Daniel 3
This story makes so much more sense when read in historical context rather than in isolation.
Why did Nebuchadnezzar build the golden image? Because Daniel had just told him that the golden head from the image in his dream represented him. In his understanding, the golden image was an appropriate way to acknowledge what God thought of him (Nebuchadnezzar).
The men who brought the accusation against Daniels friends were the group who has failed to do what Daniel had done in interpreting the king’s dream. They probably feared that they would be supplanted by these Hebrews. At the same time they realized that Daniel was probably untouchable at this time despite the fact that, like his friends, he doubtless refused to worship the golden image.
They were probably already looking for a plan by which they could entrap Daniel once it looked like he was no longer untouchable.
I hadn’t realized before that Nebuchadnezzar gave Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego an opportunity to change their minds before he punished them, possibly in deference to their association with Daniel. He was disappointed when they boldly stood by their actions.
I now realize why the men who threw these three Hebrews into the fit were killed. I had always seen this image posited as a furnace with a door in the side but the scriptural description is more of a fire pit with the opening at the top where the heat of the furnace would be full force on those men who threw them in.
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