Daniel 3:8 - Meaning and Application

It is striking that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were present at this gathering, even though they likely knew why it had been called. Daniel was probably absent because of his duties, or because the king had allowed him to stay away, unless his place in the king’s favor was so strong that no one dared complain about him. But why did his three companions not keep out of sight? Most likely because they wanted to obey the king as far as they could, while still giving a public witness against this open idolatry.

They did not think it was enough simply not to bow to the image. Since they held office, they felt bound to stand against it, even though it was the king, their master, who had set up this golden image for himself and for others to worship. So certain Chaldeans brought an accusation to the king against these three men, saying that they had not obeyed his command (Daniel 3:8). These Chaldeans may have been some of the magicians or astrologers who were especially called Chaldeans (Daniel 2:2, Daniel 2:4), and who held a grudge against Daniel’s companions because of Daniel, who had outshone them, and because these men had shared in his rise.

These accusers had, through prayer, received the mercy that saved their lives, yet they now repaid good with evil. For the love shown them, they became enemies. Jeremiah faced the same kind of treatment, standing before God to speak good for people who later dug a pit for his life (Jeremiah 18:20). We should not be surprised when we meet ungrateful people like this. Or these men may have envied the honors given to the Jews and wanted their own chance at those offices. Who can stand against envy?

They approached the king with the usual respect, saying, “O king, live forever,” as if they cared only for his honor and safety, though in truth they were pushing him toward a course that could ruin him and his kingdom. They reminded him of the law he had just made, that all people, without exception of nation or language, were to fall down and worship the golden image. They also reminded him of the penalty for disobedience, namely, that the offender would be thrown into the midst of the burning fiery furnace (Daniel 3:10, Daniel 3:11). There was no denying that this was the law, though whether it was a just law was another question.

Then they told him that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had not obeyed the command (Daniel 3:12). Nebuchadnezzar probably had not made the law with a special plan to trap them, for if he had, he would have been watching them closely and would not have needed this report. Rather, their enemies were looking for a way to accuse them and eagerly seized on this chance.

To make the matter worse and stir the king’s anger, they reminded him of the high positions these men had been given. Though they were Jews, foreigners, captives, and from a people and religion many despised, the king had set them over the affairs of the province of Babylon. Because of that, their refusal seemed to the accusers especially ungrateful and insulting. It would also be a bad example for others, so they argued that it deserved severe punishment. When princes are already angry with innocent people, there are often plenty of voices around them that try to make things worse.

The accusers also suggested that the refusal was deliberate and contemptuous. They said, in effect, that these men had no regard for the king, because they would not serve his gods or worship the golden image he had set up. Then the three faithful Jews were brought at once before the king and questioned on the charge.

Nebuchadnezzar flew into a rage and ordered them seized (Daniel 3:13). How little honor there was in his rule, when he governed so many nations but could not govern himself. He had many subjects and captives, yet he was himself a slave to his own wild passions. How unfit he was to rule reasonable people when he could not be ruled by reason. He had no reason to be surprised that these three men did not serve his gods, since he knew very well that they never had, and that their faith had always kept them from doing so. Nor did he have reason to think they meant any insult to his authority, since they had always shown him respect and obedience as their prince.

It was especially out of place for him to be so angry at that moment, while he was in the middle of dedicating his golden image. Common sense alone should have held back his anger. True devotion quiets the spirit and makes a person calm and gentle. False worship, by contrast, stirs up passion, anger, and fury, and turns people into something less than human. A king’s anger is like a lion’s roar, and Nebuchadnezzar’s anger was exactly like that. Yet even in that heat, the three men were brought before him and stood with steady courage and firm resolve.

The king then put their case to them briefly and asked whether they would obey or not. He asked if it was true that they had refused to worship the golden image when everyone else had (Daniel 3:14). Some read his words as asking, “Was this done on purpose?” He seems to mean, “Was it deliberate, or was it only a mistake?” He reminds them that he had fed them, raised them, and supported them at his own expense. He also points to their reputation for wisdom, as if they ought to have known better what was due to their prince. Then he asks, “Do you not serve my gods or worship the golden image I have set up?”

The steady faith of God’s servants has often astonished their enemies and persecutors, who find it strange that they do not run with them into the same excess of sin. The king was willing to give them another chance. If they had refused at first on purpose, then perhaps they might change their minds after thinking again. So he repeated the terms, and they now had to decide where they stood (Daniel 3:15). He was willing to have the music played again, for their sake, hoping it might soften them into obedience. If they would listen and worship the golden image, their first refusal would be forgiven.

The king then made it plain that if they still refused, they would be thrown at once into the fiery furnace. He would not even give them an hour’s delay. The choice was simple and cruel: bow, or burn. Since he knew they were standing on their trust in God, he insulted God directly, saying, “Who is that God who will rescue you from my hand?” He seemed to forget what he had once admitted, that their God was “a God of gods and Lord of kings” (Daniel 2:47). Proud people are still quick to speak like Pharaoh, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?” or like Nebuchadnezzar, “Who is the Lord, that I should fear his power?”

