CHAP. 3. DANIEL’S THREE COMPANIONS RESCUED FROM THE FURNACE

Nebuchadnezzar erects in the plain of Dura, near Babylon, a colossal golden image, and assembles for its dedication the high officials of his kingdom, all being commanded, under penalty of being cast into a burning fiery furnace, to fall down at a given signal and worship it (Daniel 3:1-7). Daniel’s three companions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, refusing to do this, are cast into the furnace; but, to the king’s surprise, are wonderfully delivered from the power of the flame (Daniel 3:8-27). Thereupon Nebuchadnezzar solemnly acknowledges the power of their God, issues a decree threatening death to any who presume to blaspheme Him, and bestows upon the three men various marks of favour (Daniel 3:28-30).

The narrative has a didactic aim. It depicts a signal example of religious heroism; and at the same time presents a striking concrete illustration of the words of the second Isaiah (Isaiah 43:2), ‘When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt; neither shall the fire kindle upon thee.’ Circumstances sometimes arise, under which it may be a point of duty for the faithful servant of God to prefer death to apostasy; and the three Jewish youths are represented as yielding themselves courageously to a martyr’s death, without the least expectation that they would be delivered from it. In the time of the Maccabees (see 1Ma 1:62-63; and the words of Mattathias, 2:19–22), as also during the persecutions in the early centuries of Christianity, the alternative, martyrdom or apostasy, became a very real one; and constancy and faith won many splendid triumphs.

There was a popular Jewish legend respecting Abraham that for refusing to worship Nimrod’s gods he was cast by him into a furnace of fire, and miraculously delivered[215].

[215] See Hastings’ Dict. of the Bible, i. 17, Beer, Leben Abraham’s nach der Jüd. Sage, p. 11 ff.; and cf. Ball, Pref. to the Song of the Three Children, in the Speaker’s Comm. on the Apocrypha, ii. 305–7 (where also various Talmudic and Midrashic developments of the narrative of Daniel 3 are quoted).

1. Nebuchadnezzar] Sept., Theod., Pesh. prefix ‘In the eighteenth year,’ which would be the year before Jerusalem was finally taken by the Chaldaeans (2 Kings 25:8). Sept. also has an addition stating the occasion on which the image was erected: it was while he was ‘organizing (διοικῶν) cities and countries, and all the inhabitants of the earth, from India to Ethiopia.’ The addition is probably nothing but a Midrashic embellishment: we at least know nothing from any other source of Nebuchadnezzar’s empire as extending to the limits named, or of his conducting military expeditions except in the direction of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt (exclusive of Ethiopia).

made an image of gold, &c.] The expression does not mean necessarily that it was of solid gold; it might be used of an image that was merely (in the ancient fashion) overlaid with gold: the ‘altar of gold’ of Exodus 39:38 was in reality only overlaid with gold (Exodus 30:3). It is not expressly stated what the image represented; it is not however described as the image of a god, so in all probability it represented Nebuchadnezzar himself. It was a common practice of the Assyrian kings to erect images of themselves with laudatory inscriptions in conquered cities, or provinces, as symbols of their dominion, the usual expression in such cases being ṣa-lam šarrû-ti-a (šur-ba-a) ipu-uš, “a (great) image of my royalty I made”; see KB[216] i. 69, l. 98 f.; 73, l. 5; 99, l. 25; 133, l. 31; 135, l. 71; 141, l. 93; 143, l. 124; 147, l. 156; 155, l. 26, &c. (all from the reigns of Asshur-naṣir-abal, b.c. 885–860, and Shalmaneṣer II., b.c. 860–825). Jastrow (Relig. of Bab. and Ass., 1898, p. 669) remarks that, inasmuch as in the inscriptions the victories of the armies were commonly ascribed to the help of the gods, a homage to some deity would be involved in the recital, though no instance is at present known of divine honours being paid to such statues.

