The Test of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego Daniel 3:8-18

To see Daniel 3:8-18 without my comments click HERE.


Three of Daniels friends were tested in Daniel Chapter 3. Their names were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. We know the three men by these names that were given to them when they came to Babylon. This is most like because of the famous song of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

The best rendition of this song that I have personally have heard, was sung by Ford Leary a member of Larry Clinton's orchestra.

This story continues with King Nebuchadnezzar's proclaimed edict that everyone will bow down to his large golden idol that he made.When the music was played, Daniel's friends; Shadrach Meshach, and Abednego did not comply. The reason for their non-compliance is because Father Yahweh was real to them. The knowledge of knowing that God is real does not come simply by making a simple decision or a flip of a coin. The faith that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abdednego first came to them from their parents when they were in the Kingdom of Judah. Their faith was manifested when they refused to bow.

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" Proverbs 22:6

This refusal of not bowing to the whims of any unjust law, which most likely exists simply because someone wrote something on a piece of paper, can be compared to the events in Revelation 13 when in the end times people will be told they must receive a mark, which is probably something inside of their bodies, to be able to buy and sell (mark of the beast). When that time comes will there be any parents teaching their children not to receive the mark like the parents of Shadrach, Meshach, or Abednego? Will there be any families that will produce children that will have courage to stand for the light of the gospel instead of just being politically correct, and bowing to any and every new anti-biblical and politically correct thought that comes along? Luke 18:8

In Daniel 3:8 certain Chaldean men who were jealous of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's position within the Babylonian Government, told Nebuchadnezzar of their non-compliance. Nebuchadnezzar had Daniel's friends appear in front of him, confronted them, and reminded them that if they do not bow to his idol they will be thrown into a specially made large furnace that was used to make the idol with, but this was their test. The size of the furnace can be visualized this way: the gold for this project had to be poured in one shot, or at one time, because gold couldn't have been poured in layers.The furnace had to accommodate enough gold at one time to produce an idol 60 cubits high. So the furnace was large enough to contain Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego with plenty of room to spare.

The reason I said it was a test is because in the book of Daniel we are told 3 different times that Judah was handed over to Nebuchadnezzar by Father Yahweh because of their wickedness. It can also be said that Father Yahweh created the evil of this test simply to test these three men; Isaiah 45:7.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down to the idol made of gold. This is directly against the First Commandment. 

We all know that these three men, when given a second chance, still refused; Daniel 3:17-18. They knew Father Yahweh had the supernatural ability to save them, and he also had the option of letting them perish to have them escape the wickedness of the situation; Isaiah 57:1, and it didn't really matter to these three men either way. This is because if one be in Christ, then Christ is also in them; John 17:21  It's also true that if you follow the laws of Yahweh and are one of his sheep, and people hate you, or in this case want to kill you, then it's not you per se that they are rejecting. What they are actually doing is rejecting the Father and his word.

The most important concept I would like people to get from this post is this: It really doesn't matter if you're in Babylon or not like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, but what is important is that Babylon is not inside of you.

Praise the Lord for his ongoing mercy!

Tobit A Book Worth Reading

In case if there is anyone out there that doesn't know, I try to read everything I can get my hands on regarding the migrations of Israel during and after the Assyrian Captivity. I believe I have read just about every book that I can find, and that is also affordable to purchase. One such book I was reading recently is the book of Tobit which refers to a man in the history of the migrations of Israel. Tobit is a book of the Apocrapha. The books of the Apocrapha are not not recognized as Holy scriptures by Protestants, but are by Catholics. Many of these books are in Catholic Bibles between the Old Testament and the New Testament. My opinion about these books is that they are historical, rather than scriptural. If you think in a context of historical books then it could be correct. For example many Protestant Ministers have the books of Flavius Josephus in their libraries which also are not Holy Scripture, but like the book of Tobit is historical.

The book of Tobit is 14 Chapters in length and the central characters name is Tobit, who was a member of the Israelite tribe of Naphtali. All should know at this point that Naphtali was one of the first tribes taken into captivity by King Sennacherib along with the tribes of Zebulun and Dan around 745-721 B.C.. King Sennacherib, the King of Assyria, in an effort to keep the Israelites in line, killed many of them and put their bodies outside of the walls of Ninevah as a warning to all. Tobit buried the bodies that were put there by the Kings men until the King found out what he was doing and confiscated Tobit's property when he was away one day. Not to long after that, King Sennacherib was assassinated by his sons. 

Tobit went blind with cataracts and an Angel came forth with the healing information of using fish gall to cure the cataracts. I have searched this cure on the internet and there are actual cases where it has been used and it did work. I will not recommend this cure to anyone because I am not a doctor. You must research things for yourself such as medical information and biblical information.

Before Tobit's son was to find a wife, he told his son Tobiahs in Tobit 4:12: “Be on your guard, son, against every form of immorality, and above all, marry a woman of the lineage of your forefathers. Do not marry a stranger who is not of your father's tribe, because we are sons of the prophets. My boy, keep in mind Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our fathers from the old: all of them took wives from among their own kinsmen and were blessed in their children. Remember their prosperity shall inherit the land.”

