Daniel 3:6

6 But if any man shall not fall down and adore, he shall the same hour be cast into a furnace of burning fire.

Daniel 3:6 Meaning and Commentary

Daniel 3:6

And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth
Who refuses to worship it, or wilfully neglects it; which would be interpreted a contempt of it, and of the king's command: shall in the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery
furnace;
such as were used to burn stones in for lime, as Jarchi observes: the music was to draw, the furnace was to drive, men to this idolatrous worship; the one was to please and sooth the minds of men, and so allure them to such stupid service; the other to frighten them into obedience. This is the first time that mention is made of "hours" in the sacred Scriptures; it was very probably the invention of the Chaldeans or Babylonians; for Herodotus F13 says the Greeks received the twelve parts of the day from the Babylonians.


FOOTNOTES:

F13 Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 109.

Daniel 3:6 In-Context

4 Then a herald cried with a strong voice: To you it is commanded, O nations, tribes and languages:
5 That in the hour that you shall hear the sound of the trumpet, and of the flute, and of the harp, of the sackbut, and of the psaltery, and of the symphony, and of all kind of music, ye fall down and adore the golden statue which king Nabuchodonosor hath set up.
6 But if any man shall not fall down and adore, he shall the same hour be cast into a furnace of burning fire.
7 Upon this, therefore, at the time when all the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the flute, and the harp, of the sackbut, and the psaltery, of the symphony, and of all kind of music, all the nations, tribes, and languages fell down and adored the golden statue which king Nabuchodonosor had set up.
8 And presently at that very time some Chaldeans came and accused the Jews,
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