Daniel 3:26

Dan 3:26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, [and] spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come [hither]. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.

Ver. 26. Ye servants of the most high God.] This was a high title, such as David and other great princes have gloried in; {Psa 36:1 title} {See Trapp on "Psa 36:1"} The devil gave it to Paul and his fellow labourers; {Act 16:17} and they who deny it to Christ’s faithful ministers, loading them with names of scorn and obloquy, show therein less ingenuity than the devil himself.

Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth.] Not till they were called had they any mind to come forth; for where could they possibly mend themselves? Any place is a paradise where God is present. Ubi imperator, ibi Roma. Where the emperor is, there is Rome. Noah was well content to lie buried, as it were, in the ark, which was made in the form of a coffin, so long as God was there with him. Nos quoque non abhorremus a sepulchris ipsis, saith an expositor, {a} We also fear not to go down to the grave so long as we may hear God saying unto us, as once he did to old Jacob thinking of his journey to Egypt, "Fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will go with thee, and I will also bring thee up again." {Gen 46:3-4} Further, note how these three martyrs carry themselves toward the tyrant: they do simply obey his command, and come forth; they are not puffed up by the strangeness of the miracle wrought upon them, neither do they tattle, but suffer the matter itself and experience to speak, showing themselves to all sorts to be looked upon with greatest humility and modesty.

{a} Rollock.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Dan 3:26-27. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the furnace — As near as he durst come; and spake — With a milder tone than before, God having abated the fire of his fury; and said, Ye servants of the most high God, &c. — The miracle calls to his mind the confession which he had formerly made of the true God, Dan 2:47. And he can now at once both acknowledge him to be most high above all gods, and the three worthies, who had been condemned to the flames, to be his faithful servants. Observe, reader, sooner or later God will convince the proudest of men, that he is the most high God, and above them, and too hard for them, even in those things wherein they deal proudly and presumptuously, Exo 18:11. He will likewise let them know who are his servants, and that he owns them, and will stand by them. Nebuchadnezzar now embraces those whom he had abandoned to destruction, and is ready to show them every possible kindness, perceiving them to be the favourites of Heaven. How the fourth, whose form was like the Son of God, withdrew, and whether he vanished away or visibly ascended, we are not told; but of the other three we are informed, that they came forth out of the midst of the fire — As Abraham their father out of Ur, that is, the`fire, of the Chaldees, into which, says the tradition of the Jews, he was cast for refusing to worship idols, and out of which he was delivered, as those his three descendants were. When they had their discharge, they did not tempt God by staying any longer, but came forth as brands out of the burning. And the princes, governors, &c., being gathered together, saw those men — All the great men came together to view them, and were amazed to find that they had not received the least damage by the fire; that it had no power over their bodies, &c. — Several expressions are here used, which rise in fine order one above another, and the climax is beautiful. The fire not only had no prevailing power over their bodies, but neither was a hair of their head burned, nor their flowing robes singed, nor even the smell of fire had passed on them.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:26 The title Most High is often used to refer to God (e.g., 4:2, 24-25; 7:25; Gen 14:18; Num 24:16; Deut 32:8-9; Ps 73:11; Isa 14:14). In Canaanite religion, it often referred to Baal.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

[Daniel 3:26] Then (בֵּאדַיִן - Be'adayin)... to the opening/gate (לִתְרַע - l'taraʿ): [Means] To the gate (l'shaʿar). And [the root ת-ר-ע also appears in Hebrew, as in the name] “Tirathites (Tirʿatim), Sucathites” [I Chronicles 2:55].

Come out (פֻּקוּ - puquTze'u).

And come (וֶאֱתוֹ - ve'eto): [Means] And come (u-vo'u). Like [the imperative form etayu in the phrase] “Return, come!” (שֻׁ֥בוּ אֵתָֽיוּ - shuvu etayu) [Isaiah 21:12].

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

This commendeth their obedience unto God, that they would not for any fear depart out of this furnace, till the time appointed, as Noah remained in the ark, till the Lord called him forth.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

the most high God--He acknowledges Jehovah to be supreme above other gods (not that he ceased to believe in these); so he returns to his original confession, "your God is a God of gods" (Dan 2:47), from which he had swerved in the interim, perhaps intoxicated by his success in taking Jerusalem, whose God he therefore thought unable to defend it.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

