Daniel
is one of the more famous prophets of the Old Testament, but sometimes his
buddies get overlooked. He had three
companions, named Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; but we know them better, when
we remember them at all, by the names they were given in the Babylonian
court: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Like
Daniel, they were brought to Babylon to serve in the court of King
Nebuchadnezzar; and like Daniel, they had to grapple with the problem of
serving a pagan king while still maintaining their religious identity. This is a conflict that runs through much of
the book of Daniel. And for a while,
things got pretty hot for them.
But
first, a little more about their names.
Hananiah, in Hebrew, means “Jah (short for “YHWH”, the divine Name of
God) is gracious”. His name was changed
to Shadrach, which it is believed means “command of Aku”, (a Sumerian
moon-god). Mishael means “Who is like
God?”; he became Meshach, “Who is what Aku is?”. And Azariah, “Jah has helped” became
Abednego, meaning “servant of Nego” (probably a corruption or a variation of
the name “Nebo” or “Nabu”, the Sumerian god of wisdom; which is also a part of
Nebuchadnezzar’s name. In the comic
books, Nabu created the magic helmet which gave mystical powers to Dr.
Fate. Aren’t you glad you asked?)
And
just for completion’s sake, let’s not leave out Daniel. His name means “God is my Judge”, and
although the Bible usually calls him by his Hebrew name, the Babylonians called
him Belteshazzar, meaning “Bel (another name for Marduk, king of the Sumerian
gods) protect his life”.
Four
men, whose names reference the Hebrew God, who are given new names that invoke
instead the gods of Babylon. I mentioned
that theme of religious identity, didn’t I?
Because
of Daniel’s success in divining the meaning of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in
Daniel chapter 2, the King has placed him in charge of the capital province of
the empire and of all of its wise men; and has placed Daniel’s three friends as
administrators of the province. Daniel
himself remained at the King’s court, which might explain why he’s not involved
in this particular story.
The
King has a statue made, covered with gold and standing some 90 feet high. Whether the statue itself was 90 feet tall,
or whether it was standing on a very tall platform or whether it was just wearing
funky ‘70s platform shoes, the text doesn’t specify. The statue might have been an image of
Nebuchadnezzar himself; or perhaps it was meant to represent the god Nabu; (or
perhaps both, since Nebuchadnezzar was named after him).
One
thing always puzzled me. In the Picture
Bibles and Illustrated Children’s Bibles I saw as a kid, the statue in this
story is always identical to the one in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream from Daniel
chapter 2. This would suggest that the
two stories are connected … except that they aren’t. They just both have statues. Perhaps the artists have this deep-seated
feeling that they should be connected somehow.
Nebuchadnezzar
gathers together all the satraps, prefects, governors, advisors, treasurer,
judges, -- pretty much the whole Babylonian bureaucracy from middle-management
on up – to the plain of Dura where the statue was erected.
Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “This is what you are commanded to do, O peoples, nations and men of every language: As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.” (Daniel 3:4-6 NIV)
One
commentary I’ve read suggests that this was that Nebuchadnezzar’s empire was
still fairly recently-established, and that this ceremony was intended to
confirm the newly-appointed administrators and the existing ones in their
office. It could have been like signing
a Loyalty Oath or Pledging Allegiance to the Flag or taking an Oath of Office.
I
remember from reading Plutarch that the Persians, whose empire succeeded the
Babylonian’s, had a practice of prostrating themselves before their rulers; and
that when Alexander the Great conquered Persia and his new Persian subjects
bowed in a similar way before him, Alexander’s Greek and Macedonian companions
were majorly freaked, because it looked an awful lot like worship and they
worried that Alex might demand the same obsequiousness from them.
Shadrach,
Meshach and Adednego liked this bowing before idols jazz even less than Alex’s
companions did. So they just didn’t do
it. My old Picture Bibles show them
defiantly standing while everyone else around them are kneeling with their
foreheads in the dirt. I think it might
be more likely that they just arranged to be Somewhere Else when the zithers
began to play.
Whether
they were obvious about their civil disobedience or not, somebody noticed. Some astrologers – and remember, Shadrach
& Co. had been placed in charge of the wise men of the province, so these
would have been their subordinates, finked on them.
