Added: Jul 25, 2008
Author: sgtshane
Duration: 1:27
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (sometimes referred to collectively as The Three Young Men) were three friends of Daniel in the Bible whose Hebrew names were Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, respectively. Like Daniel, they were youths from the Jewish nobility. At the first deportation of the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar (the kingdom of Israel had come to an end nearly a century before at the hands of the Assyrians), or immediately after his victory over the Egyptians at the second battle of Carchemish, in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim (606 BC), these three and Daniel were among the Jewish young nobility carried off to Babylon (probably as hostages to ensure the loyalty of Judah's king and advisors), along with some of the vessels of the temple. They were subsequently evaluated and chosen for their intellect and beauty, to be trained as Chaldeans (members of the class of the magi: astrologers, sorcerers, enchanters and magicians), who constituted the ranks of the advisors to the Babylonian court. The Three Young Men in the Fiery Furnace. The fourth is sometimes interpreted as being the Archangel Michael (15th century icon of the Novgorod school).At one point early on in their training, they were assigned a daily amount of food and wine from the king's own table. Following Daniel's lead, they asked for permission not to eat the food, which had been offered to idols and was therefore unclean according to their laws. But the official in charge of them feared that if the king saw them looking ill, he might face execution. So they asked for a ten-day test: they would be given nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. At the end of the ten days, they would be compared with the young men who ate the royal food and treated accordingly. The test was conducted, and at the end of ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. Some time later, King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold and set it up in Babylon. He ordered that whenever the people heard the sound of the "horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music," they would bow down and worship the image or else be thrown into a blazing furnace. But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not bow down or worship the image. Some of the king's astrologers informed the king, and he ordered that they be brought before him. He questioned them and repeated his threat, but the three men insisted that they would not worship the idol, faithful that their God would save them. Angrily, the king ordered that the furnace be made seven times hotter than usual and that the three men be tied up and thrown in. The flames were so hot that the soldiers who threw them in were killed on the spot. But when King Nebuchadnezzar looked in, he saw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walking around unbound and unharmed, along with a fourth man whom the king said looked "like the Son of God" (Daniel 3:25). Christians and Messianic Jews believe "the Son of God" to refer to Jesus Christ, i.e. bar Elohim - Hebrew son of God(s). The king called to them to come out, and they did so completely unharmed, not even smelling of smoke or fire. So the king lauded their faith and decreed that anyone who spoke against the God of Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego would be "cut to pieces and their houses turned to piles of rubble." [edit] Name Confusion It has been pointed out that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's names all pertained to pagan Babylonian gods, and therefore the question has been posed why the Bible seldom uses their original Hebrew names. It is baselessly speculated that they are identified mostly by their Babylonian names to maintain the accuracy of the dialogue given in the text. Since it would have been confusing to have the writer call them one thing and the king call them another, the story uses their new names instead.
Channel: Music
Tags: abednego babies boogie booty dancing meshach shadrach
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