Daniel 3

15. who is that God--so Sennacherib's taunt ( 2 Kings 18:35 ), and Pharaoh's ( Exodus 5:2 ).

16. not careful to answer thee--rather, "We have no need to answer thee"; thou art determined on thy side, and our mind is made up not to worship the image: there is therefore no use in our arguing as if we could be shaken from our principles. Hesitation, or parleying with sin, is fatal; unhesitating decision is the only safety, where the path of duty is clear ( Matthew 10:19 Matthew 10:28 ).

17. If it be so--VATABLUS translates, "Assuredly." English Version agrees better with the original. The sense is, If it be our lot to be cast into the furnace, our God (quoted from Deuteronomy 6:4 ) is able to deliver us (a reply to Nebuchadnezzar's challenge, "Who is that God that shall deliver you?"); and He will deliver us (either from death, or in death, 2 Timothy 4:17 2 Timothy 4:18 ). He will, we trust, literally deliver us, but certainly He will do so spiritually.

18. But if not, &c.--connected with Daniel 3:18 . "Whether our God deliver us, as He is able, or do not, we will not serve thy gods." Their service of God is not mercenary in its motive. Though He slay them, they will still trust in Him ( Job 13:15 ). Their deliverance from sinful compliance was as great a miracle in the kingdom of grace, as that from the furnace was in the kingdom of nature. Their youth, and position as captives and friendless exiles, before the absolute world potentate and the horrid death awaiting them if they should persevere in their faith, all enhance the grace of God, which carried them through such an ordeal.

19. visage . . . changed--He had shown forbearance ( Daniel 3:14 Daniel 3:15 ) as a favor to them, but now that they despise even his forbearance, anger "fills" him, and is betrayed in his whole countenance.
seven times more than it was wont--literally, "than it was (ever) seen to be heated." Seven is the perfect number; that is, it was made as hot as possible. Passion overdoes and defeats its own end, for the hotter the fire, the sooner were they likely to be put out of pain.

21. coats . . . hosen . . . hats--HERODOTUS [1.195] says that the Babylonian costume consisted of three parts: (1) wide, long pantaloons; (2) a woollen shirt; (3) an outer mantle with a girdle round it. So these are specified [GESENIUS], "their pantaloons, inner tunics (hosen, or stockings, are not commonly worn in the East), and outer mantles." Their being cast in so hurriedly, with all their garments on, enhanced the miracle in that not even the smell of fire passed on their clothes, though of delicate, inflammable material.

22. flame . . . slew those men--( Daniel 6:24 , Psalms 7:16 ).

23. fell down--not cast down; for those who brought the three youths to the furnace, perished by the flames themselves, and so could not cast them in. Here follows an addition in the Septuagint, Syrian, Arabic, and Vulgate versions. "The Prayer of Azarias," and "The Song of the Three Holy Children." It is not in the Chaldee. The hymn was sung throughout the whole Church in their liturgies, from the earliest times [RUFINUS in Commentary on the Apostles Creed, and ATHANASIUS]. The "astonishment" of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 3:24 is made an argument for its genuineness, as if it explained the cause of his astonishment, namely, "they walked in the midst of the fire praising God, but the angel of the Lord came down into the oven" ( Daniel 3:1 and Daniel 3:27 of the Apocryphal addition). But Daniel 3:25 of English Version explains his astonishment, without need of any addition.

24. True, O king--God extorted this confession from His enemies' own mouths.

25. four--whereas but three had been cast in.
loose--whereas they had been cast in "bound." Nebuchadnezzar's question, in Daniel 3:24 , is as if he can scarcely trust his own memory as to a fact so recent, now that he sees through an aperture in the furnace what seems to contradict it.
walking in . . . midst of . . . fire--image of the godly unhurt, and at large ( John 8:36 ), "in the midst of trouble" ( Psalms 138:7 ; compare Psalms 23:3 Psalms 23:4 ). They walked up and down in the fire, not leaving it, but waiting for God's time to bring them out, just as Jesus waited in the tomb as God's prisoner, till God should let Him out ( Acts 2:26 Acts 2:27 ). So Paul ( 2 Corinthians 12:8 2 Corinthians 12:9 ). So Noah waited in the ark, after the flood, till God brought him forth ( Genesis 8:12-18 ).
like the Son of God--Unconsciously, like Saul, Caiaphas ( John 11:49-52 ), and Pilate, he is made to utter divine truths. "Son of God" in his mouth means only an "angel" from heaven, as Daniel 3:28 proves. Compare Job 1:6 , 38:7 , Psalms 34:7 Psalms 34:8 ; and the probably heathen centurion's exclamation ( Matthew 27:54 ). The Chaldeans believed in families of gods: Bel, the supreme god, accompanied by the goddess Mylitta, being the father of the gods; thus the expression he meant: one sprung from and sent by the gods. Really it was the "messenger of the covenant," who herein gave a prelude to His incarnation.

26. the most high God--He acknowledges Jehovah to be supreme above other gods (not that he ceased to believe in these); so he returns to his original confession, "your God is a God of gods" ( Daniel 2:47 ), from which he had swerved in the interim, perhaps intoxicated by his success in taking Jerusalem, whose God he therefore thought unable to defend it.

27. nor . . . an hair--( Luke 12:7 , 21:18 ).
fire had no power--fulfilling Isaiah 43:2 ; compare Hebrews 11:34 . God alone is a "consuming fire" ( Hebrews 12:29 ).
nor . . . smell of fire--compare spiritually, 1 Thessalonians 5:22 .

28. In giving some better traits in Nebuchadnezzar's character, Daniel agrees with Jeremiah 39:11 , 42:12 .
changed the king's word--have made the king's attempt to coerce into obedience vain. Have set aside his word (so "alter . . . word," Ezra 6:11 ) from regard to God. Nebuchadnezzar now admits that God's law should be obeyed, rather than his ( Acts 5:29 ).
yielded . . . bodies--namely, to the fire.
not serve--by sacrificing.
nor worship--by prostration of the body. Decision for God at last gains the respect even of the worldly ( Proverbs 16:7 ).

29. This decree promulgated throughout the vast empire of Nebuchadnezzar must have tended much to keep the Jews from idolatry in the captivity and thenceforth ( Psalms 76:10 ).