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Daniel 3:16-17: “Shadrach Meshach and Abednego answered and said unto the king, O’ Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer you in this matter. If it be so our God is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thy hand O king. But if not be it known unto thee O king that we will not serve your gods nor worship the golden image which you have set up.”
Ezekiel 37:4: “And he said unto me, Prophesy unto these bones and say: O’ ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.”
I was reading something very interesting in the Midrash (Canticles Rabbah 8) with regard to Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a priest and prophet during the Babylonian exile. King Nebuchadnezzar had already executed some of the young men from the House of David because they were so handsome and the Babylonian women were falling head over heels after them. Actually, historically, they refused to become eunuchs. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego apparently submitted to the knife which may explain why they did not suffer the same fate as the other young men from the House of David. Nebuchadnezzar had them executed and their bodies mutilated and their bones scattered. The Talmud teaches that these were the dry bones of Ezekiel 37:4 and that this was not only a vision but reality as well. God actually instructed Ezekiel to speak to these dry bones and they would come together and live again. Not only was this a prophetic sign but it actually happened. The Talmud goes further to teach that these now resurrected men went on to marry and live out a full life. In other words they did not become eunuchs. God allowed them to live a life that was being forbidden to them by the foreign king.
Needless to say, such an event would have established Ezekiel as a prophet of God. In the Midrash it recounts the story of the three Hebrew young men thrown into the fiery furnace and that before they made their decision to defy Nebuchadnezzar, they consulted with Ezekiel. Ezekiel initially said he had no witness in his spirit that the three Hebrews would escape the furnace if they defied Nebuchadnezzar nor did he have any witness that God would raise them from the dead. The men, however, decided to defy Nebuchadnezzar without any assurance that Ezekiel could raise them from the dead. After they left God spoke to Ezekiel and said that they would survive the ordeal, but Ezekiel was not to tell them this, God wanted them to take their stand without this knowledge.
I think like many of you I face a tough crossroad in my life, I am getting absolutely no direction from God. Now the direction I would like to take and the one that I think God would have me take would mean that I might not be able to keep a couple commitments I made. Maybe I could still keep the commitments, perhaps I will go the direction I desire and let God worry about the commitments, after all if I take that route it will really serve God and He will be blessed. Of course if I fail in my commitments the ones I made the commitments to they would not be blessed. You know I sure would like a prophet to come alone and tell me what to do. After looking at this story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego I realize they were committed to doing the right thing. If Ezekiel had told them they would survive, it would have been easy to do the right thing but without that knowledge, it was hard. I feel in my situation if I follow the example of the three Hebrews, then I must do the right thing and remain in a position where I can keep my commitments.
This may explain the strange statement they made to Nebuchadnezzar that God would delivered them from Nebuchadnezzar‘s hand, but if not they would still not bow down before his idol. Actually, they are not saying God would deliver them out of the furnace, but out of the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. This passage is written in Aramaic and in verse 17 the word deliver is shazav. It is the grammar that gets a little confusing. In Aramaic the Yod before the Zayin creates a
Sere Yod rather than a Chireq Yod which we would have if the Zayin came before the Yod. This form actually intensifies the word. What this tells me is that this is intended to be a particle but rendered as a future tense not to show a time element but a sense of certainty. This leads me to believe they are speaking of a prior event and not one that is about to happen. The Talmud is not the inspired Word of God, but it may explain this strange grammatical form as the three Hebrew children could have been referring to the resurrection of the Hebrew men by Ezekiel. Hence the three Hebrews were really saying: “God is able to deliver us as He has already done with the other Hebrews you executed, If He took their dry bones and breathed life into them, then He can take three crispy critters and breathe life into them.” That may explain why Nebuchadnezzar had to take a look see in the furnace. Pure logic says there would have been nothing but ashes, but old Nebuchadnezzar was already spooked out by the prior resurrections.
It is possible the three Hebrew youths went to Ezekiel to get assurance that he could raise them from the dead like he did their companions who were executed. After all they were executed for refusing to be castrated which would have been against Hebrew law although Elijah declared there would be an exception made while in captivity. The three Hebrews were facing execution for their faith, surely God would be more incline to raise them from the dead. Yet, Ezekiel could not give them that assurance. Nonetheless, they still determined to die rather than bow to the idol, even if God would not raise them from the dead like their companions.
I had a good friend tell me today that I high minded. I believe she meant I was arrogant. Yeah praise the Lord for such good friends. But she was right. I thought of the three Hebrew children who had to face death for their faith with no promise of immediate resurrection from God when others who were not as diligent in their faith were resurrected, how fair is that? I have another friend who has received a real blessing from God. I look at her and think, why her and not me? Why does she get this blessing and not me. I’ve been dedicated to God, I have given up much for God I deserve to have a blessing like that but no I am not even allowed to have that blessing. I let it bother me to the point of despair and discouragement. Then I looked at the three Hebrew children, they were ready to give everything up for their love and devotion to God, who am I to complain that I don’t get a special blessing for my faithfulness. In reality I was worshipping the god of despair and discouragement. It is time I say like the three Hebrew children
“God could give me that blessing if He chooses, but if I don’t get that blessing from God, be it known O king of darkness, that I will not serve your god of despair and discouragement.”
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