mh_parser/vol_split/27 - Daniel/Chapter 3.xml

<div2 id="Dan.iv" n="iv" next="Dan.v" prev="Dan.iii" progress="68.57%" title="Chapter III">
<h2 id="Dan.iv-p0.1">D A N I E L.</h2>
<h3 id="Dan.iv-p0.2">CHAP. III.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Dan.iv-p1" shownumber="no">In the close of the foregoing chapter we left
Daniel's companions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in honour and
power, princes of the provinces, and preferred for their relation
to the God of Israel and the interest they had in him. I know not
whether I should say. It were well if this honour had all the
saints. No, there are many whom it would not be good for; the
saints' honour is reserved for another world. But here we have
those same three men as much under the king's displeasure as when
they were in his favour, and yet more truly, more highly, honoured
by their God than there they were honoured by their prince, both by
the grace wherewith he enabled them rather to suffer than to sin
and by the miraculous and glorious deliverance which he wrought for
them out of their sufferings. It is a very memorable story, a
glorious instance of the power and goodness of God, and a great
encouragement to the constancy of his people in trying times. The
apostle refers to it when he mentions, among the believing heroes,
those who by faith "quenched the violence of fire," <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.34" parsed="|Heb|11|34|0|0" passage="Heb 11:34">Heb. xi. 34</scripRef>. We have here, I.
Nebuchadnezzar's erecting and dedicating a golden image, and his
requiring all his subjects, of what rank or degree soever, to fall
down and worship it, and the general compliance of his people with
that command, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.1-Dan.3.7" parsed="|Dan|3|1|3|7" passage="Da 3:1-7">ver. 1-7</scripRef>. II.
Information given against the Jewish princes for refusing to
worship this golden image, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.8-Dan.3.12" parsed="|Dan|3|8|3|12" passage="Da 3:8-12">ver.
8-12</scripRef>. III. Their constant persisting in that refusal,
notwithstanding his rage and menaces, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.13-Dan.3.18" parsed="|Dan|3|13|3|18" passage="Da 3:13-18">ver. 13-18</scripRef>. IV. The casting of them into
the fiery furnace for their refusal, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.19-Dan.3.23" parsed="|Dan|3|19|3|23" passage="Da 3:19-23">ver. 19-23</scripRef>. V. Their miraculous
preservation in the fire by the power of God, and their invitation
out of the fire by the favour of the king, who was by this miracle
convinced of his error in casting them in, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.24-Dan.3.27" parsed="|Dan|3|24|3|27" passage="Da 3:24-27">ver. 24-27</scripRef>. VI. The honour which the king
gave to God hereupon, and the favour he showed to those faithful
worthies, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.28-Dan.3.30" parsed="|Dan|3|28|3|30" passage="Da 3:28-30">ver. 28-30</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Dan.iv-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3" parsed="|Dan|3|0|0|0" passage="Da 3" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Dan.iv-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.1-Dan.3.7" parsed="|Dan|3|1|3|7" passage="Da 3:1-7" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Dan.iv-p1.10">
<h4 id="Dan.iv-p1.11">Nebuchadnezzar's Golden
Image. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Dan.iv-p1.12">b. c.</span> 587.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Dan.iv-p2" shownumber="no">1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold,
whose height <i>was</i> threescore cubits, <i>and</i> the breadth
thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the
province of Babylon.   2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to
gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the
judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the
rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image
which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.   3 Then the
princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers,
the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces,
were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that
Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image
that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.   4 Then a herald cried aloud,
To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,   5
<i>That</i> at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute,
harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall
down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath
set up:   6 And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall
the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
  7 Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the
sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds
of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down
<i>and</i> worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king
had set up.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p3" shownumber="no">We have no certainty concerning the date of
this story, only that if this image, which Nebuchadnezzar
dedicated, had any relation to that which he dreamed of, it is
probable that it happened not long after that; some reckon it to be
about the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar, a year before
Jehoiachin's captivity, in which Ezekiel was carried away.
Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p4" shownumber="no">I. A <i>golden image set up</i> to be
worshipped. Babylon was full of idols already, yet nothing will
serve this imperious prince but they must have one more; for those
who have forsaken the one only living God, and begin to set up many
gods, will find the gods they set up so unsatisfying, and their
desire after them so insatiable, that they will multiply them
without measure, wander after them endlessly, and never know when
they have sufficient. Idolaters are fond of novelty and variety.
<i>They choose new gods.</i> Those that have many will wish to have
more. Nebuchadnezzar the king, that he might exert the prerogative
of his crown, to make what god he thought fit, <i>set up</i> this
image, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.1" parsed="|Dan|3|1|0|0" passage="Da 3:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Observe,
1. The <i>valuableness</i> of it; it was <i>an image of gold,</i>
not all gold surely; rich as he was, it is probable that he could
not afford that, but overlaid with gold. Note, The worshippers of
false gods are not wont to mind charges in setting up images and
worshipping them; they <i>lavish gold out of the bag</i> for that
purpose (<scripRef id="Dan.iv-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.6" parsed="|Isa|46|6|0|0" passage="Isa 46:6">Isa. xlvi. 6</scripRef>),
which shames our niggardliness in the worship of the true God. 2.
The vastness of it; it was <i>threescore cubits high and six cubits
broad.</i> It exceeded the ordinary stature of a man fifteen times
(for that is reckoned but four cubits, or six feet), as if its
being monstrous would make amends for its being lifeless. But why
did Nebuchadnezzar set up this image? Some suggest that it was to
clear himself from the imputation of having turned a Jew, because
he had lately spoken with great honour of the God of Israel and had
preferred some of his worshippers. Or perhaps he set it up as an
image of himself, and designed to be himself worshipped in it.
