Revelation
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Falling Down - Instruments Of Ishtar
Back to the text again;
-- Click To Expand/Collapse Bible Verses -- Dan ch3:v8-18
Dan 3:8 Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews.
Dan 3:9 They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live for ever.
Dan 3:10 Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image:
Dan 3:11 And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
Dan 3:12 There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
Dan 3:13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king.
Dan 3:14 Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
Dan 3:15 Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?
Dan 3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
Dan 3:17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
Dan 3:18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
(KJV)
Previously we saw a reduction of the numbers of instruments to five, with a sixth group (of the image or either of the people) employed in the act of worship. This may be considered a slip in the text but it gives us an idea that the people were being used falsely to worship an idol - making themselves mere instruments rather than servants of God, or if the idol be considered as unity, then the field GF(7) has it's multiplicative group C6 of the instruments, (the collective of "all types of music" takes the unity element in GF(7)).
Immediately we see again (v10) that (true to the king's intent) there are now six types of instrument in the text and a "rest element" of "all types of music" as well as a seventh position where the image itself is placed as if it were Christ. (or in the eigth as zero inGF(8)) The image is itself the target of the worship and the embodiment of the reason "for the playing of music". Nebuchadnezzar no doubt wanted to offer a sweet sound of music to God by mistakenly setting up this system.
Again, we recover the sixth musical instrument, (the dulcimer) to both indicate the difference in the text between intent and practice that God most high is not being worshipped by these men - neither by those falling down to the image (as zero), or by the music (as unity). The commandment that all people should bow down to worship, so that they themselves take their own place similarly as instruments of worship to an idol - "falling down" to the image as if the image were the creator of life is too much for the trio of Jewish youths in view.
The idol does not and can not take the place of the zero or unity elements in GF(8), it is lifeless and without glory - it is nothing to be worshipped. There is only one place in the octal for the idol, the empty set which is not a proper member of GF(8) at all. The slip from six instruments to five indicates that in practice however, things are inverted to show the idol is (a fact) given worship in the place of Christ, rather than the idol itself having life or receiving purposeful worship by the people at the sound of music. As the unity element is in view, we have a situation of "hurting the oil and wine".
The punishment is to be cast into the furnace, yet the three youths already know that the God that the king is attempting to worship is just an idol and that the living God in truth can deliver them. The king commands that the men be so burnt, as if it were the lake of fire, though we may liken it to the set difference between the K4 static subgroup and the K4 form of the ultrafilter. (In truth by Christ, it is the empty set!) We have these two sets in the form of the "people nations and languages" spanning the octal in the manner that the "image" is imitating Christ also.
So the idol would take the place of zero in the octal as well as unity in GF(8). The drop of one instrument indicates that C6 or GF(7)* was modelled in practice, not GF(8)* as the king intended with the idol as the unity and zero. The idol in place of zero in GF(7)+ (which is also unity in GF(8)*) can not also take the place of zero in GF(8)+. The worship of "all type of music" at which the people "fall down" does not give the image a place in the octal structure at all. The idol can not take the place of God, even if there is a seven cycle modelled or GF(7) in full. The "people" forming the octal do not have the octal's operations!
The alternative is to make the idol the unity in GF(8) and drop an element of C7, (as the dulcimer) so that the "people" become the unity in C6 or GF(7)*. Then, as if the people's "worship" were just another sweet sound in the idol's ear, we recover the missing instrument. - The people are become the "instrument" of the idol, with the collectve of "all types of music" in essence "married" to the idol itself in meaning.
Again, group consensus does not make an idol live, neither does it enable the idol to deliver anyone from death. In verse 15, we see the king ask along the lines of "If this "God" I set up is the one "God", who is left that will deliver you from not worshipping "His" image?" The three friends have faith in the true God that the King is not worshipping God correctly, if at all - in making of Him a "graven image."
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