Neither is there at this time prince, or prophet, or leader, or burnt offering, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense, or place to sacrifice before you, and to find mercy.
All Commentaries on Daniel 3:38 Go To Daniel 3
John Chrysostom
AD 407
When they were in Babylon and their enemies wanted to make them sing, they neither listened nor obeyed, because they were prisoners and the servants of masters who maltreated them. But having been deprived of their homeland and their freedom (and even their lives were in danger) and compelled by the hands of their enemies as in a trap, when they were commanded to sing that song with their harps, they said, “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept, because those who deported us asked us to sing. How can we sing the songs of the Lord in a foreign land?” We must not say that they acted thusly because they had no harps. They give the reason: “How can we sing the songs of the Lord in a foreign land?” And they had their harps with them: “On the poplars of that land we hung up our harps.” But they were not allowed even to fast. This is what the prophet had said to them: “ ‘Have you fasted for these seventy years?’ says the Lord.” That the offering of sacrifices or libations was prohibited is what the three young men say: “We have neither prince, nor prophet, nor leader nor place to offer you the firstfruits and to find mercy.” They do not say, “We have no priest,” for in fact there were priests. But so that you would know that everything depended on the place and the entire law was linked to it, it says, “There is no place.” And why speak of sacrifices and libations? It was not allowed even to read the Law (which another prophet reproves, “And they read out the Law and proclaimed the confession”) or to celebrate the Passover, Pentecost, the Feast of Booths.