Proud princes affected to have divine honours paid them; Alexander
did so, pretending himself to be the son of Jupiter Olympius. He
was told that in the image he had seen in his dream he was
represented by the <i>head of gold,</i> which was to be succeeded
by kingdoms of baser metal; but here he sets up to be himself the
whole image, for he makes it all of gold. See here, (1.) How the
good impressions that were then made upon him were quite lost, and
quickly. He then acknowledged that the God of Israel is of a truth
a <i>God of gods</i> and a <i>Lord of kings;</i> and yet now, in
defiance of the express law of that God, he sets up an image to be
worshipped, not only continues in his former idolatries, but
contrives new ones. Note, Strong convictions often come short of a
sound conversion. Many a pang have owned the absurdity and
dangerousness of sin, and yet have gone on in it. (2.) How that
very dream and the interpretation of it, which then made such good
impressions upon him, now had a quite contrary effect. Then it made
him fall down as a humble worshipper of God; now it made him set up
for a bold competitor with God. Then he thought it a great thing to
be the golden head of the image, and owned himself obliged to God
for it; but, his mind rising with his condition, now he thinks that
too little, and, in contradiction to God himself and his oracle, he
will be <i>all in all.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p5" shownumber="no">II. A general convention of the states
summoned to attend the solemnity of the dedication of this image,
<scripRef id="Dan.iv-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.2-Dan.3.3" parsed="|Dan|3|2|3|3" passage="Da 3:2,3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>. Messengers
are despatched to all parts of the kingdom to <i>gather together
the princes,</i> dukes, and lords, all the peers of the realm, with
all officers civil and military, <i>the captains</i> and commanders
of the forces, <i>the judges, the treasurers or general receivers,
the counsellors,</i> and <i>the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the
provinces;</i> they must all <i>come to the dedication of this
image</i> upon pain and peril of what shall fall thereon. He
summons the great men, for the great honour of his idol; it is
therefore mentioned to the glory of Christ that <i>kings shall
bring presents unto him.</i> If he can bring them to pay homage to
his golden image, he doubts not but the inferior people will follow
of course. In obedience to the king's summons all the magistrates
and officers of that vast kingdom leave the services of their
particular countries, and come to Babylon, to the dedication of
this golden image; long journeys many of them took, and expensive
ones, upon a very foolish errand; but, as the idols are senseless
things, such are the worshippers.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p6" shownumber="no">III. A proclamation made, commanding all
manner of persons present before the image, upon the signal given,
to fall down prostrate, and worship the image, under the style and
title of <i>The golden image which Nebuchadnezzar the king has set
up.</i> A herald proclaims this aloud throughout this vast assembly
of grandees, with their numerous train of servants and attendants,
and a great crowd of people, no doubt, that were not sent for; let
them all take notice, 1. That the king does strictly charge and
command all manner of persons to fall down and <i>worship the
golden image;</i> whatever other gods they worship at other times,
now they must worship this. 2. That they must all do this just at
the same time, in token of their communion with each other in this
idolatrous service, and that, in order hereunto, notice shall be
given by a concert of music, which would likewise serve to adorn
the solemnity and to sweeten and soften the minds of those that
were loth to yield and bring them to comply with the king's
command. This mirth and gaiety in the worship would be very
agreeable to carnal sensual minds, that are strangers to that
spiritual worship which is due to God who is a spirit.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p7" shownumber="no">IV. The general compliance of the assembly
with this command, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.7" parsed="|Dan|3|7|0|0" passage="Da 3:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>. They heard the sound of the musical instruments, both
wind-instruments and hand-instruments, <i>the cornet and flute,</i>
with the <i>harp, sackbut, psaltery,</i> and <i>dulcimer,</i> the
melody of which they thought was ravishing (and fit enough it was
to excite such a devotion as they were then to pay), and
immediately they all, as one man, as soldiers that are wont to be
exercised by beat of drum, <i>all the people, nations, and
languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image.</i> And no
marvel when it was proclaimed, That whosoever would not <i>worship
this golden image</i> should be immediately thrown <i>into the
midst of a burning fiery furnace,</i> ready prepared for that
purpose, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.6" parsed="|Dan|3|6|0|0" passage="Da 3:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Here
were the charms of music to allure them into a compliance and the
terrors of the fiery furnace to frighten them into a compliance.
Thus beset with temptation, they all yielded. Note, That way that
sense directs the most will go; there is nothing so bad which the
careless world will not be drawn to by a concert of music, or
driven to by a fiery furnace. And by such methods as these false
worship has been set up and maintained.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Dan.iv-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.8-Dan.3.18" parsed="|Dan|3|8|3|18" passage="Da 3:8-18" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Dan.iv-p7.4">
<h4 id="Dan.iv-p7.5">The Hebrew Princes Accused; Fortitude of the
Jewish Princes. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Dan.iv-p7.6">b. c.</span> 587.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Dan.iv-p8" shownumber="no">8 Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came
near, and accused the Jews.   9 They spake and said to the
king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live for ever.   10 Thou, O king,
hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the
cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds
of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image:   11
And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, <i>that</i> he should
be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.   12 There
are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the
province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O
king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship
the golden image which thou hast set up.   13 Then
Nebuchadnezzar in <i>his</i> rage and fury commanded to bring
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before
the king.   14 Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, <i>Is
it</i> true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my
gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?   15
Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the
cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds
of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made;
<i>well:</i> but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour
into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who <i>is</i> that
God that shall deliver you out of my hands?   16 Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O
Nebuchadnezzar, we <i>are</i> not careful to answer thee in this
matter.   17 If it be <i>so,</i> our God whom we serve is able
to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver
<i>us</i> out of thine hand, O king.   18 But if not, be it
known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor
worship the golden image which thou hast set up.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p9" shownumber="no">It was strange that Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, would be present at this assembly, when, it is likely,
they knew for what intent it was called together. Daniel, we may
suppose, was absent, either his business calling him away or having
leave from the king to withdraw, unless we suppose that he stood so
high in the king's favour that none durst complain of him for his
noncompliance. But why did not his companions keep out of the way?
Surely because they would obey the king's orders as far as they
could, and would be ready to bear a public testimony against this
gross idolatry. They did not think it enough not to bow down to the
image, but, being in office, thought themselves obliged to stand up
against it, though it was the image which the king their master set
up, and would be a golden image to those that worshipped it.
Now,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p10" shownumber="no">I. Information is brought to the king by
<i>certain Chaldeans</i> against these three gentlemen that they
did not obey the king's edict, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.8" parsed="|Dan|3|8|0|0" passage="Da 3:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>. Perhaps these Chaldeans that accused them were some
of those <i>magicians or astrologers</i> that were particularly
called <i>Chaldeans</i> (<scripRef id="Dan.iv-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.2" parsed="|Dan|2|2|0|0" passage="Da 2:2"><i>ch.</i> ii.
2, 4</scripRef>) who bore a grudge to Daniel's companions for his
sake, because he had eclipsed them, and so had these companions.
