Summer Reading: Daniel 3-4


Chapter 3 brings us one of the very familiar stories from Daniel: the Fiery Furnace. The golden idol seems to come from nowhere, but may be suggested by the dream the king had in chapter 2. That one was vulnerable to destruction, made of various materials; perhaps this statue of gold is King Nebuchadnezzar’s response to God’s intention to bring down his kingdom.





This chapter is about the steadfast faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (who are consistently named by their Babylonian names rather than their Hebrew names). They are targeted for their failure to obey the king’s decree to worship the statue. A thousand years before the wilderness Israelites were punished for worshiping a golden statue of a calf (Exodus 32); Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are presented as a faithful alternative to that bit of history. While the three are not portrayed as praying to be delivered from this death, they do make a valiant speech of loyalty to God (2:16-18): whether they live or die, they trust God and will obey and worship only the God of Israel.
Once again, the king is impressed with this God, blesses God, and forbids anyone from speaking ill of God, but does not convert to monotheism.



Some questions:
What do you think of a god that can be created by human work? How is that a divine being in any sense?
Have you ever been required to obey a rule or law that you felt went against your personal principles? As people of faith, how are we to respond when we bump up against unjust laws or rules that privilege some people over others?

Chapter 4 is a description of a dream and a vision of its fulfillment, possibly beginning with 3:31 as the introduction[1]. It has a classic structure of a threat of punishment (kingdom falling) with the promise of restoration that is seen in other prophetic books, directed at Israel. In the vision of restoration, Nebuchadnezzar is converted to believing in and praising God. Daniel wishes the dream were about the king’s enemies, not the king, but tells him the interpretation nonetheless, this time without threat of being punished or a revelation from God first. The scene affirms once again that God is in charge of how everything works, and is more powerful than even the most powerful king and empire on earth. Predestination is evident here: everything goes according to God’s plan (we see in the second half of the chapter), even though Daniel tries to soften the blow by suggesting the king might be spared this fate by showing kindness to the poor (4:24).

[1] Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, vol 3.(NY: W. W. Norton, 2018), 764.

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