In such small glimpses as are given, in this extension of chap. iii., of
the social state of Babylonia there is nothing clearly indicating that
the interpolation (if such it be) is of an unhistoric or untrustworthy
character, nothing wholly irreconcilable with the rest of the book.
Indeed the author (W.T. Bullock) of the note on Daniel iii. 23 in the
S.P.C.K. _Commentary_ goes so far as to write of "that noble canticle
_Benedicite_," as an "historical document." This expression may require
qualification, but it is not beyond the bounds of possible fact.
THEOLOGY.
The theology appears to be of a perfectly orthodox character, quite what
might have been expected from the three children; nor is it inconsistent
with that contained in the rest of the book of Daniel. The exile had not
now contaminated the Jewish religion, but had rather purged it of its
corruptions, and eradicated in particular the fatal tendency to "serve
other gods." Such sins are thoroughly confessed by Azarias in a style
not without resemblance to Daniel's confession.
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