Dan 3:1-30
From Feast upon the Word (http://feastupontheword.org). Copyright, Feast upon the Word.
The Old Testament > Daniel > Chapter 3
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[edit] Summary
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The relationship chapter 3 to the rest of the book, and to chapter 6 regarding the den of lions in particular, is discussed at Daniel. Chapter 3 can be outlined as follows:
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- C. The fiery furnace (Daniel 3)
- a. king commands worship of idol on pain of death (1-7)
- b. three accused of not worshiping the idol (8-12)
- c. who is that God that shall deliver you? (13-18)
- b. three accused of not worshiping the idol (8-12)
- a. king commands three be cast into fire, but soldiers die (19-23)
- b. three saved from sentence by angel (24-27)
- a - c. king commands respect for God who delivers (28-30)
In verses 1-7 the people obey the king’s command, upon threat of death, to worship an idol (6-7). In verses 19-23 the king commands his mighty men to cast the three friends (Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego) into the fiery furnace. But death instead takes the king’s own soldiers as they obey his command (20-22). Obedience to the world leads to destruction.
In verses 8-12 the three friends are discovered refusing to serve the idol by Chaldeans who are members of Babylon’s earthly empire. The three friends are individually named, but they are also identified as Jews and thus represent all who worship God (8-12). In verses 24-27 the world’s most powerful man, Nebuchadnezzar, angrily sentences the three to death for refusing to serve the idol. But they are saved by an angel of God whose form, significantly, “is like the Son of God,” and the king recognizes that they are in fact “servants of the most high God” (24-27). Safety lies in obedience to God.
The climax of verses 13-18 is the exchange in verses 16-17 between the king and the three friends about God’s ability to save:
- • king asks if friends are willing to serve the idol (14-15)
- • who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands? (16)
- • God can deliver us, and he may or may not do so (17)
- • but we will not serve idols (18)
After the three friends are delivered, the king states the lesson in verses 28-30 that “there is no other God that can deliver after this sort” (29).
At the opening of this episode the king commanded that everyone must worship the golden idol. At the conclusion he now commands that no one may speak ill of the God of the Jews (29). The king is not converted to monotheism, but he does acknowledge God as the most high God.
[edit] Discussion
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[edit] Parallel passages in other scriptures
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- Dan 3:21-25 - Heb 11:34 (clear reference)
[edit] Points to ponder
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[edit] Resources
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[edit] Notes
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