Daniel 3.15-Nebuchadnezzar Impresses Upon Daniel's Three Friends The Importance Of Submission To His Command Or Face Death And Challenges Their God To Rescue Them.
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday June 21, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 3:15-Nebuchadnezzar Impresses Upon Daniel’s Three Friends The Importance Of Submission To His Command Or Face Death And Challenges Their God To Rescue Them
Lesson # 90
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 3:1.
This evening we will study Daniel 3:15, which records Nebuchadnezzar repeating to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego his command to worship the gold statue, which he erected of himself as well as a challenge he issues to the God of Israel to rescue these three from his power.
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. 8 For this reason at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and brought charges against the Jews. 9 They responded and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king: “O king, live forever! 10 You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe and all kinds of music, is to fall down and worship the golden image. 11 But whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire. 12 There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. These men, O king, have disregarded you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.” 13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and anger gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego; then these men were brought before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready, at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery and bagpipe and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, very well. But if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?” (NASB95)
“Now if you are ready” is composed of the adverb of time keʿǎn (כְּעַן) (keh-an´), “now” and then we have the conjunction hēn (הֵן) (hane), “if” and this is followed by the particle of existence ʾî∙ṯǎy (אִיתַי) (ee-thah´ee), “are” and then we have the second person masculine plural pronominal suffix -ḵōm (־כֹם) (khome), “you” which is followed by the masculine plural form of the adjective ʿǎṯîḏ (עֲתִיד) (ath-eed´), “ready.”
The adverb of time keʿǎn denotes the moment when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego appeared in the presence of Nebuchadnezzar who gave them a second chance to obey his command to worship the gold statue he erected of himself.
The conjunction hēn means “if” since it functions as a conditional particle introducing the protasis of a conditional clause, which records Nebuchadnezzar asking if Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are ready.
The adjective ʿǎṯîḏ means “ready, prepared” and is used by Nebuchadnezzar in asking if Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were “ready” to obey his command to worship the gold statue of himself in the sense that it speaks of their readiness to obey the king’s command.
“You will immediately be cast” is composed of the preposition b- (בְּ־) (beh) and its object is the third person feminine singular pronominal suffix hî(ʾ) (הִיא) (hee), which is followed by the feminine singular noun šā∙ʿā(h) (שָׁעָה) (shaw-aw´), “immediately” and then we have the second person masculine plural hitpeʿel (Hebrew: qal) passive imperfect form of the verb remā(h) (רְמָה) (rem-aw´), “shall be cast.”
The preposition b- is a temporal marker meaning “at” referring to the hour in which Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to worship the image of the king.
The third person feminine singular pronominal suffix hî(ʾ) means “that” since it is functioning like a demonstrative pronoun pointing out the noun šā∙ʿā(h), which refers to a period of time in which Daniel’s three friends will be executed for not obeying the king’s order to worship the image of himself.
Therefore, these three words form an expression which literally mean “in that hour” or “during that very hour” and speak of a specific period of time or point in time after a prior point of time, implying a virtually simultaneous action.
This expression indicates that Nebuchadnezzar is warning Daniel’s three friends that if they refuse to fall down in order to worship the gold statue of himself when the music begins to play, they will “immediately” or “during that very hour” or “in that very hour” be thrown in the midst of a furnace blazing with fire.
The verb remā(h) denotes that if Daniel’s three friends refuse to comply with the king’s order to worship the gold image of himself, they would immediately and “unceremoniously be placed” in a hurried and rough manner into the midst of a furnace blazing with fire.
