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.
In the
second chapter, the “Chaldeans” are demoted because of their failure to
reveal the king’s dream. But in the wake of Nebuchadnezzar’s construction of
his “great golden image,” they exploit the opportunity to inflict
vengeance on three of the Jewish exiles for their earlier loss of face. Although
loyal to the king, these three men cannot bow before the king’s idolatrous image.
As a group, the “Chaldeans” include the
“wise men,” astrologers, and soothsayers of Babylon. Although skilled in
the arts of divination, they are incapable of explaining the dream that troubled
the king.
In contrast, Daniel is well able to reveal
the contents of the dream and its meaning. In doing so, he saves the lives of
the “Chaldeans,” for, in his enraged state, the king threatened to
execute the entire group. No doubt, that fact has added to the jealousy of the
“Chaldeans” toward Daniel and his companions.
THE EXILES
Once they learn that Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abed-Nego refuse to prostrate themselves before the king’s “great
image,” they take the opportunity to inform Nebuchadnezzar.
In a fit of anger, the king offers 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 against the “Chaldeans”
is redirected against Daniel’s friends - (Daniel 3:13-18).
And the king continued to rant, “Who is
the god able to deliver you out of my hand?” This is a challenge to
the God of Israel who previously “gave the king of Judah and the vessels of
the Temple into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.” But the Babylonian
monarch will soon discover his inability to do anything to thwart the purposes
of God.
Because they refuse to pay homage to the
king’s idol, the Judean exiles are cast into the super-heated furnace. It is so
hot that the men who throw them into it are themselves consumed by the heat.
DELIVERANCE
Nevertheless, while in the furnace, Nebuchadnezzar
sees the three companions walking about accompanied by a fourth figure that he describes
as “like a son of the gods.” While quite possibly an angel, the passage
never so identifies him - (Daniel 3:20-25, 8:15-17, 9:20-23, 10:13, 10:21).
With trepidation, the king summons the
three men to exit the furnace. He addresses them respectfully as the “servants
of the Most-High God.” He has witnessed how the fire did not harm them, and
therefore, Nebuchadnezzar “blessed the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.”
Thus, Yahweh “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 has answered his challenge.
Next, Nebuchadnezzar issues a decree to “all
peoples, nations, and tongues.” Anyone who disparages the God of the Judean
exiles will be “cut in pieces and his
house turned into a dunghill.”
This is a verbal link to the preceding chapter
where Nebuchadnezzar warned the Chaldean “wise men” that if they failed
to make known his dream, he would “cut
you in pieces and turn your houses into a dunghill.” Chapters 2 and
3 present two halves of the same story.
Once again, the highest praise for Yahweh is
heard on the lips of the mighty pagan king. The presumptive ruler over the World
Empire has acknowledged the supremacy of the “God of Heaven.” The
machinations, purposes, and even the rage of the most powerful king on the
earth are no impediment to God’s plans.
In the book of 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 threaten 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).