Daniel 3:25 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Daniel 3:25
He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
said
וְאָמַ֗רve.'a.Mar
H560
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
Lo
הָֽאha'-
H1888
lo! · interjection
I
אֲנָ֨ה'a.Nah
H576
I · personal pronoun
see
חָזֵ֜הcha.Zeh
H2370
to gaze upon · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
four
אַרְבְּעָ֗ה'ar.be.'Ah
H703
four · cardinal number, both genders singular absolute
men
גֻּבְרִ֣יןguv.Rin
H1400
a person · noun, common masculine plural absolute
loose
שְׁרַ֙יִן֙she.Ra.yin
H8271
to free · verb, active participle, masculine plural absolute
walking
מַהְלְכִ֣יןmah.le.Khin
H1981
to walk · verb, hiphil active participle, masculine plural absolute
midst
בְּגֽוֹאbe.goy'-
H1459
the middle · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
fire
נוּרָ֔אnu.Ra'
H5135
fire · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
have
אִיתַ֣י'i.Tai
H383
properly · noun, common both genders singular absolute
no
לָאla'-
H3809
not (the simple or abs. negation) · negative particle
hurt
וַחֲבָ֖לva.cha.Val
H2257
harm (personal or pecuniary) · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular absolute
form
וְרֵוֵהּ֙ve.re.Veh
H7299
aspect · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
fourth
רְֽבִיעָאָ֔הre.vi.'a.ya'
H7244
fourth · ordinal number, both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
like
דָּמֵ֖הda.Meh
H1821
to resemble · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
Son
לְבַרle.var-
H1247
a son · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
God
אֱלָהִֽין'e.la.Hin
H426
God · noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 43:2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through t…
Acts 28:5 And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.
Mark 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall re…
Psalms 91:3-9 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Psalms 34:7 The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
Daniel 3:28 Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his serv…
1 Peter 3:13 And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Daniel 3:19-27
In these verses we have,
I. The casting of these three faithful servants of God into the fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar had himself known and owned so much of the true God that, one would have thought, though his pride and vanity induced him to make this golden image, and set it up to be worshipped, yet what these young men now said (whom he had formerly found to be wiser than all his wise men) would revive his convictions, and at least engage him to excuse them; but it proved quite otherwise. 1. Instead of being convinced by what they said, he was exasperated, and made more outrageous, Dan 3:19. It made him full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against these men. Note, Brutish…
four--whereas but three had been cast in.
loose--whereas they had been cast in "bound." Nebuchadnezzar's question, in Dan 3:24, is as if he can scarcely trust his own memory as to a fact so recent, now that he sees through an aperture in the furnace what seems to contradict it.
walking in . . . midst of . . . fire--image of the godly unhurt, and at large (Joh 8:36), "in the midst of trouble" (Psa 138:7; compare Psa 23:3-4). They walked up and down in the fire, not leaving it, but waiting for God's time to bring them out, just as Jesus waited in the tomb as God's prisoner, till God should let Him out (Act 2:26-27). So Paul (Co2 12:8-9). So Noah waited in the ark, after the flood, till God…
Is like the Son of God - A most improper translation. What notion could this idolatrous king have of the Lord Jesus Christ? for so the place is understood by thousands. בר אלהין bar elahin signifies a son of the gods, that is, a Divine person or angel; and so the king calls him in Dan 3:28 : "God hath sent his Angel, and delivered his servants." And though even from this some still contend that it was the Angel of the covenant, yet the Babylonish king knew just as much of the one as he did of the other. No other ministration was necessary; a single angel from heaven was quite sufficient to answer this purpose, as that which stopped the mouths of the lions when Daniel was cast into their den.
The Church Fathers
Nebuchadnezzar, having ordered the three men to be cast into fire, saw a fourth when he looked into the furnace and said, "I see the fourth as the Son of God." He was impious and yet saw apparitions, visions and dreams. Thus, we cannot infer with absolute certainty that the one who has seen visions and dreams and apparitions is truly impious. To be sure, for the devout person, the truth gushes up natural and pure in his mind, and not by way of dreams.
Then Nebuchadnezzar seeing what happened "was amazed and rose up in haste and he heard their hymns and he said to his nobles 'Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?' But they said, 'Truly O king.' He answered and said, 'Here I indeed see four men speaking and walking in the midst of the fire and there is no destruction in them and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of God.'" [Daniel 3:25] Tell me, Nebuchadnezzar, for when did you see the Son of God, so that you confessed this one to be the Son of God? Who pricked your heart so that you plainly spoke such a word? With what sort of eyes were you able to see the light of him? But why was this shown to you alone and to none of the other satraps? But it is because it is said, "the heart of the king is in the hand of God." [Proverbs 21:1] The hand of God itself, the very thing which was the Word, pricked the heart of the king, so that you may recognize this one in the furnace and may glorify him. And this is not to be idly understood by us. For when the sons of Israel, seeing the Son of God in the world, were destined to not believe, Scripture proved that the nations were destined to recognize him in the flesh, when long ago Nebuchadnezzar seeing him not of flesh, observed him in the furnace and confessed him to be a son of God.
