worship the image because they could not serve his gods (Daniel 3:8-18). For this opposition to the king's will they were cast, bound in their clothes, into the burning fiery furnace. They were uninjured by the fire; and the king perceived with terror that not three, but four men, were walking unbound and uninjured in the furnace (Daniel 3:19-27). Then he commanded them to come out; and when he found them wholly unhurt, he not only praised their God who had so wonderfully protected them, but also commanded, on the pain of death, all the people of his kingdom not to despise this God (Daniel 3:28-30).
The lxx and Theodotion have placed the date of this event in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, apparently only because they associated the erection of this statue with the taking of Jerusalem under Zedekiah, although that city was not taken and destroyed till the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 25:8.). But though it is probable that Nebuchadnezzar, after he had firmly established his world-kingdom by the overthrow of all his enemies, first felt himself moved to erect this image as a monument of his great exploits and of his world-power; yet the destruction of the capital of Judea, which had been already twice destroyed, can hardly be regarded as having furnished a sufficient occasion for this. This much, however, is certain, that the event narrated in this chapter occurred later than that of the 2nd chapter, since Daniel 3:12 and Daniel 3:30 refer to Daniel 2:49; and on the other hand, that they occurred earlier than the incident of the 4th chapter, in which there are many things which point to the last half of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, while the history recorded in the chapter before us appertains more to the middle of his reign, when Nebuchadnezzar stood on the pinnacle of his greatness. The circumstance that there is no longer found in the king any trace of the impression which the omnipotence and infinite wisdom of the God of the Jews, as brought to view in the interpretation of his dream by Daniel, made upon his mind (Daniel 2), affords no means of accurately determining the time of the occurrence here narrated. There is no need for our assuming, with Jerome, a velox oblivio veritatis , or with Calvin, the lapse of a considerable interval between the two events. The deportment of Nebuchadnezzar on this occasion does not stand in opposition to the statements made at the close of Daniel 2. The command that all who were assembled at the consecration of the image should all down before it and worship it, is to be viewed from the standpoint of the heathen king. It had no reference at all to the oppression of those who worshipped the God of the Jews, nor to a persecution of the Jews on account of their God. It only demanded the recognition of the national god, to whom the king supposed he owed the greatness of his kingdom, as the god of the kingdom, and was a command which the heathen subjects of Nebuchadnezzar could execute without any violence to their consciences. The Jews could not obey it, however, without violating the first precept of their law. But Nebuchadnezzar did not think on that. Disobedience to his command appeared to him as culpable rebellion against his majesty. As such also the conduct of Daniel's friends is represented to him by the Chaldean informers in Daniel 3:12. The words of the informers, “The Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon have not regarded thee, O king; they serve not thy gods,” etc., clearly show that they were rightly named (Daniel 3:8) “accusers of the Jews,” and that by their denunciation of them they wished only to expel the foreigners from their places of influence; and for this purpose they made use of the politico-national festival appointed by Nebuchadnezzar as a fitting opportunity. Hence we can understand Nebuchadnezzar's anger against those who disregarded his command; and his words, with which he pronounced sentence against the accused - ”who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hand?” - are, judged of from the religious point of view of the Israelites, a blaspheming of God, but considered from Nebuchadnezzar's heathen standpoint, are only an expression of proud confidence in his own might and in that of his gods, and show nothing further than that the revelation of the living God in Daniel 2 had not permanently impressed itself on his heart, but had in course of time lost much of its influence over him.
The conduct of Nebuchadnezzar toward the Jews, described in this chapter, is accordingly fundamentally different from the relation sustained by Antiochus Epiphanes towards Judaism; for he wished entirely to put an end to the Jewish form of worship. In the conduct of Daniel's friends who were accused before the king there is also not a single trace of the religious fanaticism prevalent among the Jews in the age of the Maccabees, who were persecuted on account of their fidelity to the law. Far from trusting in the miraculous help of God, they regarded it as possible that God, whom they served, would not save them, and they only declare that in no case will they reverence the heathen deities of the king, and do homage to the image erected by him (Daniel 3:16.).
The right apprehension of the historical situation described in this chapter is at complete variance with the supposition of the modern critics, that the narrative is unhistorical, and was invented for the purpose of affording a type for the relation of Antiochus Epiphanes to Judaism. The remarkable circumstance, that Daniel is not named as having been present at this festival (and he also would certainly not have done homage to the image), can of itself alone furnish no argument against the historical accuracy of the matter, although it cannot be explained on the supposition made by Hgstb., that Daniel, as president over the wise men, did not belong to the class of state-officers, nor by the assertion of Hitz., that Daniel did not belong to the class of chief officers, since according to Daniel 2:49 he had transferred his office to his friends. Both suppositions are erroneous; cf. under Daniel 2:49. But many other different possibilities may be thought of to account for the absence of all mention of Daniel's name. Either he may have been prevented for some reason from being present on the occasion, or he may have been present and may have refused to bow down before the image, but yet may only not have been informed against. In the latter case, the remark of Calvin, ut abstinuerint a Daniele ad tempus, quem sciebant magnifieri a Rege , would scarcely suffice, but we must suppose that the accusers had designed first only the overthrow of the three rulers of the province of Babylon.
(Note: Kran.'s supposition also (p. 153), that Daniel, as president over the class of the wise men, claimed the right belonging to him as such, while in his secular office he could be represented by his Jewish associates, and thus was withdrawn from the circle of spectators and from the command laid upon them of falling down before the image, has little probability; for although it is not said that this command was laid upon the caste of the wise men, and even though it should be supposed that the priests were present at this festival as the directors of the religious ceremonial, and thus were brought under the command to fall down before the image, yet this can scarcely be supposed of the whole caste. But Daniel could not in conscience take part in this idolatrous festival, nor associate himself with the priests, nor as president of all the Magi withdraw into the background, so as to avoid the ceremony of doing homage of the image.)
But the circumstance that Daniel, if he were present, did not employ himself in behalf of his friends, may be explained from the quick execution of Babylonish justice, provided some higher reason did not determine him confidently to commit the decision of the matter to the Lord his God.
(Note: We have already in part noticed the arguments against the historical accuracy of the narrative presented by the opponents of the genuineness of the book, such as the giving of Greek names to the musical instruments, and the conduct of Antiochus Epiphanes in placing an idol-image on the altar of burnt-offering (pp. 34, 50). All the others are dealt with in the Exposition. The principal objection adduced is the miracle, on account of which alone Hitz. thinks himself warranted in affirming that the narrative has no historical reality.)
The erection and consecration of the golden image, and the accusation brought against Daniel's friends, that they had refused to obey the king's command to do homage to this image.