Daniel 3:26

Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. YE SERVANTS OF THE MOST HIGH GOD - he acknowledges Yahweh to be supreme above other gods (not that he ceased to believe in these); so he returns to his original confession, "your God is a God of gods" (), from which he had swerved in the interim, perhaps intoxicated by his success in taking Jerusalem, whose God he therefore thought unable to defend it....

HERE a sudden change is described in the mood of this cruel and proud king. We have already seen how confidently he extracted worship from the servants of God, and when he saw them disobedient to his command, how mightily he raged against them. Now Daniel shews in how short a time this pride was subdued and this cruelty appeased; but we must remark that the king was not so changed as entirely to put his disposition and manners. For when he was touched with this present miracle, he gave God the glory, but only for a moment; and still he did not return to wisdom. We cannot take too diligent notice of examples of this kind, as many estimate the characters of others from a single action. But the worst despisers of God can submit to him for a short time, not merely by feigning to do so before men, but in real seriousness, since God compels them by his power, but meanwhile they retain their pr...

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...

THEN NEBUCHADNEZZAR CAME NEAR TO THE MOUTH ... - Margin, “door.” The Chaldee word means door, gate, entrance. The “form” of the furnace is unknown. There was a place, however, through which the fuel was cast into it, and this is doubtless intended by the word “door” or “mouth” here used. YE SERVANTS OF THE MOST HIGH GOD - They had professed to be his servants; he now saw that they were acknowledged as such. The phrase “most high God” implies that he regarded him as supreme over all other gods, though it is probable that he still retained his belief in the existence of inferior divinities. It was much, however, to secure the acknowledgment of the monarch of the capital of the pagan world, that the God whom they adored was supreme. The phrase “most high God” is not often employed in the Scriptures, but in every instance it is used as an appellation of the true God....

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 NEBUCHADNEZZAR CAME NEAR TO THE MOUTH OF THE BURNING FIERY FURNACE,.... He came so nigh before, as to see at a distance four persons walking in it; now he comes nearer, as near as he could with safety: AND SPAKE AND SAID, SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO, YE SERVANTS OF THE MOST HIGH GOD; he not only spake to them in a different tone than he did before; not in wrath and fury, but mildly and gently, with great respect unto them, and reverence of them; and not only calls them by the names he and his courtiers had given them, but styles them the servants of the most high God; he owns their God was a God above his: the Chaldeans worshipped fire, but the God of the Jews had power over that, and could restrain the force of it at pleasure; and he acknowledges that these men were faithful worshippers of him; who had in this wonderful manner appeared for them, and thereby approved their fait...

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...

YE SERVANTS OF THE MOST HIGH GOD, COME FORTH. The marvelous sight had wrought. complete change in the king. Coming near he called the three by name and bade them come forth. They had declared they would obey Jehovah alone. He now pronounces them the servants of the most high God. He does not declare that he is the only God, but such. deliverer must be above all other gods. He saw it was vain to fight against one so mighty and hence called to them to come forth....

MOUTH. door....