Daniel's three friends

Daniel's friends, Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego , were advisers to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. What can we learn from their experiences? 

The biblical account of three young Jews - Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah - and their friend, Daniel, begins when the four were taken captive from their homes in Jerusalem in 605 BC, during the siege of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. All four were intelligent, good-looking young men at the time of their capture and appeared to be either part of the royal family or a noble family of Judah (Daniel 1: 3-4).

The three-year training program

In a different way than most of the victorious kings, who typically only allowed people of their own people to rule while enslaving conquered people, King Nebuchadnezzar decided to train for the service of his government the best minds within his kingdom, regardless of race. On this basis, Daniel and his three friends were selected by Aspenaz , the chief court officer, for a three-year program, in which the language and literature of the Babylonians would be taught.

One of the first things that happened to these four young men was that their names were changed (v. 7). As Matthew Henry notes in his comment: “Their Hebrew names, which they had received at the time of circumcision, had something of God or Jah in them: Daniel — God is my judge; Ananias - the grace of the Lord; Misael —The strong God; Azariah — The Lord in aid. To make them forget the God of their parents, the guide of their youth, they were given names that had the connotation of Chaldean idolatry. Beltasar means the guardian of Bel's hidden treasures; Shadrach - the inspiration of the sun, which the Chaldeans adored; Mesac - from the goddess Sac , the name under which Venus was worshiped; Abed-Nego , the servant of the illuminated fire, which they also adored (Comments on Daniel 1: 1-7).       

While there were others in this training program (vv. 10, 19), Daniel and his three friends soon excelled at the food and drink they wanted to consume. Although apparently Daniel was the first to refuse to consume the king's food and drink (v. 8), Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego soon showed that they had the same determination (v. 10).

While we are not specifically told why Daniel did not want to "defile" himself with the king's provisions (v. 8), everything seems to indicate that the king's food could include the meat of animals that God had said should not be eaten (Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14) or that it could also have included animal fat that God had also said should not be consumed (Leviticus 7:23). As for the reason why Daniel and his friends refused to drink wine, which God allowed to consume in moderation, it could be that part of that wine could have been used as a drink offering to the pagan deity ( Soncino's comment ) .

Although the Babylonian overseer was reluctant to accommodate the request of these four men not to eat or drink of the king's daily provision for them, he allowed them to do a 10-day trial of the food and drink they asked for. Because they looked healthy at the end of this period, they were allowed to continue the diet of vegetables and water they had requested (vv. 12, 16).

There is an important lesson we find in this first documented evidence of the faith of these young men. It might have been relatively easy to reason that since they were now captives in a strange land, they should only submit to the king's program rather than try to retain the standards of conduct they had followed while in Jerusalem. But they did not abandon their faith. Real faith means obeying God even in the midst of difficult circumstances. As we will soon see, this relatively small test of faith laid the foundation for the more difficult ones that would soon follow.

At the end of the three-year program, Daniel, Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego had their oral exams before King Nebuchadnezzar. According to these interviews, the king would regard them as the most brilliant and capable among all his wise men, and they entered his service (vv. 18-20).

Interpret it or die

The second chapter of Daniel records a serious event in the midst of the Babylonian system of government, which endangered the lives of Daniel, Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego . The king had a dream that left him very disturbed and very anxious to know its meaning (Daniel 2: 1, 3). So he called his magicians, sages, and counselors to interpret his dream (vv. 2-3).

To make the situation even more dangerous, the king said that he was not going to tell his dream to those he had called to interpret it. He demanded that they tell him their dream and interpret it, with the threat of being destroyed if they did not do it (vv. 4-9). Of course, the king's magicians and sages were unable to fulfill this requirement. As a result, the king ordered that "all the wise men of Babylon be slain," which included Daniel, Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego (v. 12).

Faced with this situation, Daniel asked the king to give him time to fulfill what he asked for. Daniel then "made known what was there to Ananias, Misael and Azarias, his companions, so that they would ask mercy from the God of heaven on this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions would not perish with the other wise men of Babylon" (vv. 17-18).

