The Fiery Furnace

Text and Narrative

The account is found in chapter 3 of Daniel. A "furnace" here is a large kiln used for smelting metal or for firing bricks and pottery.

King Nebuchadnezzar set up a golden image sixty cubits high and six cubits wide on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. He then commanded that everyone fall down and worship it whenever the sound of the musical instruments was heard. When the Judean officials Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not bow, certain Chaldeans accused them.

Before the king, the three men affirmed two things: that their God was able to deliver them, and that "if not," they would still neither serve the king's gods nor worship the golden image (Daniel 3:17–18).

Enraged, the king ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual and had the three men bound and thrown in. The men who carried them were killed by the flames. The king, however, saw four men, loosed from their bonds, walking in the midst of the fire, and he said that the form of the fourth was "like the Son of God" (3:25, KJV; the Aramaic can also be rendered "a son of the gods"). The three came out with not a hair of their heads singed and without even the smell of fire on them. The king praised their God and issued a decree that anyone who spoke against that God be severely punished (Daniel 3:24–28). He then promoted the three men.

Background

The story is set during the Babylonian exile, when the people of Judah had been carried off to Babylon. The three men's original Hebrew names were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; the prince of the eunuchs in Babylon gave them new names (Daniel 1:6–7).

Because the Book of Daniel is written in Aramaic from the second half of 2:4 through chapter 7, this chapter is part of the Aramaic text. The exact location of the plain of Dura is uncertain.

Opinions differ on when the Book of Daniel was written. The traditional view and conservative scholars regard it as the work of Daniel in the sixth century BC. Many critical scholars hold that it reached its final form in the second century BC, during the persecution of the Jews under Antiochus IV.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

At the heart of the story is a faith that rejects idolatry at the risk of one's life. Particular emphasis falls on an obedience that does not make deliverance its condition. The account forms a pair with the lions' den episode in Daniel 6 and is often read alongside the promise "when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned" (Isaiah 43:1–2).

In the New Testament, Hebrews 11:33–38 says that people of faith "quenched the violence of fire" (11:34), a phrase commonly understood to refer to this event. The account is also frequently compared with the scene in Revelation 13:15, in which those who will not worship the image of the beast are to be killed.

Interpretation and Debated Points

• The fourth man: Many Christian interpreters regard him as a preincarnate appearance of Christ. Other interpreters, along with Jewish tradition, see him as an angel sent by God, citing the king's statement that God "hath sent his angel" (3:28). These words, however, are spoken by a pagan king, and the text itself does not identify the fourth man.
• Additional material: Greek versions of Daniel, including the Septuagint, contain the "Prayer of Azariah" and the "Song of the Three Young Men" after 3:23. The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church accept these as canonical. Protestants regard them as apocryphal and do not include them in the Bible. As a result, the verse numbering of Daniel 3 differs between Catholic and Protestant Bibles.
• Daniel's whereabouts: The text does not say where Daniel was at the time. The various explanations offered are speculation beyond the text.

In the Korean Church

The three men's reply, summed up in the phrase "But if not," is widely quoted in preaching. The event is often cited as a parallel to the believers who resisted compulsory Shinto shrine worship during the Japanese colonial period. It is also frequently taught in Sunday school.