Daniel 3:1

The whole image that the king built was gold. The head of the image that Nebuchadnezzar had seen in his dream was also gold.

"Daniel had told him that he was the head of gold (Daniel 2:38) but that he would be followed by ’another kingdom inferior to you’ (Daniel 2:39) made of silver (Daniel 2:32). Rejecting now the idea that any kingdom could follow his own, he may have determined to show the permanence of his golden kingdom by having the entire image covered with gold." [Note: Ibid.]

This image stood about 99 feet high and nine feet wide. This is the height of a ten-story building and the width of a 9-feet by 12-feet room. The famous Colossus of Rhodes stood 70 cubits (105 feet) high astride the entrance to that ancient port. It is interesting that the dimensions of this statue, 60 cubits and 6 cubits, contain the number 6, which also appears in the mark of the Beast, 666, a latter day equivalent. [Note: See Ironside, p. 47.]

We do not know what the image represented. If it was a figure of a human, it probably stood on a substantial base since it was quite narrow for such a tall statue. However, it may have represented an animal, or a combination of human and animal. Archaeologists have discovered Babylonian images of all these types. [Note: See Leupold, p. 137; Young, pp. 83-85; or Keil, pp. 118-19.] These images are also sometimes quite narrow in proportion to their height. Customarily these were wooden statues overlaid with gold (cf. Isaiah 40:19; Isaiah 41:7; Jeremiah 10:3-9). [Note: Montgomery, p. 195.] Herodotus described a statue of Bel made of 800 talents (22 tons) of gold, but Nebuchadnezzar’s image would have been much heavier and more costly. [Note: Herodotus, History of the Persian Wars, 1:183.]

In view of Nebuchadnezzar’s extraordinary ego (cf. ch. 4), the image may have been a likeness of him. [Note: Feinberg, p. 44.] However, there is no evidence that the Mesopotamians ever worshiped statues of their rulers as divine during the ruler’s lifetime. [Note: Archer, "Daniel," p. 50.] Some writers have suggested that the image may have resembled an obelisk similar to those found in Egypt. [Note: E.g., Pentecost, p. 1337; Young, p. 84; and Baldwin, p. 99.] It is likely that the image represented Nebuchadnezzar’s patron god, Nebo. [Note: Dyer, p. 706.]

The most probable site of the Dura Plain seems to be six miles southeast of Babylon. [Note: Montgomery, p. 197.] The Aramaic word dura ("fortification") is common and refers to a place enclosed by a wall or perhaps mountains. [Note: Leupold, p. 137; Keil, p. 119; Pentecost, p. 1337.]