Readings:
Daniel 3
Colossians 3-4

Daniel 3

This story is extremely well known, especially if you went to any kind of Sunday school or Bible classes as a kid. The three men in the fire is a simple enough story to tell to kids, but there’s also a lot of details that isn’t usually examined because the basic points of the story are so amazing in themselves.

Previously Nebuchadnezzar confessed that the God of Daniel was a great god because he’d told him his dream and the interpretation of it. But this confession of faith in the Hebrew God doesn’t mean Nebuchadnezzar is suddenly a convinced monotheist. He’s just added Yahweh to his pantheon of gods, because in his mind the God of the Hebrews might be great, but that doesn’t mean Marduk and Ishtar aren’t great too. So this is why he has no problem erecting a gigantic golden idol, most likely of Marduk, in his country.

The stage is set when the entire ruling class, including daniel’s friends, are brought before this image and ordered to prostrate themselves before it in worship as a sign of obedience to the king. It was seen as treason to refuse this order, and yet refuse they would.

Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” Many martyrs died for not adoring “the Beast” refusing even to simulate such worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God.

CCC 2113

When given a second chance to commit idolatry for the king they give an interesting answer. They say that they know God can deliver them and even save them from the death by fire that’s being threatened, but they also say that even if he chooses not to save them they’re willing to die for their beliefs. It’s often said that they knew God would rescue them, but this isn’t actually what they said, they said that God could rescue them, not that he necessarily would. They’re fully prepared for martyrdom if that is God’s will.

This middle part of the chapter contains two poems, one is the Prayer of Azariah and the other is the Song of The Three Young Men. These were not included in the Masoretic Text which most Protestant translations of the Bible are based on, and so this is one of several parts of the Old Testament that were excised by the early Protestants in the 16th century. (See Question: Extra Books in the Bible)

To the astonishment of Nebuchadnezzar, he remarks that only three men were thrown into the fire, but now there’s four men walking around and unharmed. One is a being that the Babylonians assume is an angel, but may be more than just that.

The angel or son of God foreshadows the Lord Jesus, who descended into the furnace of Hades, where both sinners and saints were imprisoned, in order that he might deliver those imprisoned by the chains of death without himself suffering any scorching from the fire.

Saint Jerome, Commentary on Daniel

Some opinions are that this is an angel and is just a foreshadowing of Christ, like Saint Jerome quoted above. Others think that this is a pre-incarnational appearance of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Either one still points to this being either symbolic of Jesus, or Jesus himself.

Colossians 3-4

Paul urges the Colossians to set their sights on heavenly things, and not just earthly achievements, but especially not on things that we should leave behind after we come to faith in Christ. We have to elevate our way of thinking and what we prioritize. Our Faith Is Not A Part Time Job

To be a Christian is to follow Christ and try to emulate his example. Part of that is doing hard things that Jesus himself done, including forgiving, showing mercy, and loving our neighbors. Some of us would rather join the three men in the fire than turn the other cheek, but in reality we’re offered the chance to live our faith in these simple ways more often than we face martyrdom from a foreign king.

Tomorrow’s Readings:
Daniel 4-5
Judith 1