16<\/strong>. are not careful<\/em> ] have no need<\/strong> (R.V.).<\/p>\n Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered and said to the king – <\/B>They appear to have answered promptly, and without hesitation, showing that they had carefully considered the subject, and that with them it was a matter of settled and intelligent principle. But they did it in a respectful manner, though they were firm. They neither reviled the monarch nor his gods. They used no reproachful words respecting the image which he had set up, or any of the idols which he worshipped. Nor did they complain of his injustice or severity. They calmly looked at their own duty, and resolved to do it, leaving the consequences with the God whom they worshipped.<\/P> We are not careful to answer thee in this matter – <\/B>The word rendered careful (<\/span> chashach<\/I>) means, according to Gesenius, to be needed or necessary; then, to have need. The Vulgate renders it, non oportet nos – it does not behove us; it is not needful for us. So the Greek, <\/SPAN><\/span> ou<\/I> chreian<\/I> echomen<\/I> – we have no need. So Luther, Es ist Nicht noth – there is no necessity. The meaning therefore is, that it was not necessary that they should reply to the king on that point; they would not give themselves trouble or solicitude to do it. They had made up their minds, and, whatever was the result, they could not worship the image which he had set up, or the gods whom he adored. They felt that there was no necessity for stating the reasons why they could not do this. Perhaps they thought that argument in their case was improper. It became them to do their duty, and to leave the event with God. They had no need to go into an extended vindication of their conduct, for it might be presumed that their principles of conduct were well known. The state of mind, therefore, which is indicated by this passage, is that their minds were made up; that their principles were settled and well understood; that they had come to the deliberate determination, as a matter of conscience, not to yield obedience to the command; that the result could not be modified by any statement which they could make, or by any argument in the case; and that, therefore, they were not anxious about the result, but calmly committed the whole cause to God.<\/P><\/p>\n Verse 16. We<\/B><\/I> are <\/B>not careful<\/B><\/I>] We have no need to put thee to any farther trouble; we have made up our minds on this subject, and have our answer ready: Be it known unto thee, WE WILL NOT SERVE THY GODS. This was as honest as it was decisive.<\/P> <\/p>\n Heb. We care not, <\/B>we may not, there is no need of any answer in this case, for it is in vain for us to deliberate and debate the matter; the king is resolved to have his will of us, and we are resolved on the contrary; for to obey him in this horrid thing will be disobedience against our God to the highest. <\/P> <\/p>\n 16. not careful to answerthee<\/B>rather, “We have no need<\/I> to answer thee”;thou art determined on thy side, and our mind is made up not toworship the image: there is therefore no use in our arguing as if wecould be shaken from our principles. Hesitation, or parleying withsin, is fatal; unhesitating decision is the only safety, where thepath of duty is clear (Mat 10:19<\/span>;Mat 10:28<\/span>).<\/P><\/p>\n Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king<\/strong>,…. In a mild and gentle manner, without affronting his majesty, or insulting his gods, and yet without the least degree of servile fear or fawning flattery:<\/p>\n O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter<\/strong>; about worshipping the image; we are not solicitous about a choice of words, or in what manner to draw up our answer, it is ready in our mouths; we have no need to take time and consider of this matter, and think what to say, we are at a point about it: as thou art peremptory in thy will to have thine image worshipped, we are as resolute, as determined, never to worship it; so that there is no need to spend time in a debate about it; thou art come to a conclusion, and so are we: or in this matter, about the power of our God to deliver, we are not solicitous about an answer to that; we leave him to defend himself, and his own power, against such insults upon him.<\/p>\n In this history it; is necessary to observe with what unbroken spirit these three holy men persisted in the fear of God, though they knew they were in danger of instant death. When, therefore, this kind of death was placed straight before their eyes, they did not turn aside from the straightforward course, but treated God’s glory of greater value than their own life, nay, than a hundred lives, if they had so many to pour forth, and opportunity had been given them. Daniel does not relate all their words, but only their import, in which the unconquered virtue of that Holy Spirit, by which they had been instructed, is sufficiently evident; for that denunciation was certainly dreadful, when the king said, If ye are not prepared to fall down at the sound of the trumpet before the image, its all over with you, and ye shall be directly cast into a furnace of fire. When the king had so fulminated, they might have winced, as men usually do, since life is naturally dear to us, and a dread of death seizes upon our senses. But Daniel relates all these circumstances, to assure us of the great fortitude of God’s servants when they are led by his Spirit, and yield to no threats, and succumb to no terrors. They answer the king, We do not need any long deliberation. For when they say they care not, they mean by this word, the matter is settled; just as that sentence of Cyprian is related by Augustine, (186) when courtiers persuaded him to preserve his life, for it was with great reluctance that the emperor devoted him to death, when flatterers on all sides urged him to redeem his life by the denial of piety, he answered, There can be no deliberation in a matter so sacred! Thus those holy men say, We do not care, we do not enter into the consideration of what is expedient or useful, no such thing! for we ought to settle it with ourselves never to be induced by any reason to withdraw from the sincere worship of God. <\/p>\n If you please to read — we ought not to answer you, the sense will be the same. They imply that the fear of death was set before them in vain, because they had determined and resolved in their inmost souls, not to depart a single inch from the true and lawful worship of God. Besides they here give a double reason for rejecting the king’s proposal. They say God has sufficient power and strength to liberate them; and then, even if they must die, their life is not of so much value as to deny God for the sake of preserving it. Hence they declare themselves prepared to die, if the king persists in urging his wish for the adoration of the image. This passage is therefore worthy of the greatest attention. First of all we must observe the answer — for when men entice us to deny the true God we must close our ears, and refuse all deliberation; for we have already committed an atrocious insult against God, when we even question the propriety of swerving from the purity of his worship through any impulse or any reason whatever. And I heartily wish every one would observe this! How excellent and striking is the glory of God, and how everything ought to yield to it, whenever there is danger of its being either diminished or obscured. But at this day, this fallacy deceives the multitude, since they think it lawful to debate whether it is allowable to swerve front the true worship of God for a time, whenever any utility presents itself on the opposite side. Just as in our days, we see how hypocrites, of whom the world is full, have pretenses by which they cloak their delinquencies, when they either worship idols with the impious, or deny at one time openly, and at another obliquely, true piety. “Oh! what can happen? — such a one will say — of what value is consistency? I see some evident advantage if I can only dissemble a little, and not betray what I am. Ingenuousness is injurious not only to me privately, but to all around me!” If a king has none around him who endeavor to appease his wrath, the wicked would give way to their passions, and by their greater license would drive him to the extremity of cruelty. It is, therefore, better to have, some mediators on the watch to observe whether the wicked are planning anything. Thus, if they cannot openly, they may covertly avert danger from the heads of the pious. By such reasoning as this, they think they can satisfy God. As if Shadraeh, Meshaeh, and Abed-nego, had not the same excuse; as if the following thought would not occur to them — “Behold! we are armed with some power in favor of our brethren; now what barbarity, what cruelty will be exercised against them, if the enemies of the religion which they profess succeed us? For as far as they can, they will overthrow and blot out our race and the very remembrance of piety. Is it not better for us to yield for a time to the tyranny and violent edict of the king than to leave our places empty? which the furious will by and bye occupy, who will utterly destroy our wretched race which is now dreadfully oppressed.” Shadraeh, Meshaeh, and Abed-nego might, I say, collect all these pretenses and excuses to palliate their perfidy if they had bent the knee before the golden image for the sake of avoiding danger; but they did not act thus. Hence, as I have already said, God retains his rights entire when his worship is upheld without the slightest doubt, and we are thoroughly persuaded that nothing is of such importance as to render it lawful and right to swerve from that profession which his word both demands and exacts. <\/p>\n On the whole, that security which ought to confirm the pious in the worship of God is opposed here to all those tortuous and mistaken counsels which some men adopt, and thus, for the sake of living, lose life itself, according to the sentiment of even a profane poet. For of what use is life except to serve God’s glory? but we lose that object in life for the sake of the life itself — that is, by desiring to live entirely to the; world, we lose the very purpose of living! Thus, then, Daniel opposes the simplicity which ought to mark the sons of God to all those excuses which dissemblers invent with the view of hiding their wickedness by a covering. We are not anxious, say they, and why not? Because we have already determined God’s glory to be of more consequence than a thousand lives, and the gratification of a thousand senses. Hence, when this magnanimity flourishes, all hesitation will vanish, and those who are called upon to incur danger through their testimony for the truth need never trouble themselves; for, as I before said, their ears are closed to all the enticements of Satan. <\/p>\n (186) Cyprian was martyred under the edict of Valerian, A.D. 257. — See Euseb. Eccl. Hist., lib. 7, chapter 10. <\/p>\n (16) O Nebuchadnezzar.