John Gill Commentary Daniel 3

Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold Not of solid gold; but either of a plate of gold, and hollow within; or of wood overlaid with gold; for otherwise it must have took up a prodigious quantity of gold to make an image of such dimensions as follow; this he ordered his statuaries or workmen to make for him; whether this image was for himself, or his father Nabopolassar, or for his chief god Bel, or as a new deity, is not easy to say; however, it was made for religious worship.

The reasons that moved him to it cannot be ascertained; it might be out of pride and vanity, and to set forth the glory and stability of his monarchy, as if he was not only the head of gold, but as an image all of gold; and to contradict the interpretation of his dream, and avert the fate of his empire signified by it.

Or to purge himself from the jealousies his subjects had entertained of him, of relinquishing the religion of his country, and embracing the Jewish religion, by his praise of the God of Israel, and the promotion of Jews to places of trust and honour; or this might be done by the advice of his nobles, to establish an uniformity of religion in his kingdom, and to prevent the growth of Judaism; and it may be to lay a snare for Daniel and his companions; of which we have an instance of the like kind in chapter six.

When this image was made is not certain; some think in a short time after his dream before related; if so, he soon forgot it, and the God that had revealed it.

The Septuagint and Arabic versions place it in the eighteenth year of his reign; and some are of opinion that it was after his victories over the Jews, Tyre, Egypt, and others; and that being flushed therewith, in the pride of his heart, ordered this image to be made; and out of the spoils he brought with him from the various countries he had conquered.

Mr. Whiston^F21 places this fact in the year of the world 3417 A.M., and before Christ 587; and so Dr. Prideaux^F23, who makes it to be in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, agreeably to the above versions. Mr. Bedford^F24 puts it in the year before Christ 585:

whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits A common cubit being half a yard, it was thirty yards high, and three yards broad; but Herodotus^F25 says the king's cubit in Babylon was three fingers larger than the usual one; and, according to that, this image must be thirty five yards high, and three yards and a half broad; but 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; and, allowing twelve cubits for that, the height of the image was forty six cubits.

Diodorus Siculus^F26 makes mention of a statue of gold in the temple of Belus, which Xerxes demolished, which was forty feet high, and contained a thousand Babylonish talents of gold, which, at the lowest computation, amounts to three millions and a half of our money; which image Doctor Prideaux^F1 conjectures was this image of Nebuchadnezzar's; but this seems not likely, since the one was between thirty and forty yards high, the other but thirteen or fourteen; the one in the plain of Dura, the other in the temple of Bel:

he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon That so it might be seen of all, and there might be room enough for a vast number of worshippers together.

The Septuagint version calls this place the plain of Deeira, which some take to be the Deera of Ptolemy^F2; but that is in the province of Susiana; rather this is Duraba^F3, which he places near the river Euphrates, in the province of Babylon. Aben Ezra says, this is the place where the children of Ephraim fell, and where the Chaldeans slew the Jews when they came into captivity. In the Talmud^F4 it is said,

``from the river Eshal unto Rabbath is the valley of Dura;'' in Arabic , "dauro" signifies "round"; it was a round valley. The Jews have a notion that this was the valley in the land of Shinar where the tower of Babel was built; and observe, that ``although the design of that generation was not accomplished, yet after their times their punishment was made manifest, in that they said, "let us make us a name", (Genesis 11:4) for Nebuchadnezzar having wasted and subverted many kingdoms, and destroyed the sanctuary, thought it possible to put in execution the wicked design of the age of the dispersion; hence it is said, (Daniel 3:1) , "King Nebuchadnezzar made an image, &c. and set it up", (arwd teqbb) , "in the valley of generation", in the province of Babylon, which is the valley spoken of in (Genesis 11:2Genesis 11:9) what therefore they could not do, he attempted to do; hence he gathered all the people to worship the image, which agrees with (Genesis 11:4) , for he put a certain vessel of the vessels of the temple on the mouth of it (the image), on which was engraven the divine name, that he might render ineffectual the intention of the dispersed generation but the Scripture says, (Jeremiah 51:44) , "and I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up, and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him"; for Daniel came and caused that vessel that was swallowed to be taken out of the mouth of the image, from where it fell, and was broken to pieces, which is the same as that in (Genesis 11:4) ^F5 .''

FOOTNOTES:

• F21: Chronological Tables, cent. 10.
• F23: Connexion par 1. B. 2. p. 87.
• F24: Scripture Chronology, p. 709.
• F25: Clio, sive l. 1. c. 178.
• F26: Bibliothec. Hist. I. 2. p. 98. Ed. Rhod.
• F1: Connexion par. 1. B. 2. p. 103.
• F2: Geograph. l. 6. c. 3.
• F3: lbid. l. 5. c. 20.
• F4: T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 92. 2.
• F5: Kabala Denudata, par. 1. p. 671.

Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the
princes
He sent letters, or dispatched messengers, into the several provinces of his empire, and parts of his dominions, to convene all the peers of his realm, and governors of provinces, and all officers, civil, military, and religious, expressed by various names and titles: the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the
counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces ;

who are particularly and distinctly designed is not easy to say. Jacchiades thinks they answer to the same offices and officers which now obtain in the Turkish empire; princes are the "bashaws"; governors the "beglerbegs"; captains the "agas" of the janizaries; judges the "kadies"; treasurers the "dephterdaries"; the counsellors the "alphakies"; and "zayties the sheriffs"; their chief doctors their "muphties", as L'Empereur; and the rulers of the provinces the "zangiakies" or "viziers";

but, be they who they will, they were the principal men of the empire, both in things civil, military, and ecclesiastic, who were ordered to come to the dedication of the image, which Nebuchadnezzar the king
had set up ;

for though it was made and set up, it was not a proper object of worship till dedicated; and which was done by burning incense, blowing trumpets now these great men were gathered together on this occasion, because of the greater honour done hereby to the king and his image; and also by their example to engage the populace the more easily to the worship of it; and likewise as being the representatives of them since they could not all be collected together in one place; and it may be it was done, as some think, to ensnare Daniel and his companions.

Philostratus ^F6 makes mention of an officer at Babylon that had the keeping of the great gate into the city; which some take to be the same with the first sort here mentioned; who first offered the golden statue of the king to be worshipped before he would permit any to enter into the city, which perhaps might take its rise from the worship of this golden image.

FOOTNOTES:

• F6: De Vita Apollonii, l. 1. c. 19.

Then the princes, the governors, and captains
And all the rest of the officers before mentioned, having received their orders from the king, in obedience to them, were gathered together to the dedication of the image Nebuchadnezzar
the king had set up ;
at great expense, and with much fatigue and trouble, they came from all parts to attend this great solemnity.

and they stood before the image Nebuchadnezzar had set up ;
they stood and looked at it, and viewed its several parts; they stood and beheld it with wonder, its richness and largeness; they stood and attended to all the rites and ceremonies of the dedication of it; they stood and were ready to fall down and worship it, when the word of command was given; so obsequious were they to the king's will.

Then an herald cried aloud That his voice might be heard all over the plain; or if it should be thought that one was not sufficient to be heard throughout, which probably was the case, and where; so great a number being assembled together, all could not hear one man, the singular may be put for the plural; and many being set in different places in the plain, and speaking different languages, might proclaim when the image was dedicated, as follows:

to you it is commanded ; by the king's authority:

O people, nations, and languages ; the several kingdoms, states, and provinces, that belonged to the Babylonian monarchy, and spoke different languages, as now represented by their several governors and officers; as the Armenians, Parthians, Medes, Persians

That at what time you hear the sound of the cornet
So called of the horn of which it was made; a sort of trumpet; so the Jews had trumpets of rams' horns:flute ;
or pipe, or whistle, so called for its hissing noise; it is used of the shepherd's pipe or whistle; see (Zechariah 10:8) , harp ;
an instrument of music used by David, and much in use among the Jews, and other nations;sackbut ;
or "sambuca"; which, according to Athenaeus ^F7 , was a four stringed instrument, an invention ofthe Syrians; and Strabo ^F8 , a Greek writer, speaks of it as a barbarous name, as the eastern oneswere reckoned by the Grecians: psaltery ;
this seems to be a Greek word, as does the next that follows, rendered "dulcimer"; but in the original textis "symphonia"; which does not signify symphony, or a concert or consort of music, but a particularinstrument of music. Maimonides ^F9 makes mention of it as a musical instrument, among others;Servius ^F11 calls it an oblique pipe; and Isidore ^F12 describes it a hollow piece ofwood, with leather stretched upon it, and beat upon with rods or sticks, something like our drum: the king ofBabylon might have Grecian musicians, or, however, Grecian instruments of music, in his court, as theGrecians had from the eastern nations:

and all kinds of music ;
that could be had or thought of; and this was done in honour to this idol, and to allure carnal sensualpersons to the worship of it, according to the order given:

you fall down and worship the goldenimage that Nebuchadnezzar the king
has set up ;

when they heard the music sound, immediately they were to repair to the plain where the image stood, and paytheir adoration to it; or to fall down prostrate in their own houses in honour of it; and perhaps personswere appointed in all cities and towns throughout the empire to play this music; at hearing which, allpeople, nations, and tongues, were to bow down, in token of their religious regard unto it.

FOOTNOTES:

• F7: Deipnosoph. I. 4.
• F8: Geograph. l. 10. p. 324.
• F9: Hilchot Celim, c. 10. sect. 14.
• F11: In Virgil. Aeneid. I. 11.
• F12: Originum, l. 3. c. 21.