Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

There they were.

Three young men, who had been given authority in Babylon now being pressed to make a decision.

Did they misunderstand the instructions or were they mocking the King and the decree he had made?

The statue of gold on the plain of Dura had been erected and Nebuchadnezzar had ordered that all bow and worship it once they heard all the music being played.

Certain members of the Chaldeans knew that Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, also known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, had not bowed to this metallic image.

They not the king who was enraged at this accusation insolence and possibly treason.

The three men had been called to his court to find if this was true or just a false accusation.

If they still would not fall down and worship the image which Nebuchadnezzar have made they shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

Nebuchadnezzar asked the question of “who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?”

Daniel 3:16-18 “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.

If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.

But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.””

They did not need a second chance.

They did not to think it over.

Like Daniel in chapter 1, they had already made their decision.

Their heart, their allegiance was to the One true God.

They had purposed in their heart not to sin.

They knew Exodus 20:1-6 “And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

“You shall have no other gods before Me.

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.

For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

They knew God was able to physically deliver them from the fire ahead, but they also knew that might not be His will.

Either way, they were not going to go against their God.

They were going to stay firm and steadfast.

They were going to remain holy even if it cost them their lives.

Reaction of King Nebuchadnezzar

Nebuchadnezzar feels mocked by these three Jews.

He had promoted them and now they would not bow to his golden image.

He was full of fury.

If you think the fiery furnace was hot, so was King Nebuchadnezzar’s anger.

The text says that his face changed/his expression of his face changed.

It appears that while he was furious before he still had a shadow of a doubt that the Chaldeans were lying to him about these three men and that is why he gave a second chance, but now he knows that he has been duped.

His rage toward them is increased.

He orders/commands that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than it normally is.

An idiomatic Aramaic phrase expressing the king’s desire to have the furnace as hot as possible.

Get it as hot as you can.

Similar to in movies when they say “fire everything!”

Fiery Furnace

Throughout the Middle East most furnaces would have been used for pottery (kilns).

Yet, in the context of this story the furnace is something larger and hotter than a pottery furnace.

Most likely this is a furnace for smelting ore (iron).

Larger furnaces used for smelting ore were seldom employed by the Hebrews, except possibly in the time of King Solomon.

The Hebrews, however, knew of this type of furnace, probably from its extensive use in Lebanon.

Most OT references to such furnaces are figurative (Dt 4:20; 1 Kgs 8:51; Prv 17:3; 27:21; Is 48:10; Jer 11:4; Ez 22:18, 20, 22).

This kind of large, ore-smelting furnace is central in the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the three Jewish men whom King Nebuchadnezzar threw into the fiery furnace for refusing to bow down and worship his golden idol (Dn 3).

More fuel would have been thrown on the already very hot pile as more air was blown across the base to heat it up.

If you have ever built a camp fire?

Anyone?

To get it hotter you add air.

Firefighters will tell you there are three elements to keep a fire going: heat, fuel, and air.

They try to get the heat down by drowning it with water which also helps get the fuel down as well.

This fire that is being stoked (most likely by slaves) is increasing for the execution of these three men.

Thrown In

The King has his strongest men of his army.

Maybe we might say they were Marines or Navy Seals.

They were the best of the best.

He tasks them to tie up these three men and then take them to their death.

We are told that they were bound fully clothed.

They are tied up in their outer and inner clothes.

What is important is to use words indicating that the men were fully clothed, and that their dress included inner garments, outer garments, and something worn on the head.

Some translations call them different things, but it is important that they are fully clothed.

That this happened very fast.

They were tied up, lead up, and cast into the midst of the fiery furnace.

We learn that because the command happened so fast and that the furnace had gotten so hot.

That the heat killed the men, those Marines / Navy Seals!

What chance does anyone have in these flames?

The three men fell into the middle of the furnace and the writer says that they were still bound.

This is going to be key for what happens next.

In the Flames

If the guards who throw them in died so fast these three were toast.

They would be burned so fast, yet that is not what happened.

Nebuchadnezzar is astonished and he rose up in haste

Then Nebuchadnezzar the king [saw and] was astounded, and he jumped up

This is not normal.

He is shocked.

He speaks to his counselors.

Correct me if I am wrong kind of statement (There was three men bound and they went into the fire, right?)

His yes men all say yes, that is right.

Nebuchadnezzar sees four men in there.

They are not bound (remember they were bound when they went in).

They are walking around in the midst of the fire.

They are not hurting.

They are not screaming.

They are not dying.

The fourth one is like the Son of God or better translation a son of the gods.

Nebuchadnezzar would not have thought “Jesus” and the three men would not have known Jesus either, they would have said Angel of the LORD who is God.

Can you image what is going on in Nebuchadnezzar’s head when he sees this?

A Miracle in the Furnace

The King already on his feet gets close to the opening of the furnace, but not too close and spoke (most likely yells) for them to come out.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!

He acknowledges that their God is more powerful than his god/gods.

Then the three come out.

The administrators of Babylon (and most likely the people who accused them) gathered together.

They had witnessed this miracle too.

There bodies are fine.

Bodies the fire had no power

The hair on their head was not singed

Their clothes that they had been bound in were not burned

They didn’t even smell like smoke