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Ask a QuestionThe arguments of the persecutor are in brief, Turn or burn.
brought them in--that is, not only Daniel and his three friends, but other youths (Da 1:3, 19, "among them all").
None of the Jews seem to have been present, except the officers, summoned specially.
flame...slew those men--(Da 6:24; Ps 7:16).
serve not thy gods--not only not the golden image, but also not any of Nebuchadnezzar's gods.
Such a despotic decree is quite explicable by remembering that the king, as the incarnation of Ormuzd, might demand such an act of religious obedience as a test of loyalty. Persecuting laws are...
children of Judah--the most noble tribe, being that to which the "king's seed" belonged (compare Da 1:3).
Illustrating De 8:3, "Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord."
who is that God--so Sennacherib's taunt (2Ki 18:35), and Pharaoh's (Ex 5:2).
Stronger than the decree (Da 3:29). That was negative; this, positive; not merely men must say "nothing amiss of," but must "fear before God."
True, O king--God extorted this confession from His enemies' own mouths.
This decree promulgated throughout the vast empire of Nebuchadnezzar must have tended much to keep the Jews from idolatry in the captivity and thenceforth (Ps 76:10).
stood before the image--in an attitude of devotion. Whatever the king approved of, they all approve of. There is no stability of principle in the ungodly.
Thy God...will deliver thee--The heathen believed in the interposition of the gods at times in favor of their worshippers. Darius recognized Daniel's God as a god, but not the only true God. He had...
God gave them knowledge--(Ex 31:2, 3; 1Ki 3:12; Job 32:8; Jas 1:5,17). Daniel had understanding in...dreams--God thus made one of the despised covenant-people eclipse the Chaldean sages in the very...
live for ever--A preface of flattery is closely akin to the cruelty that follows. So Ac 24:2, 3, &c., Tertullus in accusing Paul before Felix.
mourning--that is, afflicting myself by fasting from "pleasant bread, flesh and wine" (Da 10:3), as a sign of sorrow, not for its own sake. Compare Mt 9:14, "fast," answering to "mourn" (Da 10:15)....
accused the Jews--literally, "ate the rent limbs," or flesh of the Jews (compare Job 31:31; Ps 14:4; 27:2; Jer 10:25). Not probably in general, but as Da 3:12 states, Shadrach, Meshach, and...
no pleasant bread--"unleavened bread, even the bread of affliction" (De 16:3). anoint--The Persians largely used unguents.
princes--"satraps" of provinces [Gesenius]. captains--rulers, not exclusively military. sheriffs--men learned in the law, like the Arab mufti [Gesenius].
the last end of the indignation--God's displeasure against the Jews for their sins. For their comfort they are told, the calamities about to come are not to be for ever. The "time" is limited (Da...
tree--So the Assyrian is compared to a "cedar" (Eze 31:3; compare Eze 17:24). in the midst of the earth--denoting its conspicuous position as the center whence the imperial authority radiated in...
Between the vision of Nebuchadnezzar in the second chapter and that of Daniel in the seventh, four narratives of Daniel's and his friends' personal history are introduced. As the second and seventh...
Our Lord told the disciples the work they were to do. The apostles met together at Jerusalem; Christ having ordered them not to depart thence, but to wait for the pouring out of the Holy Spirit....
shut up...seal the book--John, on the contrary, is told (Re 22:10) not to seal his visions. Daniel's prophecy refers to a distant time, and is therefore obscure for the immediate future, whereas...
assembled together--literally, "assembled hastily and tumultuously." Had they come more deliberately, the king might have refused their grant; but they gave him no time for reflection, representing...
Belshazzar--Rawlinson, from the Assyrian inscriptions, has explained the seeming discrepancy between Daniel and the heathen historians of Babylon, Berosus and Abydenus, who say the last king...
third year of Cyrus--two years after Cyrus' decree for the restoration of the Jews had gone forth, in accordance with Daniel's prayer in Da 9:3-19. This vision gives not merely general outlines, or...