Shadrach

Biblical Account

Shadrach is one of the children of Judah who appears in Daniel 1–3. His original name, Hananiah, is usually understood to mean "the LORD is gracious" in Hebrew. He was carried off to Babylon during the Babylonian exile and was chosen, along with Daniel, Mishael, and Azariah, as one of the youths to serve the king. The prince of the eunuchs gave him the Babylonian name Shadrach (Daniel 1:7). The exact meaning of this name is uncertain.

• To avoid defiling themselves with the king's food and wine, the four ate only vegetables and drank only water for ten days. Even so, they appeared healthier than the other youths (Daniel 1:8–16).
• When the wise men of Babylon faced death because of the king's dream, Daniel asked his three friends to join him in seeking mercy from God (Daniel 2:17–18). Afterward, at Daniel's request, the king set the three over the affairs of the province of Babylon (Daniel 2:49).
• Nebuchadnezzar set up a golden image on the plain of Dura and commanded everyone to bow down to it, but the three men refused. They declared that God was able to deliver them from the fiery furnace, yet answered, "But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods" (Daniel 3:16–18). The three were bound and thrown into a furnace heated seven times hotter than usual. The king, however, saw four men walking in the fire, and the three came out without a hair of their heads singed. The king praised their God and promoted the three men (Daniel 3:24–28; 3:30). This event is known as the fiery furnace episode.

His name does not appear after chapter 3, and Scripture does not record the rest of his life.

Significance in the Bible

The story of the three men is read as an example of faith that rejected idolatry in a pagan empire and served God alone. Within the Book of Daniel, it is regarded as a companion to the lions' den episode (chapter 6), in which Daniel, standing alone, does not stop praying. Their names do not appear in the New Testament. However, Hebrews 11:33–38, in its list of people of faith, says that some "quenched the violence of fire" (v. 34), a phrase commonly interpreted as referring to them.

Interpretations and Issues

• The fourth man: The king describes the fourth figure in the fire as "like the Son of God" (3:25; the Korean Revised Version reads "like a son of the gods"), and later says that God "hath sent his angel" (3:28). Jewish tradition and many interpreters regard this fourth figure as an angel. Christian tradition also has a long-standing interpretation that identifies him as a preincarnate appearance of Christ. Both views are held within Protestantism.
• Apocryphal additions: The Greek version of Daniel includes 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 part of the Book of Daniel, while Protestants do not include them in the canon.
• Matters outside the text: Speculation that the three became eunuchs, questions about where Daniel was at the time of the event, and Jewish traditions about their later lives all concern matters on which the text is silent. In addition, Daniel was the only one cast into the lions' den; the three friends do not appear in that episode.

In the Korean Church

In Sunday schools, they are commonly called "Daniel's three friends" and are taught as examples of keeping the faith even at a young age. In preaching, their confession in the Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Hangeul), rendered in English as "But if not," is often cited as an expression of faith that trusts God regardless of the outcome. During the Japanese colonial period, when Shinto shrine worship was enforced, the story of the golden image is reported to have been read in connection with refusal to take part in shrine worship.