Daniel 3: 1-7
King Nebuchadnezzar was really impressed with how Daniel could have the insight to explain his dream statue to him, but then his focus settled on the dream statue itself. So he apparently made a replica of it, and since he was the "head of gold," he went ahead and covered the whole statue with gold leaf.
(1) Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, the height of which was sixty cubits and its width six cubits; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
He made this huge idol, ninety feet high and nine feet wide. He set it up on a large flat plain, that had plenty of room around it to fill with people, and it must have gleamed so beautifully in the sunlight.
(2) Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to assemble the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
Then he invited everyone who was anyone to the party.
The titles of the various ranks of officials show us that the king had a well-organized bureaucracy:
A satrap (from Old Persian, khshstrapawan) was a "realm protector," a despotic governor of a province under the king.
A prefect (borrowed from Akkad, saknu), is "appointed" to a position of authority, possibly military, but more likely a lieutenant governor.
A governor (pehah) was a "lord of an administrative district," indicating a smaller territory such as the province of Judah which was administered by a pehah at this time.
A counselor (dargazar) was a "counsel-giver," an advisor.
A treasurer (from ganzabara) "treasure-bearer" was a financial officer, an accountant.
A judge (from Old Persian, databara), literally, "law-bearer," a judge.
A magistrate (tiptaye) was an "over-chief," a sheriff.
The rulers (siltone) "to have dominion over" was a general term for governmental executives, which covered all the rest of the officers.
(3) Then the satraps, the prefects and the governors the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces were assembled for the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
So everyone was there, filling the whole plain.
(4) Then the herald loudly proclaimed: "To you the command is given, O peoples, nations and men of every language,
(5) "that at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon (or triangular lyre), psaltery, bagpipe (or Pan's pipes) and all kinds of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up.
All the instruments that were available to Nebuchadnezzar were in his orchestra to provide the musical backdrop for this great worship service.
(6) "But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire."
Since this was a worship service, everyone was expected to honor this idol, which was probably an image of Nebo, or Nabu, Nebuchadnezzar' patron god.
Prostration before Nebo would amount to a pledge of allegiance to his viceroy, "Nabu-Kudurriusur" = Nebuchadnezzar.
From the king's standpoint, no government employee in his realm could refuse to demonstrate his loyalty to his sovereign and his government. It was appropriate for Nebuchadnezzar to assemble all the provincial leaders from every part of his domain and extract from them a solemn oath of loyalty, certified with a religious sanction by this ceremony of adoration of Babylon's god. Anyone who refused to comply would be committing treason against the king, and be immediately executed.
(7) Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations and men of every language fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
With the nearby roaring furnace as a grim reminder of the alternative to compliance, the official leadership of every nation and district under Nebuchadnezzar's rule had to join in this act of worship under pain of death. When the orchestra began to play, all the foreheads in the great multitude touched the ground at the same time. There was, needless to say, universal compliance.
Except for three men.
O my Father, even though You let him know that You are above all other gods, this king still doesn't seem to realize that You alone are to be worshiped and adored. He must still think it's all right to honor a multitude of deities, as is prevalent in his culture.
He is like many of us today, we also need to "unlearn" some things, and get out of some habits we've developed over the years, that work against and rebel against Your ways, and Your ways for us.
O Father, teach us Your ways. Thank You for Your patience with us, as You demonstrated in Your working with this pagan king. We also must expect to take time to grow, just as a small child takes years to grow to adulthood, we also must take the time to work on what You bring to our attention one thing at a time.
Father, You don't overwhelm us, but when we see enemies attacking from several directions all at the same time, we can trust that You will fight the battles for us, to just rest in You and see Your victories over all our troubles and sorrows and concerns. And whatever looks to harm us, You will make good for us, just as You turned the tables for numerous men of God we read about in Your word.
You always allow in our lives only what You will use to strengthen us to endure and triumph over it, and come out on the other side even better!
Father, this school of life we are in will never be easy, but every test we pass will qualify us for a higher grade of learning, with progressively tougher tests, because we are being prepared for the culmination of this whole Time Line.
Our Era of Time is almost at its end, and You are preparing Your children to gain the victory through the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, not loving our own mortal lives more than the reward of Your presence (Revelation 12: 11).
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Authority in all of Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!
