In Sunday School we’ve been studying the book of Daniel. Which is a really rocking book. I’ve enjoyed digging into the scriptures, the commentaries and cross-references in preparing for class. This week we’re in Daniel chapter 3 which talks about the fiery furnace.

The genus of tossing Rack, Shack and Benny (or Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah who were renamed to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) into the smelter was Nebby (aka Nebuchadnezzar) erecting a 90 ft (or as King James would say, threescore cubits) golden statue.

The commentaries reject the notion that the whole statue was gold, accepting that the statue was probably overlaid in gold. The commentaries also state that the statue could be seen from a radius of 15 miles.

Well the old navigator in me decided to test that number, and so thanks to a height of eye calculator, I ran the numbers and found that the horizon (as seen from the top of the statue would be ~12.7 miles so I guess the commentator’s round the number up. They do state that it was erected in the center of the plain of Dura, and state that there is evidence of a large mound that could have been where the statue was placed. Which is an interesting rabbit trail to follow, but not right now.

To get an idea of how tall such a statue would be (and the commentators state that it was probably more of a stylistic monolith, as the ratio of height to width suggests) in a plain barren of other tall buildings. While thinking of this, I recalled a road trip we had taken, and on the way home, we drove through Amarillo, TX, and noticed a huge cross (that is actually in Groom, TX). This cross is 190′ tall, and is eclipsed by two other crosses in the northern hemisphere (one in Effingham, Ill was built after the Groom cross is 196 feet tall, and the other in Valle de los Caídos, Spain which is 154 m. above ground (meters!) which probably accounts for the hill, whose crest it is built upon ) To appreciate the size of these crosses, both can be veiwed on Goggle^* Google Maps. (Groom – Valle de los Caidos)

I remember driving quite a while trying to see what that was, then realizing it was a cross, then stopping to see what was all about. The Groom cross is built using tin siding, and has the bronze stations of the cross surrounding its base. While Nebby’s Bunny (a reference to Veggie Tales, where they replace the gold monolithic statue with a giant chocolate bunny to entertain the kids, and create a great catchy tune…) was half the size of the Groom cross, I’m sure it would still catch the eye of people for miles around.

*Edit, thanks for mocking my typo Deboobily… paybacks.. yadda yadda. 😉