<\/strong>They mention the king by name, so as to make their address correspond with his (Dan. 3:14<\/span>). His attention would in this way be directed to the strong antithesis between his statement (Dan. 3:15<\/span>) and theirs (Dan. 3:17<\/span>). Great though the distinction was between king and subject in such a country as Babylon, yet that distinction was lost when any collision occurred between duty to Jehovah and obedience to a royal edict.<\/p>\n We<\/strong> are not careful.<\/strong>More correctly, as translated by Theodotion, We have no need<\/em>i.e.,<\/em> it is needless for us to give any reply.<\/p>\n 16-18<\/strong>. <\/strong> In answer to the king’s remark concerning Jehovah the Hebrews replied: “We have no need to answer thee a word in this matter. If our God whom we serve be able to deliver us [at all], he is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and out of thine hand, O king; and if not, be it known unto thee” that is, even if for some inexplicable reason Jehovah did not deliver them, they would, nevertheless, die trusting him and refusing allegiance to any other god or idol. Prince translates: “If our God exists, <\/em> he is able to deliver us and from thy hand, O king, he will deliver us.”<\/p>\n ‘Shadrach. Meshach and Abednego answered, “We have no need with respect to this matter to set up a defence before you. If it is to be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image that you have set up.” ’<\/p>\n The three men firmly rejected his offer with dignity and without open defiance. They stressed that there was no need for them to set up a defence because they were ready to face whatever was to come, and as their God was able to deliver them in spite of the doubt of the king, they were ready to throw themselves on His will, whether to deliver them or no. But one thing he could know for a certainty, they would not serve idols nor would they bow down to the golden image.<\/p>\n This was not the fanatical zeal of would be martyrs. They did not expect to die. It was the firm courage and logic of men who knew their God and were therefore ready to obey Him and entrust their lives to His keeping. Nebuchadnezzar was in possession of all the facts, therefore no defence was necessary, for this was their clear position. They served the God of heaven, and only the God of heaven, and if the only alternative to worshipping other gods was to be thrown into a burning fiery furnace, then so be it. And they would trust their God to do what was right. There was no attitude of rebellion. It was a religious question, and therefore they had no alternative. In their words comes out that incisiveness of thought and statement that had so impressed Nebuchadnezzar when he had first met them (Dan 1:20<\/span>).<\/p>\n Dan 3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we [are] not careful to answer thee in this matter.<\/p>\n Ver. 16. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered.<\/strong> ] With a heroic faith and well knit resolution. A sound faith and a clear conscience, saith one, are able by their native puissance to pull the very heart, as it were, out of hell, and with confidence and conquest to look even death and the devil in the face. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n We are not careful to answer thee.<\/strong> ] The saint hath a quietus est<\/em> rest that supersedeth all his cares. Php 4:7 Some render it non necesse habemus.<\/em> As the king would admit no discussing his decree, but would have it absolutely obeyed, so they were at a point never to do it, nor to be removed from their religion. The heavens shall sooner fall, said that martyr, than I will start or stir an inch from what I have professed. With the like undaunted courage answered Cyprian the proconsul; Basil, the Arian emperor Valens; Dr Taylor, Stephen Gardiner; Mr Hawkes, bloody Bonner. A fagot will make you believe the sacrament of the altar, said Bonner. No, no, answered Hawkes, a point for your fagot. What God thinks meet to be done, that shall ye do, and no more. a<\/em> <\/p>\n “ Paenae sunt pennae queis super astra vehor.<\/em> ”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n a<\/em> Acts and Mon., <\/em> 1445.<\/p>\n NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Dan 3:16-18<\/p>\n 16Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. 17If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.<\/p>\n Dan 3:17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire Nebuchadnezzar II had made this a contest between the gods of Babylon and the God of Judah by asserting that no one could deliver them out of his hand (cf. Dan 3:15). The descriptive title, the God who is able, is also in Dan 3:29 and in the NT at Rom 16:5; Eph 3:20; Jud 1:24.<\/p>\n The NET Bible translates this phrase as If our God whom we are serving exists, he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire. The Anchor Bible, vol. 23, also has a translation that tries to employ the Aramaic word exist If there is a God able to save us, such as our God, he will save us from the white-hot furnace (p. 155).<\/p>\n Dan 3:18 But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up They believed that God was able, but they were not being presumptuous by demanding a miracle. They had faith in God, not in circumstances.