How Would You Fare Against the Furnace?

By
David Ettinger

A Familiar Story
Many of the accounts in the Bible have become quite familiar to us over the years, and this is a shame. When this happens, we tend to view these true narratives as tales of legend, hence they lose their spiritual “bite,” which weakens the message they are designed to communicate.

Such is the case of Daniel’s three friends – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – who refused to bow to Babylonian monarch Nebuchadnezzar and as punishment were hurled into a fiercely-fueled furnace. You can read the account here.

Faced with briefly
dishonoring the God of Israel by paying obeisance to a pagan, the three Hebrews
were willing to die rather than bow. When warned by Nebuchadnezzar that they
would suffer a grisly death, they gave one of the Bible’s great affirmations:

“King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter…