At the Time You Hear the Cornet - Daniel 3:5

In the book of Daniel, Daniel shared how, “Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits”, and “then an herald cried aloud, to you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,...“, and in Daniel chapter three and verse five of his book Daniel shared how the herald told the people what to do “at what time you hear the sound of the cornet” where we read,

That at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up:

The verse reads, “That at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ...” Daniel began with the words, “that at what time you hear” or “at the set moment that you, the people, nations and languages, are given the faculty of hearing, perceiving, discerning and discovering” “the sound of the cornet”which means “the voice or noise belonging to the horn”, “flute” or “musical pipe named from it's whistling sound”, “harp” which probably refers to “a musical instrument like a lyre or zither”, “sackbut” or “a triangular musical instrument with four strings which was also known as a trigon and was similar to a lyre”, “psaltery” which refers to “a stringed triangular instrument like a lyre or harp”, “dulcimer” or “a wind instrument like a double pipe, panpipe or bagpipe”, “and all kinds of music” which means “and each and every type of instrumental music”. Daniel shared how the herald shouted that every person, nation and tongue who were gathered were to do the following at the time they “heard”various types of musical instruments being played.

The verse goes on to say, “... you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up:”Daniel continued with the words, “you fall down” which means “you, the people, nations and tongues of Babylon, prostrate yourselves” “and worship the golden image” or “and do deference and homage toward the idolatrous figure made of gold” “that Nebuchadnezzar the king” which means “that Nebuchadnezzar whose name means 'may Nebo protect the crown' who was the royal ruler and leader of Babylon who captured Jerusalem and carried Judah captive” “has set up” or “erected, established and fixed in place”. Daniel said the herald instructed everyone to bow to the ground and prostrate themselves to give homage to the idolatrous figure made with gold that “Nebuchadnezzar” erected before them. 

When we consider Daniel's words in this verse, we learn how the “herald” appointed by King Nebuchadnezzar called upon all the “people, nations and languages of Babylon” to bow down and give homage to the golden idol when they“heard” the music of multiple instruments playing. This was the order of King Nebuchadnezzar who wanted everyone to worship his idea of God rather than anything or anyone else. We shall see how this works out for him later in our chapter, however, let us be mindful that there are all types of idols in the world to draw us away from worshiping God. God knew we would be inclined to give homage to people or things other than Him, and this would eventually end in our demise. (See Proverbs 14:12; 16:25) For this reason He sent His Son Jesus into the world to die on the cross for the sins of all mankind and resurrected Him from the grave after three days so when we believe and trust in Him as our personal “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and help us through His Holy Spirit to worship Him and Him alone and never bow down to other idols that are available to us. (See 1 Thessalonians 1:9) 

Next time Daniel shares how the herald says, “whoso falls not down and worships shall … be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".