<\/p>\n answered and said. See note on Deu 1:41. <\/p>\n are not careful = do not account it needful. <\/p>\n Dan 3:16-18<\/p>\n Dan 3:16 Shadrach,H7715 Meshach,H4336 and Abednego,H5665 answeredH6032 and saidH560 to the king,H4430 O Nebuchadnezzar,H5020 weH586 are notH3809 carefulH2818 to answerH8421 thee inH5922 thisH1836 matter.H6600 <\/p>\n Dan 3:17 IfH2006 it beH383 so, our GodH426 whomH1768 weH586 serveH6399 is ableH3202 to deliverH7804 us fromH4481 the burningH3345 fieryH5135 furnace,H861 and he will deliverH7804 us out ofH4481 thine hand,H3028 O king.H4430 <\/p>\n Dan 3:18 But ifH2006 not,H3809 beH1934 it knownH3046 unto thee, O king,H4430 thatH1768 we willH383 notH3809 serveH6399 thy gods,H426 norH3809 worshipH5457 the goldenH1722 imageH6755 whichH1768 thou hast set up.H6966 <\/p>\n Dan 3:16-18<\/p>\n Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.<\/p>\n These are some of the most awe-inspiring words of resolute spirit and conviction this Bible student has ever read. These men full well knew that they would be executed by being burned to death for their answer. This raw courage they exhibited in the face the most dreadful danger is unsurpassed in history. <\/p>\n Nebuchadnezzar asked them who the God was who could deliver them out of his hands. Their response was that the God they served was entirely capable of delivering them from his hands if He so chose to do so. And they went on to say to the supreme monarch of the Babylonian empire, the most powerful man on earth at that time, that even if God does not deliver us, “we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up”. It didn’t matter to these three men whether God intervened on their behalf or not, they were going to be faithful to Him even to the point of death. True faithfulness to God is the determined purpose to do right, and not to do wrong, whatever may be the consequences in either case. <\/p>\n In about 700 years from the time of this event, multiplied thousands upon thousands of Christians would face similar circumstances. Worship pagan gods or suffer the most intense of persecutions. An entire empire made their faith illegal and set out to destroy them from the face of the earth. They have here in examples given by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego what the proper response to this is to be. <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Exo 1:17 – feared God Est 3:4 – he had told Est 5:9 – he was full Job 36:21 – this Psa 112:7 – heart Psa 119:46 – speak Pro 28:1 – the righteous Ecc 4:12 – and a Isa 44:8 – ye are Isa 51:12 – that thou Jer 26:14 – As for Dan 3:28 – serve Mat 10:19 – it shall Mat 22:21 – and Mat 26:63 – Jesus Mar 13:11 – take Luk 12:4 – Be Act 8:1 – except 1Co 13:3 – though I give Phi 4:6 – careful Heb 11:23 – and they Heb 13:6 – I will 1Pe 3:6 – and 1Pe 3:15 – and be 1Pe 4:19 – in Rev 2:10 – shalt<\/p>\n Dan 3:16. Careful is the key word in this verse, hut it is rendered somewhat indefinitely. It Is from chas iiacm and Strong defines it, “To be necessary, and Youngs definition is, “To be or think necessary,” We thus can see that it was not a flippant expression of the three men as if the situation did not merit any serious consideration, It means they did not consider that their fate depended on any speech of defense they could make, and they proceeded to tell the king why they thought so.<\/p>\n Dan 3:16. Shadrach, Meshach, &c., said, We are not careful to answer thee, &c. In so plain a case there is no room for deliberation: we have an answer ready at hand, that we ought to obey God rather than man. Admirable example this of a true faith in God, and ready obedience to his will! How worthy of our imitation! It is such an instance of fortitude and magnanimity as is scarce to be paralleled. They did not break out into any intemperate heat, or passion, against those that worshipped the golden image, did not insult or affront them, nor did they rashly thrust themselves upon the trial, or go out of the way to court martyrdom; but when they were duly called to the fiery trial, they quitted themselves with a conduct and courage that became sufferers for so good a cause.<\/p>\n 3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we {g} [are] not careful to answer thee in this matter.<\/p>\n (g) For they would have done injury to God, if they would have doubted in this holy cause, and therefore they say that they are resolved to die for God’s cause.<\/p>\n The three young men told the king that they did not need to give him an answer. "We" is emphatic in the original text and implies a contrast with Yahweh. God would give the king an answer. Perhaps they meant that Nebuchadnezzar should have had no question about their loyalty to him. They did not need to argue that. Surely the king knew that their faith prohibited them from worshiping any god but Yahweh. They were known to be Jews (Dan 1:6-7).<\/p>\n Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we [are] not careful to answer thee in this matter. 16. are not careful ] have no need (R.V.). Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered and said to the king – They appear to have answered … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Daniel 3:16”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21834\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"