Dan 3:19-30 | JFB | STEP | 19. visage ... changed-- He had shown forbearance ( , ) 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.

‏ Daniel 3:19-30

19. visage ... changed--He had shown forbearance (Da 3:14, 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--(Da 6:24; Psa 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 Da 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" (vs. 1 and vs. 27 of the Apocryphal addition). But Da 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 Da 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 (Joh 8:36), "in the midst of trouble" (Psa 138:7; compare Psa 23:3, 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 (Ac 2:26, 27). So Paul (2Co 12:8, 9). So Noah waited in the ark, after the flood, till God brought him forth (Ge 8:12-18).

like the Son of God--Unconsciously, like Saul, Caiaphas (Joh 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 Da 3:28 proves. Compare Job 1:6; 38:7; Psa 34:7, 8; and the probably heathen centurion's exclamation (Mt 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" (Da 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--(Lu 12:7; 21:18).

fire had no power--fulfilling Is 43:2; compare He 11:34. God alone is a "consuming fire" (He 12:29).

nor ... smell of fire--compare spiritually, 1Th 5:22.

28. In giving some better traits in Nebuchadnezzar's character, Daniel agrees with Jr 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," Ezr 6:11) from regard to God. Nebuchadnezzar now admits that God's law should be obeyed, rather than his (Ac 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 (Pr 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 (Psa 76:10).