Sermon Snippets - Daniel 3

In previewing this week's sermon, I'm going to do less of a preview and more of a sidebar.

In Daniel chapter 3 and the account of the Fiery Furnace, there are two interpretive issues that often distract from the main lessons of the story:

1. Where is Daniel during this episode?

2. Who is the fourth man walking around with Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego in the furnace?

I'm only going to give them cursory mention in tomorrow's sermon for that very reason, but I thought I'd address them here.

First, where is Daniel during this event?  Twice in the first three verses, every single category of government official is listed among the required attendees to this pagan worship service. As the first two chapters have shown, Daniel's been rapidly promoted up the ranks of the king's advisor's (1:18-20, 2:48-49) and one would expect he'd be included in this exhaustive list. Yet there is no mention of Daniel at all in the entire story; only Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are mentioned as faithfully refusing to bow to the king's idol. No one seriously has asserted that Daniel was present and bowed to the image. But commentators have been creative in speculating about his whereabouts.

These two resources provide some brief discussions of the options, which I can try to summarize:

1. Daniel was out of the city on official business, possibly intentionally sent away by the King who knew he would object.
2. Daniel was exempt from bowing to show his loyalty, since he'd certainly proved it previously.
3. Daniel was sick and unable to attend.
4. Daniel's reputation was beyond reproach and it would have been useless for these enemies of the Jews to accuse him.

In the end, I must agree with Wallace, who says: "we must refrain from speculation because it is useless!" Daniel was absent from this event, that much we can be sure. It actually adds the historicity of this story that the main hero is not around.

On to the second issue - who is the fourth man who was seen by the king walking around in the furnace?

Preachers and commentators have long taken to identifying this man as Jesus Christ, in pre-incarnate form. They are clearly taking their cues from Nebuchadnezzar's description that the fourth man looked like "a son of the gods". This is a possibility, but it is just as likely that this was an angel of God. Greidanus's work previously cited does a good job of breaking down how the language of text does not favor the Christiological view.  It is speculation to claim with any certainty that this is an appearance of Christ. Sometimes we just need to let the story tell itself and not go further than it clearly allows us to go.

Studying Scripture often leads us on a fascinating journey. However we need to embrace balance before we get too caught up in the scenery and miss our destination. Daniel 3 presents us with a great example of this. The chapter offers an incredible account of God's sovereign deliverance of his faithful people. We allow the Spirit to illuminate the Word with maximum effectiveness when we keep the minor points minor and the major points major and central to how we communicate it.