Daniel 3: 8-30
This pagan king had made a golden statue and invited all of his governmental employees to come worship it under pain of death, as a pledge of allegiance to him as their king. So everyone in the whole throng all bowed down, except for three men.
(8) For this reason at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and brought charges against the Jews.
These certain Chaldeans are not only "wise men" that the king depends on to advise him, but were nobles in the "master race" who despised these "lesser nation" people and are brown-nosing the king. They are only too glad to denounce these three who were still standing while the foreheads of everyone else were on the ground.
(9) They responded and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king: "O king, live forever!
(10) You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe and all kinds of music, is to fall down and worship the golden image.
(11) "But whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.
They got the orders right, they were paying attention. Now they'll bring up the charges.
(12) "There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. These men, O king, have disregarded you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up."
They've accused them of being disloyal to the king, a treasonous offense.
Why was Daniel not also accused here? Where was he? There are several ideas put forth by theologians to account for his absence here. The main ones are: that he may have been out-of-town on the king's business; or that he may have been on the dais with the king instead of in the crowd; or that the "wise men" of whom he had been appointed head were not included in the list of leaders required to attend.
At any rate, I think that God wanted to show that the other three had their own strong faith and trust in God, and were not dependent on Daniel's leadership.
(13) Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and anger gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; then these men were brought before the king.
How dare these men defy the orders of the king!
(14) Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up?
(15) "Now if you are ready, at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery and bagpipe and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, very well. But if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?"
In essence, the king was giving them another chance, to think about what they were doing, and to assess their actions in the light of his authority over life and death. And also, he didn't think any deity could overrule his power as king.
(16) Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter.
This was not disrespectful to the king. The word order they used in the Aramaic places the emphasis on the pronoun "we," implying that it is the Lord Himself who will deal with this situation.
(17) "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
(18) "But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."
Then they politely let him know that the Lord God who they worship has authority even over this king who thinks he is sovereign; and they acknowledge that it is the Lord God's choice whether to save them or not. So they really were putting their lives on the line here.
(19) Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath, and his facial expression was altered toward Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. He answered by giving orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.
(20) He commanded certain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in order to cast them into the furnace of blazing fire.
(21) Then these men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps and their other clothes, and were cast into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire.
(22) For this reason, because the king's command was urgent and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flame of the fire slew those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.
(23) But these three men, Shadrach, Mechach, and Abed-Nego, fell into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up.
This king was furious. He couldn't let these guys get away with this! He had to make them an example. So he super-heated the furnace and had them trussed up in all their clothes, so that they would be enveloped in flames immediately. Even the soldiers who tossed them in like logs were burned up by the great heat.
(24) Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in haste; he said to his high officials, "Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?" They replied to the king, "Certainly, O king."
The king had been seated on his dais overlooking the whole scenario, and as he looked down into this open furnace, he was flabbergasted! He would never have imagined to see the scene he witnessed. He knew, and got confirmation that there were only three men thrown into the furnace, and they were tied up!
(25) He said, "Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!"
He could hardly believe his eyes. There were not three, but four men, and they weren't tied up, but walking around freely, and were not even hurt by the extreme heat of the flames! And the fourth person looked like deity!
(26) Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the furnace of blazing fire; he responded and said, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, come out, you servants of the Most High God, and come here!" Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came out of the midst of the fire.
So the king approached as close as he could and shouted above the roar of the furnace to come out, and the three climbed out of the fire. The fourth disappeared as mysteriously as he had appeared.
(27) The satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king's high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them.
All the highest officials who had access gathered around these three to examine them, and found that neither the fire nor the heat had had any effect on them at all. Not a hair was singed, not even the smell of smoke was on their clothes, and only the ropes that had bound them had burned.
They were witnessing a bona-fide miracle!
(28) Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king's command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God.
Nebuchadnezzar is learning more about this God. This Lord God is even more powerful than even his own sovereign authority over life and death in this whole world that he governs! And His worshipers trust Him so much that they are willing to give up their very lives to be loyal to Him and Him alone.
(29) "Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation or tongue that speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch as there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way."
Every law or rule must have a serious enough consequence to be obeyed. So he decrees that this God is so powerful that there must be serious consequences for speaking against Him, so no one will be permitted to disparage this God of these Jews. He realized that this God is more powerful than any of the other gods he has been worshiping, because none of them has enough power to rescue like this.
(30) Then the king caused Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego to prosper in the province of Babylon.
Then he honored Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah and their God by giving them a raise in pay and authority in his kingdom. This was the most he was able to do.
This king is realizing more and more, a little at a time, who the Jews' Lord God is, but he has yet to come to a full realization of His power and authority over him.
O my Father, You go to extraordinary lengths to show people who You are. You did not write off this pagan king, but progressively worked to teach him who You are, and began to prepare this whole kingdom for the fulfillment of Your prophesy to release the Judean Jews from this captivity after 70 years of slavery (Jeremiah 25: 11-12; 29: 10).
Father, You always fulfill Your word, and You will do everything possible and impossible to draw people to yourself. You still are drawing people to Yourself, in every age and every day. Even today, You are bringing more people than ever into Your own family, even through the technology You have allowed us to devise.
Everything that happens and everything we do, You use for Your own purposes. You use every choice and decision we make to further Your plans, both Your plan for each of us, and Your great Plan of the Ages for all of us.
Just as You prepared the stage for the return of Your people Israel back to their own land, You are now preparing the world stage for the return of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the King. Everything that is happening now has been prophesied; and after it is done, we will be able to look back and say, "Yes, that happened just as You said it would!"
While we're in the middle of the mess, we can't see the whole picture; but we know that we can trust You, my Father, to work it all out for our benefit and Your glory.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
