Daniel 3.7-The People From Every Nation, Ethnicity And Language Group Obey Nebuchadnezzar's Order To Worship The Gold Statue Of Himself
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday June 7, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 3:7-The People From Every Nation, Ethnicity And Language Group Obey Nebuchadnezzar’s Order To Worship The Statue Of Himself
Lesson # 84
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 3:1.
This evening we will study Daniel 3:7, which records the people from every nation, ethnicity and language group obeying Nebuchadnezzar’s order to worship the gold statue he erected of himself on the plain of Dura in the province of the city of Babylon.
Daniel 3:1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, the height of which was sixty cubits and its width six cubits; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. 2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to assemble the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 3 Then the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces were assembled for the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 4 Then the herald loudly proclaimed: “To you the command is given, O peoples, nations and men of every language, 5 that at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. 6 But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.” 7 Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations and men of every language fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. (NASB95)
“Therefore” is composed of the preposition k- (כְּ־) (kee) and this is followed by the preposition lĕ (לְ) (leh) and then we have the preposition qǒḇēl (קֳבֵל) (kob-ale´) and then we have the demonstrative pronoun denā(h) (דְּנָה) (dane-awe), which is not translated.
The demonstrative pronoun refers to the content of this proclamation which ordered all the dignitaries who represented the peoples from the various provinces in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom to worship the gold image he erected of himself the moment when the orchestra plays.
It is the object of the prepositions k- which is employed with the prepositions lĕ and qǒḇēl, which together function as a marker of cause and mean “because of.”
Therefore, this prepositional phrase indicates that “because of this” command from Nebuchadnezzar with emphasis upon the threat of death for refusing to comply, all the dignitaries representing the various people in the various provinces throughout his kingdom obeyed his order.
“At that time, when” is composed of the preposition b- (בְּ־) (beh) and its object is the third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû(ʾ) (הוּא) (who), “that” and then we have the masculine singular form of the noun zemǎn (זְמַן) (zem-awn´), “time,” which is followed by the preposition k (כְּ־) (kee) and its object is the particle dî (דִּי) (dee), which together are translated “when.”
The preposition b-, “at” and the third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû(ʾ), “that” and the noun zemǎn, “time” are employed together and literally mean “at that precise or exact moment.”
The noun zemǎn means “the precise moment” referring to a specified point in time when the dignitaries who represented the peoples from the various provinces throughout Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom fell down and worshipped the gold statue.
It is the object of the preposition b-, which is functioning as a temporal marker meaning “at” referring to the precise or exact moment when the dignitaries who represented the peoples from the various provinces throughout Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom fell down and worshipped the gold statue the king erected of himself.
The third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû(ʾ) means “that” since it is functioning like a demonstrative pronoun pointing out the noun zemǎn.
Therefore, these three words form an expression which literally mean “at that exact moment” or “at that precise moment.”
They answer the question when the dignitaries who represented the peoples from the various provinces throughout Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom fell down and worshipped the gold statue the king erected of himself in the plain of Dura in the province of the city of Babylon.
It speaks of a specific point in time when these dignitaries who represented the peoples from the various provinces throughout Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom obeyed the king’s order and fell down and worshipped this gold statue.
The preposition k and the particle dî are employed together also as a temporal marker and are also answering the question as to when the dignitaries who represented the peoples from the various provinces throughout Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom fell down and worshipped the gold statue.
They worshipped the image when they heard the orchestra play the music they were ordered by Nebuchadnezzar to play.
These two words function as a marker relating points of time.
The two points of time are again the sound of the music and the worship of the image of Nebuchadnezzar which he erected of himself.
Therefore, they denote that at the precise moment “when” the dignitaries from the various provinces in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom heard the music played by the orchestra, they fell down and worshipped the gold statue the king erected of himself.
“The peoples” is the masculine plural form of the noun ʿǎm (עַם) (am), means “nations” in the sense of a large group based on various cultural, physical and geographical ties and speaks of national entities.
“Nations” is the masculine plural noun ʾǔm∙mā(h) (אֻמָּה) (oom-maw´), means “ethnicities” referring to an ethnic group, divided on the basis of constituting a unique entity.
Thus, the word speaks of the various “ethnic backgrounds” in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom.
“Men of every language” is the masculine plural noun liš∙šān (לִשָּׁן) (lish-shawn´), means “language groups” referring to a distinct, rational form of communication unique to a socio-linguistic group, i.e. national people and speaks of those groups who share the same language.
