King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. 2 Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 3 Then the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 4 And the herald proclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, 5 that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.” 7 Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
The Fiery Furnace
8 Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. 9 They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! 10 You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image. 11 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. 12 There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. 22 Because the king's order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.
24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. 27 And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. 28 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.” 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. Daniel 3 ESV
Daniel 3
King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold - So, last chapter he dreams about an image, this great statue of which God tells him, through Daniel, that he is the gold head of this frightful image. Now, like all men and women, he has an ego, but he is also a king over kings, who has a vast empire, which we will find translates, in his mind, as so many reasons to hold himself up so high. Most of our idols, the gods we worship, reflect ourselves, the thoughts of our minds, what we want and what sins we wish to hold on to. If you look at history, the Babylonian and Greco Roman gods, they all fed into men's passions, their gods were sleeping with mortals, impregnating women which made demi-gods, and these gods were worshiped by having sex with temple prostitutes, both men and women. They had gods of gold because they liked gold, it represented wealth because it was rare. The gods of the prosperity gospel claim to be the God of the Bible, but turn out to be a deception. Joseph Smith's god was in favor of being polyamorous, because like all of us, he wanted a god in his own image, and he was a perverter, as all sinners are, of God's created intent and design.
Image (06754)(Hebrew = Tselem) is a masculine noun which means image, likeness, statue, model, a drawing, a shadow. The first four uses of tselem all refer to mankind as made in the image of God (Ge 1:26, 27; 9:6). Tselem is used in the description of Adam's offspring Seth "in his own likeness, according to his image (tselem)" (Ge 5:3). The next 2 uses describe idols ("likenesses of your tumors and likenesses of your mice") (1Sa 6:5, 11), then the images of Baal (2Ki 11:18, 2Chr 23:17, cp Ezek 7:20 "the images of their abominations", description of how apostate, unfaithful Judah had made for themselves "male images" with which they might play the harlot = Ezek 16:17 - Talk about perversion!). Men are described as walking "about as a phantom," (Ps 39:6), in other words as shadows, descriptivie of unknowing, senseless, fleeting beings carrying out the motions of life unless they have hope in God (see Ps. 39:7). - Precept Austin
Height 60 cubits and breadth 6 cubits - This is a rather slender statue, a 10 to 1 ratio, based on the average measurement of a cubit, it would be 9 feet wide by 90 feet tall. Now, I think the image was of a man, and Nebuchadnezzar was under the influence of the image in his dream and also his intoxication with himself. He was the head of gold so this whole statue is of gold. Now, from what archeologists and historians have discovered of practices in these times, it was most likely not solid gold, but a heavy overlay of wood, that was covered in some other substance that hardened on the wood and then gold. I am guessing the other substance was probably a bonding agent of sorts, and also helped maintain the integrity of the wood. Solid gold would be difficult to handle for the weight, but also an immense expense, the effect of which could be had for a fraction of the price by overlaying. The proportions are off to actual human scale, but this, some commentators and scholars think may be because much of it is a pedestal, possible in the form of a robe.
He set it up on the Plain of Dura - He put it in a place where it could be seen from a great distance, imagine the rising sun and the reflection such a piece would create.
Plain of Dura (plain of dura - pictures) - Dura means "walked place". In such a flat location the statue would be unimpeded by hills or knolls and thus would be readily visible from quite a distance, an awesome site sparkling in the radiant sunlight. In 1863 the French archeologist Jules Oppert discovered a pedestal 6 miles SE of Babylon with dimensions of 45’ square and 20’ in height. Oppert felt that this was a possible site of Nebuchadnezzar's image, but there is no further evidence to substantiate this premise. - Precept Austin
Sent to gather...gathered - If you notice, verse 3 just renames everyone that he sent for in verse 2. He calls them to the dedication of this idol, and they come a running. In other words, they are all Yes men. Satraps, prefects etc., every politician, ruler, military commander in his kingdom, come to worship the image that the king has made, well almost everyone. It is always easier to be on the side of the majority, the powerful, popular and influential. Might makes right in the eyes of many, and Nebuchadnezzar holds the might, controls the armies, is a military genius and impatient man. He also has the power of death in his hands, and if your idol is moving up in the kingdom, if that is of utmost importance to you, well, then you have to bow. Your career, your life and the lives of your loved ones are in the balance. This is yet another test of resolve, remember the boys in chapter 1 who wouldn't eat the king's meat or drink his wine? They were being Babylonianized, word I made up, it's like Hellenized, but you become a Babylonian rather than a Greek. Neb wants everyone on the same page, to show solidarity, he is a micro-manager, bringing the world together under one leader, to have one voice and worship the way he tells them to, directed toward the image he puts before them, he is an antichrist. The end of the time of the gentiles will look much the beginning, mankind has not changed much, though technology has.