[216] B. Eb. Schrader, Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek (transliterations and translations of Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions), 1889–1900.

threescore cubits, &c.] The image was thus some 90 feet high, and 9 broad. The disproportion of height and breadth—in the human figure the proportion is commonly 5–6 to 1—has not been satisfactorily explained. The dimensions themselves, also, are greater than are probable: but the ‘India House Inscription,’ by its descriptions of the decorations of temples, testifies to the amount of gold that was at Nebuchadnezzar’s disposal; and Oriental monarchs have always prided themselves on the immense quantities of the precious metals in their possession.

set it up] “ ‘to set up an image’ (the same words in the Aram.) is the usual phrase in the heathen inscriptions of Palmyra and the Ḥaurân” (Bevan); see e.g. de Vogué, Syrie Centrale (1868), Nos. 4, 5, 7, 10, 11.

plain] properly a broad ‘cleft,’ or level (Isaiah 40:4 end) plain, between mountains (see on Amos 1:5).

Dura] An inscription cited by Friedrich Delitzsch (Paradies, p. 216) mentions in Babylonia three places called Dûru. According to Oppert (Expéd. en Mésopotamie, i. 238 f.; cf. the chart of the environs of Babylon in Smith, DB., s.v. Babel), there is a small river called the Dura, flowing into the Euphrates from the S., 6 or 7 miles below Babylon; and near this river, about 12 miles S.S.E. of Ḥillah, there are a number of mounds called the Tolûl (or Mounds of) Dûra. One of these, called el-Mokhaṭṭaṭ, consists of a huge rectangular brick structure, some 45 ft. square and 20 ft. high, which may, in Oppert’s opinion, have formed once the pedestal of a colossal image.

1–7. Nebuchadnezzar’s proclamation regarding the image.

2. princes] satraps, Aram. ’achashdarpan,—both this and the Gk. ἐξατράπης, σατράπης, being corruptions of the Old Persian kshatra-pâwan, lit. ‘protector of the realm,’ but denoting by usage (cf. on Daniel 6:1) the chief ruler of a province. The term, as is well known, is a standing Persian one: in the O.T., it recurs Daniel 3:3; Daniel 3:27, Daniel 6:1-4; Daniel 6:6-7 (A.V. princes); and Ezra 8:36, Esther 3:12; Esther 8:9; Esther 9:3 (A.V. lieutenants); R.V. always satraps. The use of the word here is an anachronism: both the name and the office were Persian, not Babylonian.

governors] praefects. The word (segan) explained on Daniel 2:48.

captains] governors (R.V.), Aram. pechah, a term also (like segan) of Assyrian origin, often used in Assyrian of the governor of a conquered province. It found its way into Hebrew, and is used in the O.T. both of an Assyrian officer (Isaiah 36:9 = 2 Kings 18:24 : A.V., R.V. captain), of Babylonian officers (Jeremiah 51:57; Ezekiel 23:6; Ezekiel 23:12; Ezekiel 23:23 : A.V. captains, R.V. governors), and especially, in post-exilic writings, of the governor of a Persian province (Haggai 1:1; Haggai 2:2; Malachi 1:8; Ezra 5:3; Ezra 5:6; Nehemiah 2:7; Nehemiah 2:9, and elsewhere); as well as once or twice more generally (1 Kings 20:24; Jeremiah 51:23; Jeremiah 51:28). In Dan. it recurs Daniel 3:3; Daniel 3:27, Daniel 6:7.

judges] So Daniel 3:3. Aram. ’adargâzar, in all probability the old Pers. andar-zaghar, later Pers. endarzgar, ‘counsel-giver,’ a title which was still in use under the Sassanian kings (Nöldeke, Tabari, p. 462). R.V. marg. ‘chief soothsayers’ implies a very improbable etymology.

treasurers] So Daniel 3:3 : Aram. gedâbar. An uncertain word. It may be a textual corruption, or a faulty pronunciation, of gizbâr, ‘treasurer’ (Pehlevi ganzavar, Pers. ganjvar), which is found in Ezra 1:8; Ezra 7:21; it may have arisen by dittography from the following dethâbar[217]; it may be an error for haddâbar (in the plur., גדבריא for הדבריא), the word which occurs in Daniel 3:24; Daniel 3:27, Daniel 4:36, Daniel 6:7 (see on Daniel 3:24).