They by their prayers had obtained the mercy which saved the lives
of these Chaldeans, and, behold, how they requite them evil for
good! for their love they are their adversaries. Thus Jeremiah
<i>stood before God, to speak good for those</i> who afterwards
<i>dug a pit for his life,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.18.20" parsed="|Jer|18|20|0|0" passage="Jer 18:20">Jer.
xviii. 20</scripRef>. We must not think it strange if we meet with
such ungrateful men. Or perhaps they were such of the Chaldeans as
expected the places to which they were advanced, and envied them
their preferments; <i>and who can stand before envy ?</i> They
appeal to the king himself concerning the edict, with all due
respect to his majesty, and the usual compliment, <i>O king! live
forever</i> (as if they aimed at nothing but his honour, and to
serve his interest, when really they were putting him upon that
which would endanger the ruin of him and his kingdom); they beg
leave, 1. To put him in mind of the law he had lately made, That
all manner of persons, without exception of nation or language,
should <i>fall down and worship this golden image;</i> they put him
in mind also of the penalty which by the law was to be inflicted
upon recusants, that they were to be <i>cast into the midst of the
burning fiery furnace,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.10-Dan.3.11" parsed="|Dan|3|10|3|11" passage="Da 3:10,11"><i>v.</i>
10, 11</scripRef>. It cannot be denied but that this was the law;
whether a righteous law or no ought to be considered. 2. To inform
him that these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, had not
conformed to this edict, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p10.5" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.12" parsed="|Dan|3|12|0|0" passage="Da 3:12"><i>v.</i>
12</scripRef>. It is probable that Nebuchadnezzar had no particular
design to ensnare them in making the law, for then he would himself
have had his eye upon them, and would not have needed this
information; but their enemies, that sought an occasion against
them, laid hold on this, and were forward to accuse them. To
aggravate the matter, and incense the king the more against them,
(1.) They put him in mind of the dignity to which the criminals had
been preferred. Though they were Jews, foreigners, captives, men of
a despised nation and religion, yet the king had <i>set them over
the affairs of the province of Babylon.</i> It was therefore very
ungrateful, and an insufferable piece of insolence, for them to
disobey the king's command, when they had shared so much of the
king's favour. And, besides, the high station they were in would
make their refusal the more scandalous; it would be a bad example,
and have a bad influence upon others; and therefore it was
necessary that it should be severely animadverted upon. Thus
princes that are incensed enough against innocent people commonly
have but too many about them who do all they can to make them
worse. (2.) They suggest that it was done maliciously,
contumaciously, and in contempt of him and his authority: "They
have <i>set no regard upon thee;</i> for they <i>serve not the
gods</i> which thou servest, and which thou requirest them to
serve, nor <i>worship the golden image which thou hast set
up.</i>"</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p11" shownumber="no">II. These three pious Jews are immediately
brought before the king, and arraigned and examined upon this
information. Nebuchadnezzar fell into a great passion, and <i>in
his rage and fury commanded</i> them to be seized, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.13" parsed="|Dan|3|13|0|0" passage="Da 3:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. How little was it the
honour of this mighty prince that he had rule over so many nations
when at the same time he had no <i>rule over his own spirit,</i>
that there were so many who were subjects and captives to him when
he was himself a perfect slave to his own brutish passions and led
captive by them! How unfit was he to rule reasonable men who could
not himself be ruled by reason! It needed not be a surprise to him
to hear that these three men did not now serve his gods, for he
knew very well they never had served them, and that their religion,
which they had always adhered to, forbade them to do it. Nor had he
any reason to think that they designed any contempt of his
authority, for they had in all instances shown themselves
respectful and dutiful to him as their prince. But it was
especially unseasonable at this time, when he was in the midst of
his devotions, dedicating his golden image, to be in such a rage
and fury, and so much to discompose himself. The <i>discretion of a
man,</i> one would think, should at least have <i>deferred this
anger.</i> True devotion calms the spirit, quiets and meekens it;
but superstition, and a devotion to false gods, inflame men's
passions, inspire them with rage, and fury, and turn them into
brutes. <i>The wrath of a king is as the roaring of a lion;</i> so
was the wrath of this king; and yet, when he was in such a heat,
these three men were <i>brought before him,</i> and appeared with
an undaunted courage, and unshaken constancy.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p12" shownumber="no">III. The case is laid before them in short,
and it is put to them whether they will comply or no. 1. The king
asked them whether it was true that they had not worshipped the
golden image when others did, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.14" parsed="|Dan|3|14|0|0" passage="Da 3:14"><i>v.</i>
14</scripRef>. "<i>Is it of purpose?</i>" so some read it. "Was it
designedly and deliberately done, or was it only through
inadvertency, that you have not <i>served my gods?</i> What! you
that I have nourished and brought up, that have been educated and
maintained at my charge, that I have been so kind to and done so
much for, you that have been in such reputation for wisdom, and
therefore should better have known your duty to your prince; what!
do not you <i>serve my gods nor worship the golden image which I
have set up?</i>" Note, The faithfulness of God's servants to him
has often been the wonder of their enemies and persecutors, who
<i>think it strange</i> that they <i>run not with them to the same
excess of riot.</i> 2. He was willing to admit them to a new trial;
if they did on purpose not do it before, yet, it may be, upon
second thoughts, they will change their minds; it is therefore
repeated to them upon what terms they now stand, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.15" parsed="|Dan|3|15|0|0" passage="Da 3:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. (1.) The king is willing that
music shall play again, only for their sakes, to soften them into a
compliance; and if they will not, like the deaf adder, stop their
ears, but will hearken to the voice of the charmers and will
<i>worship the golden image,</i> well and good; their former
omission shall be pardoned. But, (2.) The king is resolved, if they
persist in their refusal, that they shall immediately be <i>cast
into the fiery furnace,</i> and shall not have so much as an hour's
reprieve. Thus does the matter lie in a little compass—<i>Turn, or
burn;</i> and, because he knew they buoyed themselves up in their
refusal with a confidence in their God, he insolently set him a
defiance: "<i>And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my
hands?</i> Let him, if he can." Now he forgot what he himself once
owned, that their God was a <i>God of gods</i> and a <i>Lord of
kings,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.47" parsed="|Dan|2|47|0|0" passage="Da 2:47"><i>ch.</i> ii.
47</scripRef>. Proud men are still ready to say, as Pharaoh, <i>Who
is the Lord that I should obey his voice?</i> or, as
Nebuchadnezzar, Who is the Lord, that I should <i>fear his
power?</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p13" shownumber="no">IV. They give in their answer, which they
all agree in, that they still adhere to their resolution not to
worship the golden image, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.16-Dan.3.18" parsed="|Dan|3|16|3|18" passage="Da 3:16-18"><i>v.</i>
16-18</scripRef>. We have here such an instance of fortitude and
magnanimity as is scarcely to be paralleled. We call these the
<i>three children</i> (and they were indeed <i>young men</i>), but
we should rather call them the three champions, the <i>first
three</i> of the <i>worthies</i> of God's <i>kingdom among men.</i>
They did not break out into any intemperate heat or passion against
those that did worship the golden image, did not insult or affront
them; nor did they rashly thrust themselves upon the trial, or go
out of their way to court martyrdom; but, when they were duly
called to the fiery trial, they acquitted themselves bravely, with
a conduct and courage that became sufferers for so good a cause.
The king was not so daringly bad in making this idol, but they were
as daringly good in witnessing against it. They keep their temper
admirably well, do not call the king a tyrant or an idolater (the
cause of God needs not the wrath of man), but, with an exemplary
calmness and sedateness of mind, they deliberately give in their
answer, which they resolve to abide by. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p14" shownumber="no">1. Their gracious and generous contempt of
death, and the noble negligence with which they look upon the
dilemma that they are put to: <i>O Nebuchadnezzar! we are not
careful to answer thee in this matter.</i> They do not in
sullenness deny him an answer, nor stand mute; but they tell him
that they are in no care about it. <i>There needs not an answer</i>
(so some read it); they are resolved not to comply, and the king is
resolved they shall die if they do not; the matter therefore is
determined, and why should it be disputed? But it is better read,
"<i>We want not an answer for thee,</i> nor have it to seek, but
come prepared." (1.) They needed no time to deliberate concerning
the matter of their answer; for they did not in the least hesitate
whether they should comply or no. It was a matter of life and
death, and one would think they might have considered awhile before
they had resolved; life is desirable, and death is dreadful. But
when the sin and duty that were in the case were immediately
determined by the letter of the second commandment, and no room was
left to question what was right, the life and death that were in
the case were not to be considered. Note, Those that would avoid
sin must not parley with temptation. When that which we are allured
or affrighted to is manifestly evil the motion is rather to be
rejected with indignation and abhorrence than reasoned with; stand
not to pause about it, but say, as Christ has taught us, <i>Get
thee behind me, Satan.</i> (2.) They needed no time to contrive how
they should <i>word</i> it. While they were advocates for God, and
were called out to witness in his cause, they doubted not but it
should be <i>given them in that same hour what they should
speak,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.10.19" parsed="|Matt|10|19|0|0" passage="Mt 10:19">Matt. x. 19</scripRef>.
They were not contriving an evasive answer, when a direct answer
was expected from them; no, nor would they seem to court the king
not to insist upon it. Here is nothing in their answer that looks
like compliment; they begin not, as their accusers did, with, <i>O
king! live for ever,</i> no artful insinuation, <i>ad captandam
benevolentiam—to put him into a good humour,</i> but every thing
that is plain and downright: O Nebuchadnezzar! <i>we are not
careful to answer thee.</i> Note, Those that make their duty their
main care need not be careful concerning the event.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p15" shownumber="no">2. Their believing confidence in God and
their dependence upon him, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.17" parsed="|Dan|3|17|0|0" passage="Da 3:17"><i>v.</i>
17</scripRef>. It was this that enabled them to look with so much
contempt upon death, death in pomp, death in all its terrors: they
trusted in the living God, and by that faith chose rather to suffer
than to sin; they therefore <i>feared not the wrath of the
king,</i> but endured, because by faith they had an eye to <i>him
that is invisible</i> (<scripRef id="Dan.iv-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.25 Bible:Heb.11.27" parsed="|Heb|11|25|0|0;|Heb|11|27|0|0" passage="Heb 11:25,27">Heb. xi.
25, 27</scripRef>): "<i>If it be so,</i> if we are brought to this
strait, if we must be thrown into the fiery furnace unless we serve
thy gods, know then," (1.) "That though we worship not <i>thy
gods</i> yet we are not atheists; there is a God whom we can call
ours, to whom we faithfully adhere." (2.) "That we serve this God;
we have devoted ourselves to his honour; we employ ourselves in his
work, and depend upon him to protect us, provide for us, and reward
us." (3.) "That we are well assured that this God is <i>able to
deliver us from the burning fiery furnace;</i> whether he will or
no, we are sure that he can either prevent our being cast into the
furnace or rescue us out of it." Note, The faithful servants of God
will find him a Master able to bear them out in his service, and to
control and overrule all the powers that are armed against them.
<i>Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst.</i> (4.) "That we have reason to
hope <i>he will deliver us,</i>" partly because, in such a vast
appearance of idolaters, it would be very much for the honour of
his great name to deliver them, and partly because Nebuchadnezzar
had defied him to do it—<i>Who is that God that shall deliver
you?</i> God sometimes appears wonderfully for the silencing of the
blasphemies of the enemy, as well as for the answering of the
prayers of his people, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.74.18-Ps.74.22 Bible:Deut.32.27" parsed="|Ps|74|18|74|22;|Deut|32|27|0|0" passage="Ps 74:18-22,De 32:27">Ps.
lxxiv. 18-22; Deut. xxxii. 27</scripRef>. "But, if he do not
deliver us from the fiery furnace, he will <i>deliver us out of thy
hand.</i>" Nebuchadnezzar can but torment and kill the body, and
after that, there is no more that he can do; then they are got out
of his reach, delivered out of his hand. Note, Good thoughts of
God, and a full assurance that he is with us while we are with him,
will help very much to carry us through sufferings; and, if he be
for us, we need not fear what man can do unto us; let him do his
worst. God will deliver us either from death or in death.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p16" shownumber="no">3. Their firm resolution to adhere to their
principles, whatever might be the consequence (<scripRef id="Dan.iv-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.18" parsed="|Dan|3|18|0|0" passage="Da 3:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>): "<i>But, if not,</i> though God
should not think fit to deliver us from the fiery furnace (which
yet we know he can do), if he should suffer us to <i>fall into thy
hand,</i> and fall by thy hand, yet <i>be it known unto thee, O
king! we will not serve</i> these gods, though they are <i>thy
gods, nor worship this golden image,</i> though thou thyself hast
<i>set it up.</i>" They are neither ashamed nor afraid to own their
religion, and tell the king to his face that they do not fear him,
they will not yield to him; had they consulted with flesh and
blood, much might have been said to bring them to a compliance,
especially when there was no other way of avoiding death, <i>so
great a death.</i> (1.) They were not required to abjure their own
God, or to renounce his worship, no, nor by any verbal profession
or declaration to own this golden image to be a god, but only to
bow down before it, which they might do with a secret reserve of
their hearts for the God of Israel, inwardly detesting this
idolatry, as Naaman bowed in the house of Rimmon. (2.) They were
not to fall into a course of idolatry; it was but one single act
that was required of them, which would be done in a minute, and the
danger was over, and they might afterwards declare their sorrow for
it. (3.) The king that commanded it had an absolute power; they
were under it, not only as subjects, but as captives; and, if they
did it, it was purely by coercion and duress, which would serve to
excuse them. (4.) He had been their benefactor, had educated and
preferred them, and in gratitude to him they ought to go as far as
they could, though it were to strain a point, a point of
conscience. (5.) They were now driven into a strange country, and
to those that were so driven out it was, in effect, said, <i>Go,
and serve other gods,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.26.19" parsed="|1Sam|26|19|0|0" passage="1Sa 26:19">1 Sam.
xxvi. 19</scripRef>. It was taken for granted that in their
disposition they would <i>serve other gods,</i> and it was made a
part of the judgment, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.28" parsed="|Deut|4|28|0|0" passage="De 4:28">Deut. iv.
