Series: Dog Daze
Daniel 3:13-15 ESV
Exodus 3:14-15 ESV
I’m always amazed when innocent people are set up and accused of doing something they didn’t do, or they didn’t intend harm to anyone by a decision they made.
I think that’s why the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had such an impact on me as a child (or teenager).
When I first heard the story as a child I don’t remember being told all the details of the story. I just knew that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego couldn’t do what they were expected to do.
As a teenager I learned the details about what it was they couldn’t do, and why they couldn’t do it. I learned it was because they stood up for what they believed.
In Daniel 3:13-15 we are told, “Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”
Basically, Shadrach Meshach, and Abednego were called before the King and they were told if they didn’t bow down and worship a false golden image god they would be thrown into the fiery furnace and burned.
We need to remember that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were living in a foreign land because they had been captured in Israel and taken there by force.
We do not know for sure if they knew they would be forced to worship foreign gods when they were captured.
We are not told they had discussed what they should do if this “came up”.
All we know is that all three men decided they believed in Yahweh and they knew the first of the Ten Commandments Yahweh God gave to Moses told them, “You shall have no other gods before me.”
The three men from the tribe of Judah from Israel were not willing to worship any other god except Yahweh God. We might think they were willing to die before they bowed down to the golden image. That may have eventually been the case, but the story took a different turn.
The King asked the three men a series of questions:
1. Is it true you will not bow down to the golden image?
2. Will you bow down to the golden image?
3. Are you aware that if you do not bow down to the golden image you will be thrown into the fiery furnace?
In their mind they would have agreed, yes we will not bow down to the golden image, no we will NOT bow down to the golden image, and yes, we are aware if we do not bow down we will be cast into the fiery furnace.
The three men of Israel of the tribe of Judah clearly understood the consequences of their actions.
The last question the King of Babylon asked turned out to be a game-changer.
It’s really interesting to note that the King didn’t simply say, “toss them in!” Instead he asked the three men of the tribe of Judah, who IS the God who will deliver you?
The strange question was almost issued as a challenge!
Depending on the inflection the question could be taken in many different ways.
Was the King asking, “who does this God think He is?”
Or was he asking, “Are you challenging my authority as King?”
Or, maybe he was asking rhetorically, “Do you think there is something special about your God?”
The truth is, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew that Yahweh God was creator of heaven and earth. They knew no one could challenge Yahweh God. They knew without doubt that Yahweh God was THE God.
In other words, Yahweh God doesn’t think He is…HE IS. God said it perfectly to Moses when He was asked to say to the children of Israel when they were in Egypt…in Exodus 3:14-15 we are told, “God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.”
God’s name IS forever.
That’s what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew to be true. They would have heard those words growing up. They knew I AM was THE GOD. They knew there were no other gods beside or behind or beyond I AM. That’s why they knew they didn’t have any reason or need to bow down to the silly image of gold. They simply knew it was fake.
Spiritual Practice: Who IS God?
Who is Yahweh God to you? Proclaim it…
In God, Deborah
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