The Lesson of the Furnace

Nebuchadnezzar is a tyrant and, well, kind of a clod. It’s one of the dangerous side effects of absolute power: when your counselors are afraid to counter you in any way, you have very few opportunities for learning and personal growth. Being the ruler of an empire like Babylon is like living inside a bubble. When your word is law, and your law is unquestionable, you can run roughshod over everyone around you. Old Neb is what the British would call “thick as a brick,” and to make matters worse he also has the impulse control of a three-year-old.

Take the matter of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These three young Israelites have run afoul of Nebuchadnezzar by refusing to break the commandments of Yahweh by bowing down to the emperor’s golden statue. Neb is not used to being rebuffed in this (or any) way, so he becomes enraged. He has previously set aside a “furnace of blazing fire” (Dan 3:6) for the roasting alive of anybody who would dare refrain from worshiping his idol, and now in a pique he orders the furnace to be heated to seven times its normal temperature. It gets so hot that the attendants who come only close enough to toss the three Hebrews into the furnace are killed by the heat.

But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego come through unharmed. Their clothes are not even singed. Besides this miraculous outcome, Nebuchadnezzar also says he sees a fourth figure walking about inside the furnace, and this mysterious figure “has the appearance of a god” (v. 25). The emperor understandably freaks, and after seeing how the three men are unhurt, has a complete change of heart. He says in that self-important way he has: “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God” (v. 28).

So far so good. The three Hebrews’ faithfulness and courage has been matched by God’s faithful response, and Neb has witnessed it all and been humbled. Yay, Team Yahweh! This is a story that Jews and Christians have loved to tell ever since.

Unfortunately, the cloddish tyrant doesn’t stop there. He goes on to say, “Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that utters blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins; for there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way” (v. 29).

No, no, no, Nebuchadnezzar! Bad emperor! Don’t you see what you’ve done? You have only compounded the problem you caused when you demanded that everybody worship your statue. What tyrants and demagogues can never seem to understand is that worship and reverence must be freely given, or else they are worthless. Vladimir Putin may get nods of compliance from the Russian people when he misrepresents his aggressive war in Ukraine, but he will never completely silence dissent.

Leaders may censor the truth, and wannabe theocrats may seek to enforce their own religious beliefs and moral codes on others, but truth and freedom have a way of breaking through all attempts to smother them. God is not honored when we throw the infidels into the furnace of blazing fire; in fact, it is God who gets into the furnace and walks among God’s persecuted children.

Let us learn from Old Neb’s mistakes, and be diligent in speaking the truth and protecting religious liberty for all.