“All” is the singular construct form of the noun kōl (כֹּל) (kole), which is modifying the nouns ʿǎm, “nations,” ʾǔm∙mā(h), “ethnicities” and liš∙šān, “language groups” and denotes totality but is used in a distributive sense meaning “each and every.”
Here it refers to the totality of these nations, ethnicities and language groups who were represented at the dedication of the statue by the satraps, military commanders, governors, advisers, treasurers, lawyers, judges from the various provinces in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom.
This word emphasizes that there were no exceptions.
Everyone obeyed the king’s order.
“Fell down” is the masculine plural peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active participle form of the verb nep̄ǎl (נְפַל) (nef-al´), which means “to fall down, to be prostrate oneself before someone” in order to express one’s humble submission to someone or something and to honor them and show them respect.
Here it refers to the act of the satraps, military commanders, governors, advisers, treasurers, lawyers and judges from the provinces in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom prostrating themselves before the statue which the king erected of himself in order to express their humble submission to him and to honor him and show him respect.
“Worshiped” is the masculine plural peʿal (Hebrew: qal) active participle form of the verb seḡiḏ (סְגִד) (seg-eed´), which is referring to the act of committing idolatry.
It indicates that these dignitaries representing each and every one of the nations, ethnicities and language groups in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom “worshipped” the gold statue which the king erected of himself.
Daniel 3:7 records the dignitaries who represented the various nations, ethnicities and language groups throughout Nebuchadnezzar’s empire obeying his command to worship the gold image he erected of himself.
It reveals that Nebuchadnezzar’s attempt to unite religion with the state was a success but not total and complete as we shall read later on in the chapter.
This verse presents the basis for the obedience to the king’s order by these dignitaries, which is the king’s order to worship the image of himself with emphasis upon their execution if they refused to do so.
Thus, it implies that the threat of execution guaranteed their obedience.
Nebuchadnezzar ruled the world and his attempt to join religion in the form of the worship of himself and his government repeats the sin at the tower of Babel.
Like Nimrod, Nebuchadnezzar was attempting to unite the world independently of God.
During Daniel’s Seventieth Week, Antichrist will also attempt to unite the world independently of Jesus Christ by doing the same thing as Nebuchadnezzar, namely by joining religion with politics.
During Daniel’s Seventieth Week, Antichrist will demand the worship of himself from the inhabitants of the earth as symbolized by the abomination of desolation he will set up in the rebuilt Jewish temple in the midway point of Daniel’s Seventieth Week.
In Daniel chapter 3, these people who obeyed Nebuchadnezzar’s order chose to commit the sin of idolatry rather than to die.
They compromised by doing so and so like many people today among Christians they compromise obedience to God’s Word in order to save their lives or their position or reputation in life.
They compromise obedience to God’s Word in order to preserve their career or salary and are people pleasers rather than God pleasers.
If they were God pleasers, they would refuse to obey this king’s command to commit idolatry and suffer death, thus, they are not unlike their king in that they are sinners like him.
However, he is promoting this sin of idolatry and using himself as the object of worship which is the greater sin and mimics Satan’s attempt to deceive the human race into worshipping him.
In fact, Satan is behind this idolatrous worship since he attempts to get the human race to worship any one or any thing other than Jesus Christ.
By committing the sin of idolatry, members of the human race demonstrate their total depravity.
Total depravity means that man has absolutely no merit with God since he does not measure up to God’s perfect standards.
It also means that man’s conscience has been affected by the Fall of Adam so that it cannot be a safe and reliable guide, nor, does total depravity mean that people will indulge in every form of sin or any sin to the greatest extent possible.
Undoubtedly, many of these individuals in Daniel chapter 3 who prostrated themselves at the foot of this gold statue of Nebuchadnezzar were not mentally assenting to the worship of this image but simply doing so in order not to get executed.
In other words, many were going through the motions in order to save their lives.
This is not unlike many individuals today in the various religions of the world and various denominations in Christendom who are simply going through the motions in attending their synagogues and churches for various reasons and not to worship.
Nebuchadnezzar was deceiving himself into thinking that he could force these people under his authority to worship him or any other god against their will.
They were only obeying him in order to save their lives and of course, there were many who did consider him a god and worshipped him as such.