Shadrach

Shadrach is the Babylonian name given to Hananiah, one of four Judahite youths carried into Nebuchadnezzar's service after the fall of Jerusalem. With his companions Meshach (Mishael) and Abed-nego (Azariah), Shadrach is set over the affairs of Babylon, refuses to worship the king's golden image, and is preserved through the burning fiery furnace.

The Babylonian Renaming

The four are introduced together among "the sons of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah" (Dan 1:6). At court the prince of the eunuchs reassigns each a Babylonian name: "to Daniel he gave [the name of] Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, [of] Shadrach; and to Mishael, [of] Meshach; and to Azariah, [of] Abed-nego" (Dan 1:7). The renaming sits inside a larger program of relocation, palace training, and assimilation under Nebuchadnezzar — the king's own choice of "youths in whom was no blemish, but well-favored, and skillful in all wisdom" (Dan 1:4) — yet the four are also given by God "knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom" (Dan 1:17), and at the end of their training stand before the king ten times better than the realm's sacred scholars and psychics (Dan 1:19-20).

Promotion over Babylon

After Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, Shadrach and the others are advanced to provincial office: "And Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel was in the gate of the king" (Dan 2:49). The earlier turning point in the dream crisis had also passed through them — when the wise men of Babylon were marked for death, "Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his colleagues" (Dan 2:17), and the four sought mercy from God together.

The Golden Image

Nebuchadnezzar erects a golden image sixty cubits high in the plain of Dura and orders that at the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, and the rest, every people, nation, and language fall down and worship; whoever refuses "will the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace" (Dan 3:6). Chaldean accusers single out the three Judahite officials: "There are Jewish [prominent] men whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these [prominent] men, O king, have not regarded you: they don't serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up" (Dan 3:12).

Brought before the king, they answer without negotiation: "If it is [so], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up" (Dan 3:17-18).

The Furnace

The king orders the furnace heated seven times more than usual; mighty men of his army bind the three in their hosen, tunics, and mantles, and the flame slays the executioners (Dan 3:19-22). "And these three [prominent] men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace" (Dan 3:23). Nebuchadnezzar then sees four men loose, walking in the fire, "and the aspect of the fourth is like a son of the gods" (Dan 3:25). He calls them out as "slaves of the Most High God," and the satraps, deputies, governors, and counselors together see "that the fire had no power on their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed, neither were their hosen changed, nor had the smell of fire passed on them" (Dan 3:27).

After the Deliverance

Nebuchadnezzar's response is a public confession and an edict: "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who has sent his angel, and delivered his slaves who trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God" (Dan 3:28). He decrees that any speech against this God will be punished, "because there is no other god that is able to deliver after this sort" (Dan 3:29). The chapter closes on their advancement: "Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in the province of Babylon" (Dan 3:30).