HERE a sudden change is described in the mood of this cruel and proud king. We have already seen how confidently he extracted worship from the servants of God, and when he saw them disobedient to his command, how mightily he raged against them. Now Daniel shews in how short a time this pride was subdued and this cruelty appeased; but we must remark that the king was not so changed as entirely to put his disposition and manners. For when he was touched with this present miracle, he gave God the glory, but only for a moment; and still he did not return to wisdom. We cannot take too diligent notice of examples of this kind, as many estimate the characters of others from a single action. But the worst despisers of God can submit to him for a short time, not merely by feigning to do so before men, but in real seriousness, since God compels them by his power, but meanwhile they retain their pride and ferocity within their breasts. Of this kind, then, was the conversion of King Nebuchadnezzar. For when astonished by the miracle, he could no longer resist the Almighty, he was still inconsistent, as we shall afterwards see. We may also notice how the impious, who are unregenerate by God’s Spirit, are often impelled to worship God; but this is only temporary, and this equable tenor never remains through their whole life. But when God renews his own, he undertakes to govern them even to the end; he animates them to perseverance, and confirms them by his Spirit.

We must here remark how God’s glory is illustrated by this temporary and vanishing conversion of the reprobate; because, whether they will or not, yet they yield to God for a time, and thus the greatness of his power is acknowledged. God, therefore, turns an event which does not profit the reprobate to his own glory, and at the same time punishes them more severely. For Nebuchadnezzar’s conduct was less excusable after his once acknowledging the God of Israel to be the supreme and only God, and then relapsing into his former superstitions. He says, therefore, — He approached the door of the furnace, and spoke thus, — Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, servants of the most high God, come forth and come hither A short time before, he wished his own statue to be worshipped, and his own name to be esteemed the only one in heaven and earth, since this was pleasing to him. We then saw how he claimed the right of subjecting the religion and worship of God to his own will and lust; but now, as if he were a new man, he calls Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, servants of the most high God! What place, then, was left to him and to all the Chaldeans? How could they now worship those fictitious gods and idols which they had fabricated? But God extracted these words from the proud and cruel king, as when criminals and compelled, by tortures, to say what they would otherwise refuse. Thus Nebuchadnezzar confessed God to be the most high God of Israel, as if he had been tortured, but not of his own accord, or in a composed state of mind. He does not pretend this before men, as I have said; but his mind was neither pure nor perfect, since it was in a ferment with this temporary commotion. And this must also be added — the instinct was rather violent; than voluntary.

Daniel afterwards relates — His companions came forth from the midst of the fire By these words he again confirms the miracle; for God could extinguish the fire of the furnace, but he wished it to burn in the sight of all, to render the power of this deliverance the more conspicuous. Meanwhile we must notice the three men walking in the furnace, until the king commanded them to come forth, because God had issued no command. They saw themselves perfectly safe and. sound in the midst of the furnace; they were content with God’s present benefit, but still they had no free departure, until fetched by the king’s voice. As when Noah, in the ark, saw safety prepared for him in that tomb, yet he did not try anything until commanded to come forth. (Genesis 8:16.) So also Daniel asserts that his companions did not, come forth from the furnace till the king commanded them. Then at length they understood how what they had heard from the king was pleasing to God; not because he was a Prophet or teacher, but because they were cast into the furnace by his command. So also when he recalls them, they know the end of their cross to be arrived, and thus they pass from death unto life. It follows —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

26. mouth] Aram. door.

God Most High] so Dan_4:2; Dan_5:18; Dan_5:21 : without ‘God,’ Dan_4:17; Dan_4:24-25; Dan_4:32; Dan_4:34, Dan_7:25 (first time); and with the adj. in a more Hebraistic form, Dan_7:18; Dan_7:22; Dan_7:25 (second time), 27. The title is found in Hebrew, Gen_14:18-20; Gen_14:22 (of the deity of Melchizedek, identified by the narrator with Jehovah); elsewhere only in poetry, especially in the Psalms, as Psa_57:2, though usually without ‘God,’ as Psa_9:3, Psa_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. Psa_47:2), or over other gods (e.g. Psa_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. Luk_1:32; Luk_1:35; Luk_1:76), and sometimes (as here and Dan_4:2; Dan_4:34, cf. Isa_14:14) placed in the mouth of heathen speakers (1Es_2:3; 1Es_6:31; 1Es_8:19; 1Es_8:21, al.: cf. Mar_5:7, Act_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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together,.... Either by the order of the king, or of their own accord, to see the miracle that was wrought:

saw these men; saw them walking in the furnace, saw them come out of it at the king's call, and saw them when they were out, and examined them thoroughly; so that they had ocular demonstration, full proof and conviction, of the truth of what was done:

upon whose bodies the fire had no power; to blister, scorch, burn, and consume them, as it has usually over the bodies of men, or any creature:

nor was an hair of their head singed; which is easily done with the weakest flame; and this must be understood of the hair of their eyebrows and beards also; see Luk 21:18,

