his earlier and humbler judgment (Dan 3:15) regarding the God of the Jews, and spoke now in praise of the might of this God. For at the same time he not only openly announced that He had saved (Dan 3:28) His servants, but also by an edict, issued to all the peoples of his kingdom, he forbade on pain of death the doing of any dishonour to the God of the Jews (Dan 3:29). Nebuchadnezzar, however, did not turn to the true God. He neither acknowledged Jehovah as the only, or the alone true God, nor did he command Him to be worshipped. He only declared Him to be a God who is able to save His servants as no other could, and merely forbade the despising and reviling of this God. Whoever speaks שׁלה, that which is erroneous or unjust, against the God of Shadrach, etc., shall be put to death. שׁלה, from שׁלה, to err, to commit a fault, is changed in the Keri into שׁלוּ, which occurs in Dan 6:5 and Ezr 4:22, and in the Targg.; but without sufficient ground, since with other words both forms are found together, e.g., ארמלא, vidua, with ארמלוּ, viduitas. According to this, שׁלוּ in abstr. means the error; שׁלה in concr., the erroneous. Hitz. finds the command partly too narrow, partly quite unsuitable, because an error, a simple oversight, should find pardon as soon as possible. But the distinction between a fault arising from mistake and one arising from a bad intention does not accord with the edict of an Oriental despot, which must be in decided terms, so that there may be no room in cases of transgression for an appeal to a mere oversight. Still less importance is to be attached to the objection that the carrying out of the command may have had its difficulties. but by such difficulties the historical character of the narrative is not brought under suspicion. As the Chaldeans in this case had watched the Jews and accused them of disobedience, so also could the Jews scattered throughout the kingdom bring before the tribunal the heathen who blasphemed their God.
Verses 29-30
Regarding the collocation of the words עם אמּה ו, see under Dan 3:4; and regarding the Nymid'fha and the threatened punishment, see under Dan 2:5. כּדּנה we regard, with the lxx, Theodot., Vulg., and old interpreters, as a fem. adverbial: οὕτως, ita, as it occurs in Dan 2:10; Ezr 5:7, and Jer 10:11. The interpreting it as masculine, as this God, does not correspond with the heathen consciousness of God, to which a God perceptible by sight was more appropriate than a God invisible (Kran.). The history concludes (Dan 3:30) with the remark that Nebuchadnezzar now regarded the three men with the greatest favour. In what way he manifested
