Daniel 3:19

Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. THE FORM OF HIS VISAGE WAS CHANGED. He had shown forbearance (Daniel 3:14) as a favour to them; but, now that they despise even his forbearance, anger 'fills' him, and is betrayed in his whole countenance. THEREFORE HE ... COMMANDED THAT THEY SHOULD HEAT THE FURNACE ONE SEVEN TIMES MORE THAN IT WAS WONT - literally, 'than it was (ever) seen to be heated.' Seven is the perfect number - i:e., it was made as hot as possible. Passion overdoes and defeats its own end, because the hotter the fire the sooner were they likely to be put out of pain....

Here, at; first sight, God seems to desert his servants, since he does not openly succor them. The king orders them to be thrown into a furnace of fire: no help from heaven appears for them. This was a living and remarkably efficacious proof of their faithfulness. But they were prepared, as we have seen, to endure everything. These bold answers were not prompted simply by their trust in God’s immediate help, but by a determination to die; since a better life occupied their thoughts, they willingly sacrificed the present life. Hence they were not frightened at this terrible order of the king’s, but followed on their course, fearlessly submitting to death for the worship of God. No third way was opened for them, when a choice was granted either to submit to death, or apostatize from the true God. By this example we are taught to meditate on our immortal life in times of ease, so that if Go...

19-27 Let Nebuchadnezzar heat his furnace as hot as he can, a few minutes will finish the torment of those cast into it; but hell-fire tortures, and yet does not kill. Those who worshipped the beast and his image, have no rest, no pause, no moment free from pain, Revelation 14:10; Revelation 14:11. Now was fulfilled in the letter that great promise, Isaiah 43:2, When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned. Leaving it to that God who preserved them in the fire, to bring them out, they walked up and down in the midst, supported and encouraged by the presence of the Son of God. Those who suffer for Christ, have his presence in their sufferings, even in the fiery furnace, and in the valley of the shadow...

Verse 19. _THEN WAS NEBUCHADNEZZAR FULL OF FURY_] How strange is this, after having had so many proofs of the supremacy of Jehovah! He had seen how God poured contempt upon his authority in the case of the _three_ Hebrews, and yet he will try his strength once more! How infatuated is man! _SEVEN TIMES MORE_] As hot as it could be made. _Seven_ expresses the great intensity of the heat....

THEN WAS NEBUCHADNEZZAR FULL OF FURY - Margin, “filled.” He was exceedingly enraged. He evidently was not prepared for a stand so firm and determined on their part, and he did not appreciate their motives, nor was he disposed to yield to them the privilege and right of following their honest convictions. He was deeply excited with anger when the complaint was made that they would not worship his gods Daniel 3:13, but he had hoped that possibly they had not understood his command, and that what they had done had not been by deliberate purpose (the notes at Daniel 3:14); and he had therefore given them an opportunity to reconsider the subject, and, by complying with his will, to save themselves from the threatened punishment. He now saw, however, that what they had done was done delibe

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

THEN WAS NEBUCHADNEZZAR FULL OF FURY,.... Nettled at the answer given him; perceiving his threats made no impression on these three men, and that they were resolutely determined at all events not to obey his will: AND THE FORM OF HIS VISAGE WAS CHANGED AGAINST SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO; not only to what it was in times past, when they were his favourites, and he smiled upon them; but with respect to what it was while they were under examination, and he was trying to bring them to his will; when finding it impracticable, fury rose up, and showed itself in the furrows and frowns of his forehead; in the sharpness of his nose; in his sparkling eyes, foaming mouth, and gnashing teeth, and that general redness his face was covered with: THEREFORE HE SPAKE, AND COMMANDED THAT THEY SHOULD HEAT THE FURNACE ONE SEVEN TIMES MORE THAN IT WAS WONT TO BE HEATED; this seems to be a furnace for...

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...

THEN NEBUCHADNEZZAR WAS FILLED WITH FURY. Such. point blank refusal to obey his arbitrary edict was something that he had not before encountered since he had been. king. The greatest monarch of his age, the greatest conqueror then known to history, was held to be worthy of almost divine honors, and was accustomed to the most slavish obedience. His will was the law of his empire. Now, when these three men, captives whom he had spared, and whom his favor had exalted to places of trust, stubbornly defied him, his fury knew no bounds. Always imperious and passionate, he was completely carried away now by his transport of rage. THE FORM OF HIS VISAGE CHANGED. As the face usually does when men become excited by anger. Before, his face was calm, and it might be that it expressed some tenderness, but it now became flushed and dark with passion, and his eyes sparkled with rage. HE COMMANDED TH...