Daniel 3:6

Whoso falleth not down. The king and his counselors, apparently expecting instances of refusal, threatened with the most cruel punishment any who refused to obey the command. Exclusive of the Jews, whose religious convictions prohibited their bowing down before any image (Ex. 20:5), ancient peoples did not object to worshiping idols. Hence the refusal to bow down before Nebuchadnezzar’s image would be regarded as proof of hostility toward Nebuchadnezzar and his government. Whether the king had anticipated the difficult position into which he forced his loyal Jewish servants, we do not know. It may be that he sent Daniel on a journey, to spare him the embarrassment (see on v. 1). From his contacts with Daniel the king must have known that a faithful Jew would refuse to worship the image, and that such a refusal could not be interpreted as a sign of disloyalty.

Fiery furnace. Although there are not many ancient examples of this kind of death penalty on record, a few are attested. One comes from the 2d millennium B.C., in which servants are threatened with this punishment. It is noteworthy that the same word that Daniel used for furnace (’attun) is also found in the Babylonian cuneiform text (utunum). The second example comes from Nebuchadnezzar’s son-in-law Nergal-sharusur. In one of his royal inscriptions he claims to have “burned to death adversaries and disobedient ones.” Compare Jer. 29:22.

The fiery furnace was probably a brickkiln. Since all buildings were constructed of bricks, many of them of burned bricks, kilns were numerous in the vicinity of ancient Babylon. Excavations show that ancient brickkilns were similar to modern ones, which are found in that area in great numbers. These kilns are ordinarily cone-shaped structures built of bricks. The unbaked bricks to be fired line the inner walls. An opening on one side of the wall permits fuel to be thrown into the interior. Fuel consists of a mixture of crude oil and chaff. A tremendous heat is thus produced, and through the opening the observer can see the fired bricks heated to a white glow.