This question recently made its way to me. I figured I’d give it a shot. Here we go…

When examining the KJV, there is a tendency for some to believe that the Son of God was walking around in the flesh at the time of Daniel. While God could manifest (make known) himself as anything (a cloud of fire [Ex 13:21], Melchizedek [Heb 7:1-3]), he only manifested himself as the Son of God at one time, and that was the birth of Jesus (Luke 1:35). Jesus was “begotten” of God. Begotten is always used when referring to birth.

Begotten: To bear young, birth, bring forth(children), born beget, in this case, to bring forth a child. The word yalad (3205) is used many times throughout the old Testament, always to refer to birth: Gen 3:16, Gen 4:1, Gen 4:26, Gen 5:3. Did God appear in the form of a man before Jesus? Yes, we see him appear as one of the three men who met Abraham in Genesis 18,  as Melchesedac (Heb 7:1-3) and other places in the Old Testament. Yet God only begets a son once when Jesus is born.

Having said that, let’s examine the scripture passage:

He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Dan 3:25 KJV

The KJV is the only version that says “Son of God”. Although, it was fascnitating to discover that the original King James of 1611 did not capitalize the word son.

He answered and said, Loe, I see foure men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they haue no hurt, and the forme of the fourth is like the sonne of God. Dan 3:25 1611 KJV

Here is the passage from two of the more modern literal Bibles:

He said, “Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!” NASB

He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” ESV

Later, Nebuchadnezzar says: [Then] Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed [be] the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. Dan 3:28 (Italics added)

In this instance, the King clearly refers to the fourth man as an angel. The terms “sons of God” was sometimes used to refer to Angels in the Bible:

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. (Job 1:6; ).

Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD. (Job 2:1)

When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:7)

The terms “angel” and “son of God” are used synonymously. However, the King wouldn’t even have to necessarily be referring to God’s angel at this point. The King was clearly Pagan, and worshipped multiple false Gods. To call the majestic figure that miraculously showed up a “son of the gods”, would make sense. It is possible that word of the Hebrew God had reached the king through Daniel or someone else. Perhaps the King was aware of God’s majesty and his promise of a messiah. Nevertheless, the argument is nearly settled in Daniel 3:28 when the king refers to the fourth person as an angel.

It seems one could argue strongly for the cause of the fourth figure being an angel. Yet, in the King James Version text, we see that it clearly says, “the Son of God”. The revisers of the 1769 KJV even made a point to capitalize Son.

Daniel, was written in Aramaic. Let’s examine the original language used.

—– Below is excerpt from http://chatbible.com/HolyName.html

ELAH (ELAHIN, plural)
Strong’s lexical number: 426{Aramaic}

Formerly rendered: “G/god(s)”

Occurs 95 times within the Aramaic portions of pre-John the Baptist scripture, (78 times used of Yahweh; 15 times used of foreign gods; and 2 times used of some foreign god:)
In Daniel 2:47, both singular and plural forms appear as, your Elah [is] an Elah of elahin… In Daniel 3:14, Nebuchadnezzar is also recorded as saying, do not ye serve my elahin, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Interestingly, Elah (not to be confused with the two individuals bearing the name) is the Aramaic equivalent of the Arabic Allah.

Since a sizable portion of the post-exilic or otherwise pre-John the Baptist Aramaic scripture (Ezra 4:6-6:18; 7:12-26; Daniel 2:4-7:28; and one sentence in Jeremiah 10:11) was written amidst heathens, their plural designation, elahin, is used exclusively of foreign deities, unlike the plural construct Hebrew usage of Elohim. For this reason, to emphasize its plurality, the English article the is always retained before such instances of elahin, and, therefore, special attention must be given to Daniel 3:25:

“He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” –KJV, 1769
This is particularly problematic since the King James translators here chose to present Nebuchadnezzar’s exclamation as a Messianic reference (using the English article the and capitalizing Son). Furthermore, they translated, in only this one particular instance, the plural Aramaic elahin as God (singular and capitalized)! The Aramaic text here reads: the form of the fourth is like a son of the elahin (bar elahin). Nebuchadnezzar was remarking that the fourth man appeared to be an angel (referenced as bar elahin – son of the gods, akin to the Hebrew, bene elohim – sons of God, note Daniel 3:28). Nevertheless, in the spirit of keeping with the King James rendering as much as conscience will allow, the expression has been rendered: the Son of elahin.

—– End Excerpt

Put simply, there is no definite article before Son in this passage. The word “the” in “the Son” should not be there.

I was able to find the marginal notes form the Geneva bible here: http://chatbible.com/daniel/3-25.asp.