28</scripRef>. They might be excused if they should go down the
stream, when it is so strong. (6.) Did not their kings, and their
princes, and their fathers, yea, and their priests too, set up
idols even in God's temple, and worship them there, and not only
bow down to them, but erect altars, burn incense, and offer
sacrifices, even their own children, to them? Did not all the ten
tribes, for many ages, worship gods of gold at Dan and Bethel? And
shall they be more precise than their fathers? <i>Communis error
facit jus</i>—<i>What all do must be right.</i> (7.) If they
should comply, they would save their lives and keep their places,
and so be in a capacity to do a great deal of service to their
brethren in Babylon, and to do it long; for they were young men,
and rising men. But there is enough in that one word of God
wherewith to answer and silence these and many more such like
carnal reasonings: <i>Thou shalt not bow down thyself to any
images, nor worship them.</i> They know they must obey God rather
than man; they must rather suffer than sin, and must not do evil
that good may come. And therefore none of these things move them;
they are resolved rather to die in their integrity than live in
their iniquity. While their brethren, who yet remained in their own
land, were worshipping images by choice, they in Babylon would not
be brought to it by constraint, but, as if they were good by
<i>antiperistasis,</i> were most zealous against idolatry in an
idolatrous country. And truly, all things considered, the saving of
them from this sinful compliance was as great a miracle in the
kingdom of grace as the saving of them out of the fiery furnace was
in the kingdom of nature. These were those who formerly resolved
not to defile themselves with the <i>king's meat,</i> and now they
as bravely resolve not to defile themselves with his gods. Note, A
stedfast self-denying adherence to God and duty in less instances
will qualify and prepare us for the like in greater. And in this we
must be resolute, never, under any pretence whatsoever, to worship
images, or to say "A confederacy" with those that do so.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Dan.iv-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.19-Dan.3.27" parsed="|Dan|3|19|3|27" passage="Da 3:19-27" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Dan.iv-p16.5">
<h4 id="Dan.iv-p16.6">The Three Hebrews in the Furnace;
Deliverance from the Furnace. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Dan.iv-p16.7">b. c.</span> 587.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Dan.iv-p17" shownumber="no">19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the
form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego: <i>therefore</i> he spake, and commanded that they should
heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be
heated.   20 And he commanded the most mighty men that
<i>were</i> in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
<i>and</i> to cast <i>them</i> into the burning fiery furnace.
  21 Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen,
and their hats, and their <i>other</i> garments, and were cast into
the midst of the burning fiery furnace.   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.   23 And these three men, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the
burning fiery furnace.   24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was
astonied, and rose up in haste, <i>and</i> spake, and said unto his
counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the
fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.   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.   26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came
near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, <i>and</i> spake,
and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most
high God, come forth, and come <i>hither.</i> Then Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.  
27 And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's
counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose
bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed,
neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed
on them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p18" shownumber="no">In these verses we have,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p19" shownumber="no">I. The casting of these three faithful
servants of God into the fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar had himself
known and owned so much of the true God that, one would have
thought, though his pride and vanity induced him to make this
golden image, and set it up to be worshipped, yet what these young
men now said (whom he had formerly found to be wiser than all his
wise men) would revive his convictions, and at least engage him to
excuse them; but it proved quite otherwise. 1. Instead of being
convinced by what they said, he was exasperated, and made more
outrageous, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.19" parsed="|Dan|3|19|0|0" passage="Da 3:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. It
made him <i>full of fury,</i> and the <i>form of his visage was
changed</i> against these men. Note, Brutish passions the more they
are indulged the more violent they grow, and even change the
countenance, to the great reproach of the wisdom and reason of a
man. Nebuchadnezzar, in this heat, exchanged the awful majesty of a
prince upon his throne, or a judge upon the bench, for the
frightful fury of a <i>wild bull in a net.</i> Would men in a
passion but view their faces in a glass, they would blush at their
own folly and turn all their displeasure against themselves. 2.
Instead of mitigating their punishment, in consideration of their
quality and the posts of honour they were in, he ordered it to be
heightened, that they should <i>heat the furnace seven times more
than it was wont to be heated</i> for other malefactors, that is,
that they should put seven times more fuel to it, which, though it
would not make their death more grievous, but rather dispatch them
sooner, was designed to signify that the king looked upon their
crime as seven times more heinous than the crimes of others, and so
made their death more ignominious. But God brought glory to himself
out of this foolish instance of the tyrant's rage; for, though it
would not have made their death the more grievous, yet it did make
their deliverance much the more illustrious. 3. He ordered them to
be bound in their clothes, and cast into the midst of the burning
fiery furnace, which was done accordingly, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.20-Dan.3.21" parsed="|Dan|3|20|3|21" passage="Da 3:20,21"><i>v.</i> 20, 21</scripRef>. They were bound, that
they might not struggle, or make any resistance, were bound in
their clothes, for haste, or that they might be consumed the more
slowly and gradually. But God's providence ordered it for the
increase of the miracle, in that their clothes were not so much as
singed. They were bound in their <i>coats</i> or mantles, their
<i>hosen</i> or breeches, and their <i>hats</i> or turbans, as if,
in detestation of their crime, they would have their clothes to be
burnt with them. What a terrible death was this—to be <i>cast
bound into the midst of a burning fiery furnace!</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.23" parsed="|Dan|3|23|0|0" passage="Da 3:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. It makes one's flesh
tremble to think of it, and horror to take hold on one. It is
amazing that the tyrant was so hard-hearted as to inflict such a
punishment, and that the confessors were so stout-hearted as to
submit to it rather than sin against God. But what is this to the
<i>second death,</i> to that furnace into which the tares shall be
cast in bundles, to that lake which burns eternally with fire and
brimstone? Let Nebuchadnezzar heat his furnace as hot as he can, a
few minutes will finish the torment of those who are cast into it;
but hell-fire tortures and does not kill. The pain of damned
sinners is more exquisite, and the <i>smoke of their torment
ascends for ever and ever,</i> and <i>those have no rest,</i> no
intermission, no cessation of their pains, <i>who have worshipped
the beast and his image</i> (<scripRef id="Dan.iv-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Rev.14.10-Rev.14.11" parsed="|Rev|14|10|14|11" passage="Re 14:10,11">Rev.