“But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – who pay no attention to you, O king. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:12)
At
this point, I can’t help but wonder, where is Daniel during all this? Was he exempt from bowing to the golden
image? If so, why didn’t he try to
intercede on behalf of his friends? Was
he out of the province on the King’s business? Or did he take the easy way out
and do what all the other satraps were doing?
We aren’t told. The text makes no
mention of Daniel in the entire chapter. But the trap his friends find themselves in
here is very similar to the one Daniel later finds himself in with King Darius
later on in the story about the Lion’s Den.
Nebuchadnezzar
is pretty furious about this, and brings the three before him and demands to
know if these accusations are true. He
gives them one more chance to obey his command and bow down before his golden
image, warning them that if they don’t, they’re going straight into the
furnace. “Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?” (3:15)
Nebuchadnezzar
may be hot under the collar, but the three guys play it cool.
“O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)
You
can’t really blame Nebuchadnezzar for being sore. After all, he had given these three
foreigners positions of high honor and authority; and this is how they thank
him?
He
orders the furnaces used for executions be heated up seven times hotter than it
oughter. The furnace grew so hot, that
the strong men he ordered to carry the bound prisoners to the furnace perished
from the heat. They were just able to
shove the three men into the inferno.
At
this point, there’s a lengthy passage in some versions of the text which does
not appear in the older Hebrew/Aramaic texts of Daniel but was included in the
Greek Septuagint translation of the 2nd Century BC. Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include this
passage following verse 23; but Protestant versions omit it, (or at most
segregate it to the Aporcrypha). It’s
called the Prayer of Azariah and the
Hymn of the Three Young Men.
It
starts with the three young men walking around amidst the flames of the
furnace, praying and singing hymns.
Azariah, (Abednego’s Hebrew name, you’ll recall), utters this prayer, in
which he praises God for his justice and acknowledges the wrongdoings of the
people of Judah which had led to their current exile. Azariah beseeches God, for the sake of their
forefathers Abraham and Isaac, and for his divine covenant, to have mercy upon
them and deliver the three from the wicked king.
“Do not put us to shame, but deal with us in thy forbearance and in thy abundant mercy. Deliver us in accordance with thy marvelous works, and give glory to thy name, O Lord! Let all who do harm to thy servants be put to shame; let them be disgraced and deprived of all power and dominion, and let their strength be broken. Let them know that thou art the Lord, the only God, glorious over the whole world.”(Song of the Three Young Men, vv. 19-22 RSV)
The
passage then describes how and angel of the Lord comes down and drives the
flames away from the young men so that they are not harmed. The three of them break into a spontaneous
hymn of praise:
“Blessed art thou, O Lord, God of our fathers, and to be praised and highly exalted for ever; And blessed is thy glorious, holy name and to be highly praised and highly exalted for ever;”(Song of the Three Young Men, vv. 29-30)
The
hymn goes on for a couple dozen verses more; and the text of it is sometimes
used as a canticle in the liturgy of the Anglican church.
Now
all this does not go unnoticed by the King.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied, “Certainly, O king.” He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” (Daniel 3:24-25)
Without
the explanation given in the Song of the Three, the reader is as surprised by
the fourth guy as the King is. I don’t
know; I kind of like the sense of mystery we get from having the angel just be
there without being told how or when he appeared. But what is this fourth figure in the fire?
Many
Christian interpreters claim that when the Old Testament speaks of The Angel of
the Lord, (as opposed to, say , an
angel of the Lord), that it’s a reference to the Pre-Incarnate Christ making a
cameo appearance. This is made even more
explicit in the King James Version, where the King says he looks like “the Son of God” and not just like “… a son of the gods.”
I
think King Jim overstates Nebuchadnezzar’s theological perception here. Given Nebuchadnezzar’s religious background,
he wouldn’t know the Second Person of the Trinity from Utnapishtim;
he’d be more likely, I think, to identify a person with a divine appearance as
a son of a god, than as The Son of God.
Personally, I’m just as happy to leave the mysterious Guy #4 be an angel
and not bother with the Christological ramifications.
The King calls to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and
tells them to come out of the furnace.
They emerge completely untouched by the flames. He has to admit that the trust they placed in
their God was justified.
Which, come to think of it, is another recurring theme of
the first half of the Book of Daniel:
every chapter concludes with the King acknowledging the power of the
Hebrew God.
Of course, it doesn’t stop him from doing something stupid
in the following chapter.
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