[217] It is some support to this view that whereas the Aramaic text has in both Daniel 3:2 and Daniel 3:3 eight names of officials, the Sept. and Theod. have each only seven: see Lagarde’s lucid exposition of the facts in Agathangelus, p. 157.

counsellers] justices (so Daniel 3:3): Aram. dethâbar, from the Old Pers. dâtabara, Pehlevi dâtôbar, Modern Pers. dâwar, properly ‘law-bearer,’ from dât, ‘law,’ and bar, an affix meaning ‘bearer.’ Cf. the βασιλήϊοι δικασταὶ of Hdt. iii. 14, 31, Daniel 3:25, vii. 194. This word has been found by Hilprecht (frequently) in the commercial inscriptions belonging to the reigns of Artaxerxes I. and Darius II. (b.c. 465–425, 424–405), excavated recently at Nippur by the expedition organized by the American University of Pennsylvania.

sheriffs] Aram. tiphtâyê; only found besides in Daniel 3:3, and of very uncertain meaning. Bevan thinks it may be the mutilated form of some Persian title ending in pat, ‘chief’; and so Behrmann compares the Sanskr. adhipati, which would correspond to an Old Pers. adipati, ‘over-chief’: while Andreas[218] proposes to read דנ for ת, i.e. denpetâyê, ‘chiefs of religion,’ i.e. priestly dignitaries. Lawyers (R.V. marg.) depends upon an improbable connexion with the Arab. ’aftâ, to notify a decision of the law (whence Mufti, a jurisconsult).

[218] In the glossary in Marti’s Gramm. der Bibl.-Aram. Sprache, p. 89.

and all the rulers of the provinces] conceived apparently as subordinate to the ‘satraps,’ and so as forming the class in which Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were included (Daniel 2:49). It has often been asked, where was Daniel? Possibly he is to be regarded as not included in the classes of officials enumerated, on account of his exceptional position at the court (Daniel 2:49): but in point of fact the narrative seems to be written without reference to Daniel; so that more probably the question is one which the author did not deem it necessary to answer.

3. The names of officials are the same as in Daniel 3:2.

4. And the herald cried aloud] lit. with might: Song of Solomon 4:14; Song of Solomon 5:7; and in Heb. (though the substantive is a different one) Jonah 3:8.

peoples, nations, and languages] the same pleonastic combination, Daniel 3:7; Daniel 3:29, Daniel 4:1, Daniel 5:19, Daniel 6:25, Daniel 7:14; cf. also Isaiah 66:18. Similarly Revelation 5:9; Revelation 7:9; Revelation 10:11; Revelation 11:9; Revelation 13:7; Revelation 14:6; Revelation 17:16. Here the combination is no doubt used under the idea that strangers from different countries ruled by Nebuchadnezzar, as well as from other parts (such as were always to be found in Babylon: Isaiah 13:14 b, Isaiah 47:15; Jeremiah 50:16), would be present on such an occasion.

peoples] i.e. nations, a sense not now expressed by the English ‘people.’ See the remarks on this word in the Preface to the Revised Version of the O.T.

5. cornet] lit. horn: so Daniel 3:7; Daniel 3:10; Daniel 3:15; elsewhere in this sense only in the ‘ram’s horn,’ Joshua 6:5. The usual Hebrew name for this (or some similar) instrument is shôphâr. The word used here (karnâ) is, however, common in the same sense in Syriac.

flute] pipe, Aram. mashroḳîtha (from the root sheraḳ, to hiss, Heb. שׁרק, Isaiah 5:26), not the word usually rendered ‘flute,’ and found besides (in the O. T.) only in Daniel 3:7; Daniel 3:10; Daniel 3:15. It occurs, though very rarely (P.S[219] Col. 4339), in Syriac in the same sense.

