Daniel 3.21-Shadrach, Meshach And Abednego Are Tied Up While Wearing All Their Clothes And Unceremoniously Deposited Into The Blazing, Fiery Furnace
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday July 19, 2012
Daniel: Daniel 3:21-Shadrach, Meshach And Abednego Are Tied Up Wearing Their Clothes And Unceremoniously Deposited Into The Blazing, Fiery Furnace
Lesson # 95
Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 3:21.
This evening we will study Daniel 3:21, which records certain strong, valiant soldiers in Nebuchadnezzar’s army carrying out his order to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and depositing them unceremoniously in the blazing, fiery furnace.
Daniel 3:1 Nebuchadnezzar the king sculptured an image composed of gold, its height ninety feet, its width nine feet. He erected it on the plain of Dura in the province of the city of Babylon. 2 Then Nebuchadnezzar, the king issued an order to assemble the satraps, military commanders as well as the governors, advisers, treasurers, lawyers, judges in other words, each and every one of the dignitaries from the provinces to attend the dedication of the statue, which Nebuchadnezzar erected. 3 Then when the satraps, military commanders as well as the governors, advisers, treasurers, lawyers, judges in other words, each and every one of the dignitaries from the provinces assembled for the dedication of the statue, which Nebuchadnezzar, the king had erected, they stood directly in front of the statue which Nebuchadnezzar had erected. 4 Next, a herald publicly proclaimed with authority: “To all of you nations, ethnicities and language groups, all of you are commanded: 5 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 Nebuchadnezzar, the king has erected. 6 However, whoever refuses to fall down in order to worship, in that very hour, they will be deposited unceremoniously in the midst of a blazing, fiery furnace.” 7 Because of this, at the precise moment when each and every one of the people from the nations heard the sound of the trumpet, flute, lyre, harp, dulcimer as well as each and every type of musical instrument, each and every one of the nations, ethnicities and language groups fell down worshipping the gold statue which Nebuchadnezzar the king had erected. 8 Because of this, during this time certain Chaldean men made assertions, specifically, they slanderously accused some individuals from the Jewish race. 9 They made a statement to the king and said, 10 “O King live forever! You O king issued a command, namely that each and every person who hears the sound of the trumpet, flute, lyre, harp, dulcimer as well as drum and in addition every type of musical instrument, must fall down in order to worship the gold statue. 11 However, whoever refuses to fall down in order to worship, they will be deposited unceremoniously in the midst of a blazing, fiery furnace. 12 There are certain Jewish men, because you assigned them the administration over the province of the city of Babylon-Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, these men have absolutely no respect for your command O king. By no means do they serve your god, that is, by no means do they worship the gold statue which you erected.” 13 Then, because of rage, yes and a furious rage at that, Nebuchadnezzar issued an order causing Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to be brought into his presence. Consequently, these men were brought into the king’s presence. 14 Nebuchadnezzar asked a question and said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, all of you are refusing to serve my god, that is, all of you refuse to worship the gold statue, which I erected? 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 deposited 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?” 16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, as for us, we are by no means obligated to respond to you concerning this matter. 17 Certainly, our God, whom, we serve, exists in the state of being able to rescue us from the blazing, fiery furnace so that He will cause us to be delivered out of your hand O king. 18 However, if not, let it be known to you O king that we are refusing to serve your god, that is, we refuse to worship the gold statue, you erected.” 19 Consequently, Nebuchadnezzar was totally and completely enraged. Also, his facial expression was changed against Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He responded and issued an order to heat the furnace seven times more than which it was normally heated. 20 Then, he issued a command to certain, strong valiant men who were in his military to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego for the purpose of depositing them unceremoniously into the blazing, fiery furnace. (My translation)
Daniel 3:21 Then these men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps and their other clothes, and were cast into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. (NASB95)
“Trousers” is the masculine plural construct form of the noun sǎr∙bāl (סַרְבָּל) (sar-bal´), which refers to “sandals.”
“Coats” is the masculine plural construct form of the noun pǎṭ∙ṭîš (פַּטִּישׁ) (pat-teesh´), which refers to the linen tunic, which reached to the feet as well as a wool tunic, which went over the linen one.
“Caps” is the feminine plural construct form of the noun kǎr∙belā(h) (כַּרְבְּלָה) (kar-bel-aw´), which refers to some kind of hat worn by the Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, which corresponds to the one mentioned by Herodotus.
Daniel 3:21 Therefore, these men were tied up in their sandals, tunics and hats, as well as, their other garments. Then, they were unceremoniously deposited into the blazing, fiery furnace. (My translation)
In Daniel 3:21, we have the record of certain strong, valiant soldiers in Nebuchadnezzar’s army carrying out his orders to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and then depositing them unceremoniously into the midst of a blazing, fiery furnace.
Thus, this presents to us the execution of Daniel’s three friends because of their refusal to obey 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.
This act of civil disobedience was justified since the Mosaic Law prohibited the Israelites in Exodus 20:3 and 23 from practicing idolatry.
Interestingly, in Daniel 3:20, we read that Nebuchadnezzar issued a command to certain, strong valiant men who were in his military to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego for the purpose of depositing them unceremoniously into the blazing, fiery furnace.
There is no mention of their clothing yet in Daniel 3:21 we not only have these soldiers carrying out the king’s order but also mentioning their clothing.
Usually, when a criminal was executed, they were stripped of their clothing but here in Daniel 3:21, this is definitely not the case.
There are a couple of reasons as to why Daniel mentions that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were executed while still clothed.
First of all, it reveals how enraged Nebuchadnezzar was with these three in that he did not want to waste any time executing them.
But more importantly their clothing is mentioned since it would impress upon the reader that a great demonstration of God’s power delivered Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from certain death.
In Daniel 3:27, Daniel writes that when the king saw that these three were still alive along with another unidentified individual whose appearance was not of this world and were walking around in the furnace, Nebuchadnezzar ordered them out.
The king along with the other dignitaries and soldiers at the execution observed that their bodies along with their clothing were totally and completely unaffected.
There was not even the smell of fire upon them, which would be impressive.
It would impress those at the execution and the reader that a great miracle had taken place since the clothing of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego was untouched by the flames.
Further contributing to this is that Daniel writes that they were tied up and yet Daniel 3:25 records that Nebuchadnezzar saw them walking around in the furnace with another unidentified individual whose appearance was not of this world.
This would tell the reader and the witnesses that a great miracle had taken place.
Also, contributing to this is that Daniel 3:19 says that Nebuchadnezzar ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was normally heated.
Then, in Daniel 3:24-27, we read that they are totally untouched by the flames with Nebuchadnezzar and his dignitaries and soldiers as witnesses.
This again, would impress upon the witnesses and the reader that something supernatural had taken place to deliver Daniel’s three friends.
Therefore, Daniel describes Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego as tied up and fully clothed when they were executed by the soldiers and that Nebuchadnezzar ordered the furnace seven times hotter than it was normally heated in order to impress upon the reader that a great miracle had taken place.
It is to impress upon the reader that something supernatural had taken place in that the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had intervened and by His great power delivered them from certain death.
The mention of heating the furnace seven times hotter than normal along with the fact that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were tied up in their clothing serves to make their deliverance from the flames by God much more impressive to both the eyewitnesses and the reader.
The mention of each of these things would serve to glorify God in the sense that He manifested His sovereignty by overruling Nebuchadnezzar’s decision to execute Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
It glorified Him in the sense that He manifested His omnipotence by preventing these three from being killed by the flames and freeing them from the ropes which bound them.