The Furnace

Years later, King Nebuchadnezzar built a statue. It was made of gold, and it was ninety feet high and nine feet wide — tall as a row of houses stacked up, and far too thin for its height, so that it must have looked strange and enormous standing out there by itself on the flat plain of Dura, catching the sun. Perhaps he had been thinking about that dream — about being the head of gold, and about the part where somebody else came after him. This statue was gold all the way down. And he called in every important person in the empire — governors, generals, judges, treasurers, officials of every kind — and stood them all in rows in front of it. And a herald shouted out the rule: “This is the command, to all peoples and nations and languages: when you hear the sound of the horn and the pipe and the harp and every kind of music, you are to fall down and bow to the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and bow will be thrown, that same hour, into a blazing furnace.” And the band struck up — and a whole plain full of the most powerful people in the world went down on their faces in the dust like a field of wheat going over in the wind. And three men stayed standing.

Some of the Babylonian officials had been waiting a long time for a chance like this, because these three were foreigners who had been promoted over their heads. They went straight to the king. “O king, live for ever! You made a rule that everybody who hears the music must bow down, and that anyone who does not is to be thrown into the furnace. Well — there are certain Jews, the ones you put in charge of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They pay no attention to you, O king. They do not serve your gods, and they will not bow to the golden statue you set up.” So the king had them brought in, in a fury — and then, because he liked them, he offered them a way out. He said: is it true? Now listen. When the music plays, bow down, and we will say no more about it. But if you will not — “— you will be thrown that same hour into a blazing furnace. And what god is there who can rescue you out of my hands?”

And the three of them said the bravest thing anybody ever said to a king. “O king, we do not need to give you an answer about this. If we are thrown in, the God we serve is able to save us out of the blazing furnace, and he will save us out of your hand, O king. But if he does not — you may as well know it now, O king — we will still not serve your gods, and we will not bow down to the golden statue you have set up.” *But if he does not.* They did not know how it would end. They were not sure God would rescue them, and they went anyway.

And Nebuchadnezzar lost his temper completely. His face changed toward them, and he ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than it had ever been heated, and told his strongest soldiers to tie the three of them up and throw them in. So they were tied up in their coats and their trousers and their caps, and carried up to the mouth of the furnace. And it was so hot by then that the flames leaping out of it killed the soldiers who were doing the throwing. And the three men fell down into the middle of the fire, tied hand and foot. And they walked about in the flames, singing. And Azariah stood up in the middle of the fire and prayed out loud — not for rescue first, but this: “Blessed are you, Lord God of our fathers, and your name is worthy of praise for ever. You have been right in everything you have done to us; all your ways are true. We have sinned, and we have not kept your commands. We have no ruler now, and no prophet, and no temple, and no place to bring an offering. So take us as we are: a broken soul and a humble spirit is all we have to bring — let that be our offering today. Do not put us to shame. Rescue us, and let everyone know that you alone are the Lord God.” And the men outside kept piling on more fuel — pitch and brushwood and oil — until the flame stood up seventy-five feet above the top of the furnace. But the messenger of the Lord had come down into the furnace, and he swept the fire out of the middle of it, and made the inside of that furnace like a cool wind whistling through, so that the flames did not touch the three of them at all, or hurt them, or even trouble them. And the three of them, as if with one voice, sang in the fire: “Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord — praise him and lift him high for ever! Bless the Lord, you heavens; you sun and moon; you stars of heaven. Bless the Lord, you rain and dew, you winds, you fire and heat, you frost and snow. Bless the Lord, you mountains and hills, everything that grows in the ground, you seas and rivers, you whales and everything that moves in the water, you birds of the sky, you wild animals and cattle. Bless the Lord, all people on the earth — praise him and lift him high for ever!” That song is still sung. It came out of a furnace.

And out in front of the furnace, the king heard singing. He jumped up in astonishment and said to his advisers, “Did we not throw three men into that fire, tied up?” And they said, ‘Yes, O king. Three.’ And he said, “Then why do I see four men, loose, walking about in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt at all? And the fourth one looks like a son of God.” And he went as near to the mouth of that furnace as he dared and shouted, “Shadrach! Meshach! Abednego! Servants of the Most High God — come out! Come here!” And they walked out of the fire. And all the governors and captains and officials crowded round to look at them — and the fire had not touched their bodies. Not one hair of their heads was singed. Their clothes were not even scorched. They did not so much as smell of smoke. And the king said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego, who sent his messenger and rescued his servants — because they trusted him, and disobeyed the king’s own word, and gave up their bodies rather than serve or bow down to any god but their own.” And he wrote a letter to every people and nation and language in the whole earth, and this is how it began: *I am pleased to tell you about the signs and wonders the Most High God has done for me. How great are his signs! How mighty are his wonders! His kingdom lasts for ever, and his rule goes on through every generation.* And the three men were promoted. They had been ready to burn, and the God they were not sure would save them, did.