[219] .S. R. Payne Smith, Thesaurus Syriacus.

harp] or lyre, Aram. kitharos, i.e. the Greek κίθαρις: so Daniel 3:7; Daniel 3:10; Daniel 3:15.

sackbut] trigon (Daniel 3:7; Daniel 3:10; Daniel 3:15), Aram. sabbeka, whence no doubt the Gk. σαμβύκη was derived, which was a small triangular instrument, of the nature of a harp, but possessing only four strings (see Athen. iv. P. 175, d, e, where it is said to be a Syrian invention; xiv. p. 633 f.; and the other passages cited by Gesenius in his Thesaurus, p. 935). Sambucistriae and psaltriae (see the next word) are mentioned by Livy (xxxix. 6) as a luxurious accompaniment at banquets, introduced into Rome from the East in 187 b.c. (The mediaeval ‘sackbut,’—Span. sacabuche, a sackbut, and also a tube used as a pump: from sacar, to draw out, and bucha, a box,—meaning properly a tube that can be drawn out at will, was something quite different, viz. “a bass trumpet with a slide like the modern trombone,” Chappell, Music of the most Ancient Nations, i. 35, as quoted in Wright’s Bible Word-Book, s.v.)

psaltery] Aram. psanṭçrîn, i.e. ψαλτήριον: so Daniel 3:7; Daniel 3:10; Daniel 3:15. The Greek ψαλτήριον. and the Latin psalterium, was a stringed instrument, of triangular shape, like an inverted Δ: it differed from the cithara (as Augustine repeatedly states) in having the sounding-board above the strings, which were played with a plectrum and struck downwards[220]. The number of strings in the ancient psaltery appears to have varied. The ‘psaltery’ is often mentioned in old English writers: in Chaucer it appears in the form ‘sawtrie,’ or ‘sauterie,’ as Manciple’s Tale, 17,200, “Bothe harp and lute, gitern and sauterie”; and Shakespeare, for instance, speaks of “the trumpets, sackbuts, psalteries, and fifes” (Coriol. v. 4. 53). The name, in the form sanṭîr, passed also into Arabic; and the instrument, under this name, is mentioned in the Arabian Nights, and is in use also in modern Egypt[221].

[220] Isid. Etym. iii. 22. 7; Cassiod. Praef. in Psalm, c. iv; Augustine on Psalms 56 (iv. 539a–b, ed. Bened.), and elsewhere (see the Index); also Vergil, Ciris 177 ‘Non arguta sonant tenui psalteria chorda.’

[221] Dozy, Supplément aux Dict. Arabes, i. 694; Lane, Modern Egyptians, ii. 70. The LXX used ψαλτήριον (sometimes) for the Heb. nçbel and kinnôr. Elsewhere in A.V. or R.V. where ‘psaltery’ occurs (as Psalm 33:2), it always represents nçbel.

dulcimer] bagpipe: Aram. sûmpônyâh, i.e. the Greek συμφωνία. Συμφωνία, which in Plato and Aristotle has the sense of harmony or concord, came in later Greek to denote a bagpipe, an instrument consisting essentially of a combination of pipes, supplied with wind from a bladder blown by the mouth, and called ‘symphonia,’ on account of the combination of sounds produced by it, one pipe (called the ‘chaunter’) producing the melody, and three others the fixed accompaniments, or ‘drones.’ It is remarkable that Polybius employs the same word of the music used, on festive occasions, by Antiochus Epiphanes[222]. Sûmpônyâh is found, in the same sense, in the Mishna[223]; and it passed likewise into Latin[224], and hence into several of the Romance languages, as Ital. zampogna; Old Fr. Chyfonie, Chiffonie (v. Ducange). In Syriac, it appears in the form צפוניא, which also denotes a kind of flute (Payne Smit[225] col. 3430). (The dulcimer was an entirely different kind of instrument, consisting of a trapèze-shaped frame, with a number of strings stretched across it, which was laid horizontally on a table, and played by a small hammer, held in the hand,—a rudimentary form of the modern pianoforte.)

