I’m a product of the Christian Bubble – no doubt. I’ve been reading Daniel with our Thursday Bible Study and to put it bluntly the first 6 chapters are a lot of “been there done that.” Who hasn’t heard the story of Daniel and the interpretation of the dreams or of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? These are stories that have been retold hundreds of times and in hundreds of ways. So when I read Daniel 3 & 4 this week I immediately went to visions of Chocolate Bunnies and cute little veggie-children’s songs.
But something happened to me today as I read and studied – I realized that a whole lot more was going on underneath the surface of this very familiar story. The writer of this book, whether it’s the actual Daniel or one of his scribes, is making a very clear point – There is ONE God. Now this may sound like an obvious piece of the story, but the complexities that the author are using are mind blowing. Let’s start a little earlier than this chapter.
Nebuchadnezzar is the king of Babylon – and at this time in his kingdom’s history, he may as well be king of the world. His father successfully defeated the mighty Assyrian army and he had not only destroyed the Egyptians (again) but he had laid total waste to anyone in his way, including the nation of Judah. According to Hebraic tradition, Nebuchadnezzar was a descendant of the queen of Sheba and king Solomon. His family were a bunch of half-breeds and through their influence the family grew more powerful through time. Hebrews thought of half-breeds and unclean and unwanted – this obviously wasn’t the kind of attitude a king of a foreign nation would appreciate and it led to deep distrust and hatred amongst the two people groups.
So when Nebuchadnezzar went to Judah and attacked the temple, he didn’t just make a mess of the place – he destroyed everything! He took captive the king, killed the nobles, deported thousands of Jews back to Babylon and burned both the breathing and the buildings. He dropped the equivalent of a 500 BCE Atomic Bomb on the whole kingdom. The captives he lead back to Babylon, were marched through the desert naked; carrying bags filled with shredded copies of the Torah and sand. Nebuchadnezzar brought devastation to a whole new level of degradation.
Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians were worshipers of the god Marduk. The Hebrews flirted off and on with Marduk and in the ancient near east there were few other gods who demanded more. The prophets of God called Marduk a “detestable god” which sounds nice and British, but the term is extremely demeaning and a huge insult. The son of Marduk was Nabu and is closely associated with the Roman god mercury. Nabu was the god of the arts and education. Nebuchadnezzar’s name is in honor of this god – his name means son of marduk protector of my first born and boundaries.
Nebuchadnezzar had grown so great that he indeed felt himself worthy of divine worship – thus he builds this huge statue and demands that all bow down and worship it/him. That’s when the Astrologers/Chadleans rose up and “denounced the Hebrews.” This was nothing new – as we’ve seen Nebuchadnezzar hated the Hebrews and to be the kings friend was to hate them as well.
Enter, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The three young Hebrew slaves/advisers to the king were expected to be the first to worship the king. When the 3 are seen not to bow down they are brought to the king and commanded to worship. There response is legendary – “We don’t even need to respond to you. Our God is able to save us, but even if He chooses not to, we will not bow down.” That is the Hebrew equivalent of giving the king the finger. The king gets the disrespect and shows his knowledge of Jewish religion and the importance of the number 7 – “heat up the furnace 7x hotter!”. Seven is the number of completion of God’s fullness – it’s an important number to Hebrews. Nebuchadnezzar knew this and he acted accordingly – He is in essence saying “your god is nothing to me and his perfection is what I will use to show how much more powerful I am.”
So the 3 get tossed in, the guards get 15th degree burns and Neb has an epiphany. Didn’t we throw 3 men in? Then why are there 4 and why does that one look so different? The words Nebuchadnezzar uses are “the 4th looks like a son of the gods.” Who is Nebuchadnezzar named after? NABU. And he is? The SON of the Babylonian god. This is huge. Nebuchadnezzar is all of a sudden realizing that his god is in the fire and that means something has gone totally wrong with his previous plans. His god is now serving these young Hebrews – essentially, his god is serving their GOD.
Nebuchadnezzar has lost face and he is probably pretty confused – he calls out to the men. Notice, he calls to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego not to all 4 of the men. Nebuchadnezzar makes a proclamation about worship to the “most high God” which is nothing more than political pandering (Thank God nothing like this happens today.). I believe this to be true because of the huge humbling that the king receives in the next chapter.
So this passage is so much more than God taking care of 3 guys who make a stand (it’s about that too). It’s more than a really hot fire and a mean old king. This story is retelling all the famous Biblical stories – the ONE GOD is the ONE TRUE GOD. This story is Noah vs his surroundings, it’s Abram vs family connections, it’s Moses vs. Pharaoh, it’s David vs. Goliath, it’s Elijah vs. the prophets of Baal. This is all the fake ways we create to challenge God verses GOD. And through it all, God remains God. He’s not beaten. He may use these demi-gods to bring repentance to His People, but make no mistake He’s in Control.
This story must have sent ripples through the ancient world, especially to the slaves and exiles who were still living in burned out homes back in Jerusalem. This story screamed to them a message from God – “I know what is happening to YOU and I’m still in charge, I won’t leave you.”
This maybe a easy kids story, but it has big kid implications.