King Nebuchadnezzar makes an image
3
📚Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image 📖 of gold. Its height was sixty cubits, and its width six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. 2 📚Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent men to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 3 📚Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, and counsellors, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered together for the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up, and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.The king’s command to worship it
4 📚Then a herald proclaimed loudly, “This is the command given to you, O people of all nations and languages: 5 📚When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. 6 📚Whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown that same hour into the middle of a blazing fiery furnace”.
3:2-6 The king had started on the road to a knowledge of the true God (Dan 2:47). This matter of the image shows he had not come very far. At this time the true God to him was merely one of the gods and he was not about to abandon the ones he had always served (v 14). This is often the way with men – many are willing to add another god to their list, if it does not mean leaving the gods they have. But God will have no part in this. See note at 1 Kings 18:21.⚜
7 📚Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, and all kinds of music, all the people of all the nations and languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
3:7 Fallen man will do almost anything to save his skin. Only a few, comparatively, will not (see note at Job 2:4-5). This will be demonstrated to the full at the end of this age when the antichrist rules the world (Rev 13:15-17).⚜
Shadrach and companions refuse to obey
8 📚Therefore at that time some Chaldeans 📖 came near, and accused the Jews. 9 📚They spoke up and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! 10 📚You, O king, made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, must fall down and worship the golden image, 11 and whoever does not fall down and worship must be thrown into the middle of a blazing fiery furnace. 12 📚There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have paid no attention to you. They do not serve your gods, or worship the golden image which you have set up”.
13 📚Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage 📖 and fury gave a command to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. 14 📚Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods, or worship the golden image which I have set up? 15 📚Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image which I have made, good. But if you do not worship, in that same hour you will be thrown into the middle of a blazing fiery furnace. And what God will deliver you out of my hands?”
16 📚Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need 📖 to answer you in this matter. 17 📚If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the blazing fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hands, O king. 18 📚But if not 📖, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, or worship the golden image which you have set up”.
3:16-18 Like Daniel in Dan 1:8 they courageously resolved to risk their lives rather than displease God by disobedience to His Word. They well knew what God thought of the worship of anyone or anything other than Himself. See Ex 20:2-6. They were also aware no doubt, that one of the chief reasons for the exile of the Jews to Babylon was idolatry (Lev 26:14-39; Deut 27:14-26; Jer 1:16; 9:13-14).⚜
The king’s fury
19 📚Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression on his face changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore he spoke and commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times more than it was usually heated.
20 📚And he commanded some of the strongest men in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to throw them into the blazing fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other clothing, and were thrown into the middle of the blazing fiery furnace. 22 📚Therefore, because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flames from the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 📚And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the middle of the blazing fiery furnace.
Saved from the fiery furnace
24 📚Then Nebuchadnezzar the king became astonished, and rose up hurriedly, and spoke, saying to his counsellors, “Did we not throw three bound men into the middle of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king”.
25 📚He answered and said, “Look, I see four men loose, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like a Son of God 📖”.
26 📚Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the mouth of the blazing fiery furnace, and spoke and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God 📖, come out 📖, and come here”. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came out of the middle of the fire. 27 📚And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power. Not a hair of their head was singed, nor were their clothes affected, nor was the smell of fire on them.
The result
28 📚Then Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel, and rescued his servants who trusted in him, and frustrated the king’s command and gave up their bodies rather than serve or worship any god, except their own God. 29 📚Therefore I make a decree that the people of any nation or language who speak anything improper against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, will be cut in pieces, and their houses will be made a pile of rubbish. Because there is no other God who can rescue 📖 in this way”.
30 📚Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.