The nature of this piece does not afford much scope for the display of the social condition of Babylon and its inhabitants. It is to be expected therefore that it will shew us far less of these matters than either Susanna or Bel and the Dragon. But so far as it gives any indications, it is in accord with the canonical Daniel, and with what we know from other sources of the customs of the country. Evidently Israel was in a state of subjection to the Babylonian king, who ordered idolatry to be practised by captives and natives alike. It is shewn by v. 9 (32) sqq. that the former smarted under his tyranny, and appealed to God for redress, like their forefathers in Egyptian bondage.
The punishment of burning, on which the whole story turns, is quite Babylonian. Jer. xxix. 22 is another instance, so that there is no lack of vraisemblance in its introduction here. (See Hastings' D.B. art. Crimes and Punishments, I. 523, for other instances). It has been thought (Smith's D.B. ed. 2 art. Furnace, I. 1092b) that this furnace in Daniel is alluded to by our Lord in St. Matt. xiii. 42, 50; but how opposite on this occasion are the consequences of being cast into it! Here prayer and praise from the righteous, there weeping and gnashing from the wicked. The allusion must be considered a very doubtful one.
The subservience of the king's servants[[24]] in performing their cruel work, and the absence of a protesting voice or of a helping hand from any quarter, is very characteristic of the results of Eastern despotism. All, except the three martyrs, were afraid of Nebuchadnezzar, whose murderous rage under contradiction is of a piece in both the Chaldee and the Greek portions of the chapter. No one else on this occasion dared to disobey his decree, and there is no sign of anyone venturing so much as to intercede for the Jewish victims.
[24] ὑπηρέται, v. 23 (46), attendants probably holding some official position superior to that of slaves. Cf. St. John xviii. 18.
In such small glimpses as are given, in this extension of chap. iii., of the social state of Babylonia there is nothing clearly indicating that the interpolation (if such it be) is of an unhistoric or untrustworthy character, nothing wholly irreconcilable with the rest of the book. Indeed the author (W.T. Bullock) of the note on Daniel iii. 23 in the S.P.C.K. Commentary goes so far as to write of "that noble canticle Benedicite," as an "historical document." This expression may require qualification, but it is not beyond the bounds of possible fact.
Theology.
The theology appears to be of a perfectly orthodox character, quite what might have been expected from the three children; nor is it inconsistent with that contained in the rest of the book of Daniel. The exile had not now contaminated the Jewish religion, but had rather purged it of its corruptions, and eradicated in particular the fatal tendency to "serve other gods." Such sins are thoroughly confessed by Azarias in a style not without resemblance to Daniel's confession. (Cf. v. 6 (29) with ix. 5 in both versions; also Esther xiv. 6, 7.)
The God of their fathers is He alone to whom prayers and praises are to be addressed. He is regarded as the Lord of all creation, both as a whole and in its specific parts. He is looked up to to make good the old promises (13), being full of mercy (19), as well as of power and glory (20, 22, 68). He is a king (33), just (4), and gracious (67), with an ear open to the addresses of his people. The righteousness of even His heavy judgements is acknowledged in the prayer; and the hymn throughout shews that the gratitude of man is plainly deemed acceptable to Him.
As to the question of praise being called for from inanimate things or irrational beings, we must remember that though unfitted, so far as we understand them, for conscious praise, their creation, maintenance, and usefulness give evidence of God's greatness and goodness. As Cornelius à Lapide notes on v. 35 (57) "Inanimes creaturæ benedicunt Deum creatorem suum, non ore sed opere, ait S. Hieronymus," giving, however, no reference to the passage in Jerome. Ps. civ. 4 and Heb. i. 7 afford some helpful clues to the operations of Nature in this connection. Man is treated by our author as the interpreter of Nature, with a right, as made in the image of God, to call upon it to glorify its Maker. He offers vocal praise on its hehalf as well as on his own; though things without life praise God silently, by fulfilling the parts for which He made them. A somewhat similar idea of the elevating influence exerted by natural beings may be discerned in the second of the New sayings of Jesus as restored by Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt (Lond. 1904, p. 15). And Addison fitly writes (Spect. No. 393), "The cheerfulness of heart which springs up in us from the survey of Nature's works, is an admirable preparation for gratitude "(cf. 'Early Christian Literature and Art,' s.v. 'Hippolytus').
Azarias desires that the rescue of the party may redound to the knowledge among all men of the sole deity of Jehovah (22)—a petition for the conversion of the Gentiles. The phrase in the last verse of the Song, θεὸς τῶν θεῶν, might be taken as an admission of the existence of other gods over whom Jehovah was supreme. But clearly this is not so intended, as may be proved from the use of the phrase in Deut. x. 17, Pss. xlix. I (LXX), cxxxvi. 2. Yet it is not unlikely that Nebuchadnezzar used the phrase in this acceptation in ii. 47. The other occasion, however, on which it is used in Daniel (xi. 36), allows it to be taken only in an orthodox sense; nor is any other likely in the mouth of Azarias, who resisted to the utmost the command to sin by idolatry. It is observable that Azarias omits the clause "in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed" (Gen. xxii. 18, xxvi. 4) from his quotation of the patriarchal promise. This might arise from dislike to the nations, who had conquered Israel; but on the other hand, the gist of it is contained in his concluding petition in v. 22.