Weekly Bible Commentary by Wes Woodard – Daniel 3 – “Nebuchadnezzar Makes a Big Mistake!”
It seems that the only thing that the king was impressed with (from his dream) was that the head of the statue was gold and represented the Babylonian Empire. He was so impressed that he built a statue 90 feet high and 9 feet wide. The text says that it was a statue of gold and it represented the Babylonian Empire. Most likely it was overlaid with beaten gold and not solid gold. He placed it on the Plane of Dura and sent an announcement to all the nobles in his kingdom to come to the dedication of the statue. They were commanded to fall down and worship the statue when the king’s orchestra began to play. All fell down except Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men had been put in charge of many Babylonia affairs. This caused Nebuchadnezzar to go into a rage, and he had these young men brought before him. He told them he had heard they would not bow down, but he would give them one more chance. If they still refused they would be thrown into the flaming furnace. He said, “What God can deliver you out of my hands?” The three young men replied that they were not afraid of what would happen to them. They believed that their God was able to deliver them, even from the furnace, but if He didn’t they would still not worship the idol. The king became so angry that he ordered the furnace be heated up seven times hotter than usual. He called for some of the strongest men of his army to tie them and throw them into the furnace. When they threw them into the furnace they were killed themselves.
The Living Bible says,
“But suddenly as the king was watching, he jumped up in amazement
and exclaimed to his advisors, ‘didn’t we throw three men into the
furnace?’ They replied, ‘Yes’. Then the king said, ‘…. Look …. I see four
men unbound walking around in the fire and they are not even hurt….
And the fourth looks like a god.’ Then Nebuchadnezzar came as close
as he could to the open door of the furnace, and he yelled, ‘Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the most high God, come out…
The nobles were all amazed as they gathered around them. They did not even smell of smoke. Nebuchadnezzar said,
“Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, for He sent His
Angel to deliver His trusting servants when they defied the king’s
commandment and were willing to die rather than serve or worship
any god except their own. Therefore I make this decree, that any person
of any nation, language, or religion who speaks a word against the God of
these three young men, shall be torn limb from limb, and his house knocked
down and turned into a ruble heap. For no other god can do what this one
does. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego so that they
prospered greatly in the province of Babylon.” (Daniel 3 – “The Living Bible”).
