“King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.” Daniel 3:1
As we finish the rest of verse 1 we gain additional insights into Nebuchadnezzar’s motive for building this statue. Remember that in Chapter 2 the king had a dream and was very upset and distraught. Once God through Daniel gave him the interpretation he is satisfied since he is the head of gold, greater than all other earthly kings who will come after him. It appears he has time to meditate on the truth God gave him and now he decides if he is in fact that great, he
should be memorialized for all time for who he is and what he has accomplished. Therefore he erects an image which is not just any statue. It reveals the heart of man in full rebellion against God.
Made an image of gold We learn Nebuchadnezzar constructed this image of gold. This tells us several things. First, Nebuchadnezzar remembers God’s dream. The word of God stayed in his heart. Daniel’s faithfulness in giving the truth of God’s word and giving God the glory for revealing His truth is not forgotten by the king. Unfortunately he pick out the parts of God’s word he likes and holds only to it but not the while truth of Scripture.(This is how people love to “cherry pick” Scripture in the age we live.) Second, he was thrilled he was the head of gold. He liked that part and so he made an image completely of gold to memorialize himself What God would not do, exalt Nebuchadnezzar fully, he would do for himself. Third, we see him latch onto the image of gold to express his greatness. Gold was the most valuable ore on earth at this time so he would use it to show everyone his glory. Fourth, most Bible commentators are in agreement that this image was not made of pure gold. That would be economically impossible. The image was likely constructed of wood and then covered with gold plating to make it look like pure gold. This is an accurate picture of man who exalts himself before a holy God. Inside the man is hollow and cheap but outwardly covers himself with a veneer of respectability and honor. Jeremiah tells us “The heart is deceitful above all things, who can know it?” God knows the heart and sees the true condition it is in – wood covered with a veneer of self-glory. Finally, we see the deception of Nebuchadnezzar. He will call on all men to worship him by bowing to his image. At this point that is not known but the king will later reveal this pride in his heart as he forces his subjects to worship him or die. This is the ultimate goal of Satan’s – take God’s glory for his own.
Whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits God goes into detail to tell us the dimensions of the image. In our measurements the statue is 90 feet high (the size of a ten story building) and 9 feet broad (the size of a city bus). It should be noted that some see this image as an obelisk because of the distorted image that it would portray of a human. Whichever it is, the king’s intention is the same –worship him instead of God. First the size shows us that the king desired this image to be seen throughout the province of Babylon. Everyone should see his greatness. Second, while it is unlikely that the the dimensions had any real significance for the king, they are a clear message from the one behind his efforts. Along with the 6 instruments the king has play at the ceremony we see the number 666 on the plain of Dura. This is of course the number of the antichrist during the tribulation. 6 is the number of man and 666 is the number of man expressed in the form of a trinity – man totally in charge of himself and the one to be worshipped instead of God – the ultimate idolatry, the ultimate love of self and rejection of God.
He set it up on the Plain of Dura Dura is likely within a few miles of Babylon on an expansive flat area where hundreds of thousands of people could easily have been assembled. There would be nothing that would hinder all men from worshipping what the king erected. Unity in worship of the king – that is the desire of every dictator.
What can we learn? The golden image signifies wealth that covers the substance of man. It is an indication that wealth is the ultimate to be achieved in this world thing in this world. Here Nebuchadnezzar shows to all that he is the embodiment of obtaining wealth – the head of gold. Therefore he alone is worthy of worship. This is Satan’s goal for all mankind – Rebellion to God and exaltation of man. They did the same thing at the Tower of Babel in this same geographical area. There are always a few, however, who will not, cannot, submit.