xiv. 10, 11</scripRef>), whereas their pain would be soon over that
were cast into this furnace for not worshipping this Babylonian
beast and his image. 4. It was a remarkable providence that the
men, the <i>mighty men,</i> that bound them, and threw them into
the furnace, were themselves consumed or suffocated by the flame,
<scripRef id="Dan.iv-p19.5" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.22" parsed="|Dan|3|22|0|0" passage="Da 3:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. The <i>king's
commandment was urgent,</i> that they should dispatch them quickly,
and be sure to do it effectually; and therefore they resolved to go
to the very mouth of the furnace, that they might throw them
<i>into the midst</i> of it, but they were in such haste that they
would not take time to arm themselves accordingly. The apocryphal
additions to Daniel say that the flame ascended forty-nine cubits
above the mouth of the furnace. Probably God ordered it so that the
wind blew it directly upon them with such violence that it
smothered them. God did thus immediately plead the cause of his
injured servants, and take vengeance for them on their persecutors,
whom he punished, not only in the very act of their sin, but by it.
But these men were only the instruments of cruelty; he that bade
them do it had the greater sin; yet they suffered justly for
executing an unjust decree, and it is very probable that they did
it with pleasure and were glad to be so employed. Nebuchadnezzar
himself was reserved for a further reckoning. There is a day coming
when proud tyrants will be punished, not only for the cruelties
they have been guilty of, but for employing those about them in
their cruelties, and so exposing them to the judgments of God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p20" shownumber="no">II. The deliverance of these three faithful
servants of God out of the furnace. When they were cast bound into
the midst of that devouring fire we might well conclude that we
should hear no more of them, that their very bones would be
calcined; but, to our amazement, we here find that Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, are yet alive.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p21" shownumber="no">1. Nebuchadnezzar finds them walking in the
fire. <i>He was astonished, and rose up in haste,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.24" parsed="|Dan|3|24|0|0" passage="Da 3:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. Perhaps the slaying of
the men that executed his sentence was that which astonished him,
as well it might, for he had reason to think his own turn would be
next; or it was some unaccountable impression upon his own mind
that astonished him, and made him rise up in haste, and go to the
furnace, to see what had become of those he had cast into it. Note,
God can strike those with astonishment whose hearts are most
hardened both against him and against his people. He that made the
soul can make his sword to approach to it, even to that of the
greatest tyrant. In his astonishment he calls his counsellors about
him, and appeals to them. <i>Did we not cast three men bound into
the fire?</i> It seems, it was done by order, not only of the king,
but of the council. They durst not but concur with him, which he
forced them to do, that they might share with him in the guilt and
odium? "<i>True, O king!</i>" say they; "we did order such an
execution to be done and it was done." "But now," says the king, "I
have been looking into the furnace, and I <i>see four men, loose,
walking in the midst of the fire,</i>" <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.25" parsed="|Dan|3|25|0|0" passage="Da 3:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. (1.) They were loosed from their
bonds. The fire that did not so much as singe their clothes burnt
the cords wherewith they were bound, and set them at liberty; thus
God's people have their hearts enlarged, through the grace of God,
by those very troubles with which their enemies designed to
straiten and hamper them. (2.) They had no hurt, made no complaint,
felt no pain or uneasiness in the least; the flame did not scorch
them; the smoke did not stifle them; they were alive and as well as
ever in the midst of the flames. See how God of nature can, when he
pleases, control the powers of nature, to make them serve his
purposes. Now was fulfilled in the letter gracious promise
(<scripRef id="Dan.iv-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.2" parsed="|Isa|43|2|0|0" passage="Isa 43:2">Isa. xliii. 2</scripRef>), <i>When
thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt, neither
shall the flame kindle upon thee.</i> By faith they <i>quench the
violence of the fire, quench the fiery darts of the wicked.</i>
(3.) They <i>walked in the midst of the fire.</i> The furnace was
large, so that they had room to walk; they were unhurt, so that
they were able to walk; their minds were easy, so that they were
disposed to walk, as in a paradise or garden of pleasure. <i>Can a
man walk upon hot coals and his feet not be burnt?</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p21.4" osisRef="Bible:Prov.6.28" parsed="|Prov|6|28|0|0" passage="Pr 6:28">Prov. vi. 28</scripRef>. Yes, they did it with as
much pleasure as the king of Tyrus <i>walked up and down in the
midst of his stones of fire,</i> his precious stones that sparkled
as fire, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p21.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.28.14" parsed="|Ezek|28|14|0|0" passage="Eze 28:14">Ezek. xxviii. 14</scripRef>.
They were not striving to get out, finding themselves unhurt; but,
leaving it to that God who preserved them in the fire to bring them
out of it, they walked up and down <i>in the midst of it</i>
unconcerned. One of the apocryphal writings relates at large the
prayer which Azariah, one of the three, prayed in the fire (wherein
he laments the calamities and iniquities of Israel, and entreats
God's favour to his people), and the song of praise which they all
three sang in the midst of the flames, in both which there are
remarkable strains of devotion; but we have reason to think, with
Grotius, that they were composed by some Jew of a later age, not as
what were used, but only as what might have been used, on this
occasion, and therefore we justly reject them as no part of holy
writ. (4.) There was a fourth seen with them in the fire, whose
form, in Nebuchadnezzar's judgment, was <i>like the Son of God;</i>
he appeared as a divine person, a messenger from heaven, not as a
servant, but as a son. <i>Like an angel</i> (so some); and angels
are called <i>sons of God,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p21.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.7" parsed="|Job|38|7|0|0" passage="Job 38:7">Job
xxxviii. 7</scripRef>. In the apocryphal narrative of this story it
is said, <i>The angel of the Lord came down into the furnace;</i>
and Nebuchadnezzar here says (<scripRef id="Dan.iv-p21.7" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.28" parsed="|Dan|3|28|0|0" passage="Da 3:28"><i>v.</i>
28</scripRef>), God <i>sent his angel and delivered them;</i> and
it was an angel that shut the lions' mouths when Daniel was in the
den, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p21.8" osisRef="Bible:Dan.6.22" parsed="|Dan|6|22|0|0" passage="Da 6:22"><i>ch.</i> vi. 22</scripRef>. But
some think it was the eternal Son of God, the angel of the
covenant, and not a created angel. He appeared often in our nature
before he assumed it in his incarnation, and never more seasonable,
nor to give a more proper indication and presage of his great
errand into the world in the fulness of time, than now, when, to
deliver his chosen out of the fire, he came and walked with them in
the fire. Note, Those that suffer for Christ have his gracious
presence with them in their sufferings, even in the fiery furnace,
even in the valley of the shadow of death, and therefore even there
they need <i>fear no evil.</i> Hereby Christ showed that what is
done against his people he takes as done against himself; whoever
throws them into the furnace does, in effect, throw him in. <i>I am
Jesus, whom thou persecutest,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p21.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.9" parsed="|Isa|63|9|0|0" passage="Isa 63:9">Isa.