[222] Polyb. xxvi. 10, as cited by Athen. Daniel 3:21, p. 193d–e (and similarly x. 52, P. 439 a) Antiochus Epiphanes associated with very common boon companions—ὅτε δὲ τῶν νεωτέρων αἴσθοιτό τινας συνευωχουμένους, οὐδεμίαν ἔμφασιν ποιήσας παρῆν ἐπικωμάζων μετὰ κεραμίου (or κερατίου) καὶ συμφωνίας, ὥστε τοὺς πολλοὺς διὰ τὸ παράδοξον ἀνισταμένους φεύγειν; and xxxi. 4 (Athen. x. 53, p. 439 d) καὶ τῆζ συμφωνίας προκαλουμένης ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀναπηδήσας ὠρχεῖτο καὶ προσέπαιζε τοῖς μίμοις ὦστε πάντας αἰσχύνεσθαι. (Κεράμιον is a jar [of wine?]; Diod. Sic. xxix. 32 has κερατίου, lit. a little horn [κέρας denoted the Phrygian flute]. Συμφωνία means very probably not a band, but—as in Dan., and in the passages cited in the next note but one—a musical instrument.)

[223] Levy, NHWB. iii. 492a (Kelim xi. 6, xvi. 8); cf. 513a.

[224] As Pliny, H. N. viii. 64 (= the αὐλὸς of Athen. xii. 19, p. 520 c), ix. 24; Prudentius, Symm. ii. 527 ‘signum symphonia belli Aegyptis dederat, clangebat buccina contra’; Fortunatus, Vit. Martin. iv. 48, ‘Donec plena suo cecinit symphonia flatu.’

[225] yne Smith R. Payne Smith, Thesaurus Syriacus.

worship] lit. bow down to (Daniel 2:46). So regularly.

6. the same hour] Cf. Daniel 3:15, Daniel 4:33, Daniel 5:5 (also ‘hour’ alone, Daniel 4:16). The expression is common in Syriac, as in the Pesh. of Matthew 8:3; Matthew 27:48; Mark 1:42; Acts 11:11; Acts 11:16; comp. (in the Greek) Matthew 8:3; Matthew 10:19; Matthew 18:1, Luke 2:38; Luke 7:21; Luke 10:21, and elsewhere. ‘Hour’ (shâ‘âh) does not occur in Biblical Hebrew; but it is common in Aramaic (Targums and Syriac) and later Hebrew. Originally it denoted any small interval of time, and was only gradually fixed definitely to what we call an ‘hour.’

shall be cast, &c.] Cruel punishments were in vogue among both the Assyrians and the Babylonians. In Jeremiah 29:12 allusion is made to two Jews, Zedekiah and Ahab, whom (for some reason not stated) ‘the king of Babylon roasted in the fire.’ (The statement, sometimes made, that Asshurbanipal’s rebel brother, Shamash-shum-ukin, was punished in this manner, appears to rest on a misconception: see KB[226] ii. 191 [Annals iv. 50 f.], and Maspero, Passing of the Empires, p. 422.)

[226] B. Eb. Schrader, Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek (transliterations and translations of Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions), 1889–1900.

7. sackbut] trigon.

8. certain Chaldeans] probably, though not here necessarily, the learned class among the Babylonians (as Daniel 1:4, Daniel 2:2 &c.). See p. 12 ff.

accused] The figure in the original is a peculiar one, lit. ‘ate the (torn) pieces of the Jews.’ The expression has commonly in Aramaic the sense of falsely accuse, or slander, as Psalm 15:3 in the Targ., and in Syriac (e.g. Luke 16:1 for διαβάλλειν; and ’âkhçl ḳarzâ for ὁ διάβολος, the false accuser, or, ‘devil,’ Matthew 4:1, and regularly): here and Daniel 4:24 it is used at least in the sense of accuse maliciously.

8–18. The accusation brought against the three Jewish youths, and their answer to the king.

9. spake] answered (R.V.): see on Daniel 2:20.

the king Nebuchadnezzar] Nebuchadnezzar the king,—the regular order in Aramaic (Daniel 3:1-2; Daniel 3:5; Daniel 3:7 &c.), and often in late Hebrew (as Haggai 1:1; Haggai 1:15; Nehemiah 2:1; Nehemiah 5:14). In early Hebrew the order is almost uniformly ‘the king David,’ ‘the king Solomon,’ &c.

