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Chapter 3: After this King Nabuchodonosor had a great golden
statue made about 90 feet high and 9 feet wide. It must have been
covered with gold leaf - there was not enough gold in the country
at that time to make it of solid gold. The god was probably Nabu.
We have no knowledge of any Mesopotoamian king being worshipped as
divine during his lifetime. He summoned his satraps and other
officials for the dedication --seems to have been a well organized
bureaucracy. Five of the titles seem to be of Iranian origin. The
division into satrapies had not yet been made. But later editors
might update language, especially when later Jews might not have
known some of the older words, and it is possible here that the
Median language may have contributed some words as early as 600
B.C.

The chief aim of the king may have been to get a recognition of
his own power. The fact that after chapter 2 the king seemed to
have worshipped the god of Daniel may have been the superficiality
of the king's thought, or the fact that in a polytheistic country
many gods were worshipped.

If any did not comply they were to be executed in the superheated
furnace nearby --a sort of smelter, with bellows to add heat.

All were to worship at the sound of a sort of orchestra of six
kinds of instruments. All did so except Daniel's three associates.
He was absent, perhaps ill, perhaps it was felt that he had no
need to prove his loyalty after interpreting the great dream.

Some high ranking Chaldeans saw that the three did not bow. The
word used here was <gubrin kasda'in,> a term that could mean
astrologers (as in chapter 2), but here seems to have stood merely
for high-ranking men. In a show of zeal for the king, they
denounced the three Jews.

They were brought before him - the king would not easily
understand why they would withhold so simple a sign of loyalty to
the king. Seeming surprised, he asked them if they really had
disobeyed.

The three bravely replied: We do not need to defend ourselves in
this matter. Our God is able to deliver us. But even if He does
not, we will not serve your gods.--Magnificent adherence to God!
If the story were mere fiction, the writer surely would have had
Daniel in the group.

The king's face showed fury. He ordered the men to be bound
tightly with all their clothing, and to be thrown into the furnace
which was superheated- by the use of the bellows


But the three walked about in the flames, singing praise to God.
Their long and beautiful hymn is not found in the Hebrew. It is a
deuterocanonical addition by an inspired author, as we know from
the decree of the Council of Trent.

The king on seeing them unharmed jumped to his feet and shouted:
Did we not throw three into the furnace? But I see four men
walking around in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of the
gods.

The king and his counselors came as close as they could to the
door of the furnace. He praised the true God and decreed that if
anyone spoke against Him, he should be torn limb from limb and his
home destroyed. He promoted the three to high positions in the
province of Babylon.