DAVID'S EMAIL BIBLE STUDY:
The Fiery Furnace
A. INTRODUCTION
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After two years of studying Luke’s Gospel, let’s bounce around the Bible for a while. We’ll look at great stories, key people, important lessons from throughout the Bible. Some Christians ignore the Old Testament. Some Christians sound more Old Testament than New. Me? I have three Old Testament thoughts. First, it’s the only Bible Jesus had, and he turned out better than ok. Second, when the Old Testament echoes Jesus, I use it. Third, there are plenty of lessons and exciting stories across the Bible. Enjoy and learn.
C. SUMMARY.
When Babylon conquered Israel 600 years before Christ they carried off Jews as slaves. But the King decided to co-opt some of the young Jewish nobility, treat them royally, and train them to serve Babylon effectively. A good deed for both sides. The Jewish young adults are even offered the King’s own food and drink. Enter Daniel and three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They are willing to serve Babylon, but they refuse “to defile themselves” (Daniel 1:8) by eating, drinking, or behaving in ways contrary to Judaism. Threatened with death, they issue a challenge: let the Jewish young adults eat and live healthy for 10 days, then compare their abilities with Babylonian youth living a Babylonian lifestyle. Daniel’s way wins, and the King is impressed by Daniel and Daniel’s God. In Daniel 3, Jewish faith is again challenged. The Babylonian King builds a 90’ gold statue that all must worship. “Some Jews” refuse, infuriating the King, who threatens to toss them in a fiery furnace. After expressing confidence in God whatever the outcome, those three Jews (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) are thrown in. When the King looks in to see what’s happened, he sees a fourth figure (“like a son of the gods,” he says). Again, impressed by the Jews and their God, the King orders Babylon to respect both. Until the next time (which is Daniel in the Lion’s Den, Ch. 6).
D. KEY POINTS
1.
“Stick to your guns.” “Hold on to your principles.” “If you won’t stand up for something, you’ll fall for anything.” Daniel and his friends lived those slogans. By the way, they weren’t idealists only. They weren’t trying to be martyrs. They were pragmatists, realists. They had been conquered, dragged to a foreign country as slaves AND given the chance to be free, to work for the government, and prosper. IF. For them, the if was too big. If they hid their religion, denied their God, bent their principles. But they knew “the slippery slope” theory. Bend a little now, you’ll break later. Their counter offer was wise: Let us be good Jews and we’ll prove to be good citizens. God’s principles don’t prevent us from being good neighbors, good citizens, good workers. All Daniel and his friends wanted was a chance to prove themselves without selling out.
2.
The FIERY FURNACE (Daniel 3) and the Lion’s Den (Daniel 6) present the same ethical crisis. In each instance Babylon enacted a law requiring Jews to show their allegiance by defiling their own religious principles. Judaism was revolutionary in its emphasis on the idea that there is ONE GOD; and God cannot be limited by being made into something. Thus, as in the 10 Commandments, “no other goods... no graven images”. Daniel and friends would not surrender that central truth. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego get tossed into the fiery furnace, Daniel into the lion’s den. We rejoice that God’s miracle saved all four. We want such miracles for ourselves and our loved ones in crisis, and our soldiers in danger. And miracles happen. But so does harsh reality. Therefore, the witness of Daniel’s three friends facing the fiery furnace is amazing. They say, “Ok! Throw us into the furnace. God will deliver us. But even if God does not” we will stick to our faith (Daniel 3:17-18). Their trust in God is not predicated on getting what they want. Their faith and trust were intrinsic to their whole being. That’s basic “Faith 101”. We trust in God to get us through, in this world and/or the next.
3.
Anti-Semitism for Beginners. When in doubt, blame the Jews. Go after the Jews. Complain about the Jews. Doubt their allegiance. Fault their religion. Mock their Jewish-ness. It’s as old as King Nebuchadnezzar and the Pharaoh, as Babylon and Egypt. It’s inhuman, un-Christian, anti-American.