The attempt of this great king of Babylon to unify the religions of his empire by self-deification will be repeated by the beast, the last head of the Gentile world-dominion Rev 13:11-15 See note on "Beast, the" Da 7:8" See Re 19:20" It has repeatedly characterized Gentile authority in the earth, e.g. Dan 6:7; Acts 12:22 and the later Roman emperors.
…19Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies assembled to wage war against the One seated on the horse, and against His army. 20But the beast was captured along with the false prophet, who on its behalf had performed signs deceiving those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. Both the beast and the false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 21And the rest were killed with the sword that proceeded from the mouth of the One seated on the horse. And all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.… Revelation 19: 19-21
11Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. This beast had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon. 12And this beast exercised all the authority of the first beast and caused the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed. 13And the second beast performed great signs to cause even fire from heaven to come down to earth in the presence of the people.…
…14Because of the signs it was given to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make an image to the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet had lived. 15 The second beast was permitted to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship it to be killed. 16And the second beast required all people small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,… Revelation 13: 11-16
When you hear the sound - This is followed by a long list of instruments, and old Neb knows how to create ambiance, employ music to tap in to emotion. Most of my friends, when we were young, and some even now that we are old, wanted to be rock stars. They draw a crowd, worship, have a soap box, girls offer themselves as tribute, and they make a lot of money. People even believe that what musicians say is somehow of utmost importance. Now, I picked poorly, a lot of my heroes died from drug overdose or suicide, like Kurt Cobain, Chris Cornell, or Layne Staley, but it wasn't just how they died, how they lived, what they did with the gifts God gave them, was not used to glorify the gift giver.
Now, apparently this guy had a royal orchestra with all of this stuff playing together, some no doubt sensual music, to try to draw everybody’s attention to the image and cause them to bow down. It is kind of interesting to note - I’ll say this for Clayton’s benefit - that you have both wind and string instruments here. There is the horn and there is the pipe, and that means a flute. And then, by the way, the horn had a lower sound and the flute had a higher sound.
And then you have a lyre, L-Y-R-E, which is a harp, and this was a smaller harp with high sounds. And then there is the sackbut, which is very difficult to ascertain. In fact, frankly we haven’t got the faintest idea of what that is. Sorry about that. Then there is a psaltery. I mean, there’s a lot of speculation, but it’s useless. There’s a psaltery, and that is a harp with a sounding board. A lyre was a high sounding harp and a psaltery was a low sounding harp. And then there was a dulcimer, and believe it or not, that’s basically a bagpipe. And then all kinds of music with all these instruments was the cue. When the music started, everybody was instantly to fall down and worship the image. - J Mac
Whoever does not fall down and worship - You get to go into the fire. It uses the adjectives burning and fiery together, probably to note power and finality. It's not just any fire, it is the hot kind, really hot, really intimidating, so do what I say. I don't think Neb even needs to sell the intensity of the fire, but he is covering all the bases, emotions, fear of violence, of death, of pain, of standing out from the crowd, of not going with the flow. Most of the people here won't care, they could be given a different state sanctioned god every week, and as long as you don't tell them not to bow to their gods as well, then they probably won't say anything. The more the merrier right, I mean if one god is helpful then a 100 are a 100 times better. He jumps all the way to the threat of life, but with the shiny gold image, the music and festivities, they already bought in much lower, at the level of their wants, their comforts, wine, delicacies, life style, entertainment and pleasure. Nebuchadnezzar, by this decree, has put himself in the place of God and leads men astray, to be at odds with the true God. Israel did not do well with these tests in their own land, who will stand here in Babylon?
…35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and for the gospel will save it. 36 What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?… Mark 8: 35-37
…15And I will provide grass in the fields for your livestock, and you will eat and be satisfied. 16But be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside to worship and bow down to other gods, 17or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you. He will shut the heavens so that there will be no rain, nor will the land yield its produce, and you will soon perish from the good land that the LORD is giving you.… Deuteronomy 11: 15-17
…15But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation. 16They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations. 17They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.…
…18You ignored the Rock who brought you forth; you forgot the God who gave you birth. 19When the LORD saw this, He rejected them, provoked to anger by His sons and daughters. 20He said: “I will hide My face from them; I will see what will be their end. For they are a perverse generation—children of unfaithfulness.… Deuteronomy 32: 15-20
All the peoples, nations and languages, fell down and worshiped - Boy, this takes you back to Babel, they are all one and unified in this, but they are languages, you can almost hear the Father conversing with the Spirit and the Son. Same old sun, nothing new here.
1Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech. 2And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.…
…4“Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.” 5Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building. 6And the LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them.…
…7Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” 8So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.… Genesis 11: 1-9
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