By Steve Thompson
A Commentary on the Sabbath School Lesson for October 9–15, 2004
The narrator’s use of repetition at first may seem monotonous to the modern reader of Daniel chapter 3 due to its sheer abundance, but it is employed skilfully to introduce the characters, the setting, and the plot, which make this episode of the confrontation between the God of the Hebrews and the hubris of Babylon so effective. Careful word counts reveal a preference for repeating key words six, seven, ten, or sometimes twelve times—significant Old Testament numbers. (Please note that my word counts are based on the vocabulary of the original Aramaic of chapter 3; word counts in translations may vary). The opening word of the chapter is "Nebuchadnezzar," whose name is repeated twelve additional times before the chapter’s end. He is further described as "the king" seven of those times. The chapter’s first verb "set up" (’bd) is repeated seven additional times to describe his main accomplishment in the chapter—setting up the gold statue. "Statue" occurs ten times in the chapter, further described as "golden" in five of them. The narrator affirms the statue’s "Babylonish" character by giving its dimensions, evoking the sexagesimal, or sixty-based, numbering system that Babylon bequeathed to the world. (We still measure time and divide circles using multiples of sixty). The seven categories of government officials assembled in verse 2 (note the list is repeated in verse 3) provide a vehicle for introducing the Hebrew heroes, although they are not named until verse 12. Finally, six types of "Babylonish" music instruments are named in identical monotonous order four times between verses 5 and 15, possibly to evoke the mindless repetition of Nebuchadnezzar’s attempt to symbolize Babylonian domination. The plot is carried forward by focusing on the contrasting human postures of the officials, including Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, expressed by key verbs; "stand" (’md verse 3) versus "fall down" (nfl occurring seven times in verses 5 to 23) and worship (expressed by the verb sgd "prostrate oneself" ten times in the chapter). The Hebrew heroes remained standing when everyone else fell down and prostrated themselves before Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. Interestingly, the heroes were not the only Hebrews present that day. Judah’s puppet king Zedekiah was probably among the officials who fell down and worshiped before the statue, according to Jeremiah 51:59. Tension heightens when the heroes are brought in to face the tyrant, accused of disrespect, impiety, and disobedience to his royal decree (v. 12). He offers a second chance, which they bluntly refuse. Nebuchadnezzar’s command to heat the furnace seven times hotter perhaps showed he knew something about the significance to Hebrews of the number seven. But his knowledge of the Hebrew God was deficient. Yahweh was the God of fire. He appeared to Moses in a burning bush, then to Israel from a blazing Mount Sinai, and later to Israel assembled on Mount Carmel in the form of fire that ignited the prophet Elijah’s offering. To such a God, a soot-belching Babylonian furnace, fueled with crude oil, was no threat! He was at home within the flames, where he trumped Nebuchadnezzar’s best effort to demonstrate Babylon’s might by protecting the heroes from flames, and even from the smell of smoke! The episode concludes with a final use of numbers—the three heroes, thrown into the furnace (where they fell down, the only time they fell down that day) appear as four men to Nebuchadnezzar, who negates the entire message and point of his golden statute exercise by proclaiming that no other such god exists who can deliver in this way (v. 29).
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