Daniel 3

CHAP. 3. DANIEL’S THREE 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).

Daniel 3:1-7

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

Daniel 3:2

2. princes] satraps, Aram. ’achashdarpan,—both this and the Gk. ἐξατράπης, σατράπης, being corruptions of the Old Persian kshatra-pβwan, 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. ’adargβzar, in all probability the old Pers. andar-zaghar, later Pers. endarzgar, ‘counsel-giver,’ a title which was still in use under the Sassanian kings (Nφldeke, Tabari, p. 462). R.V. marg. ‘chief soothsayers’ implies a very improbable etymology. treasurers] So Daniel 3:3 : Aram. gedβbar. An uncertain word. It may be a textual corruption, or a faulty pronunciation, of gizbβr, ‘treasurer’ (Pehlevi ganzavar, Pers. ganjvar), which is found in Ezra 1:8; Ezra 7:21; it may have arisen by dittography from the following dethβbar[217]; it may be an error for haddβbar (in the plur., βγαψιΰ for δγαψιΰ), 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. dethβbar, from the Old Pers. dβtabara, Pehlevi dβtτbar, Modern Pers. dβwar, properly ‘law-bearer,’ from dβt, ‘law,’ and bar, an affix meaning ‘bearer.’ Cf. the βασιλήϊοιδικασταὶ 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. tiphtβyκ; 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 γπ for ϊ, i.e. denpetβyκ, ‘chiefs of religion,’ i.e. priestly dignitaries. Lawyers (R.V. marg.) depends upon an improbable connexion with the Arab. ’aftβ, 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.

Daniel 3:3

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

Daniel 3:4

4. And the herald cried aloud] lit. with might: Son 4:14; Son 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.

Daniel 3:5

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 shτphβr. The word used here (karnβ) is, however, common in the same sense in Syriac. flute] pipe, Aram. mashroḳ ?ξtha (from the root sheraḳ ?, to hiss, Heb. ωׁ ?ψχ, 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. psanṭ ?ηrξn, 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 sanṭ ?ξr, 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, Supplιment aux Dict. Arabes, i. 694; Lane, Modern Egyptians, ii. 70. The LXX used ψαλτήριον (sometimes) for the Heb. nηbel and kinnτr. Elsewhere in A.V. or R.V. where ‘psaltery’ occurs (as Psalms 33:2), it always represents nηbel.dulcimer] bagpipe: Aram. sϋmpτnyβh, 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]. Sϋmpτnyβh 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 φτεπιΰ, which also denotes a kind of flute (Payne Smit[225] col. 3430). (The dulcimer was an entirely different kind of instrument, consisting of a trapθze-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—ὅτεδὲτῶννεωτέρωναἴσθοιτότιναςσυνευωχουμένους, οὐδεμίανἔμφασινποιήσαςπαρῆνἐπικωμάζωνμετὰκεραμίου (or κερατίου) καὶσυμφωνίας, ὥστετοὺςπολλοὺςδιὰτὸπαράδοξονἀνισταμένουςφεύγειν; and xxxi. 4 (Athen. x. 53, p. 439 d) καὶτῆζσυμφωνίαςπροκαλουμένηςὁβασιλεὺςἀναπηδήσαςὠρχεῖτοκαὶπροσέπαιζετοῖςμίμοιςὦστεπάνταςαἰσχύνεσθαι. (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.

Daniel 3:6

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.

Daniel 3:7

7. sackbut] trigon.

Daniel 3:8-18

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

Daniel 3:9

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.

Daniel 3:10

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

Daniel 3:12

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).

Daniel 3:14

14. Is it true] Probably this is right (cf. Theod. εἰἀληθῶς; Pesh. in truth), though it requires a slight change in the text (δΰζγΰ [see Daniel 2:5; Daniel 2:8] for δφγΰ). 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 ẓ ?edβ with derivatives, cited by Ges. in his Thes., is not recognized by Payne Smith (who has only ẓ ?edad, 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. Wφrterb. ii. 316).

Daniel 3:15

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.

Daniel 3:16

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

Daniel 3:17

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.

Daniel 3:18

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.).

Daniel 3:19-27

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

Daniel 3:20

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

Daniel 3:21

21. coats] The meaning of the Aram. sarbβl (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 sirwβl (e.g. in Saadyah’s version of Lev 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 (* sarabβra), for which in Persia the peasants often use their mantle; in that of trousers, corresponding to the Mod.

Pers. shalwβr, ‘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 sirbβl: see Frδnkel, Aram. Fremdwφrter im Arab. (1886), p. 47. [231] HWB. M. Levy, Neuhebrδisches und Chaldδisches Wφrterbuch, 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. paṭ ?ṭ ?ish). 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 karbβl (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.

Daniel 3:22

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

Daniel 3:24

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. tìwah 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.

Daniel 3:25

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: ’ĕ ?lτhim is, indeed, used with a singular force in Hebrew, but the Aram. ’μlβhξn 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. ’ĕ ?lβh. The meaning is simply that Nebuchadnezzar saw an angelic figure (LXX, ὁμοίωμαἀγγέλουΘεοῦ) 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.’

Daniel 3:26

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 Psalms 57:2, though usually without ‘God,’ as Psalms 9:3, Psalms 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. Psalms 47:2), or over other gods (e.g. Psalms 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.

Daniel 3:27

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.

Daniel 3:28-29

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

Daniel 3:29

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.)

Daniel 3:30

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).