Daniel 3:4 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Daniel 3:4

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Assembled standing before the image are officials from all regions of the empire. This include all those nations that have been conquered and subdued, where Nebuchadnezzar has setup satraps, protectors of the realm, and lesser officials to rule in the interests of Babylon. The herald advances before all and issues this command on Nebuchadnezzar’s behalf, that all must bow down and worship the image. The command is to all ‘people, nations, and languages’, for all are represented in this great gathering. In falling down before the image, they will be indicating their personal readiness and the readiness of their people to submit to the king.On hearing the orchestra begin to play, the people are to fall down flat on the ground and worship the image, so there is a great climax when this happens. Then comes the negative part of the decree: ‘Whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.’ This is something like a great kiln that was already constructed nearby and roaring to encourage any waverers. It was an age when rulers were not shy about making explicit threats. This furnace seems to have had a staircase, allowing victims to be hurled in at the top. But there was a great aperture at the bottom, and we can picture the three Jewish governors walking out at the bottom, the hottest part. So there is the threat: the power of the king is going to be established; people will either submit or they will perish on the spot – it was a matter of instant judgment in those days. It is not only worship to the Babylonian gods as supreme and superior, but an oath of allegiance to the great Nebuchadnezzar, the equivalent of whom had never been seen before. The command was to fall down and worship the image, but what were they to worship? It was definitely a religious occasion. What did the image represent? We are not told. Some people think it was an image of Nebuchadnezzar, but it doesn't explicitly say that. Others think it represented Marduk, the principle Babylonian god¸ or a fusion of their gods. Possibly Nebuchadnezzar was partly deifying himself as well as promoting the other gods. Calvin says, ‘Nebuchadnezzar seems to me rather to have consecrated this statute to some of the deities; but, as superstition is always joined with ambition and pride, very likely Nebuchadnezzar was also induced by vainglory and luxury to erect this statute. As often as the superstitious incur expense in building temples and in fabricating idols, if anyone asks them that object, they immediately reply – they do it in honour of God! At the same time they are all promoting their own fame and reputation.’ Nebuchadnezzar certainly took credit for the image. Repeatedly Daniel tells us that Nebuchadnezzar has set up this image (verses 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 12, 14). He wants it to be strongly associated with himself. In verse 15 he directs them to ‘fall down and worship the image which I have made.’ He is taking personal credit it. It may have represented the image of his dream. At the time he believed the interpretation, but now he despises it and regards himself as the end time enduring conqueror. He wants to be recognised for his worldly dominion. Therefore homage, worship to it equals worship to Nebuchadnezzar as the all-time dominant figure on stage of world history. Nebuchadnezzar has gone back on chapter 2:47 completely. What is this but self-worship? How arrogant of a mere man to assume the position of God. What is the power of the greatest earthly rulers compared to that of God? Because this image represented his glory, and the empire must be united around its great king. This proud man could see no reason why he might not impose not only his secular rule on his subjects, but also intrude where he had no right to go, and impose himself as an object of worship upon every man, woman, and child in the empire; and there was no choice in the matter.

Application

We need to be very suspicious about reported conversions of royalty, leaders, statesman. Nebuchadnezzar was unconverted at this stage, a heady man. Although willing to acknowledge God, that did not make him a believer. Signs did not convert him: neither the dream, nor this miracle of deliverance. Signs and wonders don’t achieve anything, but only the Spirit of God, and yet the Charismatics say that we need signs back again to persuade the people. Notice the inconsistency of worldlings in the eyes of converted people. The king had sought Daniel’s counsel at one time, but now he does the opposite. You may have a smooth passage for a time, but never build your hopes on it and rely, for instance, on the friendship of the boss.

Music was much in use and was used to stir the emotions. That should be a caution: Christians can be carried along by the emotions of other, and think the same way, and made to forget God-given boundaries.

Questions

It is said that some of the names of the instruments resemble Greek words, and this is made an argument for the late dating of the book. Leupold responds that some of the instruments named may originally have been known to the Greeks, and retained their Greek names when adopted by the Babylonians. We know ‘with what tenacity the names of foreign instruments will cling to a particular instrument’ – violin, viola, cello, ukulele. He suggests another possibility: that they were originally Semitic, and the Greek retained analogous names. He adds however that to say the names are Greek does not mean that they only appeared after the time of Alexander the Great., or that Greek culture only began with Alexander, and he gives evidence for contact with the Greeks before Alexander’s time.

The various instruments are thought to be: cornet – a kind of horn or trumpet of the time; flute – a whistle or pipe; harp – a kind of lyre, lute, or zither; sackbut – some understand a kind of trombone, others a triangular stringed instrument; psaltery – a kind of harp; dulcimer – a wind instrument, perhaps resembling a bagpipe (the name is similar to our word ‘symphony’).

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Daniel 3:4 Commentary and Bible Study