THE FIERY FURNACE.--3:16-28. GOLDEN TEXT. --_ Our God whom we serve is able to deliver its from the burning fiery furnace._ -- Daniel 3:17. TIME. --B. C. 587. PLACE. --Plain of Dura, near Babylon. HELPFUL READINGS. -- Daniel 2:1-49; Daniel 3:1-15; Jeremiah 29:22 LESSON ANALYSIS. --1.. Heroic Resolu... [ Continue Reading ]
IF IT BE SO OUR GOD WHOM WE SERVE IS ABLE TO DELIVER US. The king had said: "Ye shall be cast into the burning, fiery furnace, and who is that God who will be able to deliver you out of my hand?" This is their answer: "Jehovah is able, if he thinks best to deliver us from the furnace." We do not ta... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF NOT, BE IT KNOWN UNTO THEE. Whether God will deliver them from the impending death or not, their minds are the same. They will not disobey him in order to obey the king. Like the apostles before the Jewish Sanhedrim, they judged it to be right to obey God rather than man. Hence, they declare... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN NEBUCHADNEZZAR WAS FILLED WITH FURY. Such. point blank refusal to obey his arbitrary edict was something that he had not before encountered since he had been. king. The greatest monarch of his age, the greatest conqueror then known to history, was held to be worthy of almost divine honors, and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE COMMANDED THE MOST MIGHTY MEN THAT WERE IN HIS ARMY. The margin says that he commanded men "mighty in strength." This is the meaning of the original. Such men were chosen because he fancied that they might resist. These bound them hand and foot, preparatory to the dreadful fate in store for... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE MEN WERE BOUND IN THEIR COATS, THEIR HOSEN AND THEIR HATS. The language shows that their dress was Babylonian, rather than Jewish. The "coat" was. kind of mantle, as stated in the margin; the "hosen" were not socks, but drawers or trousers, the entire covering of the lower limbs; the "hats" w... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FLAME OF THE FIRE SLEW THOSE MEN THAT TOOK UP SHADRACH, ETC. If the furnace was so intensely heated as the king commanded, with such inflammable materials as would be likely to be used, the flames would rush forth from its open mouth with great fury, making it dangerous to approach near. Yet no... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE THREE MEN... FELL BOUND INTO THE MIDST, OF THE BURNING, FIERY FURNACE. They were thrown in, bound, and fell down bound into the midst of the furnace.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN NEBUCHADNEZZAR THE KING WAS ASTONISHED. He saw as he gazed into the furnace that which astonished him, so much that he rose in haste and asked. question to relieve his amazement. He saw four persons within the flames, no longer bound, though probably chains or fetters proof against fire had be... [ Continue Reading ]
LO,. SEE FOUR MEN LOOSE, WALKING IN THE MIDST OF THE FIRE. No wonder the king was astonished. It was wonderful that the men were not consumed at once, but freed from their fetters, they walked unhurt in the flame, and there was. fourth one there, of. beauty and stature that was more than mortal, so... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SERVANTS OF THE MOST HIGH GOD, COME FORTH. The marvelous sight had wrought. complete change in the king. Coming near he called the three by name and bade them come forth. They had declared they would obey Jehovah alone. He now pronounces them the servants of the most high God. He does not declar... [ Continue Reading ]
UPON WHOSE BODIES THE FIRE HAD NO POWER. They had been completely protected against the fire. God had been. wall around them. Not only were they unhurt but there was not even the smell of fire on their garments. This was noted by the great company of the king's officers.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE KING BLESSED THE GOD OF SHADRACH, ETC. Offered him adoration. It is what we might have expected. He was. religious king. There was no doubt, now that Jehovah was. powerful God. Hence he worshiped him, along with his own gods and decreed that no one should speak against him. PRACTICAL AND... [ Continue Reading ]