O king, live for ever] Cf. on Daniel 2:4.

10. sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer] trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe.

12. whom thou hast set, &c.] See Daniel 2:49. The ‘Chaldeans’ were, no doubt, jealous of the Jewish captives being promoted to high positions; and accordingly took advantage of their refusal to conform to Nebuchadnezzar’s edict, in order to represent them as ungrateful and disloyal to their royal master.

regarded] The Aram. phrase, which is peculiar, recurs in Daniel 6:13 (14).

14. Is it true] Probably this is right (cf. Theod. εἰ ἀληθῶς; Pesh. in truth), though it requires a slight change in the text (האזדא [see Daniel 2:5; Daniel 2:8] for הצדא). R.V. (with Ges.) of purpose (Hitz., Keil, of malicious purpose): upon this view the word would be a Hebraism[227], from the rare root found in 1 Samuel 24:11; Exodus 21:13; Numbers 35:20; Numbers 35:22[228]: this however rather means to lie in wait (see R.V. of the passages quoted), being used of one aiming at the life of another, and the word found here would not be derived correctly even from this verb.

[227] The Syr. verb ẓedâ with derivatives, cited by Ges. in his Thes., is not recognized by Payne Smith (who has only ẓedad, from which the word found here could not be derived).

[228] Levy, NHWB. iv. 170, quotes also three examples (in the sense of lying in wait, or capturing) from Talmud and Midrash (cf. Chald. Wörterb. ii. 316).

15. sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer] trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe.

well] an aposiopesis, as e.g. Genesis 30:27, Exodus 32:32, Luke 13:9; Il. i. 135 f. (von Lengerke).

who is the God] The sense is not appreciably affected; but ‘that’ is not philologically correct (comp. on Daniel 2:38). The question is a defiant challenge, like those of Sennacherib, and the Rab-shakeh, Isaiah 36:19 f., Isaiah 37:11 f.

16. are not careful] have no need (R.V.).

17. If it be so, &c.] If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us, he will deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and out of thine hand, O king, i.e. we shall be harmed neither by the fire, nor by any other punishment which the king may decree.

18. But even if He cannot, or will not, do this, still we can never fall down and worship thy gods. The three men shew the same courage, the same unflinching determination not to compromise their faith, which were shewn by the loyal Jews in the age of the Maccabees (1Ma 1:62-63; 2Ma 6:18 ff., 2Ma 6:7 &c.).

19. full of] filled (A.V. marg.) with would be both more accurate and more forcible.

than it was wont, &c.] than it was proper—or, the rule[229]—for it to be heated.

[229] See in Onkelos Leviticus 5:10; Leviticus 9:16, Numbers 29:6; Numbers 29:21 (for Heb. כמשׁפט); and the Targ. of Jeremiah 22:13; Jeremiah 32:11.

19–27. The three youths delivered from the flames.

20. the most] certain (lit. men: cf. in Heb. Deuteronomy 13:13 (14); Jdg 19:22; 1 Kings 11:17).

21. coats] The meaning of the Aram. sarbâl (only here and Daniel 3:27) is uncertain (see the very full discussion in Ges. Thesaurus); but on the whole mantles is the most probable. This is the sense which the word has in the Talmud[230], in which it occurs frequently (Ges. p. 971; Levy, NHWB[231], s.v.), so that it has ancient usage in its favour. On the other hand, Aq. and Theod. (σαράβαρα), LXX. in Daniel 3:27 (94), Symm. (ἀναξυρίδες), Pesh., express the meaning trousers (though of a looser kind than those worn by us),—an article of dress known independently (from Herod., and other authorities) to have been worn at least by the ancient Scythians and Persians, and to have been called by them σαράβαρα. The word, in the same sense, passed into Arabic, in the form sirwâl (e.g. in Saadyah’s version of Leviticus 6:3), as well as into several of the Romance languages. In both these senses the word may be originally Persian: in that of mantle, meaning properly (according to Andreas) a head-covering (* sarabâra), for which in Persia the peasants often use their mantle; in that of trousers, corresponding to the Mod. Pers. shalwâr, ‘under-breeches.’ The Syriac form of σαράβαρα has however a different sibilant from the one which is here used; and, as Mr Stanley A. Cook remarks[232], ‘mantles, long flowing robes, and therefore extremely liable to catch the flames,’ are more likely to be specially mentioned in the present connexion than trousers, or (R.V.) hosen.

