Daniel 3:24

24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counselors, "Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?" They answered the king, "True, O king."

Daniel 3:24 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 3:24

Then Nebuchadnezzar was astonished,
At the burning of those that cast the three men into the furnace, as Jacchiades; or he might be seized with a panic, and his spirits filled with fear and dread, the word F21 is by some said to signify, and this from the immediate hand of God: and rose up in haste;
from the place where he was, and went to the mouth of the furnace, to see what was become of those that were cast into it: and spake and said unto his counsellors;
who had advised him to do what he had done, out of envy and ill will to these Jews: did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?
that is, was there not an order of council for it? and was it not done according to it? they answered and said, true, O King;
it was certainly so: thus they are brought to bear a testimony to the truth of this; it was not only the king that gave the orders, and saw them obeyed, but his counsellors also; and which they own, and serves to corroborate the truth of the miracle.


FOOTNOTES:

F21 (hwt) "expavit", Munster, Piscator, Michaelis; "trepidavit", Gejerus; so Ben Melech from the Targum on Gen. xxvii. 33; "trepidus", Junius & Tremellius.

Daniel 3:24 In-Context

22 Because the king's command was urgent and the furnace was so overheated, the raging flames killed the men who lifted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
23 But the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound, into the furnace of blazing fire.
24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counselors, "Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?" They answered the king, "True, O king."
25 He replied, "But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god."
26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!" So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.