Daniel 3

1 an image of gold. From the descriptions which are given of the fabrication of idols in Isa. xl. 18-20; xli. 6, 7; xliv. 10-13; xlvi. 6, 7, it appears that golden idols were made of plates of gold covering a mass of wood or stone; and many ancient monuments are found which have evidently been thus plated with metal.

whose height was threescore cubits, etc. About 90 feet high and 9 feet broad. It was an image dedicated to Bel, the chief deity of Babylon. The whole narrative has received confirmation from the excavations carried on by Mr. C. L. Woolley at Ur in 1922-1924, “Nebuchadnezzar,” says Mr. Woolley, “introduced a new plan of building to accommodate a new form of worship.” “There can be no doubt,” says Sir E. Wallis Budge, “that Nebuchadrezzar provided a statue of Bel-Mardak, and had it set up in the open court of the temple where all worshippers could see it” (Babylonian Life and History, 1925, pp. 230, 231).

2 the princes, etc. Some of these titles are of Persian, and some of Aramaic origin; but the exact meaning of each cannot now be ascertained. They are thus translated in the R.V.: “satraps,” or viceroys of subject-kingdoms; “deputies,” the lieutenants of the satraps; “governors” of provinces; “judges” (or “chief soothsayers”); “treasurers”; “counsellors,” or judges; “sheriffs,” or “lawyers”; “and all the rulers of the provinces.”

4. O people (peoples), nations, and languages. The Babylonian empire was now at the height of its greatness. It contained “within its vast area representatives from the east and west, north and south; the Greek and the Mede, the Phoenician and the Assyrian, the ‘captive of Judah,’ and the Arab of the South.”

5 the cornet, flute, etc. The “cornet” was a straight horn; the “sackbut” a kind of small harp; the “psaltery” a lyre; the “dulcimer,” perhaps, bagpipes.

6 the same hour. Lit., “in the glance of an eye”; i.e., immediately.

12. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Why these three were selected by the accusers we are not told, and it is useless to inquire. Daniel’s character assures us that he would not comply with the king’s command; but he may have been absent, or the accusers may have feared to lay a charge against him.

16 we are not careful. Rather, “we do not need.” It is needless to enter into the matter: we are determined at all risks to worship none but God, who is able to deliver us.

19 the form of his visage was changed. Showing the most violent anger.

one seven times more. The word “seven” is often employed to denote completeness. The furnace was to be heated to the greatest intensity.

20 the most mighty men. That is, in bodily strength.

21 in their coats, etc. Moffatt translates: “in their mantles, their trousers, their turbans and their other clothes.” This is substantially the Assyrian and Babylonian dress shown on the monuments (see also Herodotus, i. 190).

C

22 the flame of the fire slew those men, etc. Hurried by the king’s peremptory command, the men could not consult their own safety; and therefore, when they “carried up” the three Hebrews to the opening at the top of the furnace, they were burnt. The apocryphal “Song of the Three Children” is inserted here in some editions of the Bible.

25 like the Son of God. Lit., “like to a son of the gods”: see R.V. Nebuchadrezzar calls this personage “an angel” (28): and Luther, Calvin, and Coverdale, in common with the majority of commentators, take this to be the meaning: op. Job i. 6; Psa. lxxxix. 6, and notes. The heathen monarch probably thought only of a majestic superhuman being.

26 the mouth. Rather, “the door”; for the use of those who attended to the furnace.

28 changed. “Frustrated.”