[230] And so also, as a loan-word from the Aram., the Arabic sirbâl: see Fränkel, Aram. Fremdwörter im Arab. (1886), p. 47.

[231] HWB. M. Levy, Neuhebräisches und Chaldäisches Wörterbuch, 1876–89.

[232] ‘On the articles of dress mentioned in Daniel 3:21,’ in the Journ. of Philology, xxvi. (1899), p. 306 ff.

their hosen] Another uncertain word (Aram. paṭṭish). Sept. and Theod. render τιάραι, ‘turbans’; Pesh. uses the same word, which, however, seems otherwise to be known only to the Syriac lexicographers, who explain it sometimes as a ‘tunic,’ sometimes as ‘trousers,’ sometimes as a kind of ‘gaiter’ (Payne Smit[233] Thes. Syr. col. 3098). R.V. tunics; marg. ‘Or, turbans.’

[233] yne Smith R. Payne Smith, Thesaurus Syriacus.

hats] The rendering hats (or caps) is supported by the fact that the same word karbâl (in the fem.) seems in post-Bibl. Hebrew (Levy, s.v.) to denote some kind of covering for the head, and means certainly, both in the Talmud and in Syriac (P.S[234] 1810), the comb of a cock. Others, comparing what is apparently the cognate verb in 1 Chronicles 15:27, render mantle; but the text of the passage quoted is uncertain.

[234] .S. R. Payne Smith, Thesaurus Syriacus.

22. urgent] rather, sharp (Daniel 2:15).

24. was astonied] ‘astonied’ is the old, and more correct, form of astonished (Old Eng. astony, astonie, from Old Fr. estonner, Lat. *extonare). Here, however, the meaning is rather, was alarmed, the Aram. těwah being used in the Targums for Heb. words signifying to fear, as Genesis 27:33; 1 Kings 1:49.

rose up] from the seat, from which he had been watching the preparations at the furnace.

spake] properly answered, as Daniel 3:9. So Daniel 3:26; Daniel 3:28.

counsellers] ministers (‘counseller, is used—rightly—for an entirely different word in Ezra 7:14-15, 2 Samuel 15:12, al.), a word (haddâbar) peculiar to Dan. (Daniel 3:27, Daniel 4:36, Daniel 6:7), and of uncertain meaning. The termination bar shews that it is of Persian origin (cf. dethâbar, ‘law-bearer,’ gizbar, ‘treasurer’), but the sense of the first part of the word is not clear (Andreas). The explanation ‘associate-judge’ is questionable, as it implies a contracted, modern form of dethâbar, ‘judge,’ viz. dâwar.

25. loose] the fire had burnt away the fetters, but left the bodies of the three youths untouched.

form] aspect, appearance, as Daniel 2:31.

is like the Son of God] is like a son of (the) gods, i.e. a heavenly being or angel: cf. the ‘sons of God’ (or, of the gods) in Genesis 6:2; Job 1:6 (where see Davidson’s note), Job 38:7. The rendering ‘the Son of God’ cannot stand: ’ĕlôhim is, indeed, used with a singular force in Hebrew, but the Aram. ’ělâhîn is always a true plural (Daniel 2:11; Daniel 2:47, Daniel 3:12; Daniel 3:18, Daniel 4:8; Daniel 4:19; Daniel 4:18, Daniel 5:4; Daniel 5:11; Daniel 5:14; Daniel 5:23), ‘God’ being in the Aram. of Ezra and Dan. denoted regularly by the sing. ’ĕlâh. The meaning is simply that Nebuchadnezzar saw an angelic figure (LXX, ὁμοίωμα ἀγγέλου Θεοῦ) beside the three youths (cf. Daniel 3:28, ‘his angel’).

