Daniel 3:1

Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold,.... Not of solid gold; but either of a plate of gold, and hollow within; or of wood overlaid with gold; for otherwise it must have took up a prodigious

Nebuchadnezzar 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.

DANIEL CHAPTER 3 Nebuchadnezzar setting up an image commandeth all persons to worship it, . Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are accused of disobeying the command, . The king threateneth them; their resolute answer, . They are cast into the fiery furnace, . God delivereth them unhurt out of it, which Nebuchadnezzar seeing blesseth God, and acknowledgeth his power, . Their advancement, . This daring sin of Nebuchadnezzar was aggravated many ways, by the greatness of the kingdom and majesty God had given him, by the late discovery made to him when Daniel interpreted his dream, by his conviction and confession upon it of that great God and his sovereign power: this is the height of ingratitude, arguing his carriage before to be only a fit of astonishment, without the least change upon his heart. The vast proportion of the statue, or idol, was to show his greatness by the height and bulk of it, and his pride and magnificence in the richness of it, seeing it was of gold, and to be a monument to posterity of his famous exploits. Some give this reason, that he might seem hereby to avert the fate of his empire, foretold by Daniel, and declare himself sole monarch of the world, or head of gold, because he made it of gold, whether massy, or plated, or gilded, matters not. Likewise that he might seem no ways to be inclined to the Jews, or their religion, whereof the Chaldeans might be jealous, seeing he had owned their God to be greatest, and had preferred Daniel and his friends to great honours. Nebuchadnezzar assured his wise men and nobles that he would still maintain the old established religion, without innovation or mixture: so Mald, Menochius, Geierus: that they had a spite against the Jews is clear, ,12.

Daniel 3:1 Nebuchadnezzar 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.Ver. 1. Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold.] Having taken Tyre, which was that great service spoken of in Ezekiel 29:18, subdued Egypt, which was his pay for his pains at Tyre, and overthrown Nineveh, as Nahum had foretold, he was so puffed up with his great success that he set up this monstrous statue of himself, to be adored by all on pain of death. That it was his own image which he here erected for such a purpose, as did also afterwards Gaius Caligula, the Roman emperor, it is gathered, (1.) Because he did not worship it himself; (2.) Because it is distinguished from his gods; (3.) Because this was long since foretold of him, that, Lucifer-like, he should take upon him as a god; which because he did, he was worthily turned agrazing among beasts. Meanwhile, take notice here of the inconstant and mutable disposition of this proud prince as to matter of religion. Velox oblivio est veritatis, saith Jerome; The truth is soon forgotten. Nebuchadnezzar, who so lately had worshipped a servant of God as a god, and not being suffered to do so, declared for the one only true God, and advanced his servants to places of greatest preferment, is now setting up idolatry in despite of God, and cruelly casting into the fire those whom he had so exalted, because they dissented. Daniel, it is likely, withstood this ungodly enterprise so far as be might, and left the rest to God. Whose height was threescore cubits.] The ordinary cubit is a foot and half; but the Babylonian cubit, saith Herodotus, was three fingers greater than the common cubit; so that this image might be sixty-seven ordinary cubits high. The Rhodian Colosse was larger yet than this; for it was fourscore cubits high, made of brass in the form of a man, standing with his two legs striding over a haven, under which ships with their sails and masts might pass. The little finger of it was as large as an ordinary man, being the work of twelve years, made by Chares of Lindum, and worthily reckoned for one of the world’ s seven wonders. It was afterwards sold to a Jew, who loaded nine hundred camels with the brass of it; for it had been thrown down by an earthquake. This image of Nebuchadnezzar was thus great, to affect the people with wonderment - so they "wondered after the beast" - and thus glorious, gilded at least, if not of solid gold, to perstringe their senses, and with exquisite music to draw their affections. The Papacy is in like sort an alluring, tempting, bewitching religion. Jerome compareth heresy to this golden image; Irenaeus worldly felicity, which the devil enticeth men to admire and adore.

(1) An image.—If this image was made after the manner described (Isaiah 44:9-20), the body was formed of wood, and the whole, when properly shaped, was covered with thin plates of gold. As the height of the whole is disproportionate to the width, it is probable that the height of the pedestal on which the image stood is included under the sixty cubits. Plain of Dura.—The older commentators identified this place with various sites, some north, some east of Babylon. Recent discoveries place it nearer to Babylon, in a place still called by a similar name.

CHAPTER III Nebuchadnezzar, having erected an image, whose height (including probably a very high pedestal) was sixty cubits, and the breadth six, ordered a numerous assembly, which he had convened, to fall down and worship it; threatening, at the same time, that whosoever refused should be cast into a fiery furnace, 1-7; a punishment not uncommon in that country, (see Jeremiah 29:22.) Daniel's three companions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who were present, being observed to refrain from this idolatrous worship, were accused before the king; who, in great wrath, commanded them to comply with his orders on pain of death, 8-15. But these holy men, with the greatest composure and serenity, expressed their firm resolution not to worship his gods or his images, whatever might be the consequence, 16-18. Upon which the king, unaccustomed to have his will opposed, in the height of his wrath, ordered the furnace to be made seven times hotter than usual, and these men to be cast into it, bound by the most mighty of his army, who were killed by the flame in the execution of this service, 19-23. On this occasion God literally performed his promise by Isaiah, (Isaiah 43:2:) "When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee;" for an angel of God, appearing in the furnace, protected these young men, and counteracted the natural violence of the fire; which, only consuming the cords with which they were bound, left them to walk at liberty, and in perfect safety, in the midst of the furnace. The king, astonished at this prodigy, called to them to come out of the furnace, and blessed God for sending an angel to deliver his servants; and commanded all his subjects, upon pain of death, not to speak irreverently of the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who were promoted to great power and honour, 24-30. A striking example of the interposition of Providence in favour of true and inflexible piety. NOTES ON CHAP. III Verse 1. Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold] It is supposed that the history given here did not occur till the close, or near the end, of Nebuchadnezzar's reign. For it was after his insanity, as we see Daniel 4:33-36, and this happened near the close of his reign. The authorized version, which is followed in the margin, fixes the date of this event seventeen years earlier, and ten years before the king's insanity. A few observations on this image may be necessary:- 1. It is not likely that this image was in human form - the dimensions show the improbability of this; for what proportion is there between sixty cubits (ninety feet) in length, and six cubits (nine feet) in breadth? 2.

1–7. Nebuchadnezzar’s proclamation regarding the image.

Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold - The time when he did this is not mentioned; nor is it stated in whose honor, or for what design, this colossal image was erected.

1. Kuenen (Onderzoek, ii, N. 487), following Reuss (La Bible, 1879) and others, emphasizes the disproportion between the height and the breadth of this image, and also points out the “great