The three young men, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, answered together with great courage and calm. We often call them the three children, but they were really young men, and they acted like champions of God’s kingdom. They did not lash out at those who bowed to the golden image, and they did not rush toward danger to make themselves martyrs. When the test came to them in due order, they stood firm with steady courage. The king was bold in making the idol, but they were just as bold in opposing it. They did not call him a tyrant or an idolater, because God’s cause does not need human rage. Instead, they answered with quiet strength and a settled mind, ready to stand by what they said.

They showed noble disregard for death when they said, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer you in this matter.” They did not refuse to answer him out of stubborn silence. They meant that they had nothing to debate. The matter was already decided, because he had ordered sin and threatened death. When evil is plain, there is no need to argue with it. Those who want to avoid sin must not bargain with temptation. If something is clearly wrong, it should be rejected at once, with disgust and not delay. As Christ taught, the answer is, “Get behind me, Satan.”

They also needed no time to think up a clever reply. As God’s witnesses, they could trust that they would be given the right words when the hour came (Matthew 10:19). They did not try to evade the issue, and they did not flatter the king to soften him. Their answer was plain and direct. They did not begin with the usual courtly words, “O king, live forever,” because they were not trying to win his favor. Those who make duty their main concern do not need to worry about the outcome.

Their calmness came from their faith in God and their trust in him (Daniel 3:17). That trust let them look on death without fear, even death with all its terror. They trusted the living God, and because of that faith they chose suffering rather than sin. They feared the king’s anger less than they believed in the unseen God (Hebrews 11:25, Hebrews 11:27). They were saying, in effect, that they were not atheists, because they had a God they could call their own and to whom they were loyal. They served him, had given themselves to his honor, and depended on him to protect, provide for, and reward them.

They were also sure that God was able to save them from the burning furnace. He could keep them from being thrown in, or he could bring them out alive. God’s faithful servants will find that he is fully able to support them in his service and rule over every power set against them. “Lord, if you are willing, you can” is always true of him. They also had reason to hope that he would save them, because such a rescue would honor his great name in the sight of so many idolaters. And Nebuchadnezzar had openly challenged him, asking who could deliver them. God sometimes acts in a wonderful way to silence the enemy’s blasphemy as well as to answer his people’s prayers (Psalm 74:18-22; Deuteronomy 32:27). If God did not save them from the furnace, he would still save them out of the king’s hand. Nebuchadnezzar could only torture and kill the body. After that, he had no more power. Then they would be beyond his reach, delivered from his hand. Good thoughts about God, and full confidence that he is with us while we remain faithful to him, help us bear suffering. If God is for us, we do not need to fear what man can do.

They ended with a firm refusal to compromise, no matter what happened (Daniel 3:18). “But if not,” they said, meaning, if God did not choose to save them from the furnace, though they knew he could, “we still will not serve your gods or worship the golden image you have set up.” They were neither ashamed nor afraid to admit their faith to the king’s face. They would not give in, even if the cost was death. If they had listened to mere human reasoning, much could have been said to push them toward compliance, especially since refusing meant facing such a terrible death.

They were not being asked to deny their own God or renounce his worship. They were not even being asked to say out loud that this golden image was a god. They were only told to bow before it, and they might have tried to keep a private loyalty to the God of Israel while inwardly hating this idolatry, as Naaman did when he bowed in the house of Rimmon.

They were not being drawn into a settled pattern of idolatry. It was only one act, done in a minute, after which the danger would be over, and they could later confess and grieve over it. The command came from a king with absolute power over them. They were under him not only as subjects, but as captives, so if they complied, it would be under force and pressure, which might seem to excuse them.

The king had also done them good. He had educated them and given them high positions, so gratitude might seem to call for some concession, even a strained one. They were also in a foreign land, where they had been driven out, and to such people it is almost as if they are being told, Go and serve other gods (Sa1 26:19). Their situation looked like the very judgment described in Deu 4:28, where serving other gods is part of the punishment. They might feel excused if they went with the current when the current was so strong.

Then there was the example of others. Had not their kings, princes, fathers, and even priests set up idols in God’s temple, bowed before them, built altars, burned incense, and offered sacrifices, even their own children? Had not the ten tribes worshiped golden gods for many years at Dan and Bethel? So why should these men be more exact than their fathers? Human custom often tries to give wrong behavior the look of right, but that does not make it right.

Another argument was that compliance might save their lives and keep their places. If they lived, they could continue to help their brothers in Babylon, and they were young men with a future before them. But one command from God was enough to answer all such worldly reasoning: "You must not bow down to images or worship them." They knew they must obey God rather than men. They must rather suffer than sin, and they must not do evil so that good may come. So none of these reasons moved them. They were resolved to die in integrity rather than live in guilt.

While their fellow Jews in their own land were choosing idolatry, these men in Babylon would not be forced into it. In an idolatrous country, they became all the more bold against idolatry. In truth, when you consider everything, God’s keeping them from this sinful compromise was as great a miracle in grace as saving them from the fiery furnace was in nature. These were the same men who had once refused to defile themselves with the king’s food, and now they bravely refused to defile themselves with his gods. A steady and self-denying loyalty to God in smaller matters prepares us for the harder trials. So we must stay firm, and never, under any excuse, worship images or make peace with those who do.