In prior studies of the Book of Daniel, we saw that Daniel and Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego were taken captive and were hostages that were taken to Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar had defeated King Jehoiakim of Judah, who had allied himself with Pharaohnechoh, king of Egypt, for Egypt was at war with Babylon. Daniel and his three brethren spent three years under the authority and tutorage of Ashpenaz, the prince of the eunuchs. So, their first three years in Babylon were spent learning the language of the Chaldees and ways of Babylon. Their rise to power in the Babylonian government came unexpectedly through the authority of King Nebuchadnezzar, due to his gratitude for Daniel’s revelation and interpretation of the king’s dream in the second chapter of the book. The other wise men of the kingdom were, no doubt, shocked and disturbed over the king’s sudden command to put Daniel and his brethren in authority over them. Thus, political conspiracies ensued in an effort to regain the king’s ear and their former power in the kingdom.
There is a theme running through three of the first four chapters of the Book of Daniel, in which Nebuchadnezzar is mentioned, and this theme also involves this political intrigue against Daniel and his three brethren. The Lord God of the Jews had given Nebuchadnezzar a dream, which foretold what would occur after him up to and including the latter days or the time of the end. God kept the king from knowing and understanding the dream, until Daniel came to the king’s attention. Once Daniel revealed the dream and its interpretation, both he and his three friends enjoyed the king’s favor, and Nebuchadnezzar came to realize that their God, the God of Judah was the God of gods and Lord of kings (Daniel 2:47), vis-à-vis Nebuchadnezzar’s Lord. This admission is both a surprise and the theme of chapters two, three and four of the Book of Daniel.
Chapter three begins with Nebuchadnezzar erecting an idol dedicated to himself, an image of gold (Daniel 3:1), probably an obelisk, considering its dimensions. This was a departure from the king’s admission that the Lord God of the Jews was his God (Daniel 2:47). It would seem that the wise men of Babylon had been busy advising the king against that thought, and they were even able to conspire against Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego in the process of their political conspiracies (cp. Daniel 3:8-9, 12).
Nevertheless, this same God of the Jews came to their rescue and saved them out of the flames of the fiery furnace, which astonished Nebuchadnezzar, and, no doubt, all those with him, which included his advisors (Daniel 3:24-25, 27). Once again, Nebuchadnezzar referred to the God of the Jews as the Most High God (Daniel 3:26), as he called Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego out of the fiery furnace.
Nebuchadnezzar began by blessing the God of Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego, saying he had delivered them by changing the king’s command to execute them in the fiery furnace, so that they would serve him alone and not any of the gods of Babylon, including the king’s image of gold (Daniel 3:28, cp. 3:13-14). In other words, by saying God had changed the king’s word, he repented and embraced, once again, his former admission that the God of the Jews was, in reality the God over the kings of the earth, including Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2:47).
Then, Nebuchadnezzar made a decree in the presence of the accusers of Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego (cp. Daniel 3:27-28) that anyone who spoke evil of the God of the Jews would be cut in pieces and their houses made a dunghill, reiterating that there is no other God who could deliver his servants after this sort of thing. Thus, the king implied that political conspiracies had turned the king’s heart away from the God of the Jews, and this endangered his servants, Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego. Nevertheless, this is now changed again, and the king prospered the three men in the province of Babylon (Daniel 3:30).
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