131 - A Furnace and A Tree

The Fiery Furnace. 

The stories in the book of Daniel are so familiar to most of us that I want to mention only a few, out of the way, thoughts in each of the stories.

Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits, and its breadth six cubits.  The height to width ratio is ridiculous.  

If its thickness was only six [cubits], how could it stand at a height of sixty cubits? Said Rav Bibi: They would set it up and it would fall, until they brought all the gold of Jerusalem and poured a base around its feet. Rashi's Commentary.  

Since there is so great a disproportion between the height and breadth, some have thought that the height includes the pedestal on which it stood. Gill.

Then a herald cried aloud, ... at the time you hear the sound of ... all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the golden image. 3:1-5.  The three Jewish men around whom this story revolves did not obey the king's command and they were brought before the king to make their defence.  

The king asked, Do you not serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?  In the Jewish Bible, it reads like this, Are my decrees void and desolate and an empty thing in your eyes? Rashi's Commentary.  

But if you do not worship, in that moment you shall be thrown into the middle of a burning fiery furnace. 3:15.  immediately, without any delay; no reprieve will be granted, and much less a pardon: Gill.  

Even your God can't deliver you from that furnace.  Has this king got a short memory, or what?  In the previous chapter, he had said to Daniel, It is true that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings. 

Even though they were given a chance to recant and worship the image, the three heroes refused, so the king spoke and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.  

It is good to remember that in Jewish thinking "seven" represents the ultimate.  Things pertaining to "holiness" or "God" are numbered "7", so are some scheduled events which are said to be directly in God's hands.  With that in mind, it is easy to see that this could simply mean that the furnace was made as hot as possible, maybe not exactly 7 times as hot.

After this ordeal, the king made Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego prosper in the province of Babylon. 3:30.  

The Gigantic Tree

I saw a dream and it terrified me. Dan 4:5.  But at last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar. 4:8.  Finally, Daniel came to the king to explain the dream to the king.  Here is an interesting note on Daniel's heathen name: The deity of Babylon was named Bel. Teshazzar is the name of an expression of wisdom in Aramaic. Rashi's Commentary.  From this, of course, we get Belteshazzar.  One could read this as if the Babylonians called Daniel, "a wise god".

Then Daniel ... was stunned for one hour. Dan 4:19.  It is not possible to designate the exact time denoted by the word “hour”. According to Gesenius (“Lex.”), it means moment of time; properly, a look, a glance, a wink of the eye”.  In Arabic the word means both a moment and an hour. Barnes; see also Strong H1860.

The tree that you saw, which became great and strong, whose height reached to the heaven, into the sky, according to Strong, H8064, this is where the birds fly. 

and the sight of it to all the earth. 4:20.  In dreams, the weirdest things can happen.  

Cut the tree down and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots of it in the earth.  Let his portion be with the animals of the field, until seven times pass over him. 4:23.  King Nebuchadnezzar will be cut down, lose his sanity for 7 years, live with the animals and after 7 years return to the stump that was left of his kingdom.  Again the 7 might simply be a reference to the time appointed by God.

seven periods shall pass over you: We may say that this is the recompense for the Temple (Solomon's temple in Jerusalem), which he destroyed, which was built in seven years. Rashi's Commentary.  People who use that kind of reasoning may say that.  I happen to be a strong believer in coincidence.

Even after this message of hopelessness, Daniel tells the king that there is a chance to repent and make things right with Jehovah by helping the needy.    Therefore, O king, let my advice be pleasing to you, and break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.  

Perhaps he can prolong his sovereignty, maybe there will be duration to your prosperity. 4:27.   One can surmise that he did not pay attention to that advice for the Bible tells us that the king's insanity actually happened and that he was not restored until after he finally learned true humility.