Daniel 3:28

28 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, "Blessed be the God of ¹Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who ²has sent his angel and ³delivered his servants, who ⁴trusted in him, and set aside^[a] the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than ⁵serve and worship any god except their own God.

Daniel 3:28 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 3:28

Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said
In the presence of his princes and prime ministers of state, and made the following confession, to the praise and glory of the true God; which was extorted from him at this time through the force of conviction; for it does not appear to be a thorough conversion; nor did he relinquish his gods, and the worship of them: blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego;
he does not call him his God, but theirs, as he had called him the God of Daniel before, ( Daniel 2:47 ) : who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in
him;
the fourth man he saw in the furnace he now calls an angel of God; for the Heathens had notions of some being the messengers of the gods: this seems to favour the sense of those who think an angel is designed by the fourth person; though it does not follow that a created one must be meant; for it may be understood of the Angel of God's presence, the uncreated Angel, Jesus Christ; who, being sent by his divine Father; came and delivered these three persons from being consumed in the fire, who had in so strong a manner expressed their confidence in God, which the king now remembers and observes; see ( Daniel 3:17 Daniel 3:18 ) : and have changed the king's word;
made it null and void, refused to obey it, knowing it was their duty to obey God rather than man; so that the king was forced to change his word, and, instead of obliging them to worship his image, blesses their God: and yielded their bodies;
freely gave them up, without any resistance, into the hands of those who were ordered by the king to take and bind them, and cast them into the furnace, to which also they readily yielded themselves: so the Septuagint and Arabic versions add, "to the fire", that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own God;
they chose rather to deliver up themselves to death, to be burnt in a furnace, than to serve any other god than the God of Israel; such was their constancy and firmness of mind; such their attachment to the true God, and their faithfulness to him.

Daniel 3:28 In-Context

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.

Cross References

• 1. [See ver. 22 above]
• 2. Daniel 6:22
• 3. [ver. 15, 17; Psalms 34:7]
• 4. [Psalms 25:2]
• 5. [Exodus 20:3]

Footnotes

• [a]. Aramaic and changed