John Gill Commentary Daniel 3:6

"and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace." — Daniel 3:6 (ASV)

And whoever does not fall down and worships
Who refuses to worship it, or wilfully neglects it; which would be interpreted a contempt of it, and of the king's command: shall in the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery
furnace; such as were used to burn stones in for lime, as Jarchi observes.

The music was to draw, the furnace was to drive, men to this idolatrous worship; the one was to please and sooth the minds of men, and so allure them to such stupid service; the other to frighten them into obedience.

This is the first time that mention is made of "hours" in the sacred Scriptures; it was very probably the invention of the Chaldeans or Babylonians; for Herodotus ^F13 says the Greeks received the twelve parts of the day from the Babylonians.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F13: Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 109.