Daniel 3

Astonished, up in haste: Didn’t we cast three bound? Wesley’s emphasis on all the binding now meets the king’s own count. A frightened monarch counting bodies.

The facts are public before the fourth is named. Human witnesses under the Most High. The deliverance is already visible as walking, not yet as a doctrine of who walks with them.

Calvin: God often compels the impious to acknowledge His power. He trembled, rose quickly, and God extracted the confession from enemies that the rescue proceeded from no earthly medium. They do not escape the question.

Even the census is drawn. Agreed on both sides: three were cast, bound.

Four men unbound, walking, not hurt; the fourth like a son of the gods. Wesley: the Son of God—probably he had heard David speak of Him. Jesus Christ, the Angel of the covenant, did sometimes appear before His incarnation. Those who suffer for Christ have His gracious presence even in the furnace, even in the valley of the shadow of death, and need fear no evil.

Pre-incarnate Christ with His own in the fire. Shared with Calvin: they are unbound, walking, unhurt—God delivers in the fire. The fork is who the companion is.” “A son of the gods” is the king’s phrase; Wesley reads through it to the Son.

Calvin: God sent one of His angels to support their minds lest they faint. He calls him a son of God not because he thought him Christ, but by the common opinion that angels are sons of God. He could not recognize the only-begotten, being blinded by errors. Enthusiasm that makes this Christ is forced and frigid. The king will himself say “angel” in v. 28.

“Fourth”—an angel, sent; deliverance still God’s. Four in the fire, none hurt. The difference is Wesley’s Angel of the covenant versus Calvin’s created angel.

Wesley: milder tone; God having abated the fire of his fury; now he could acknowledge the true God most high above all gods, and the three as faithful servants.

“Come out”—a command, a walking out. They did not bolt when the heat died; they wait to be fetched, still under the God they would not bargain with. Most High is the king’s new title for the God of 2:47.

Calvin: sudden change in mood, not yet a new heart. He gives God glory for a moment and does not return to wisdom. Conversion of this kind is temporary; the worst despisers can submit for a short time. They did not come forth until commanded—like Noah, they had no free departure until fetched. They understood the end of their cross had arrived.

The king’s mouth is forced; the three’s timing is obedience, not impulse. Held in common: servants of the Most High, and they come out. Inspection follows so the miracle cannot be hid.

Satraps, prefects, governors, counselors see: fire had no power; hair not singed; cloaks unharmed; no smell of fire. Wesley: the God of nature controls the powers of nature when He pleases. Public proof, not a private feeling.

Enemies and officials as witnesses. Deliverance is bodily and inspectable. Smell is the last quibble removed. The Most High who is able (3:17) has delivered in the fire, not only from it.

Calvin: gathered together; if they had been merely stupefied, how could the power be proposed to blind eyes? He enumerates: no power over bodies, not a hair burnt, garments unchanged, not even the smell. More is expressed by smell than if he had said the fire had not penetrated. Enemies would have concealed it if they could; God draws them as eye-witnesses.

The benefit is no small freedom, and the testimony is from those who wished it false. Unsinged, unharmed, no smell. Blessing is next.

Blessed be their God, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in Him, have changed the king’s word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might not serve any god except their own. Wesley can hear “angel” as the Angel of the covenant (v. 25). The king now names trust and the yielded bodies of 3:16–18.

A doxology from a mouth, as 2:47 was. Trust is named as theirs. Yielded bodies are the “if not” made visible. The confession can be true in its matter and still fail later (ch. 4) without proving they never stood. God delivered servants who trusted Him.

Calvin: no common confession, yet the event proved it was impulse without a living root. He mingles idols with the true God. Why not call Him his own God? If he felt this he must curse his idols. Who sent his angel: he is taught majesty by the miracle, but instruction from the Word is missing; faith without the Word vanishes. He praises in others what he does not imitate. They trusted in Him: if we wish our life protected, commit ourselves entirely to Him.

God extracted the words; the heart is not yet new. Agreed on both sides: sent his angel, delivered, trusted, yielded bodies. Calvin takes “angel” literally as the fourth figure of v. 25.

A decree that every people, nation, and language which speak against this God shall be torn limb from limb, houses ruined; no other god is able to deliver like this way. God’s ability here answers the confession of 3:17. The penalty is still a tyrant’s tool; the truth in it is that no other god rescued like this.

He defends a Name he does not yet wholly serve. The Most High does not need this violence to be Most High. The three were delivered by trust, not by this law.

Calvin: he is urged further—not from the heart, not bidding errors farewell. Blind turbulent impulse. The edict is by itself pious; piety had no root. Severity in defending worship is not utterly condemned, yet he is moved only by the miracle, not by the law. No other God who can deliver after this manner: he still does not inquire what God’s nature is from the Word.

Forced patronage of glory, not regeneration. Common ground: no other god able to rescue this way. Promotion is the last line, not a prosperity moral.

The king promoted them in the province of Babylon. Wesley’s lieutenants of 2:49 are publicly vindicated in the same province where they would not bow. Office again, as after the dream—not a wage for the furnace.

“Promoted”—an actual king, a post. They did not bargain for it (3:18). The Most High who sets up and removes (2:21) can also leave three Jews over Babylon’s affairs after the fire. Chapter 3 ends where their “if not” began: they serve this God whether promoted or burned.

Calvin: slight as it seems, the miracle was confirmed throughout the region. All knew they had been cast in and then shared imperial sway. Three heralds proclaimed how they were delivered. Worthless the deities of Chaldea; the true God proved consistent in snatching His servants from death.

“Promoted”—providence making the story unforgettable, not luck at court. On this both agree: promoted in the province. The next chapter will test whether the king’s mouth has yet a new heart.