January 26

Daniel 3

We are very close to finishing our first month! We continue reading from the New American Standard Bible this week. We return to the Exile Stream in the book of Daniel. Today we’ll find out what happens after Daniel and his friends have exclusive government positions.

The song at the end is Simple Prayer by Sam Cintron.

Prayer

Dear Lord, there is one way to sum up the impression of today’s reading: You are faithful.  We are grateful.  Amen.   

Commentary

Are you aware that what we read today in chapter 3 happened in 586 B.C.?   Daniel happens to be a supervisor above these three men who were his friends.  Daniel 3 is only one of two chapters in the book bearing his name where Daniel is not mentioned once.  So whereas in chapter two, Daniel is gravely threatened if he doesn’t come up with solutions for the king, in this chapter only his three friends are in danger of fire.  Surmising Nebuchadnezzar’s thought process here, it is 586 B.C.  He is king of the world so to speak,  He has just burned Jerusalem to a crisp.  All the captives from Judah are new arrivals.  And Nebuchadnezzar wants to make a statement, more or less, “follow my orders or you will burn like Jerusalem did.”  The rest of the empire would follow along even without a living understanding of Jerusalem’s condition.  Nebuchadnezzar had been king for about 18 years.  When he was new to the throne he was prostrate before Daniel in acknowledgment of the God of the Hebrews.  But perhaps that was too long ago for the king to remember.  Thus we watch this story unfold as it did today.

He was feeling glorious from the defeat of Judah and all the new prospects and wealth brought back from there.  Can he revel in this for a while?  No, he wants more … gee, he’s human.  So a 90′ tall gold statue is made – if the visual helps, this is ca. 3X the height of a telephone pole.  And all are required to bow to it to show homage to Nebuchadnezzar.  The leaders of the empire were nearby and ready to observe this spectacle and worship with the rest.  The music was full orchestral and no doubt impressive.  Take your pick – worship Nebuchadnezzar’s gold or be burned alive.  Simple enough decision for the pagans of the empire.  But not for the Jews.  Certain Chaldean astrologers took note that the Jews were not so compliant.  And three in particular would NOT bow in the least.  There were very likely a number of Jews who would feign compliance but were gravely disgruntled.  Problem is they just saw Jerusalem burn and knew that Nebuchadnezzar was not the most congenial fellow ‘at the clubhouse’.  They didn’t want to bow but the alternative of burning alive was too gruesome a threat to face.  The threat generally worked on most the Jews.  Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego however perceived the threat in the exact mirror opposite of how the king intended it to be heard.  These three Jews assigned to assist the king just couldn’t bow to a pagan god and wouldn’t.  They were not defiant or ugly about it.  They just couldn’t “go pagan”.  They knew that Jerusalem was consigned to burn because too many in the city were flippant about worshipping God.  Prior to burning, Jerusalem had bad kings for 25 years straight.  S,M,& A reasoned accurately that disobeying God was what got Jerusalem burned.  So the three reasoned that disobeying God could also get them burned.  They couldn’t ingest Nebuchadnezzar’s dictum that worshiping idols=disobeying God would preserve their lives.  The indictment about them as told to Nebuchadnezzar was “… they pay no attention to you, O king.”  Excuse you astrologers!  These three were given their overseer jobs because they always paid particular attention to the king and his wishes.   The part about them not worshiping the gold was factual.  The initial charge, however, was contrived.  Nebuchadnezzar was furious at first but gives the three an out as he patiently re-explains the conditions for worshiping him and his gold.  [Nebuchadnezzar on second thought does not want to lose these three.  They are the best in the country!]  Their testimonial reply about their God; the real God is epically biblical and one for the books!  Nebuchadnezzar snaps into a rage again.  He never had known defiance.  The furnace is heated seven times hotter than normal.  I guess normal was 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  What was this furnace for? Roasting for feasts?  It doesn’t say.  But we checked the burning point and melting points of certain elements and this furnace was now hot enough to melt steel.  The proximity temperature killed all the men assigned to throw these three Jewish leaders into the flames.  Just getting within a distance of the furnace was fatal!  S, M, & A land in the flames and coals and are soon walking around in the fire … and aren’t burned.  You may have heard this story explained away about how the three landed in a chamber that wasn’t so hot… maybe 125 degrees, so they survive.  Well then how did the toughest soldiers in Babylon die?  Come on now.  God joins them in the fire.  God told Moses He would be with him.  God told Joshua He would be with him.  I’m telling you –> it is safer in the flames with God than in the “securest” place on earth without Him.   The result for the known world is that Nebuchadnezzar again orders that the God of the Jews be revered throughout the Babylonian Empire.  Anyone who spoke otherwise would be decimated.  It was a verbatim repeat of the threat in Daniel 2:5.  Some reports are that there was astonishing revival in the empire for a time.  Did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednegos’ principles based on the One True God get them burned?  No, it got them promotions.  God has promotions in mind for all of us.  Keep reading the Bible and we will keep reading and explaining it to you.