Fiery Furnace
Three Jewish exiles are cast into the fiery furnace for refusing to render homage to the “great image set up” by the king - Daniel 3:8-30.
As a group, the “Chaldeans” included
the “wise men,” astrologers, and soothsayers of Babylon. Though skilled
in the arts of divination and in possession of all the literary treasures of
Mesopotamia, they were incapable of explaining the dream that had so troubled the
king. In contrast, Daniel was well able to reveal the contents of the dream and
its interpretation. In doing so, he saved the lives of the “Chaldeans,”
for, in his enraged state, the king had threatened to execute all of them. No
doubt, that fact only added to the jealousy of the “Chaldeans” toward
Daniel and his companions.
Once they learned that Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abed-Nego refused to prostrate themselves before the “great image,”
they took the opportunity to inform Nebuchadnezzar. In a fit of anger, he gave
the three men a stark choice - “Fall down and worship the image…or be cast
into the fiery furnace.” Thus, his rage that was directed previously against
the “Chaldeans” was redirected against the friends of Daniel - (Daniel
3:13-18).
And the king ranted, “Who is the god able
to deliver you out of my hand?” This was a challenge to
the God of Israel who earlier “gave the king of Judah and the vessels of the
Temple into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.” But the
Babylonian monarch would soon discover his inability to do anything to thwart
the purposes of God.
The Judean exiles were cast into the
super-heated furnace. It was so hot, the men who threw the Jewish exiles into
the furnace were themselves consumed by its heat. While in the furnace, Nebuchadnezzar
saw the three companions walking about accompanied by a fourth figure that he described
as “like a son of the gods,” possibly an angel - (Daniel 3:20-25, 8:15-17, 9:20-23, 10:13, 10:21).
With trepidation, the king summoned the three
men to exit the furnace. He addressed them respectfully as the “servants
of the Most-High God.” He had witnessed how the fire did not harm them, and
therefore, Nebuchadnezzar “blessed the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.”
Yahweh had “changed the king’s word” by delivering His servants “out
of his hand.” In his fury, Nebuchadnezzar had raged, “Who is able
to deliver out of my hand?” God had answered his challenge.
Next, Nebuchadnezzar issued a decree to “all
peoples, nations, and tongues.” Anyone who disparaged the God of the Judean
exiles would be “cut in pieces and his house turned into a dunghill.”
This is a verbal link to the preceding chapter when Nebuchadnezzar warned the Chaldean
“wise men” that if they failed to make known his dream, that he would “cut
you in pieces and turn your houses into a dunghill.”
Once again, the highest praise for Yahweh was
heard on the lips of the mighty pagan king. The presumptive ruler over the World-Power
acknowledged the supremacy of the “God of Heaven.” The machinations,
purposes, and even the rage of the most powerful king on the earth were no
impediment to the plans of God.
In Revelation, the burning fiery
furnace” becomes the model for the “lake of fire burning with
brimstone,” only, in an ironic fashion. The followers of the “Lamb” are
preserved from the “second death, the Lake of Fire,” but the “beast
and the False Prophet” that threatened to destroy the “saints” are
themselves “cast into the Lake of Fire” where they experience the “second
death” - (Revelation 13:7-10, 19:17-21, 20:11-15).
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