Daniel Lesson 5

Some people believe the Plain of Dura is a place about six miles from Babylon.  “Dura” means circuit or walled place. This place is southeast of Babylon, near a small river and mounds bearing the name of Douair or Duair,   Also, archaeologist found what seemed to be the base of a great statue at this place.

Others believe the Plain of Dura was within the walls of Babylon. They believe “the plain of the dur” or “rampart” refers to a open area within Babylon.  The walls around Babylon are estimated to be 10 miles in circumference.  The walls were about 40 feet high and so thick that two chariots could race around them.

Also built were also 250 guard towers that were positioned along the walls and garrisoned with archers and soldiers to defend against any invaders.

There is also disagreement about the “furnace” in Daniel 3.  Some people believe that it was an industrial-size brick furnace used for baking bricks or for melting and working with metals.  That might make sense if the Plain Of Dura was within the walls of Babylon.  It is estimated that Nebuchadnezzar used as many as 15 million bricks to rebuild the walls, palaces, and temples in Babylon.  He also build all sorts of gold images and vessels for the 50 temples to idols located within the city walls.  We can imagine that these large furnaces would be operating 24/7 during the entire reign of Nebuchadnezzar.

Others believe that the furnace was a hole in the ground near the base of the large statue in the place south of Babylon.  They think that Nebuchadnezzar had a special place above the furnace so that he could look down into it and view the Hebrews in the furnace.   

Click on the above image to learn more about what the instruments mentioned in Daniel symbolize.

The above video plays music claiming to be Babylonian. You can definitely hear the flutes and the stringed instruments.

The image that Nebuchadnezzar set up was 10 times taller than it was wide.  The tall Babylonian man gives you some idea of the size of this image. The image assumes that the Babylonian is about 6 feet tall.  The wall and Ishtar gate in the background are about 40 feet tall.  So the image, which is 60  cubits (90 feet), is twice as tall than the wall.  The image is 60 by 6 by 6 cubits.  The Bible does not describe the image, so I created an engraved pillar to give some sort of idea of the size and dimensions of this image.  I also put a distorted image of a golden man as an example of how distorted the person would be to be 90 feet tall (even on a large platform).  It seems more likely that it was some sort of obelisk.