Regarding Daniel 3:25, the note says, “For the angels were called the sons of God because of their excellency. Therefore the king called this angel whom God sent to comfort his own in these great torments, the son of God.” There is a believe that the translators of the KJV simply reproduced the Geneva Bible as is without taking into account this marginal note.

“The KJV merely reproduced the reading of its great predecessor, the Geneva Bible, which in turn precisely followed the Latin Vulgate, which in its turn literally followed the Greek translation of Theodotion.  While precedent for the KJV’s translation can therefore be cited, nevertheless, the ASV et al., are squarely based on the ultimate and sole infallible authority, the Scriptures as originally written (Kutilek)”.

I’m not a Bible language scholar, nor do I read Aramaic. But in regards to this (rather unimportant) question, I tend to believe that God saved the Hebrew children from the fire, and he then sent his angel to minister to them. Here are the reasons based on what we just went over:

• The Aramaic text could  have been translated as “son of the gods” and still been accurate (most likely more accurate in fact)
• sons of God was used to refere to angels in the Bible
• King Nebuchadnezzar calls the fourth figure an angel after the experience was over
• King Nebuchadnezzar said “like unto” the Son of God in the  KJV, not “was the Son of God”.
• God sent forth his only begotten son at the appointed time (Gal 4:4, Psalms 2:7), the plan existed from the foundation of the earth(1 Pet 1:19-20), but was actually manifest that night in Bethlehem.

And even if it was a theophany of God, scripture points to it not being the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ incarnate.

Kutilek, Doug. “SON OF GOD OR A SON OF THE GODS (DANIEL 3:25) ?” The King James Only Resource Center. Web. 28 Jan. 2012. <http://www.kjvonly.org/doug/kutilek_son_of_god.htm>.

What we will cover:

• Basic Copyright Law
• The Religious Service Exemption
• Playing and Performing Audio and Music in Church
• Video and Movies in Church, Including Online and Youtube.
• Plays and Skits in Church
• Bible Scripture Copyright
• Examples of Legal Cases Involving Churches
• Fair Use Act

The contemporary American church today utilizes a far greater amount of diverse media in their activities today than they did 20 years ago. Hardback hymnals have been replaced by dual rear projectors showing lyrics to the latest Christian radio song written by a popular contemporary artist while emotionally stirring graphics and images populate the background. Online sharing of video-recorded services make their way from the church website to social video sharing sites. Church members volunteer to do such things as sing, perform plays, create graphics, play music and create videos. “There are wonderful ways that technology can help us do things we could not do or do as effectively in the past” (Jewell 24). New media is spreading throughout churches, but often times the media is spreading faster than the knowledge of what the legal ramifications of new media could have on a church organization.

Like many religious organizations, the business aspect of the organization is typically not in the spotlight as much as a commercial organization’s. In smaller churches there can be a mentality that because the staff is mostly volunteers and working for the “greater good”, certain laws do not apply to them, or they may feel they can simply fly beneath the radar. This is not the case. A church could legally be fined up to $150,000 just for playing a movie without permission (“The Need”). The financial damage along with the damage to the church’s reputation make it imperative that churches are not ignorant of the copyright laws applicable to the media they are using.

I had a hard time finding a Bible study on tattoos that:

• Was comprehensive
• Wasn’t fueled by emotion more than scripture
• Wasn’t based around a pre-conceived answer the author clearly had before putting the study together

I will try to keep the commentary on this study to a minimum while we examine the scripture.

——

What we will cover:

• The meaning of Leviticus 19:28
• How to consider Old Testament laws today
• How to deal with the issue of tattoos using New Testament scripture

Matt 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

We gain things in life, we lose things in life: jobs, people, positions & titles (within and without the church), houses, cars, health, liberties, freedoms, the respect of others, a good name, children, husband, wife, girlfriend, pet… we gain things and we lose things. The word of God is something that can never leave us. It will sustain us. It is always there as the greatest gift we can give to others – for it is through the word they will hear salvation(Rom 10:14). If we have nothing but the clothes on our backs, we can still give the word of God.

Key points covered:

• John didn’t have much. What made him the “greatest”?
• What do we have that John had?

This is a study on how to suffer well. This may seem a tad odd at first. Typically in life we strive to avoid suffering. I can’t remember the last time I saw a book in the self-motivational section of the bookstore entitled “How To Be Good At Suffering”. For me, this study has been life changing. I hope it can be of some value to you as well.

Key points covered:

• What we should fear and not fear as Christians.
• Righteous suffering vs wasteful suffering.
• Hope in suffering.
• Why we should be good stewards of suffering.

Key Scripture: 1 Peter 3:14-16

14But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy [are ye]: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;