Daniel 3:19

"Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heated. And he commanded certain mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their breeches, their tunics, and their mantles, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the burning fiery furnace."

THE TERRIBLE PENALTY EXECUTED

The expression "seven times hotter" appears to be an idiom which actually means, "Make it as hot as possible."[21]

The exact meaning of the words describing the articles of clothing in which the condemned men were bound before being cast into the furnace is not known. "The meaning was lost at some period prior to the making of the Septuagint (LXX) in 250 B.C."[22] Such a fact, of course, requires the deduction that, "Daniel was written at a time long prior to that date."[23] This is proof that Daniel was not written in the period of Antiochus.

Many guesses have been advanced as to what the various articles of clothing here mentioned actually meant; but the most probable guess which we have encountered is that of Kennedy who said, "It is probable that the articles of clothing here mentioned were articles of official attire, and that they had come to the assembly in court dress."[24] If that was the case, it would have provided another incentive for binding them in their clothes, thus projecting the destruction of the official insignia of their high office. "Customarily the condemned would be stripped of clothing."[25]

As translated in this version (ASV), the clothing consisted of breeches, tunics, and mantles. Andrews rendered the words, "mantles, trousers, and hats."[26] There are a number of other guesses. The only thing certain is that all three of these ancient words belong to the court of Babylonian and Persian kings, and that they pertain to the vocabulary of Daniel himself, not to that of some pseudonymous forger in the days of the Maccabees.[27]

The urgency and fury of the king served to highlight the wonder about to be enacted. He did not even allow time for the customary stripping of condemned men. "The miracle was enhanced by the fact that all of those clothes constituted just so much more combustible material."[28]