Friday, February 08, 2019

Daniel 3:25: "a Son of God"

Daniel 3:25 (ESV) reads: He answered and said, "But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods."

Bob Utley offers these remarks:
"the fourth is like a son of the gods" A considerable amount of speculation has been made about this fourth personage. He is an angel of the Lord (cf. Dan. 3:28 also 6:22). It is humorous to note that when Nebuchadnezzar calls the boys out by name, he makes no mention of that fourth person!

The Anchor Bible Commentary, Daniel 1-9 (by L. F. Hartman and A.A. Di Lella) says for Daniel 3:25: "a divine being. Literally, ―a son of God,‖ rightly understood in vs. 28 as an angel; cf. also vs. 26."

8 comments:

Duncan said...

What would the comparison be made against?

Duncan said...

"But I see four men unbound" - who sees?

Edgar Foster said...

Not sure I understand your first question, but the fourth person struck Nebuchadnezzar as one who was divine or like into the gods. There was something different about him. It was Nebuchadnezzar seeing these things.

Duncan said...

For someone to say "son of the Gods" they would already have to know what a son of the Gods looks like?

Had Nebuchadnezzar seen one before?

Edgar Foster said...

I don't think it would be necessary to see a son of the gods (a divine being) in order to arrive at the conclusion that one is perceicing a son of the gods. Other men in scripture came to similar conclusions when they saw angels, maybe for the first time. There was something about the being's appearance or phenomena associated with the being that would cause one to believe, "this being is divine." Furthermore, he knew the three Hebrews were human, but how did the fourth one get into the fiery furnace? And why was he not harmed by the fire? But at any rate, nothing requires that the king must have seen a divine being previously in order to make his exclamation.

Edgar Foster said...

should say "perceiving" above

Duncan said...

NONE of them were harmed by the fire - what about before he arrived?

Edgar Foster said...

The narrative suggests that Jehovah was protecting them the whole time, and it's likely that the angel was guarding God's servants before the king perceived the angel.