Daniel 3:13 Commentary and Bible Study

‘In his rage and fury’ – is it synthetic? No, I think it is real rage and fury. Satan puts it into his mind: ‘These are the people who make you look small, who detract from your authority and your power.’ The defiance of the three young Jewish men has made the king hot with rage and impetuously irrational. He could scarcely control himself. He had been withstood and it made him livid; he couldn’t stand it. He commanded to bring them and he goes through the motions of questioning them. He knows them, addresses them, and when they are in front of him he manages to get some self-control. ‘Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods,’ – he knew perfectly well that they didn't – ‘nor worship the golden image which I have set up?’ Now he seems to give them a second opportunity to obey. He knows they have not complied with his edict, but he forces them to repeat their refusal while standing before him in the hope of intimidating them. From his point of view, it would be better if, before such a multitude, they could be forced to give way as an example to others. He likes the pomp of the edict and quotes from it at length to add to the awe of the situation. But instead of making them give way, he only received a bolder response.‘And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?’ Nebuchadnezzar had been so amazed, and such a deep impression had been made on him when Daniel was able to describe to him his dream and interpret it to him. He was humbled for a time, but he has got over that. In his great pride he now assumes his gods must be superior to those of any other nation. He has got contempt now for the God of the Jews. He did not believe in a God who could deliver out of his hand. He did not believe in a God who had any real power. But that is not why God works the miracle; it is to deliver his people.