lxiii. 9</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p22" shownumber="no">2. Nebuchadnezzar calls them out of the
furnace (<scripRef id="Dan.iv-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.26" parsed="|Dan|3|26|0|0" passage="Da 3:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>): He
<i>comes near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace,</i> and
bids them <i>come forth and come hither. Come forth, come</i> (so
some read it); he speaks with a great deal of tenderness and
concern, and stands ready to lend them his hand and help them out.
He is convinced by their miraculous preservation that he did evil
in casting them into the furnace; and therefore he does not
<i>thrust them out privily; no verily, but he will come himself and
fetch them out,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.16.37" parsed="|Acts|16|37|0|0" passage="Ac 16:37">Acts xvi.
37</scripRef>. Observe the respectful title that he gives them.
When he was in the heat of his fury and rage against them it is
probable that he called them rebels, and traitors, and all the ill
names he could invent; but now he owns them <i>for the servants of
the most high God,</i> a God who now appears <i>able to deliver
them out of his hand.</i> Note, Sooner or later, God will convince
the proudest of men that he is the most high God, and above them,
and too hard for them, even in those things wherein they deal
proudly and presumptuously, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.11" parsed="|Exod|18|11|0|0" passage="Ex 18:11">Exod.
xviii. 11</scripRef>. He will likewise let them know are who his
servants, and that he owns them and will stand by them. Elijah
prayed (<scripRef id="Dan.iv-p22.4" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.18.36" parsed="|1Kgs|18|36|0|0" passage="1Ki 18:36">1 Kings xviii.
36</scripRef>), <i>Let it be known that thou art God and that I am
thy servant.</i> Nebuchadnezzar now embraces those whom he had
abandoned, and is very officious about them, now that he perceives
them to be the favourites of Heaven. Note, What persecutors have
done against God's servants, when God opens their eyes, they must
as far as they can undo again. How the <i>fourth,</i> whose <i>form
was like the Son of God,</i> withdrew, and whether he vanished away
or visibly ascended, we are not told, but of the other three we are
informed, (1.) That they <i>came forth out of the midst of the
fire,</i> as Abraham their father out of Ur (that is, <i>the fire)
of the Chaldees,</i> into which, says this tradition of the Jews,
he was cast, for refusing to worship idols, and out of which he was
delivered, as those his <i>three children</i> were. When they had
their discharge they did not tempt God by staying in any longer,
but came forth as brands out of the burning. (2.) That it was made
to appear, to the full satisfaction of all the amazed spectators,
that they had not received the least damage by the fire, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p22.5" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.27" parsed="|Dan|3|27|0|0" passage="Da 3:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. All the great men came
together to view them, and found that there was not so much as <i>a
hair of their head singed.</i> Here that was true in the letter
which our Saviour spoke figuratively, for an assurance to his
suffering servants that they should sustain no real damage
(<scripRef id="Dan.iv-p22.6" osisRef="Bible:Luke.21.18" parsed="|Luke|21|18|0|0" passage="Lu 21:18">Luke xxi. 18</scripRef>), <i>There
shall not a hair of your head perish.</i> Their clothes did not so
much as change colour, nor smell of fire, much less were their
bodies in the least scorched or blistered; no, <i>the fire had no
power on them.</i> The Chaldeans worshipped the fire, as a sort of
image of the sun, so that, in restraining the fire now, God put
contempt, not only upon their king, but upon their god too, and
showed that <i>his voice divides the flames of fire</i> as well as
the floods of water (<scripRef id="Dan.iv-p22.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.29.7" parsed="|Ps|29|7|0|0" passage="Ps 29:7">Ps. xxix.
7</scripRef>), when he pleases to make a way for his people through
the midst of it. It is our God only that is <i>the consuming
fire</i> (<scripRef id="Dan.iv-p22.8" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.29" parsed="|Heb|12|29|0|0" passage="Heb 12:29">Heb. xii. 29</scripRef>);
other fire, if he but speak the word, shall not consume.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Dan.iv-p22.9" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.28-Dan.3.30" parsed="|Dan|3|28|3|30" passage="Da 3:28-30" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Dan.iv-p22.10">
<h4 id="Dan.iv-p22.11">Nebuchadnezzar Gives Glory to God;
Nebuchadnezzar Honours God. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Dan.iv-p22.12">b. c.</span> 587.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Dan.iv-p23" shownumber="no">28 <i>Then</i> Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said,
Blessed <i>be</i> the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who
hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in
him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies,
that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own
God.   29 Therefore I make a decree, That every people,
nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God
of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and
their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other
God that can deliver after this sort.   30 Then the king
promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of
Babylon.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p24" shownumber="no">The strict observations that were made,
<i>super visum corporis—on inspecting their bodies,</i> by the
princes and governors, and all the great men who were present upon
this public occasion, and who could not be supposed partial in
favour of the confessors, contributed much to the clearing of this
miracle and the magnifying of the power and grace of God in it.
<i>That indeed a notable miracle has been done is manifest, and we
cannot deny it,</i> <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.4.16" parsed="|Acts|4|16|0|0" passage="Ac 4:16">Acts iv.
16</scripRef>. Let us now see what effect it had upon
Nebuchadnezzar.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p25" shownumber="no">I. He gives glory to the God of Israel as a
God able and ready to protect his worshippers (<scripRef id="Dan.iv-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.28" parsed="|Dan|3|28|0|0" passage="Da 3:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>): "<i>Blessed be the God of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.</i> Let him have the honour both
of the faithful allegiance which his subjects bear to him and the
powerful protection he grants to them, neither of which can be
paralleled by any other nation and their gods." The king does
himself acknowledge and adore him, and thinks it is fit that he
should be acknowledged and adored by all. <i>Blessed be thee God of
Shadrach.</i> Note, God can extort confessions of his blessedness
even from those that have been ready to curse him to his face. 1.
