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Section Introduction
This chapter contains the well-known story of the fiery furnace. The main characters are Daniel’s
three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, while Daniel himself does not appear in the account. Again
it brings the message of a pagan king being humbled before the One True God, and having to declare that
only the God of Israel was able to rescue his people. The account is contained in the Aramaic section of the book, so the three friends are referred to by their Babylonian names, which had been given to them while being trained in the Babylonian court (1:7).
No date is given, so we do not know how much time had passed since Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of
the statue (ch 2). It is likely to have been fairly soon afterwards, as the Chaldeans remembered
Nebuchadnezzar appointing Daniel’s friends to rule over the province of Babylon (2:49, 3:12). It seems that the king had quickly returned to his original beliefs, deciding either to ignore or forget his declaration of the power of Daniel’s God (2:47). He probably took the dream of a statue as the inspiration for building the golden statue, particularly after Daniel declared that he was the head of gold (2:38). It was almost certainly a statue of himself, which he then demanded that all the people in his empire worshipped. It is very unlikely that the statue was solid gold. It was common practice to make idols out of metal or wood and cover them with gold plate (eg. Jer 10:4).
The erection and dedication of the statue (3:1-7)
This statue was sixty cubits high (about 90 feet or 30 metres), and six cubits wide (about 9 feet or
3 metres). Babylon used a number system based on six, rather than ten. A measuring rod six cubits long was used to measure the temple in Ezekiel’s vision (Ezek 40:9). Dura was a suburb of Babylon, so the statue was set up just outside the city, in clear sight of its inhabitants. The king then sent for all his officials from all the provinces of his empire to witness the dedication of this statue. A long list of different official titles is given (v2,3). He then commanded that all the peoples, nations and languages are fall down and worship the statue when the music plays (v4). He was attempting to strengthen and unite his large empire containing many different peoples and religions by introducing a common religion centred around himself.
He had a whole musical ensemble of horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp and drum (v5,7,10,15). Several of these instruments are difficult to identify with certainty, and translations vary. The trigon probably a triangular stringed instrument similar to a harp. Both the titles of the officials and the names of the musical instruments are words drawn from different civilisations, including Media, Persia and Greece.
Furnaces were regularly used in Babylon for firing the thousands of clay bricks used to build the city from the time of the Tower of Babel (Gen 11:3), and for all the building projects that Nebuchadnezzar made during his reign. There were many furnaces around the city in the Plain of Dura. The region of Mesopotamia has no hard rock which can be used for building, so all buildings were made with clay bricks. The Babylonians also made blue-glazed bricks, which require a hotter temperature of 1300 degrees Centigrade, compared with the 1000 degrees for normal clay bricks. Babylonian furnaces were made out of bricks, were cone-shaped with an open top, out of which the flames and smoke would pour. They had an opening in the side, through which the bricks and fuel would be brought. Bricks were stacked around the inner walls and a fire lit in the centre, using chaff and oil as the fuel, which generates extremely high temperatures, particularly as air is drawn through the side opening. Although furnaces were not usually used for executions, Nebuchadnezzar is known to have condemned people to death by burning (Jer 29:22).
Three friends reported for not worshipping the statue (3:8-12)
Some of the Babylonian wise men, or Chaldeans, now came to the king, and repeating his words
demanding that all his subjects fall down and worship the statue when the music plays (v4-6, 10-11). No
committed Jew would ever bow down and worship a statue or idol, so Daniel and his three friends had
refrained from joining in. Whether the king was aware of this is unknown. It is very likely that these
Chaldeans resented the three Jews being appointed as rulers over the province of Babylon. The three friends had been promoted above them after Daniel’s success at interpreting the king’s dream (2:49). Even though Daniel had saved the wise men from being executed, they showed no gratitude. They probably saw the
setting up of the statue as a great opportunity for malicious revenge, and to gain favour with the king in order to regain their original positions in the court. The Chaldeans report to the king that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are not obeying the command of the king to worship the statue. They are not serving the gods of Babylon and defying the king’s command by not worshipping the statue (v12).
Brought before the king (3:13-15)
Once the king had been made publicly aware of the failure of the Jews to obey him by worshipping
the statue, he was forced to take action. In a rage, he demanded that the Jews were brought before him. When the three were brought before the king, he gave them a final opportunity to obey, and threatened them with the fiery furnace if they persisted in their disobedience. He defies any god to rescue them from his hands (v15). By saying this, Nebuchadnezzar has set himself up as the ultimate all-powerful king and god, who no one can possibly oppose, whether human or divine. His well-known pride knows no limit. However, in the next chapter, his pride will be humbled.
The confident answer (3:16-18)
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego then answer the king, acknowledging their guilt before him. They
have no defence, as they have not been worshipping the statue. With great bravery, they declare that they will not obey the king’s command, whether or not their God will rescue them from the fiery furnace. They are trusting their lives on whether God will act to save them.
The king’s rage (3:19-23)
With a distorted face, the king was so angry that he commanded the three to be thrown into the
furnace, which was heated even hotter than usual. In their full court dress, the three were tied up and thrown to the flames. The fire was so hot that the king’s servants were killed as they threw the three into the flames from the top of the furnace. It would risking almost certain death to go anywhere near the top of the furnace when it was burning.
The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews
The Apocrypha contains a document of additions to the Book of Daniel with this title, which is inserted into the text of Daniel at this point. Azariah was the original Jewish name for Abednego (1:7). This document describes the three walking around in the midst of the flames, singing and praising the Lord (v1-2). Azariah stands in the flames and prays aloud, praising God, repenting of the sins of Israel which led to the exile (v3-22). In a heart-felt prayer of repentance, he cries out for God’s mercy, pleading that God will deliver them. Meanwhile the king’s servants continued to stoke the fire so the flames poured out, burning any Chaldeans nearby (v23-25). Then the angel of the Lord came and drove the flames out of the furnace, so the inside of the furnace became like a moist wind blowing through, so the fire did not touch them at all (v26-27). The three then praised the Lord together in a long hymn of praise, calling on all creation to bless the Lord, and all people on earth to praise and exalt him forever because by his mercy he has rescued the three from the flames (v28-68).
Walking in the flames unhurt (3:24-27)
Looking through the opening in the side of the furnace, the king was astonished to see the three
walking in the flames unhurt. They had been joined by a fourth person, who the king declared looked like
a god (v25). There was a god who could deliver the three from the flames, even though the king had earlier declared that no god could rescue them from his hands (v15). This fourth person was either the angel of the Lord, or a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus. Nebuchadnezzar himself then calls the three to come out of the furnace, addressing them as servants of the Most High God (v26), and the king and his officials were all amazed to see that they were unhurt, and the fire had not affected their bodies or their clothes. Just the cords that bound them had gone.
The king’s decree (3:28-30)
After seeing them unharmed by the flames, Nebuchadnezzar is again forced to recognise that the God
of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had delivered them from the fiery furnace. His declaration (v29)
essentially makes it legal for the Jews to worship the One True God, and not the gods of the Babylonians,
giving the Jews and their religion legal protection in the Babylonian Empire. The king then promoted, or
prospered, the three friends (v30), thus dashing the hopes of the Chaldeans who had plotted against them.
Once again, Nebuchadnezzar, as a pagan ruler of a great empire, has to declare that it is only the God of the Jews who has the power to rescue his people, and that their God is greater than all other gods.
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