HOMILETICS
SECT. XIII.—THE FIERY FURNACE (Chap. Daniel 3:8-27)
God has never left Himself without a witness. An Enoch and a Noah found on the eve of the Flood; an Abraham in Chaldea, and a Lot in Sodom. While the multitude were falling prostrate before the golden image, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were in their closet on their knees. Where was Daniel? Probably now, as often, at some distance from the court. Wherever he is, he is worshipping the God of heaven. If at hand, like his three friends, fearless of the consequences, he refuses to obey the summons to the plain of Dura, but for this time left unmolested by his enemies, for reasons which we can only conjecture. Now not Daniel, but his three friends, are to be made illustrious through all time for their faith in and fidelity to the true God. Daniel, in noble self-forgetfulness, is content to leave them the honour of the deed, without being careful to give the grounds of his non-participation in it; an incidental confirmation of the genuineness of the history. We may notice in the narrative—
I. The accusation (Daniel 3:8-12). The accusation probably the offspring alike of envy and religious zeal. The accusers the Chaldeans, the priests and religious teachers of the country. The charge, as in Daniel’s own case (chap. 6.), probably the thing the accusers desired, expected, and waited for. “Who can stand before envy?” The accusation betrays itself. “There are certain Jews, whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon.” The language indicative of the spirit which prompted the accusation. Three faithful Jews so exalted, a likely butt for the shafts of envious idolatrous natives. Nothing to be found against these men except, as in the case of Daniel, “concerning the law of their God.” In a world “lying in the wicked one,” fidelity to God hardly able to escape the malice of men. In a corrupt time, “he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey.” False or hostile accusation for the truth’s sake, according to the Sermon on the Mount, to be rather rejoiced in by the servants of God. The footprints of the prophets and of the Master Himself. The servant not greater than his lord.
II. The answer (Daniel 3:13-18). The charge, true in itself, though made with evil intention, answered with meekness, firmness, and faith. The answer calm, dignified, and courageous. “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter” [94]. The naming of the king, as one has remarked, not disrespectful, but expressive of the deep earnestness of the speaker, and the desire to impress the mind of the hearer. The purpose declared, whatever may be the consequence. “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” The fiery furnace with the favour of God and a good conscience to be preferred to the comforts of a palace without them. The choice was wise and according to reason. To a Jew or a Christian enlightened by a divine revelation compliance was sin, though to heathens and polytheists it might be a matter of indifference. The three exiles knew their duty, and they knew in whom they believed. The God they served was able, if He pleased, to deliver them from the furnace or preserve them in it, as, according to tradition, He had done their father Abraham before them in that very land. He who had answered prayer at the time of the king’s distress could answer prayer now. If not His pleasure, no matter. While the fire consumed their body in the furnace, their spirit should be with God in paradise. Better a thousand times over to die with His favour than live without it. Better a fiery furnace for the body than the fire of hell and a guilty conscience for the soul. Pleas for compliance, suggested by the flesh and the tempter, would not be wanting. It was only an act of the body, in which the mind, the principal thing, would not participate. It was from compulsion, not from choice. The king commanded it, and rulers are to be obeyed. It would be ungrateful to the king, from whom they had experienced so much kindness. To die now would terminate their usefulness. It would only be what many, perhaps all, of their countrymen would be found doing. To all these, and perhaps other arguments, these noble confessors had but one answer, No. “It is written, Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor worship them.” Those, says Henry, who make their duty their main care, need not be careful concerning the event.
[94] “In this matter” (Daniel 3:16). פִתְגָּם (pithgam), from the Zend paiti or Sanscrit prati, = πρὸς, to, and gam, to go; hence a message, edict, and in general a word or matter.—Keil. Calvin paraphrases the answer of the captives thus: “Thou hast erected this statue, but thy authority is of no moment to us, since we know it to be a fictitious deity, whose image thou wishest us to worship. The God whom we worship has revealed Himself to us; we know Him to be the maker of heaven and earth, to have redeemed our fathers from Egypt, and to intend our chastisement by driving us into exile. Since, then, we have a firm foundation for our faith, we reckon thy gods and thy sway valueless.”
