Daniel 3:17

If it be so - Chaldee, איתי הן hên 'ı̂ythay - “so it is.” That is, “this is true, that the God whom we serve can save us.” The idea is not, as would seem in our translation, “if we are to be cast into the furnace,” but the mind is turned on the fact that the God whom they served could save them. Coverdale renders this whole passage, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we ought not to consent unto thee in this matter, for why? our God whom we serve is able to keep us,” etc.

Our God, whom we serve - Greek, “our God in the heavens, whom we serve.” This was a distinct avowal that they were the servants of the true God, and they were not ashamed to avow it, whatever might be the consequences.

Is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace - This was evidently said in reply to the question asked by the king Daniel 3:15, “Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?” They were sure that the God whom they worshipped was able, if he should choose to do it, to save them from death. In what way they supposed he could save them is not expressed. Probably it did not occur to them that he would save them in the manner in which he actually did, but they felt that it was entirely within his power to keep them from so horrid a death if he pleased. The state of mind indicated in this verse is that of “entire confidence in God.” Their answer showed

(a) that they had no doubt of his “ability” to save them if he pleased;

(b) that they believed he would do what was best in the case; and

(c) that they were entirely willing to commit the whole case into his hands to dispose of it as he chose. Compare Isaiah 43:2.