Daniel 3:24-90

 

Daniel 3:24-90

No, I haven't made a mistake here, and you can be forgiven if you can't find these verses in your Bible. They are actually not found in most Protestant translations, and in those versions that do have it, it is often listed separately in the Apocrypha under the name: The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men. It purports to be the words of, respectively, Azariah (the Hebrew name for Abednego) and all three (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) as they were in the fiery furnace. In actuality, these words were written around the early 2^nd century B.C.

I was curious to see if it would share the same literary characteristic evidenced by most other apocryphal writings of that time, i.e. a residue of the strict symmetrical ordering of the text seen throughout the Old Testament. I was not disappointed in that expectation.

In the analysis below, I am using the verse numbering employed by those who list this composition separately, rather than the numbering in Roman Catholic and Orthodox Bibles in which it is inserted between Daniel 3:24 and 3:25.

Since the whole work seems to have been circulated together, instead of divided into two different poems, it encourages us to consider us as a two-part work. So a first broad approach to its structure can be seen below:

                                                        Figure 1: Unified Structure

I. The Prayer of Azariah (vv. 1-22)

    II. Narrative Introduction (vv. 1-2)

        III. Opening Blessing (v. 3)

            A. “Blessed are you, O Lord, God of our fathers and worthy of praise” (v. 3a)

                B. “your name is glorified for ever.” (v. 3b)

                       IV. Prayer (vv. 4-22)

I'. The Song of the Three Young Men (vv. 23-68)

    II'. Narrative Introduction (vv. 23-28)

        III'. Opening Blessing (vv. 29-30)

            A'. “Blessed are you, O Lord, God of our fathers...be highly praised...” (v. 29)

                B'. “and blessed is your glorious, holy name...to be highly praised” (v. 30)

                    IV'. Song (vv. 31-68)

Verbal parallels in II and II' include: “flame(s),” “midst of the fire/furnace,” “blessing the Lord/blessed God,” and “opened his mouth/with one mouth.” And the similarities in wording between III and III' shown above are quite obvious. But there is much less direct correspondence between the bulk of this combined book as expressed in IV and IV', as might be expected considering their different poetic genres. So the next step is to see if there is any internal symmetry found within these two large sections.

Dentan, after first noting that the sentiment of neither IV nor IV' is particularly appropriate to the situation in which the three young men find themselves, goes on to state that IV appears to be a unity while IV' has a natural break after v. 34 as well as the probable later interpolation of v. 66 added to tie the poem into its new historical setting. A more detailed analysis of these two parts follows.

Concerning the prayer of Azariah, one could break it into the following literary units based on common language and thoughts:

                                                         Figure 2: Individual Units in IV

        A. God's Name is Glorified (v. 3)

                B. God's Justice (vv. 4-10)

                        C. Plea for Mercy (vv. 11-13)

                                D. The People's Lowly Status (vv. 14-15)

                        C'. Plea for Mercy (vv. 16-20a)

        A'. Give Glory to your Name (v. 20b)

                B'. God's Justice (vv. 20c-22)

You can see that verse 3 actually does double duty in that it helps to tie in IV and IV' (see Figure 1) as well as forming an inclusion for IV itself (Figure 2). Concerning the latter function, we see repetition of “Lord...God,” “thy name,” and “glorified/glorious” in units A and A' of Figure 2. The key phrase in IV B is “true judgment,” which has a bracketing function since it appears in vv. 5 and 8. In B and B', the peoples' enemies are mentioned. But whereas these are used by God to reduce his people to “shame and disgrace” in Section B, Azariah asks God in Section B' to reduce those same enemies to “shame and disgrace.” The first plea for mercy in C is based on God's earlier promises to the patriarchs while the reason given in C' is predicated on Israel's repentance. And behind all these prayers to God is the hope that He will take pity on them as he looks on the pitiful state to which they have been reduced (Section D).

As for IV', it falls into two obvious parts: verses 31-34 take the general form of “Blessed are you (location of God) to be (verb) and (verb) for ever” in contrast to verses 35-66a, which all begin with “Bless the Lord (addressee named)” and end with the same response “sing praise to him and highly exalt him for ever.”

And within vv. 35-66a, there is a progression of thought based roughly on the order of creation, as narrated in Genesis 1. Thus we have:

Creation                                         Song of the Three Men (verses)             Genesis 1 (verses)

All Creation 35

God in the highest heaven             36-37                                                       1-2

Waters above the earth                  38                                                             6-8

Powers of the air                           39-51                                                        3-8

Land                                              52-53                                                         9-10

Plants of the Land                         54                                                              11-13

Creatures of the Air and Sea         55-58                                                        20-21

Animals                                        59                                                              24-25

Mankind                                       60-63                                                         26-31

                                                            Figure 3: Individual Units in IV'

Prose Introduction (vv. 23-27)

        A. The Three Men Praise God (v. 28)

                B. Blessings to “Lord, God of our fathers” (vv. 29-34)

                        C. Call to All Creation (v. 35)

                                D. Spirits in Heaven (vv. 36-37)

                                        E. Everything above the Earth (vv. 38-51)

                                        E'. Everything on the Earth (vv. 52-63)

                                D'. Spirits under the Earth (v. 64)

                        C'. Call to All Creation (v. 65)

        A'. Call to the Three Men to Praise God (v. 66)

                B'. Blessings to “Lord, the God of gods” (vv. 67-68)

As most commentators will point out, the dividing line down the middle of this arrangement is clearly signaled by a break in the opening pattern of verses 35-65. Verse 52 which begins E' reads “Let the...bless the Lord; let it...sing praise to him...” instead of the usual “Bless the Lord...sing praise to him...”

Note that a comparison of Figures 1-3 seems to indicate that the prose introduction of the Song would just as much at home as the conclusion of the Prayer instead. However, that is not how most scholars look at the dividing point between the two halves of this combined composition.

The high degree of symmetry evidenced by this work would almost qualify it as a genuine part of the Old Testament if it weren't for (1) the sentiments within the poems which do not sit easily within the historical situation of the book of Daniel and (2) the fact that their inclusion totally disrupts the literary structure of that book.