The reason I make mention that Tobit told his son to only marry an Israelite woman, is because most churches today teach that the Israelites who were taken into Assyrian Captivity married Assyrian wives, and that the nation of Israel ceased to exist. This cannot possibly be the case because of the unconditional promises made to Abraham about his descendants; Genesis 22:17-18.

Eventually Tobit's son Tobiah married a woman named Sarah which was also of the tribe of Naphtali. After restoring his fathers eyesight with the fish gall Tobit's son Tobiahs was able to retrieve his fathers wealth. Tobit eventually died and Tobiah left for another area in the mountains called Ecbatana in Media; Tobit 14:12.

The specific place Tobiah went to live is about 300 miles South of the Caucasus Mountains in modern day Western Iran. This location is significant because this puts Tobit's descendants in a position to cross the Caucasus Mountains easily when Babylon attacked Assyria in 612 B.C. This area is also verified by the first century Scribe Flavius Josephus in book 11 Chapter 5 when he wrote: “...wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers.” The time frame of which he wrote of this place, in book 11, is during the time of Esdras (Ezra) and Nehemiah around 550 B.C. If one is still unsure and want to know if Israel living North of Palestine after the Assyrian invasion is Biblically correct or not for this time frame then the answer is yes, It's mentioned in Jeremiah 3:12. "Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou blacksliding Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever." It is also worth knowing that there are places in the New Testament, hundreds of years later that refer to the Israelites as still existing such as Romans 9:3 and James 1:1 for example. Anyone that teaches that Israel does not exist today is not teaching the Bible, and I question if they are actually reading their Bible. 

There are words to warn those who refuse to teach the Bible in Jeremiah 23:1-2.

Praise the Lord for his word and his people Israel!

King Nebuchadnezzar's Idol Daniel 3: 1-7

To see Daniel 3:1-7 without my comments click HERE.

The story of the Hebrew children; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel Chapter 3, is a direct response to the events in Daniel Chapter 2. The new positions of Daniel and his friends made the Babylonian scientists envious, and rather than thanking the Hebrew children for saving their lives they started to plot against them. It's my guess that the scientists still saw the Hebrew children as the slaves they were originally when they first arrived into the Assyrian captivity. This may be the reason that they plotted against Daniel and his friends.

About the idol itself...

Meanwhile, there was an attempted revolt against the Babylonian Empire in 596 B.C. Which set the stage for a wide scale reaffirmation of allegiance to King Nebuchadnezzar. King Nebuchadnezzar had a golden idol made for all to bow to in which they would demonstrate their loyalty to both him and the Babel/Babylonian Empire. The measurements of this idol was 6 by 60 cubits. The actual height of this idol was based upon a measurement called a cubit. A cubit is measured from the elbow to the fingertip on a man and this measurement was somewhere between 14-22 inches, this made the idol about a hundred feet tall. The most important thing I want to point out about the measurements isn't necessarily the height, but rather the base to the height ratio which is ten.

The reason this ratio is important is because most people read in the prior chapter about the dream of the image representing the world empires being a man, and they automatically think that Nebuchadnezzar made a statue of himself or it was a statue of a man that was in his dream representing the different coming world empires. Most overlook the words in Chapter 3:1 where it clearly states that the idol was “an image of gold” and the Bible does not say that the idol was a statue of a man, or anything specific for that matter. The Farrar Fenton Bible describes the idol as “a golden column.”

This is a picture of Victory Column in Berlin, Germany. The ratio of the column's base to height including the statue on top is similar to the height/base ratio of Nebuchadnezzar's idol.

A ratio of ten (base times height) will not produce a recognizable figure of a person. Some also believe that this idol could have just simply have been an obelisk which was a common sight in Babylon.

This idol as with all idols, represent a god of some sort. This is a totally Pagan concept, and of course it's against the second commandment to not make any graven images; Exodus 20:4. I want to remind everyone that there is no man that knows what Yahweh (God) looks like, simply because the Father is spirit and not visible to the naked eye.

In Verse 4 a herald cry was heard aloud...

When you hear the sound of all sorts of musical instruments, you will fall down and worship this idol which was created by the King. The musical instruments described in this passage are the coronet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer. The one instrument I want to focus on in this particular passage is the psaltery. A psaltery according to early definition is a wine bladder. The wine bottles during this time were a bladder made of goat skin. Inflating a goat skin and deflating quickly will not produce music, but rather will produce a noise that would be similar from a modern day Whoopie cushion so pipes were attached to produce music. Today we know a psaltery as bagpipes which are commonly found in Scotland and of course anyone knowing anything about the Scottish Declaration of Independence will know that it clearly states that the Scottish are directly descended from the Israelites of the Bible which sailed to Scotland through the pillars of Hercules (straits of Gibraltar), so to find bagpipes in Scotland is not surprising.

If you look in Strong's Concordance # 5035 The word psaltry comes from the Hebrew word “nay-bel” meaning; “A skin bag (from collapsing when empty); hence, a vase (as similar in shape when full); also a lyre (as having a body of like form): bottle, picture, psaltry, vessel, viol.”

I praise the Lord for the Prophet Daniel and his friends which we know by their Babylonian names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.