The Book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar’s Golden Image, Daniel 3:1-7 - Lesson 12

We ended our study of Daniel, chapter two with the sight of the king falling upon his face and worshipping Daniel.

But Daniel did not receive worship and pointed the king to his God which prompted Nebuchadnezzar to glorify God as the God of gods, and a Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets.

Daniel and his three friends were made great men in the kingdom and given authority over the province of Babylon, with Daniel having a special place in the gate of the king.

The promotion of these four men was as the result of the knowledge given to Nebuchadnezzar concerning his dream which was a vision of Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom and other kingdoms to follow.

The king was delighted to know the interpretation however this knowledge was not received by the king as something that was fixed in stone and could not be changed and we know this to be true by what took place in chapter three of Daniel.

Daniel had told of the stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands that would break in pieces the totality of the image, including the head of gold that stood for Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom.

Daniel said that the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof is sure, meaning that what was dreamed will certainly come to pass in its entirety.

But the certainty of this was not accepted by Nebuchadnezzar for we learn in Chapter 3 of his plans to insure that what took place in his dream does not take place in reality.

One thing we should learn from this is that as believers we are not to oppose that which God proposes.

God has told us of the end time events that will take place, horrible events, world changing events and we are not to try to affect these events with opposition or alteration as if we could do so anyway.

There is nothing we can do to oppose or promote the kingdom of God from coming any sooner or later than that which God ordains.

We are not to think that our actions can change which God has so ordained to happen.

But this is the position that Nebuchadnezzar took by erecting a great image of gold which we assume was a portrayal of himself as one to be worshipped.

We don’t know this for a fact and the image could simply be a god that the king invented for his purposes.

We read of this in,  Daniel 3:1-7,  Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.  Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.  Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.  Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,  That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:  And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.  Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

Daniel’s writing of this event follows that of the interpretation of the dream.

Because of this I believe he intended to show that the dream and this image erected by the king are related.

Daniel did not tell us what the golden image of chapter 3 represents but simply that it was constructed in order for Nebuchadnezzar’s people to have a common point of worship.

It was something that the king invented in order to unify his people around one god.

Daniel simply tells us that a 90 foot by 9 foot statute of gold was constructed in the plain of Dura and that the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces were to bow down and worship the image.

If we believe that there is a relationship between this statue and the dream of chapter two it could be this.

The king knew his dream concerned the future of not only his kingdom but of kingdoms to follow.

He knew the metals of the statue decreased in value in relation to time.

He liked the fact that his kingdom was the head of gold but it seems he was disturbed by the following kingdoms being of lesser quality until any quality at all was erased in the feet which were made of iron and clay.

There seems to be no recognition of the inevitability of the destruction of the image of his dream but simply a desire to keep the dream from happening.

There was no recognition of the dream being the immutable and unchangeable word of God that was to take place regardless of what actions the king took.

There is no focus on the stone cut out without hands which destroys the statue completely.

Instead he put his mind to the weakness of the materials beneath the head of gold and decided to make his statue completely of gold indicating his desire for the continuance of his kingdom, a kingdom pictured by the most valuable metal.

He saw not the necessity of destruction of that which was made with human hands in favor of that made without human hands and wished to simply improve on man’s works so that the stone made without hands was not necessary in the process.

This is the age old message of man, a world glorious without the glory of God.

He is simply promoting another religion whereby works will bring reward from the gods.

He refused to accept the fact that the God of gods had spoken and that which was spoken would come about.

King Nebuchadnezzar would have none of that for he determined that his kingdom was to last and that by his own efforts he would not allow silver, brass, iron or clay to weaken his kingdom.

He saw this weakening as he surveyed the head of gold and the statue’s ultimate result in the feet of iron and clay.

From the head down that was an indication that cohesiveness was a factor in its weakening.

The kingdom was divided, partly strong, partly broken.

The people were not totally united for they mingled themselves with the seed of men but they did not cleave one to another.

