Daniel 3:11

_THOU, O KING, HAST MADE A DECREE, THAT EVERY MAN THAT SHALL HEAR THE SOUND OF THE CORNET, FLUTE, HARP, SACKBUT, PSALTERY, AND DULCIMER, AND ALL KINDS OF MUSICK, SHALL FALL DOWN AND WORSHIP THE GOLDEN IMAGE:_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

8-18 True devotion calms the spirit, quiets and softens it, but superstition and devotion to false gods inflame men's passions. The matter is put into a little compass, Turn, or burn. Proud men are still ready to say, as Nebuchadnezzar, Who is the Lord, that I should fear his power? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not hesitate whether they should comply or not. Life or death were not to be considered. Those that would avoid sin, must not parley with temptation when that to which we are allured or affrighted is manifestly evil. Stand not to pause about it, but say, as Christ did, Get thee behind me, Satan. They did not contrive an evasive answer, when a direct answer was expected. Those who make their duty their main care, need not be anxious or fearful concerning the event. The faithful servants of God find him able to control and overrule all the powers armed against them. Lord, if...

THOU, O KING, HAST MADE A DECREE ... - See Daniel 3:4. As the decree included “every man” who heard the sound of the music, it of course embraced the Jews, whatever religious scruples they might have. Whether their scruples, however, were known at the time is not certain; or whether they would have been regarded if known, is no more certain....

EXPOSITION DANIEL 3:1 THE GOLDEN IMAGE, AND THE FIERY FURNACE. DANIEL 3:1 NEBUCHADNEZZAR THE KING MADE AN IMAGE OF GOLD, WHOSE HEIGHT WAS THREE SCORE CUBITS, AND THE BREADTH THEREOF AIR CUBITS: HE SET IT UP IN THE PLAIN OF DURA, IN THE PROVINCE OF BABYLON. The Septuagint Version is full of redundance and interpolation, "In the eighteenth year King Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled cities and countries, and all those dwelling (in them)over the earth from India even to Ethiopia, made a golden image; the height of it was sixty cubits, and the breadth of it six cubits, and set it up in a plain within the boundary of the provinc

AND WHOSO FALLETH NOT DOWN AND WORSHIPPETH,.... The image; the above is the decree, this that follows the sanction of it: THAT HE SHOULD BE CAST INTO THE MIDST OF THE BURNING FIERY FURNACE; Daniel 3:6....

CHAPTER 3 THE IMAGE OF GOLD _ 1. The image of gold (Daniel 3:1)_ 2. The faithful three (Daniel 3:8) 3. The miraculous deliverance (Daniel 3:19) 4. The worshipping king (Daniel 3:26) Daniel 3:1 . He had an immense statue of gold made, the image of a man, no doubt, and he set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. It was idolatry and the deification of man. Idolatry and the deification of man are then the first moral characteristics mentioned which are to prevail during the times of the Gentiles. The times of the

DANIEL 3. THE GOLDEN IMAGE AND THE FIERY FURNACE. Nebuchadnezzar made a colossal image of gold and commanded the people to worship it. The three friends of Daniel refused to comply with the order. The king thereupon had them thrown into a burning fiery furnace heated seven times hotter than usual. But the fire had no power to consume them, and there appeared walking by the side of the three men in the midst of the furnace a fourth whose aspect was like a son of the gods. The message of this chapter to the men of the Maccabean age is obvious. The devotion and fidelity of the three heroes who faced the fiery furnace rather than prove traitors to their God is held up as an example to those whom Antiochus Epiphanes was tempting to betray their Lord, and their marvellous rescue is held up as a Divine deliverance, and an illustration of the fulfilment of the prophecy of Deutero-Isaiah: When th...

The accusation brought against the three Jewish youths, and their answer to the king....

BURNING FIERY FURNACE— Another cruel method of punishment among the Chaldeans; see Jeremiah 29:22. Burning alive is still inflicted, as Shaw tells us, on Jews and Christians, for capital crimes, at Algiers: see also Psalms 21:9. Mr. Bruce, vol. 1: p. 516 has given us the following narrative: "Phineas, an Arabian prince from Medina, having beat St. Aretas, the governor of Najiran, began to persecute the Christians by a new species of cruelty, by ordering certain furnaces or pits full of fire to be prepared, into which he threw as many of the inhabitants of Najiran as refused to renounce Christianity. Mohammed, in his Koran, mentions this tyrant by the name of the Master of the fiery pits, without either condemning or praising the execution; only saying, the sufferers shall witness against him at the last da

b. PERNICIOUS DENOUNCEMENT TEXT: Daniel 3:8-12 8 Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and brought accusation against the Jews. 9 They answered and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king, O king, live for ever. 10 Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image; 11 and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. 12 There are certain Jews whom thou hast appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods; nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. QUERIES a. Who were the Chaldeans