“And what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands” is composed of the conjunction wa (וְ) (waw), “and” which is followed by the interrogative pronoun mā(h) (מָה) (maw), “what” and then we have the third person masculine singular pronoun hû(ʾ) (הוּא) (who), “is there” which is followed by the masculine singular noun ʾělāh (אֱלָהּ) (el-aw´), “god” and then we have the particle dî (דִּי) (dee), “who” and this is followed by the third person masculine singular shaf’el (Hebrew: hiphil) active imperfect form of the verb šê∙ziḇ (שֵׁיזִב) (shez-ab´), “can deliver” and then we have the second person masculine plural pronominal suffix -ḵōm (־כֹם) (khome), “you” which is followed by the preposition min (מִן) (min), “to” and its object is the feminine plural construct form of the noun yǎḏ (יַד) (yad), “hands” which is modified by the first person singular pronominal suffix –î (־י) (ee), “my.”
This time the conjunction wa is called a “sarcastic” wa since here it is used in a rhetorical question posed by Nebuchadnezzar to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, which is designed to deride, taunt and ridicule their God.
The interrogative pronoun mā(h) means “what” since it functions as a marker of a rhetorical question which demands a negative response from the perspective of the one posing the question, which in our context is Nebuchadnezzar of course.
The noun ʾělāh appears in the singular form and means “God” in a generic sense without reference to the deity’s identity.
However, he is in fact referring to the God of Israel and therefore the God who is worshipped by Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, which is indicated by several factors.
First of all, Nebuchadnezzar is speaking to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah and is very angry with them for refusing to worship the gold statue of himself.
Secondly, the king is very aware that they worship the same God as Daniel.
This indicates that the king appears to be rebelling against the God of Israel maybe because Daniel said that his kingdom and all Gentile power would be destroyed by his God’s kingdom.
The third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû means “is there” and is functioning as a particle of existence meaning that Nebuchadnezzar is sarcastically taunting Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah that there is not a God who “exists” who could rescue them from his power to put them to death.
The verb šê∙ziḇ means “to rescue, to deliver” from physical harm with the implication of being spared from physical death and is used of the God of Israel delivering or rescuing Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from Nebuchadnezzar’s power and execution.
The noun yǎḏ means “power” in the sense of possession of control and authority over someone or something and denotes Nebuchadnezzar’s power over Daniel’s three friends in the sense that their lives are under his control and authority or in other words, whether they live or die is determined by the king.
Daniel 3:15 “Now if all of you are ready, namely that, at the precise moment when all of you hear the sound of the trumpet, flute, lyre, harp, dulcimer, drum as well as each and every type of musical instrument, all of you must fall down in order to worship the gold statue, which I erected. However, if all of you refuse to fall down in order to worship, in that very hour, all of you will be placed unceremoniously in the midst of a blazing, fiery furnace. Now, let’s see, what God exists who has the ability to effect the rescue of all of you out of my power?” (My translation)
In Daniel 3:15, we have Nebuchadnezzar giving Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego an opportunity to deny the accusation made against them by certain unidentified dignitaries who were obviously envious of them being placed in a high position of authority and probably suffered a demotion by their promotion.
The king repeats the command and when these three were to obey it.
In Daniel 3:15, Nebuchadnezzar poses a rhetorical question, which demands a negative response from his perspective and is also sarcastic and is taunting the Lord who is the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Nebuchadnezzar is sarcastically taunting Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah that there is not a God who exists who could rescue them from his power to put them to death, which is indicated by the fact that the king is very angry with them for refusing to worship the gold statue of himself.
At this point in the narrative, Nebuchadnezzar only knew Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s God as a God who reveals mysteries but evidently he does not think that the God of Israel is very powerful.
In fact, his defeat of Judah and Israel from his perspective was a demonstration that his god, Marduk was superior in power to Yahweh since in the ancient world military victory was viewed as one god’s victory over another.
Thus, because of his defeat of Judah and Israel, Nebuchadnezzar does not believe that the God of Israel is powerful enough to deliver Daniel’s three friends.
Therefore, the king is expressing his rebellion against the God of Israel because Daniel said that his kingdom and all Gentile power would be destroyed by his God’s kingdom, which echoes the pride and arrogance of Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:35) and Pharaoh (Exodus 5:2).