neither were their coats changed; neither the substance, nor form, nor colour of them, but were just as they were when cast into the furnace; the same holds good of all their other garments, their interior ones, with their turbants, shoes, and stockings:

nor the smell of the fire had passed on them; as will upon persons that stay at any time in a place where there is much fire and smoke; and especially where much combustible things are burnt, as pitch, sulphur, and the like, as in furnaces; and very probably in this, which had been so vehemently heated; and yet there was no smell of it on their garments; all which serve to make the miracle the more wonderful.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth ... - Margin, “door.” The Chaldee word means door, gate, entrance. The “form” of the furnace is unknown. There was a place, however, through which the fuel was cast into it, and this is doubtless intended by the word “door” or “mouth” here used.

Ye servants of the most high God - They had professed to be his servants; he now saw that they were acknowledged as such. The phrase “most high God” implies that he regarded him as supreme over all other gods, though it is probable that he still retained his belief in the existence of inferior divinities. It was much, however, to secure the acknowledgment of the monarch of the capital of the pagan world, that the God whom they adored was supreme. The phrase “most high God” is not often employed in the Scriptures, but in every instance it is used as an appellation of the true God.

Come forth, and come hither - The “reasons” which seem to have influenced this singular monarch to recal the sentence passed on them, and to attempt to punish them no further, seem to have been, that he had some remains of conscience; that he was accustomed to pay respect to what “he” regarded as God; and that he now saw evidence that a “true” God was there.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Came near; as near as he durst come, within hearing. And spake with a milder tone than before, God having abated the fire of his fury. Now he could at once confess and acknowledge the true God to be the Most High above all gods, and the three worthies to be his faithful servants.

Came forth of the midst of the fire; they went out upon the king’s call, without which they would not have stirred.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

26. On the furnace see Dan_3:25. On the most high God compare Gen_14:18; Mic_6:6, and notes Dan_3:13-15; Dan_3:25. Thomson well says that this term did not imply a recognition by the king of Jehovah’s supreme divinity “any more than a king of France acknowledged the supremacy of the Holy Roman Empire when in the credentials of his embassador the emperor was called Domiuus urbis et orbis.” It was simply a matter of “religious etiquette” to address the gods thus (Dan_2:47).

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, came forth of the midst of the fire. The variations of the Septuagint Version here arc inconsiderable. Instead of "spake and said," it renders, "called them by name," and omits the second repetition of the names, and the pleonastic "come hither;" instead of "Most High God," it has"God of gods Most High." Theodotion is in closer agreement with the Massoretic text; the only differnce is that "spake" is omitted. The Peshitta and Vulgate are in exact accordance with the Massoretic. The distinction between qpn and hta is "go out" and "come." It is well rendered in our Authorized Verb-ion. only there was no need of "hither" being put in italics. As above mentioned, this shows the form of the furnace to be not unlike our own open at the top, but having a door at the side. It was to this side door that the king approached. The fact that Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges Jehovah to be "Most High God" does not imply any recognition of his supreme Divinity, any more than a king of France acknowledged the supremacy of the head of the Holy Roman Empire. when in the credentials of his ambassador the emperor was called Dominus urbis et orbis. It was simply a matter of what we may call religious etiquette to address gods of the higher class as "god of gods." and "god most high." in Dan_2:47 Nebuchadnezzar had already declared the God of Daniel to be "God of gods" It is not impossible that to the Babylonians illa"a might have the appearance of a proper name.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And spake - With a milder tone than before, God having abated the fire of his fury. Now he could at once acknowledge the true God to be the most high above all gods, and the three worthies to be his faithful servants.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The provincial governors, regional governors, other governors

These are officials who have authority over different sizes of territory. See how you translated these in Daniel 3:2.

the hair on their heads was not singed

This can be stated in active form. AT: "the fire had not singed the hair on their heads" (See: Active or Passive)

was not singed

"was not burned even a little"

their robes were not harmed

This can be stated in active form. AT: "the fire did not harm their robes" (See: Active or Passive)

there was no smell of fire on them

"they did not smell like fire"

translationWords

Nebuchadnezzar

servant

Most High

province

govern

advice

robe

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

approached the gate of the... fiery furnace He approached the gate of the court, in which the furnace was situated, to speak with them, and at first, he saw them from afar.

Step out and come “step out and come,” but he did not say to them, “step out and ascend.” From here we learn that the floor of the furnace floated up and became even with the ground, so that they should not be troubled to go up.

Then...came out Although they were confident of the miracle that had been performed for them, they did not dare to treat the king lightly, to go out without permission.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.