The Fiery Furnace and the Fourth Man in the Fire (Daniel 3)

experimentNo. 0084categoryRituals & ceremoniesrecordingpendingdataCC BY 4.0

The fly is one of three flies who stay standing when the crowd on the plain of Dura falls down before the golden image; bound, it is thrown into a furnace heated seven times more, walks loose in the fire with a fourth figure of light and comes out unsinged, following the text of Daniel 3.

What the fly saw

Frames rendered from the fly’s eye camera at four points in the timeline, each with the 32-column retinal input the connectome model receives at that moment.

Timeline

13 steps, with their times in the experiment

1. 0:00
   The plain of Dura

   A golden image towers over the plain: “whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits” (3:1). Crowds fill the plain before it.

2. 0:12
   The herald

   On a platform before the image a herald raises both arms: “To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages” (3:4).

3. 0:24
   Cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer

   Six players strike up (3:5) and the crowd falls down in a wave, row after row, before the image.

4. 0:34
   Three still standing

   In the middle of the prostrate crowd three flies, the subject among them, remain on their feet.

5. 0:44
   Brought before the king

   Soldiers march the three across the plain to Nebuchadnezzar’s dais (3:13). The king rises in rage.

6. 0:56
   Seven times hotter

   “Heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated” (3:19). Bellows roar; flame spills from the mouth and the top, and the bricks glow white.

7. 1:10
   Bound in their coats

   The most mighty men bind the three “in their coats, their hosen, and their hats” (3:21).

8. 1:20
   Up the ramp

   The mighty men carry the three up the ramp and heave them through the opening in the top of the furnace.

9. 1:30
   The flame slays the men

   Flame jets from the opening and the men who took them up blacken and crumble (3:22). Their helmets roll down the ramp.

10. 1:38
    Into the midst

    The three “fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace” (3:23). Flame surrounds the subject on every side.

11. 1:44
    Four loose in the fire

    The ropes burn away. “Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire” (3:25): a fourth figure of light walks with them.

12. 2:00
    Come forth

    The king comes to the mouth of the furnace and calls them out (3:26). The three walk out through the flames.

13. 2:10
    Not an hair singed

    The officials crowd round and inspect them: “nor was an hair of their head singed … nor the smell of fire had passed on them” (3:27). One sniffs the subject’s hat.

Setup

• 13 seekable stages over 142 seconds: the plain of Dura; the herald; “cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer”; three still standing; brought before the king; seven times hotter; bound in their coats; up the ramp; the flame slays the men; into the midst; four loose in the fire; come forth; and not an hair singed.
• The golden image of sixty by six cubits (3:1) is modeled at 27 × 2.7 units, with a cubit taken as 0.45 units. The furnace is a beehive brick dome with an arched side mouth, an open top and a ramp; bellows pump, the bricks glow from the joints outward and 280 flame tongues fill the inside.
• A herald, six musicians, Nebuchadnezzar on a canopied dais, soldiers, the most mighty men and officials surround the three. Crowd sets 60–320 instanced bowing flies (default 220); those near the fly have full low-detail anatomy and the rest are figures of about 600 triangles.
• Warming input (VP2) is an optional, bounded drive to the VP2 warming thermosensors, off by default. There is no gore control: the mighty men blacken and crumble to ash, and their helmets roll down the ramp.
• Eight cameras: the plain of Dura, the golden image from the crowd, before the king, through the mouth to the four in the fire, a display-only cutaway that hides the near half of the dome, the fly’s first-person view, the ramp and the opening, and the crowd bowing. A replay control restarts at the fourth in the fire.

Measurement

• Assay backend: the eye camera’s canonical retina reaches the fixed connectome model and measured spikes drive the neural display; by default no direct stimulation is sent.
• With Warming input (VP2) on, a bounded warming drive (warm, 0–1.2) goes to the VP2 thermosensors while the fire is hot. It follows the furnace’s pre-programmed heat by the fly’s distance and height, at full strength inside the furnace, where the text says the fire had no power over them; it reports modeled heat at that location, not harm, and responses report the drive.
• Inside the furnace the eye sees the brick dome, the flames, the two companions and the fourth figure. The fly’s own coat, hat and rope, the cutaway camera’s open dome and cue text are excluded from its retina.
• The bowing, binding, throw and walk out follow a pre-programmed timeline; measured spikes do not move the fly.

Limitations

• The scene follows the text of Daniel 3 and takes no position on its historicity.
• The image’s design, the plain’s layout, the instruments’ shapes (KJV names; the Aramaic terms are uncertain), the bellows, the bowing wave, the crowd and all timing are approximations. The beehive furnace with a ramp to an open top and a side mouth is a common reading of 3:23 and 3:26, not a described design.
• The fourth figure is shown only as a figure of light walking with the three; nothing further about it is depicted.
• The warming drive is a bounded stimulus tied to modeled heat; no burning, pain or experience is computed or inferred.

Sources

• Daniel 3, King James Version (Project Gutenberg eBook #10)