Worth of the Weight?
Idols are hollow...literally.
March, 2025
Math is an objective tool. But tools must be used by imperfect people. We're prone to mistakes, especially when it comes to assumptions. Many apparent errors in Scripture come from our own wrong perspective. We assume something the text does not say. That's where the expression "garbage in, garbage out" comes into play. Calculators don't give correct answers when we input incorrect numbers. As March rolls in and people think of St. Patrick's Day, let's look at an example involving something that would make any leprechaun jealous: a massive golden statue.
The object in question is described in this month's spotlight verse (Daniel 3:1). This was 60 cubits high and 6 wide; about 270 centimeters by 27 meters or 9 by 90 feet. It's tempting to estimate the amount of gold involved by just roughly multiply dimensions. A prism of solid gold, 6 cubits square and 60 cubits high, would weigh 3.8 million kilograms, or roughly 8.4 million pounds. That's more than the Saturn V rocket which landed men on the moon. How could anyone get that much gold? How do you make a statue that size? Or move it, let alone afford it? Wouldn't every ancient historian talk about something that dramatic?
Those are fair questions, but they're not relevant to Daniel chapter 3. Why? Because the Bible's depiction of an "image of gold" does not mean "an object composed of solid gold." Gold was even rarer in ancient times than today. Mankind has almost always used gold foil or gold leaf to "gild" objects. Almost every large "golden" statue or idol seen in history books is made of ivory, wood, or some other material covered in a thin layer of gold. Some are entirely gold but made of hollow segments soldered together. There are a few rare exceptions, but they are indeed rare. And, since gold is not especially strong, it has often been alloyed with other materials to give a beautiful appearance but greater durability.
In Exodus 30:1–3, God instructs that the altar of incense is to be made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. From then on, that object—wood core with gold coating—is referred to as a "golden" altar (Exodus 39:38; 40:5; Hebrews 9:4). In contrast, items such as the mercy seat of the ark (Exodus 25:17), the golden lampstand (Exodus 25:31), and ceremonial plates (Exodus 25:29 were to be made of solid gold metal.
Also, Nebuchadnezzar's "image" was not a bland 6x6x60 box. Even an obelisk wouldn't be described using the term "image," which usually implies something human-like. Babylonian art sometimes exaggerates the proportions of the body; a very tall, skinny statue is not impossible. Then again, the "height" of the image might have meant a humanlike figure standing or sitting on an attached pedestal. Scripture only gives two dimensions, but we don't know that the statue was also six cubits "deep." A human figure might have been only two or three front to back. It might have been a relatively thin side profile view. In any case, it's not likely the item in question was one monolithic crystal of elemental gold 2,160 cubic cubits in size.
At this point, most people are satisfied. But for the deeply skeptical, napkin math shows that an "image" that size wouldn't require impossible amounts of precious metal. Ancient Egyptian gold leaf has been measured at about 6 microns, or 0.006 centimeters. The average cubit was about 45 centimeters. So, the surface area of a 270x270x2700 cm box would "only" need [4(270*2700)+2(270*270)]*0.0006 = 1,837 cubic centimeters of gold, or about 35.5 kilograms. A carved statue with ten times the surface area and coated in foil ten times as thick would need 3,550 kilograms of gold.
As of this writing, that's a modern value of "only" 331 million USD, for the thicker and more convoluted surface. The unlimited dictator of an ancient superpower could have pulled together enough gold to make the figure described in Daniel. And that object would not necessarily have been so abnormal as to be world renowned. Since Nebuchadnezzar seems to have experienced a level of humiliation (Daniel 4), it's possible the object and its precious metals were dispersed not long after it was built.
A similar pattern can apply to other Scriptures. We often need more than a brief skim to understand accurately. Once we look at what's said, rather than what we think has been said, absurdities and confusions fade quickly.
-- Editor