He gives him the glory of his power, that he was able to protect
his worshippers against the most mighty and malign ant enemies:
<i>There is no other God that can deliver after this sort</i>
(<scripRef id="Dan.iv-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.29" parsed="|Dan|3|29|0|0" passage="Da 3:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>), no, not this
golden image which he had set up. For this reason there was no
other god that obliged his worshippers to cleave to him only, and
to suffer death rather than worship any other, as the God of Israel
did, for they could not engage to bear them out in so doing, as he
could. If God can work such deliverance as no other can, he may
demand such obedience as no other may. 2. He gives him the glory of
his goodness, that he was ready to do it (<scripRef id="Dan.iv-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.28" parsed="|Dan|3|28|0|0" passage="Da 3:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>): <i>He has sent his angel and
delivered his servants.</i> Bel could not save his worshippers from
being burnt at the mouth of the furnace, but the God of Israel
saved his from being burnt when they were cast into the midst of
the furnace because they refused to <i>worship any other god.</i>
By this Nebuchadnezzar was plainly given to understand that all the
great success which he had had, and should yet have, against the
people of Israel, which he gloried in, as he had therein
overpowered the God of Israel, was owing purely <i>to their
sin:</i> if the body of that nation had faithfully adhered to their
own God and the worship of him only, as these three men did, they
would all have been delivered out of his hand as these three men
were. And this was a necessary instruction for him at this
time.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p26" shownumber="no">II. He applauds the constancy of these
three men in their religion, and describes it to their honour,
<scripRef id="Dan.iv-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.28" parsed="|Dan|3|28|0|0" passage="Da 3:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. Though he is
not himself persuaded to own their God for his and to worship him,
because, if he do so, he knows he must worship him only and
renounce all others, and he calls him <i>the God of Shadrach,</i>
not <i>my</i> God, yet he commends them for cleaving to him, and
<i>not serving nor worshipping any other God but their own.</i>
Note, There are many who are not religious themselves, and yet will
own that those are clearly in the right that are religious and are
stedfast in their religion. Though they are not themselves
persuaded to close with it, they will commend those who, having
closed with it, cleave to it. If men have given up their names to
that God who will alone be served, let them keep to their
principles, and serve him only, whatever it cost them. Such a
constancy in the true religion will turn to men's praise, even
among those that are without, when unsteadiness, treachery, and
double dealing, are what all men will cry shame on. He commends
them that they did this, 1. With a generous contempt of their
lives, which they valued not, in comparison with the favour of God
and the testimony of a good conscience. They <i>yielded their</i>
own <i>bodies</i> to be cast into the fiery furnace rather than
they would not only not forsake their God, but not affront him, by
once paying that homage to any other which is due to him alone.
Note, Those shall have their praise, if not of men, yet of God, who
prefer their souls before their bodies, and will rather lose their
lives than forsake their God. Those know not the worth and value of
religion who do not think it worth suffering for. 2. They did it
with a glorious contradiction to their prince: They <i>changed the
king's word,</i> that is, they were contrary to it, and thereby put
contempt upon both his precepts and threatenings, and made him
repent and revoke both. Note, Even kings themselves must own that,
when their commands are contrary to the commands of God, he is to
be obeyed and not they. (3.) They did it with a gracious confidence
in their God. They <i>trusted in him</i> that he would stand by
them in what they did, that he would either bring them out of the
fiery furnace back to their place on earth or lead them through the
fiery furnace forward to their place in heaven; and in this
confidence they became fearless of the king's wrath and regardless
of their own lives. Note, A stedfast faith in God will produce a
stedfast faithfulness to God. Now this honourable testimony, thus
publicly borne by the king himself to these servants of God, we may
well think, would have a good influence upon the rest of the Jews
that were, or should be, captives in Babylon. Their neighbours
could not with any confidence urge them to do that, nor could they
for shame do that, which their brethren were so highly applauded by
the king himself for not doing. Nay, and what God did for these his
servants would help not only to keep the Jews close to their
religion while they were in captivity, but to cure them of their
inclination to idolatry, for which end they were sent into
captivity; and, when it had had that blessed effect upon them, they
might be assured that God would deliver them out of that furnace,
as now he delivered their brethren out of this.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p27" shownumber="no">III. He issues a royal edict, strictly
forbidding any to speak evil of the God of Israel, <scripRef id="Dan.iv-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.29" parsed="|Dan|3|29|0|0" passage="Da 3:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. We have reason to think
that both the sins and the troubles of Israel had given great
occasion, though no just occasion, to the Chaldeans to blaspheme
the God of Israel, and, it is likely, Nebuchadnezzar himself had
encouraged it; but now, though he is no true convert, nor is
wrought upon to worship him, yet he resolves never to speak ill of
him again, nor to suffer others to do so: "<i>Whoever shall speak
any thing amiss,</i> any <i>error</i> (so some), or rather any
reproach or blasphemy, whoever shall speak with contempt of <i>the
God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,</i> they shall be counted
the worst of malefactors, and dealt with accordingly, they shall be
<i>cut in pieces,</i> as Agag was by the sword of Samuel, and their
houses shall be demolished and made a <i>dunghill.</i>" The miracle
now wrought by the power of this God in defence of his worshippers,
publicly in the sight of the thousands of Babylon, was a sufficient
justification of this edict. And it would contribute much to the
ease of the Jews in their captivity to be by this law screened from
the fiery darts of reproach and blasphemy, with which otherwise
they would have been continually annoyed. Note, It is a great mercy
to the church, and a good point gained, when its enemies though
they have not their hearts turned, yet have their mouths stopped
and their tongues tied. If a heathen prince laid such a restraint
upon the proud lips of blasphemers, much more should Christian
princes do it; nay, in this thing, one would think that men should
be a law to themselves, and that those who have so little love to
God that they care not to speak well of him, yet could never find
in their hearts, for we are sure they could never find cause, to
<i>speak any thing amiss</i> of him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Dan.iv-p28" shownumber="no">IV. He not only reverses the attainder of
these three men, but restores them to their places in the
government (<i>makes them to prosper,</i> so the word is), and
prefers them to greater and more advantageous trusts than they had
been in before: He <i>promoted them in the province</i> of Babylon,
which was much to their honour and the comfort of their brethren in
captivity there. Note, It is the wisdom of princes to prefer and
employ men of stedfastness in religion; for those are most likely
to be faithful to them who are faithful to God, and it is likely to
be well with them when God's favourites are made theirs.</p>
</div></div2>