III. The consequence (Daniel 3:19-23). Arbitrary power brooks no opposition. The soft answer did not turn away wrath, while the firmness of faith and fidelity to God seem only to have inflamed it. Pride and passion shut both ears and eyes to reason. These Jewish captives’ past faithfulness and the king’s own former declarations alike forgotten. The decree goes forth with added cruelty. The victims are bound for the furnace. As if to defy the God of the Jews and make escape impossible, the furnace is heated seven times more than usual [95], while the strongest men in the army are employed to bind the three youths. So the Jews themselves thought afterwards to prevent the resurrection of Jesus by “sealing the stone and setting a watch.” So great was the heat of the furnace and the haste of the king, that the death designed for the accused at once overtook their executioners, possibly glad, as Matthew Henry suggests, to do their cruel work. “The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead.” Bound in their ordinary clothes [96], the martyrs descend into the fiery furnace. But Abraham’s God will again vindicate His honour in Babylon. There are times when He may see it needful, for His own glory and for the welfare of His creatures, to arrest the processes of nature and to suspend for a time the laws which He Himself imposed on material things. The fire is made for a season to lose its power to consume or to give pain. The bonds which bound the victims were indeed consumed by the flames, but neither their persons nor their clothes were affected by the fire. The hair of their head was not singed, neither did the smell of fire pass on them. Whether in vision or otherwise [97], a strange spectacle presented itself to the king. “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” he suddenly exclaims to those about him; “lo! I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God” [98]. The light of nature guided a heathen poet to speak of a crisis worthy of divine interposition [99]. It is with the Almighty Himself to judge as to what is such. Here is a city standing at the head of the civilised world. The land is one of graven images. The worshippers of the only true God are captive in it, while Bel, the great idol, is apparently triumphant. Three faithful servants of Jehovah and witnesses to His truth have been cast into a burning furnace for their protesting fidelity, declaring at the same time that their God, if He pleased, was able to deliver them. Shall God vindicate His honour, and support the much-tried faith of His people? Or shall the heathen still tauntingly ask where is their God? [100]
[95] “To heat the furnace one seven times more” (Daniel 3:19). An apocryphal addition at this place, attributed to Theodotion, the Greek translator, who flourished in the second century of the Christian era, contains a statement that the king’s servants were made to keep up the fire by flinging into the furnace naphtha, tow, pitch, and brands, such as were used in sieges for burning down cities; and that the flames rose forty-nine cubits high.—Rule.
[96] “In their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments” (Daniel 3:21). According to Herodotus, the garments worn by the Babylonians were the tunic (κιθών), an under-garment of linen or cotton, reaching down to the feet; on this was another tunic of woollen; and over this again a white mantle (χλανίδιον). This threefold clothing, though not such as we might expect in a warm climate, found on Babylonian cylinders. In the present passage, in the dress of the three Jews, we meet with it complete, though not according to our own and ordinary translations. We have (1.) סַרְבָּלֵיהוֹן (sarbalehon), “their coats,” marg. “their mantles,” which the Sept., Aquila, Theodotion, the Syriac, and the Vulgate leave untranslated, and which Symmachus renders by a word denoting drawers or breeches reaching down to the feet, such as were worn by the Persians and Scythians. It is rather intended to denote a mantle or cloak, which Luther adopted, and which is favoured by Gesenius. Hengstenberg gives “upper garment.” (2.) פְּיִטֹשֵׁהוֹן (petishehon), “their hosen,” but which Gesenius, after the Syriac and Hebrew interpreters, renders “tunic.” Theodotion and the Vulgate render it “tiara” or turban. (3.) כַּרְבְּלָתְיהוֹן (carbelathehon), “their hats,” but which the Sept renders by περικνημίσι, a garment for the legs or feet, and the Vulgate by calceamentis, “shoes.” Keil renders it “mantles” and thinks that the other articles of clothing, coverings for the feet and the head, are to be understood under the word לְבוֹשֵׁיהוֹן (lebhushehon) “garments.”
[97] “Was astonied” (Daniel 3:24), תְּוַהּ (levah), like the Heb. הִשְׁתּוֹמֵם (hishtomem), chap. Daniel 8:27, or simply שׁוֹמֵם (shomem), Ezra 9:3. Between the 23d and 24th verses, the apocryphal “Song of the Three Children,” as it is called, has been inserted by Jerome and others. The Septuagint, followed by the Arabic, inserts the clause, “heard them singing praise” (ὑμνούντων), thus accounting for the king’s astonishment. To connect the two verses, Houbigant adds the words found in the Vulgate, “But an angel of the Lord went down with Azariah and his companions into the furnace, and drove out the flame of fire from the furnace, and they walked in the midst of the furnace.” Added to show the reason of the king’s astonishment, and to account for the appearance of a fourth person in the furnace.—A. Clark.