They associated with each other as iron and clay may associate by touching each other but they do not combine with each other as one cannot combine iron and clay together.

They had divided interests and did not act as one nation.

They had their own agendas.

What would be the fate of Israel today if its surrounding nations united as one?

But for the protection of God Israel could be destroyed in a few days.

So this is what motivated the king.

The question was what to do to forestall the events of his dream.

What could he do to unite his kingdom and not have a kingdom which would someday come apart, peoples without cohesiveness?

What would bring cohesion to his kingdom and bring cleaving among its parts.

We have already seen in chapter one his bringing together of advisors from all parts of his kingdom and even including in this group exiles from nations he had vanquished.

His intent is to rule the world and establish a great kingdom but his dream and the interpretation thereof says otherwise and therefore he now takes measures which oppose the outcome of the dream.

The answer lies in getting the peoples to cleave one to another as gold cleaves to gold.

He needed to have something, around which all peoples could unite and that something was a common religion and a common object of worship.

Daniel 3 is about a king who is determined to insure the lasting quality of his dominion by unifying the many races and nations under his rule with a common religion and a common object of worship.

Now to the peoples of the world this would not be a problem for most of the world worshipped many gods and another god posed no problem.

This acceptance of Nebuchadnezzar’s image was so widespread that only three men opposed this new religion.

Another god was indeed a problem for the Israelite, for God’s people can never fit into this mode.

They will always be peculiar to that of the world.

God desires this and told his people in no uncertain terms that they are to have no other gods before him.

Israel was commanded to serve God alone, and all idols were forbidden (Deuteronomy 5:7-10; 6:14-15).

When the Israelites defeated their enemies and took the images of their gods, they were to destroy them.

They were not to keep them even for the value of their metals

Deuteronomy 7:25-26,  The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God.

In the dream did God save any of the metals that were ground to chaff?

No, God keeps the same word that he told the Jews to keep and had the wind take every vestige of the image away.

So all the leaders were assembled to participate in the first ceremony of this new religion including three Jews who had been promoted because of Daniel’s interpretation of the dream.

Daniel was absent and we are not given the reason.

We will see that the three Hebrews did not let this first ceremony go by without taking a stand.

This lesson is a very important lesson to all of us when we as Christians embark on a new venture perhaps with people who we do not know very well.

Take a stand for Christ right off.

Bow your head in prayer at a meal, let your conversation make known your allegiance to Christ.

Do it early or it will be too late and your testimony will be tested with harder and harder tests.

But as I said believers in the one true God will always be faced with a challenge to stand whereby others who have no convictions will simply go with the flow.

All who were standing at the Plain of  Dura had no problem going with the flow and immediately bowed down to the great image.

But the Jew worshipped God alone and could not be faithful to their God and worship anyone or anything else.

To comply with Nebuchadnezzar’s command would mean the end of the Jew and the blending in with all the rest bringing a glad heart to this king who wished for unity around a common religion and a common point of worship.

This was not an everyday affair.

Nebuchadnezzar had gone though many months of planning and construction.

Much wealth had been expended to arrive at this occasion.

Just imagine the gold that had to be gathered from all parts of his kingdom to erect a statue 90 feet high.

Imagine the melting of that gold into parts for the statue, perhaps in the very furnace that we will soon find the rebellious but courageous Jews walking about but being comforted by Jesus Christ himself.

All of the officials from the far corners of his kingdom spent many day traveling to get to this ceremony,

The king had planned this kickoff of the new national religion to be a spectacular affair.

It was a massive crowd who came to participate and to see the great golden statue glistening from the sun, and to see the smoke of the threatening furnace billowing with perhaps the smell reminding the people of the consequences of refusing to be born into the new faith.

Everyone knew they must choose between the two. It was the image or the furnace; bow down or burn.

To those without conscience the choice was no choice.

There was never any thought of the furnace as they quickly followed the king’s command.