Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Daniel
Book: Daniel
Chapter: 3
Overview:
Nebuchadnezzar's golden image.
(1-7) Shadrach and his
companions refuse to
Worship it.
(8-18) They are cast into a
Furnace, but are miraculously preserved.
(19-27) Nebuchadnezzar
gives
Glory to
Jehovah.
(28-30)
1-7 In the height of the image, about thirty yards, probably is
included a pedestal, and most likely it was only covered with
plates of
Gold, not a solid mass of that precious metal. Pride
and bigotry cause men to require their subjects to follow their
religion, whether right or wrong, and when worldly interest
allures, and
Punishment overawes, few refuse. This is easy to
the careless, the sensual, and the infidel, who are the greatest
number; and most will go their ways. There is nothing
So bad
which the careless world will not be drawn to
By a concert of
Music, or driven to
By a fiery
Furnace.
By such methods, false
Worship has been set up and maintained.
8-18 True devotion calms the
Spirit, quiets and softens it, but
superstition and devotion to false gods inflame men's passions.
The matter is
Put into a little compass, Turn, or burn. Proud
men are still ready to say, as
Nebuchadnezzar, Who is the
Lord,
that I should fear his power?
Shadrach,
Meshach, and
Abednego
did not hesitate whether they should comply or not.
Life or
Death were not to be considered. Those that would avoid
Sin,
must not parley with
Temptation when that to which we are
allured or affrighted is manifestly evil. Stand not to pause
about it, but say, as
Christ did, Get thee behind me,
Satan.
They did not contrive an evasive answer, when a direct answer
was expected. Those who make their duty their main care, need
not be anxious or fearful concerning the event. The
Faithful
servants of
God find him able to control and overrule all the
powers armed against them.
Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst. If He
be for us, we need not fear what
Man can do unto us.
God will
deliver us, either from
Death or in
Death. They must obey
God
rather than
Man; they must rather suffer than
Sin; and must not
do evil that good may come. Therefore none of these things moved
them. The saving them from sinful compliance, was as great a
Miracle in the kingdom of
Grace, as the saving them out of the
fiery
Furnace was in the kingdom of nature. Fear of
Man and
Love
of the world, especially want of
Faith, make men yield to
Temptation, while a firm persuasion of the
Truth will deliver
them from denying
Christ, or being ashamed of him. We are to be
meek in our replies, but we must be decided that we will obey
God rather than
Man.
19-27 Let
Nebuchadnezzar heat his
Furnace as hot as he can, a
few minutes will finish the
Torment of those cast into it; but
Hell-
Fire tortures, and yet does not kill. Those who worshipped
the
Beast and his image, have
No Rest,
No pause,
No moment free
from pain, Re 14:10,11. Now was fulfilled in the
Letter that
great promise, Isa 43:2, When thou walkest through the
Fire,
thou shalt not be burned. Leaving it to that
God who preserved
them in the
Fire, to bring them out, they walked up and down in
the midst, supported and encouraged
By the presence of the Son
of
God. Those who suffer for
Christ, have his presence in their
sufferings, even in the fiery
Furnace, and in the
Valley of the
Shadow of
Death.
Nebuchadnezzar owns them for servants of the
most high
God; a
God able to deliver them out of his
Hand. It is
our
God only is the consuming
Fire, Heb 12:29. Could we but
see into the eternal world, we should behold the persecuted
believer safe from the malice of his foes, while they are
exposed to the wrath of
God, and tormented in unquenchable
fires.
28-30 What
God did for these his servants, would help to keep
the Jews to their religion while in
Captivity, and to cure them
of
Idolatry. The
Miracle brought
Deep convictions
On
Nebuchadnezzar. But
No abiding change then took place in his
conduct. He who preserved these pious Jews in the fiery
Furnace,
is able to uphold us in the
Hour of
Temptation, and to keep us
from falling into
Sin.