[98] “It like the Son of God,” בַּר אֱלָהִין (bar elahin), which some prefer to translate, “a son of the gods,” as more likely to be found on the lips of a polytheist. The expression, according to Gesenius, is equivalent to “one of the immortal gods,” as, according to the Syriac idiom, “Son of man” means simply a man or a mortal. Keil thinks that Nebuchadnezzar speaks in the spirit and meaning of the Babylonian doctrine of the gods, according to the representations peculiar to all Oriental religions, the inferior divinities being regarded by them as begotten by the superior ones, Mylitta, a female deity, being associated with their higher god, Bel. According to Hengstenberg, the designation cannot be explained by these theogonic ideas. Willet, after Rupertus, thinks that Nebuchadnezzar thought only of some divine presence, whether god or angel, but that in reality it was Christ, the Son of God, who appeared at this time in human shape. Calvin thinks it was a single angel that was sent to these three men. Though the words were probably only intended by the king “to describe the dignified and exalted deportment of Him whom he thus characterised,” yet they declared, unknown to himself, a precious truth,—the presence of Him who is the Son of God with His suffering servants. In Daniel 3:28, the king calls him God’s “angel,” which He no doubt was—the “angel of the Lord,” otherwise called the “Messenger, of the Covenant,” the Son of God, who in the fulness of time was “made flesh and dwelt among us.”
[99] “Nec deus intersit, nodus nisi vindice dignus Inciderit.”—Horace, De Arte Poetica.
[100] Keil remarks: “Since all the heathen estimated the power of the gods according to the power of the people who honoured them, the God of the Jews whom they had subjugated by their arms would actually appear to the Chaldeans and their king as an inferior and feeble God, as He had already appeared to the Assyrians (Isaiah 10:8-11; Isaiah 36:11-20).”
“It is explicitly affirmed by Mr. J. S. Mill (System of Logic) that on this view of the constancy of nature,—on the hypothesis that the governing power of the universe is an infinitely wise and Almighty God,—a miracle is no infraction of nature’s harmony and concord, and, of course, not beyond reach of proof.… Lord Bacon declared that, in regard of redemption, ‘to which all God’s signs and miracles do refer,’ the Almighty could indeed ‘break the law of nature by miracles.’ The Saviour is called by the father of modern philosphy ‘the Lord of nature in His miracles.’ … Miracles are thus shown to be in harmony with a higher constancy than that of physical nature—a constancy of eternal purpose and everlasting wisdom, a course of mercy in the moral government of the world, a constancy of creative power, varying at pleasure its modes and its habitudes.”—P. Bayne, “Christ’s Testimony to Christianity.”
IV. The result (Daniel 3:26-30). The king’s former impressions and convictions are revived and strengthened. A stronger declaration than before is made in favour of the true God. A decree is issued on behalf of His servants forbidding, in the style indeed of Oriental despotism, a single word to be uttered against Him [101] on pain of death. The three [102] confessors are restored to their office with increased honour. No wonder; those most likely to be faithful to their king that are faithful to their God. The effect of the whole probably a considerable furtherance of the cause of true religion in the land, the strengthening of the hands and encouraging of the hearts of God’s servants, and an important step towards the final release of the Jewish captives. “Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee, and the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain” (Psalms 76:10). From the whole we may observe:—
[101] “Speak anything amiss,” marg. “error,” שָׁלָה (shalah), “that which is erroneous or unjust,” from שְׁלה (shelah), to err, commit a fault; changed by the Masorites into שָּׁלֵה or שָׁלוּ (shalu), an error or fault, as in chap. Daniel 6:5. Objection has been made to the difficulties connected with the carrying out of such a command. But such difficulties only confirm the historical character of the narrative.—Keil.
[102] “Promoted,” הַצְלַח (hatslakh), literally, as the margin, “made to prosper.” The Septuagint adds: “And he advanced them, and appointed them to rule over all the Jews that were in his kingdom.” Dr. Cumming remarks that this may be the meaning of the verse, as these three men were more likely to be set over the Jews than over the Chaldeans.
1. Persecution the frequent lot of God’s faithful people. “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). In a world of which God’s enemy is the prince, His faithful servants not likely to be long without trouble. As surely as a knife cuts and fire burns, so surely will he who by his life and lips reproves the ways of the world incur its hatred and persecution. “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil” (John 7:7).
