Daniel 3:22

Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. THE FLAME OF THE FIRE SLEW THOSE MEN THAT TOOK UP SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABED-NEGO - (cf. the similar THE FLAME OF THE FIRE SLEW THOSE MEN THAT TOOK UP SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABED-NEGO - (cf. the similar recoiling of the destruction plotted against Daniel upon his enemies, ; , "His mischief shah return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate")....

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...

THEREFORE, BECAUSE THE KING’S COMMANDMENT WAS URGENT - Margin, as in Chaldee, “word.” The meaning is, that the king would admit of no delay; he urged on the execution of his will, even at the imminent peril of those who were entrusted with the execution of his command. AND THE FURNACE EXCEEDING HOT - Probably so as to send out the flame so far as to render the approach to it dangerous. The urgency of the king would not admit of any arrangements, even if there could have been any, by which the approach to it would be safe. THE FLAME OF THE FIRE SLEW THOSE MEN - Margin, as in Chaldee, “spark.” The meaning is, what the fire threw out - the blaze, the heat. Nothing can be more probable than this. It was necessary to approach to the very mouth of the furnace in order to cast them in, and it is very conceivable that a heated furnace would belch forth such flames, or

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 THEREFORE, BECAUSE THE KING'S COMMANDMENT WAS URGENT,.... Or was ordered to be obeyed in haste, and with expedition and dispatch, hence the men were cast into the furnace with clothes on; or those that cast them were not so careful of themselves: AND THE FURNACE EXCEEDING HOT; being heated seven times more than usual: THE FLAME OF THE FIRE SLEW THOSE MEN THAT TOOK UP SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO; which came out of the furnace, being so excessive hot, and the smoke along with it; so that when those men took up the three children, and brought them so near to it as was necessary to cast them in, the flame and smoke catched their breath, and suffocated them; who might be men that advised the king to such cruel measures, or however were very ready, out of ill will to these good men, to execute them, and therefore righteously perished in their sins: in the Apocrypha it is said, that t...

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 FLAME OF THE FIRE SLEW THOSE MEN THAT TOOK UP SHADRACH, ETC. If the furnace was so intensely heated as the king commanded, with such inflammable materials as would be likely to be used, the flames would rush forth from its open mouth with great fury, making it dangerous to approach near. Yet no one could be thrown in unless the very rim was reached. The king's command was imperious and it was death to disobey; hence, the men charged with the duty rushed up into the surging flame with their victims and hurled them in; before they could escape they were overcome by the heat and flame so that they died. Those who think it improbable that men would obey an order at such peril, know little of the customs of absolute countries. To mention one or two illustrations, in the reign of Peter the Great, of Russia, he had visited with an ambassador the top of. lofty tower. Something was said abou...

COMMANDMENTS WORD. THOSE MEN. those very men....

The three youths delivered from the flames....