Between Daniel 3:23 and Daniel 3:24 LXX, and Theodotion, and following them the Vulgate (but with notes prefixed and added to the effect that Jerome did not find the passage in the Heb. text, but translated it from Theodotion), have a long insertion (Daniel 3:24-30), which, after describing how the three youths walked in the midst of the fire, praising God (Daniel 3:24), narrates the confession and prayer of Azarias (Daniel 3:25-30), and then, after another short descriptive passage (v. 46–50), represents the three as uttering a doxology (v. 52–56), which leads on into the hymn known familiarly as the Benedicite (v. 57–90). This insertion constitutes the Apocryphal book called the ‘Song of the Three Children.’

26. mouth] Aram. door.

God Most High] so Daniel 4:2; Daniel 5:18; Daniel 5:21 : without ‘God,’ Daniel 4:17; Daniel 4:24-25; Daniel 4:32; Daniel 4:34, Daniel 7:25 (first time); and with the adj. in a more Hebraistic form, Daniel 7:18; Daniel 7:22; Daniel 7:25 (second time), 27. The title is found in Hebrew, Genesis 14:18-20; Genesis 14:22 (of the deity of Melchizedek, identified by the narrator with Jehovah); elsewhere only in poetry, especially in the Psalms, as Psalm 57:2, though usually without ‘God,’ as Psalm 9:3, Psalm 18:13 : as applied to Jehovah, it is a title of dignity and respect, denoting Him as one who is supreme, whether over the earth, as ruler and governor of the world (e.g. Psalm 47:2), or over other gods (e.g. Psalm 95:3 : cf. Cheyne on Ps. 7:18). It occurs not unfrequently with the same force in the Apocrypha, being used sometimes by Israelites (cf. Luke 1:32; Luke 1:35; Luke 1:76), and sometimes (as here and Daniel 4:2; Daniel 4:34, cf. Isaiah 14:14) placed in the mouth of heathen speakers (1Es 2:3; 1Es 6:31; 1Es 8:19; 1Es 8:21, al.: cf. Mark 5:7, Acts 16:17): it is also common (as a title, without ‘God’) in the Book of Enoch. See more fully the article Most High in Hastings’ Dict. of the Bible.

27. princes, governors, and captains] satraps, praefects, and governors. See on Daniel 3:2.

counsellers] ministers (Daniel 3:24).

upon whose bodies, &c.] that the fire had no power upon their bodies, nor was the hair, &c.

coats] either mantles, or trousers (Daniel 3:21).

changed] viz. for the worse, a sense which the word often has in Aramaic. Cf. Daniel 5:6.

28. spake] answered.

Blessed, &c.] cf. the confessions in 1 Kings 10:9; 2 Chronicles 2:12.

sent his angel] cf. Genesis 24:7; Genesis 24:40; Exodus 33:2; Numbers 20:16.

changed] i.e. frustrated: cf. Ezra 6:11-12 (‘alter’); and Psalm 89:39 in the Targ., ‘thou hast altered the covenant.’

28–29. Nebuchadnezzar’s doxology, and edict of toleration.

29. I make a decree] the same phrase (lit. a decree is made by me), in Daniel 4:6 (cf. Daniel 6:26); Ezra 4:11 (at the end), 19, Daniel 5:17, Daniel 6:8; Daniel 6:11, Daniel 7:13; Daniel 7:21.

people, nation, and language] Daniel 3:4; Daniel 3:7.

any thing amiss] lit. any neglect or error: cf. the same word in Daniel 6:4; Ezra 4:22; Ezra 6:9 (‘fail’). In the Targums it stands for the Heb. shegâgâh, or mishgeh, oversight, inadvertence, Genesis 43:12; Leviticus 4:2; Leviticus 5:18.

cut in pieces, and … made a dunghill] see on Daniel 2:5. The terms of the edict, it will be noticed, are inexact: ‘every people, nation, and language’ must stand for ‘every one belonging to any people, nation, and language.’ (‘Their houses’ is in the Aram. his house.)

30. promoted] made to prosper (cf. Daniel 6:28), i.e. supported them in different ways in the discharge of their office, and so ensured their success (Daniel 2:49).