2. The power and preciousness of faith. The noble act and glorious deliverance of these three Jewish captives ascribed to this divine principle. “By faith they quenched the violence of fire.” “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith” (1 John 5:4). Faith able to triumph over every difficulty and every trial. The same principle that enabled Moses to choose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, raised these exiles above the fear of a fiery furnace. Its natural effect to make men heroes. Its property to give “substance” and reality to “things hoped for,” and “evidence” or conviction in regard to “things unseen.” Looks not at the things that are seen and temporal, but at those which are unseen and eternal. Believes that God not only can, but that according to His promise He will, in one way or other, deliver. To faith deliverance is certain, whether in this world or the next. Looking into the glorious future, it thinks it matters little which. Eyeing Him who said, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world,” it sings, even at the stake, “O death, where is thy sting?” “Deny Christ,” said the Roman governor to Polycarp, “or thou shalt be thrown to the wild beasts.” “Call for them,” said the venerable bishop; “we have no mind to change from better to worse.” “But if thou thinkest so lightly of wild beasts, I shall have a fire that will tame thee.” “You threaten me,” replied Polycarp, “with a fire that will burn for an hour and then be extinguished, but remember not the fire of eternal damnation reserved for the punishment of the ungodly. But why do you delay? Execute whatever you please.” “The emperor commands thee to do sacrifice,” said the proconsul to Cyprian; “therefore consult for thy welfare.” “I am a Christian,” was the heroic reply; “and I cannot sacrifice to your gods; do therefore what you are commanded: as for me, in so just a cause, there needs no consultation.”
3. A faithful adherence to God’s prescribed worship one of our first duties. The first commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me;” the second, “Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image; thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them.” God jealous both of His worship and the manner of it. “I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God.” Will-worship among the things condemned in His Word. “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Colossians 2:23; Matthew 15:9). God’s glory to be esteemed “of more consequence than a thousand lives, and the gratification of a thousand senses.”
4. Christ ever present with His suffering servants. The Son of God a fourth in the fiery furnace. “Fear not, for I am with thee.” He that has power over fire present with His people in every fiery trial which is to try them. “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the floods, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee” (Isaiah 43:2). Faith, laying hold of the Word, sings with the Psalmist, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me” (Psalms 23:4).
5. Believers gainers rather than losers by their sufferings. The three confessors in Babylon lost nothing in the furnace but the bonds that bound them. Believers lose nothing by their sufferings but the bonds of corruption and sin. “When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” “This is all the fruit, to take away their sin.” Trouble often the method which God takes to consume our bonds and to purify our souls.
“I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith and love and every grace;
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek more earnestly His face.
’Twas thus He taught me thus to pray;
And He, I think, has answered prayer;
But it was done in such a way
As almost drove me to despair.”
6. God glorified by the trials of His people. The fiery furnace a platform for the display of God’s glory in Babylon. His name raised higher by the deliverance of the three martyrs than by the interpretation of the king’s dream. The trial of believers, whatever it may be here, “found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” The high privilege of Paul and of all suffering believers, to “fill up in their flesh that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ for His body’s sake, which is the Church” (Colossians 1:24). Their patient suffering made to glorify God as truly as their active service. The blood of the martyrs the seed of the Church.
7. Something to be imitated in the conduct of Nebuchadnezzar. A prompt, humble, and decided submission yielded to the truth as revealed in God’s deliverance of His servants. The effect and fruit of it the immediate employment of his influence in honouring God and advancing His cause. The threatened penalty to be condemned, as only corresponding to the character and customs of the time and country, and the ideas of an Oriental despot. Otherwise the edict an example to all in authority, whether as magistrates, parents, or masters, to employ their influence in restraining open ungodliness and forbidding profanity on the part of those who are under them.
8. Miracles precious as God’s testimony both to His power and to His presence with His people. One of the objections made against the genuineness of the book of Daniel is its alleged “aimless profusion of miracles.” But, as Hengstenberg remarks, the object in each miracle occurring in the first six Chapter s is distinctly stated—the manifestation of the omnipotence of the God of Israel before the heathen kings and nations, the circumstances of the chosen people at the time being such as to render it desirable that the weakness of their faith should be assisted even by sensible means of support. Objectless, says Dr. Pusey, they can only seem to those to whom all revelation from God seems to be objectless. “On the one side was the world-monarchy, irresistible, conquering, as the heathen thought, the God of the vanquished. On the other, a handful of the worshippers of the one only God, captives, scattered, with no visible centre or unity, without organisation or power to resist save their indomitable faith, inwardly upheld by God, outwardly strengthened by the very calamities which almost ended their national existence; for they were the fulfilment of His Word in whom they believed. Thrice during the seventy years human power put itself forth against the faith; twice in edicts which, if obeyed, would have extinguished the true faith on earth; once in direct insult to God. Faith, as we know, ‘quenched the violence of fire, stopped the mouth of lions.’ In all cases the assault was signally rolled back; the faith was triumphant in the face of all the representatives of the power and intelligence of the empire; in all, the truth of the one God was proclaimed by those who had assailed it. Unbelief, while it remains such, must deny all true miracles and all superhuman prophecy. But, if honest, it dare not designate as objectless miracles which decided the cause of truth in such battlefields.”