Daniel’s Absence at Nebuchadnezzar’s Statue

Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay

The three friends of Daniel refused to bow to and worship Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. Why doesn’t Daniel suffer the fate of the fiery furnace?

In Daniel 2:48-49, Daniel is promoted as a ruler over the land of Babylon. He requests that King Nebuchadnezzar also promote his three friends. They become stewards of the province of Babylon. But Daniel is promoted to the king’s court.

This may make the difference between those who have to bow down to the statue Nebuchadnezzar makes in Daniel 3:1-7. For some reason, he is not singled out by the Chaldeans who accused his three friends of not bowing down to the image.

Daniel is absent during this entire segment of the book were his friends suffer the consequence of going to the fiery furnace. Why isn’t he singled out? The only reason I can think of for Daniel not being singled out as another Jew who did not bow down is that he may not have been involved in this group of leaders.

It’s possible that being sent to the king’s court meant that he was not part of this experience at all. If he was, the Chaldeans were unaware that he did not bow down as well. Based on the rest of the book, we can surmise that he would refuse to about down to any idol.

This is the only reason I can think of for why Daniel was not included in the other group of Jews and sent to the same fate. Later on he will not escape scrutiny and end up in the lions’ den.

Jonathan Srock

Rev. Jonathan Srock is an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God since 2010. He received two Bachelor’s degrees in Biblical Languages and Pastoral Ministries, as well as a Masters of Divinity from Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. Jonathan was privileged to be the Lead Pastor of New Life Assembly in Shillington, PA for five years before suffering sudden paralysis in 2013. Jonathan has been a Christian since 1988.

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Ron Thomsen

    Why was Daniel not at the dedication of the golden image. The most commonly suggested reason is that Nebuchadnezzar had sent Daniel out on some kind of assignment. As to why Nebuchadnezzar sent him out, my guess is Nebuchadnezzar did not want the embarrassment of having his prime minister publicly opposing his image.

    1. Jonathan Srock

      That’s a good question, Ron. It’s possible Nebuchadnezzar sent Daniel away on a mission or an errand. It’s also possible that Daniel was away governing another part of the kingdom. If he was there, he would have had the same problem his three friends had and what had been thrown into the fiery furnace as well. Nebuchadnezzar was in the stream we prideful man and would have taken it as an affront by anyone.

      I don’t have any additional comments to add about where Daniel was or what he was doing. It seems that Daniel 3 belongs to his three friends as a further example of how to stand up to ungodly commands and orders and that God will protect His people when they do so.

      The book of Daniel is a great example to us of how to stay faithful to God even when it will cost us something in the world. We live in this secular culture and I would not be surprised if Christians will begin having to stand up like Daniel and his friends. Daniel gives us a roadmap on how to do it.

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