God then revealed the secret to Daniel in a night vision (v. 19). The king's dream showed the four empires that would rule the world, followed by the "Kingdom of God", which is destined to replace all human governments. For an additional study of dreams, visions, and messages from God, see the article " Dream Interpretation ."

After revealing the king's dream and its interpretation, Daniel was promoted within the empire. After receiving his reward, Daniel “requested of the king, and obtained that he put Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon ; and Daniel was in the king's court ”(v. 49).

The king angrily demanded of Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego that they should kneel before his statue. If they did not, they would be thrown into the fiery furnace. These initial tests of faith prepared Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego for the test that we would later know better.

Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace

In the third chapter of Daniel we find the third great trial for Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego . While the other two previous incidents included his friend Daniel, he is not included in this one. The scripture does not say why Daniel is not mentioned. The implication is that Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego faced this test without Daniel's endorsement and advice.

This proof had to do with the worship of the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had built on the plain of Dura. The king's order was that all his subjects should bow down before this statue. Anyone who did not do so would be thrown into the furnace of fire (vv. 5-6).

Since Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego would in no way break the Second Commandment by worshiping this statue, the Babylonian officials reported the lack of obedience of these men (vv. 8-12). The king then peremptorily demanded Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego to kneel before their idol. If they did not, they would be thrown into the fiery furnace.

Challenging them, the king said to them: "And what god will he be that will deliver you from my hands?" (V. 15).

The three men replied to King Nebuchadnezzar: “We do not need to answer you on this matter. Behold, our God whom we serve can deliver us from the fiery furnace; and from your hand, O king, he will deliver us . If not, know, O King, that we will not serve your gods, nor will we worship the statue that you have raised ”(vv. 16-18).

Furious at his response, the king caused the furnace to be heated seven times more than usual and ordered some of his strongest men to tie up these disobedient people and throw them into the flames (vv. 19-20). But soon, strange things began to happen.

While the men who threw Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego into the furnace were killed by the flames, the fire only consumed the bonds of Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego . The three men miraculously stood up and walked in the middle of the fire without suffering any damage.

King Nebuchadnezzar was stunned by what he saw. Not only were the three Jewish youths standing in the middle of the furnace walking and unharmed, but also the king saw a fourth person whose appearance was as "son of the gods", or a divine being, also walking in the fire (v. 25). This fourth person could have been the manifestation of the being who later became Jesus Christ.

Witnessing the miraculous protection of Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego , the king called them out of the furnace and issued a decree that no one should say "Blasphemy against God" who had saved Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego (vv 26, 29).

Undying lessons of faith

While Daniel 1:21 tells us that Daniel continued to serve at court in Babylon until Cyrus, the first governor of the Medo-Persian empire, came to power, the Bible does not tell us what happened to Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego. after surviving after being thrown into King Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace. The biblical record that speaks of these three young men ends in Daniel 3.

However, Hebrews 11, which records examples of many Old Testament people who had faith, includes what appears to be a reference to these three. Although their names are not specifically mentioned, verse 34 tells of people who "put out wild fires." Regardless of whether this was what the author of Hebrews had in mind or not, these three recorded tests from Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego offer some invaluable lessons in faith for us today:

To have faith and obey God in great trials, we need to prepare ourselves by obeying the smallest trials. The challenges of life sometimes escalate in intensity and possible consequences. The decision of Shadrach , Meshach and Abednego would not defile himself with food and drink of the king seems to have been a test of obedience that prepared them to be true when the threat was much greater. It is important that we be faithful now, in preparation for the trials that may come in the future.

Tests of faith often focus on resisting the influence of the world. Although Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego faced great pressure to conform to Babylonian customs, they refused to disobey God. Christians today are also exhorted not to be part of this world (John 15:19; 17:15). God's call to his people throughout history is to get out of the world (Acts 2:40; Revelation 18: 4).

Our tests of faith will ultimately decide whether or not we will receive eternal life. The lives of Shadrach , Meshach, and Abed-Nego were compromised on at least two of the three occasions when they were tested. In a greater perspective, our spiritual lives are in question. What we do with the knowledge that God reveals to us, will decide if we will live forever with Christ and God the Father in the Kingdom of God, or we will cease to exist.