If, then, neither Moses, nor Elias, nor Ezekiel, who had all many celestial visions, did see God; but if what they did see were similitudes of the splendour of the Lord, and prophecies of things to come; it is manifest that the Father is indeed invisible, of whom also the Lord said, "No man hath seen God at any time." But His Word, as He Himself willed it, and for the benefit of those who beheld, did show the Father's brightness, and explained His purposes (as also the Lord said: "The only-begotten God, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared [Him];" and He does Himself also interpret the Word of the Father as being rich and great); not in one figure, nor in one character, did He appear to those seeing Him, but according to the reasons and effects aimed at in His dispensations, as it is written in Daniel. For at one time He was seen with those who were around Ananias, Azarias, Misael, as present with them in the furnace of fire, in the burning, and preserving them from [the effects of] fire: "And the appearance of the fourth," it is said, "was like to the Son of God." At another time [He is represented as] "a stone cut out of the mountain without hands," and as smiting all temporal kingdoms, and as blowing them away (ventilans ea), and as Himself filling all the earth. Then, too, is this same individual beheld as the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, and drawing near to the Ancient of Days, and receiving from Him all power and glory, and a kingdom. "His dominion," it is said, "is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom shall not perish."
Dictionary and topics
Abednego — Servant of Nego=Nebo, the Chaldee name given to Azariah, one of Daniel’s three companions (Dan. 2:49). With Shadrach and Meshach, he was delivered from the burning fiery furnace (3:12-30).
Angel — A word signifying, both in the Hebrew and Greek, a “messenger,” and hence employed to denote any agent God sends forth to execute his purposes. It is used of an ordinary messenger (Job 1:14: 1 Sam.…
Meshach — The title given to Mishael, one of the three Hebrew youths who were under training at the Babylonian court for the rank of Magi (Dan. 1:7; 2:49; 3:12-30). This was probably the name of some Chaldean…
Nebuchadnezzar — In the Babylonian orthography Nabu-kudur-uzur, which means “Nebo, protect the crown!” or the “frontiers.” In an inscription he styles himself “Nebo’s favourite.” He was the son and successor of…
Abed-Nego · .A Jewish — .A Jewish
Coercion · RELIGIOUS — RELIGIOUS
Furnace · into, by Nebuchadnezzar — into, by Nebuchadnezzar
Indictments · .Three Hebrew — .Three Hebrew
Meshach · A name given by the chief eu — A name given by the chief eu
Mishael · .Thrown into the fiery furnace — .Thrown into the fiery furnace
Persecution · God delivers out of — God delivers out of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on Daniel 3:25
He answered and said, lo, I see four men loose,.... Not bound as the three were, when cast in; but quite at liberty in their hands and feet, and separate from one another. As this fiery furnace may be an emblem of the fiery trials and afflictive dispensations the children of God pass through in this world, being not joyous, but grievous to the flesh, though useful to purge and purify; so this and some other circumstances attending these good men in the furnace are applicable to the saints in such cases; for though afflictions are sometimes themselves called cords, with which men are said to be bound, yet by means of them they are loosed from other things from the power and prevalence of sin…
Daniel 3:24-25
24. Then Nebchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
24. Tunc Nebuchadnezer rex contremuit, [192] et surrexit in festinatione, celeriter: loquutus est, et dixit consiliariis suis: [193] An non viros tres projecimus in fornacem ligatos? vinctos. Responderunt, et dixerunt regi, Vere, rex.
25. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
25. Respondit, et dixit, Atqui ego video viros quatuor solutos,…
The king, who sat watching the issue of the matter, looked through the door into the furnace, and observed that the three who had been cast into it bound, walked about freed from their bonds and unhurt; and, in truth, he saw not the three only, but also a fourth, "like to a son of the gods," beside them. At this sight he was astonished and terrified. He hastily stood up; and having assured himself by a consultation with his counsellors that three men had indeed been cast bound into the furnace, while he saw four walking in the midst of it, he approached the mouth of the furnace and cried to the three to come forth. They immediately came out, and were inspected by the assembled officers of st…
walking around: The same word is used in Gen 3:8-9. • like a god (literally like a son of the gods): The king understood the being as the Lord’s angel (Dan 3:28).
Rashi on Daniel 3:25
free men walking in the midst of the fire freed from their bonds and walking in the midst of the fire.
and there is no wound upon them [as translated,] and there is no wound upon them.
and the form of the fourth [as translated,] and the form of the fourth.
is like [that of] an angel It is like the angel I saw when I was with Sannecherib, when his armies were burned, as it is said (II Kings 19: 35): “[And an angel of the Lord went forth] and slew...of the camp of Assyria.” And Nebuchadnezzar was there and fled among the ten who fled from them.
