Daniel 3:25

He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. LO, I SEE FOUR MEN - "four," whereas but three had been cast in. LOOSE - whereas they had been cast in "bound." Nebuchadnezzar's question in is as if he can scarcely trust his own memory as to a fact so recent, now that he sees, through an aperture in the furnace, what seems to contradict it. WALKING IN THE MIDST OF THE FIRE - image of the godly unhurt and at large (). "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me" (: cf....

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 25. _IS LIKE THE SON OF GOD._] A most improper translation. What notion could this idolatrous king have of the _Lord Jesus_ _Christ_? for so the place is understood by thousands. בר אלהין _bar_ _elahin_ signifies _a son of the gods_, that is, a Divine person or _angel_; and so the king calls him in Daniel 3:28: "God hath sent his ANGEL, and delivered his servants." And though even from this some still contend that it was the _Angel of the covenant_, yet the Babylonish king knew just as much of the one as he did of the other. No other ministration was necessary; a single angel from heaven was quite sufficient to answer this purpose, as that which stopped the mouths of the lions when Daniel was cast into their den....

HE ANSWERED AND SAID, LO, I SEE FOUR MEN LOOSE - From the fact that he saw these men now loose, and that this filled him with so much surprise, it may be presumed that they had been bound with something that was not combustible - with some sort of fetters or chains. In that case it would be a matter of surprise that they should be “loose,” even though they could survive the action of the fire. The “fourth” personage now so mysteriously added to their number, it is evident, assumed the appearance of a “man,” and not the appearance of a celestial being, though it was the aspect of a man so noble and majestic that he deserved to be called a son of God. WALKING IN THE MIDST OF THE FIRE - The furnace, therefore, was large, so that those who were in it could walk about. The vision must have been sublime; and it is a beautiful image of the children of God often walking unhurt amidst dangers, sa...

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

HE ANSWERED AND SAID, LO, I SEE FOUR MEN LOOSE,.... Not bound as the three were, when cast in; but quite at liberty in their hands and feet, and separate from one another. As this fiery furnace may be an emblem of the fiery trials and afflictive dispensations the children of God pass through in this world, being not joyous, but grievous to the flesh, though useful to purge and purify; so this and some other circumstances attending these good men in the furnace are applicable to the saints in such cases; for though afflictions are sometimes themselves called cords, with which men are said to be bound, yet by means of them they are loosed from other things from the power and prevalence of sin over them; from the world, and the things of it, they sometimes too much cleave and are glued unto; from a spirit of bondage, and from doubts and fears; their hearts under them being comforted and enl...

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...

LO,. SEE FOUR MEN LOOSE, WALKING IN THE MIDST OF THE FIRE. No wonder the king was astonished. It was wonderful that the men were not consumed at once, but freed from their fetters, they walked unhurt in the flame, and there was. fourth one there, of. beauty and stature that was more than mortal, so surpassing that the king at once declared: HE HATH. FORM LIKE. SON OF THE GODS. Such is the original. Nebuchadnezzar had no knowledge whatever of the Son, but he thought the fourth was superhuman, and must be of divine origin. Hence he declared him to look like. son of. god. In verse 28 he declares that Jehovah sent his angel. This indicates his idea. It was. messenger,. divine one, that was sent. Nor are we justified in concluding more. The Accepted Version would lead us astray....

THE SON OF GOD. a son of God (no Art.): i.e.. superhuman being, or an angel. Compare Daniel 3:28, and see App-23. Nebuchadnezzar could know nothing of N.T. revelation....