Daniel 3:30 – “Our God Wins!”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

³⁰Then the king caused to prosper Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babel.

As usual, I’ve come to the end of this particular study, Daniel 3, and I’m loathe to leave. It’s so pleasant to keep coming back to this passage and once again see the amazing greatness and goodness of our God. I’ll scratch down a few more thoughts before I have to say goodbye to my friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

I want to note that, as is often the case, I see in this chapter what looks to me like ancient literary ordering. What jumps off the page at me is how the chapter begins and ends with the phrase “in the province of Babel.” In v1, Nebuchadnezzar sets up his idol “in the province of Babel.” In the last verse, v30, he promotes Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego “in the province of Babel.” In my own studies, I’ve noticed that ancient peoples liked to create what I’d call “bookends.” I’m not at all surprised to see the phrase repeated like this, one at the beginning and the other at the end. Usually too, it seems like these bookends aren’t arbitrary, but often make some important point. In this case, it seems like, yes, it is very important to note that all of this takes place in Babel, which today we call Babylon.

What do I mean? In Daniel chapter 3, we’re not in Jerusalem. We’re in Babel. As I noted earlier, I think it true that spiritually all of human history has been in effect, “The tale of two cities” – Jerusalem and Babel, the City of God vs. the City of Satan. From the very beginning, Babel itself represented rebellion against God. We see the city through God’s eyes in Revelation 17,18. He calls her “the great prostitute dressed in purple and scarlet, glittering with gold, precious stones, and pearls, with a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.” In Babel we see this world’s wickedness. We see a world dressed on the outside in scarlet and glittering with gold, yet on the inside filled with abominable wickedness.

I can’t help but noting how, in America, Hollywood sure fits this bill. There are gathered the most beautiful people in the world, wealthy beyond imagination, living in palatial mansions, driving prohibitively expensive cars, yet sadly we see that too many of them are almost unbelievably wicked. Like Babel, with their beauty and wealth, they draw the whole world after them, yet where do they lead them to? Only down their own path of abominable evil, of immorality, of drunkenness and drug addiction, of broken marriages, and of broken lives. Hollywood is simply an American expression of the ancient evil city, the anti-God world system, the “other” city – Babel.

It’s in that world this chapter takes place. It’s in that world that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego have to live their lives and live their faith. I suspect, the “bookends” of “in the province of Babel” are there to make that very point. The Lord wants us to notice that everything in this chapter happens not in some quiet Christian village but in the very pits of this world’s wickedness. And of course practically speaking, that is very important to you and me, since that is very often exactly the world we find ourselves living in. And, once again, our hope is not that we can somehow hide from that world but rather, even if that’s where we find ourselves, our God will be with us there. Our Jesus will walk with us in the fire.

I mention the order I see – I also notice that the chapter begins and ends with Nebuchadnezzar making decrees. Then we see his advisors at first accusing the Jews, then being the exact group that serves as witnesses of God’s great delivery of those same Jews. Then we see Nebuchadnezzar summoning Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to threaten them with the fire, only then we see him call them “Come out! Come here” out of the fire. In the very middle we see Jesus walking with the guys in the fire. Just so I record it, that looks like a big chiasm, but I can’t exactly say that’s what it is. I just smell chiasm as I look it all over.

Then there is (to me) the strange repetition of terms. Even in English, it seems like a waste of ink as the text repeats the list, “the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other provincial officials,” then repeats over and over the “sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music.” The chapter would be quite a bit shorter just to say, “all the government officials” and “all the instruments.” Even the names Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego” get repeated thirteen times in 30 verses. In English, most of the time, we’d be saying “they.”  But then what also intrigues me is that the repeated lists and names aren’t always the same. As I noted in my studies earlier, some of the lists have an instrument or two more, others less. In addition, they’re not always spelled the same. In v.26, when Nebuchadnezzar calls the guys out of the fire, in Aramaic, Abednego isn’t spelled the same as every other occurrence in the chapter. Abednego is usually spelled in Aramaic as “Abed Nego” with an open space in between. For some reason, in this one place, it is spelled with a thing called a “makkeph” which is like our hyphen, so that it could be literally translated “Abed-Nego” rather than “Abed Nego.” Why is his name repeated 13 times and in only one it is hyphenated?

Although all of this may seem trivial to someone else, it isn’t to me. Our God is a God of order and I’m studying His Word. I have to believe there is some reason why He repeats all these lists, but then makes them slightly different, and even why He would spell Abednego’s name differently in that one place.

Frankly, I don’t know why. I’d like to know for one thing because sometimes, when you see the order, it helps in understanding the passage. I’d also like to know simply because if I don’t, that means there is something about the passage that I don’t understand – and the whole point of studying is to understand.

Hmmmm. One of the challenges for me has been working with the Aramaic. It is very similar to Hebrew but then not – the same only different! Because of that I’ve actually found it a little unpleasant to work with. Although I hate to leave my friends, I am just a little bit looking forward to getting back to Greek or Hebrew. What I’m saying is that it’s possible part of why I don’t understand is just the struggle with the language. Sometimes in order to see the order you need to be able to “step back” and look at the passage as a whole. I can barely deal with it word by word, so I don’t have that ability.

Certainly another handicap is not having even a basic understanding of the Babylonian culture. It might be that the repetition and even the variations in spelling are some expression of their culture. Although the Holy Spirit inspired Daniel to write these words, the plain simple fact is that he wrote them about 2600 years ago to be read by a people who lived 2600 years ago in an ancient culture halfway around the world from us. At some point, we have to be humble enough to admit there may be things about it we simply will not understand. What really matters is that faith tells us we can understand everything the Lord wants us to – if we’ll take the time to read and study.

One other thing I want to note before I leave – I think in a lot of ways this passage is a fractal of the end times. We know from Revelation that somehow, in the end, the literal city of Babylon (Babel) does rise again. Right now it lies in ruins in the deserts of Iraq but it will be rebuilt and re-populated. Like Nebuchadnezzar, the AntiChrist and his False Prophet will build an image “in honor of the Beast” and “…cause all who refuse to worship the image to be killed” (Rev.13:14,15). Right now, I don’t know if there is something we should take from the similarities or just note it as a fractal of what is, in reality, the pattern of our fallen world. The good news is, in both stories (as in all stories), God wins!

I guess that is the big takeaway I want to gain from this passage – a stronger, deeper belief that, no matter what, our God will win. I’ve never before seen so clearly how I can not only trust God with the future, but actually look forward to it. He will be there. The forecast is kindness. Even in suffering, I can expect to know God’s kindness. I can look forward to watching and seeing how His wise, good, and kind plan works out, all day, every day, for as long as I live and work here in this world – even if I find myself living (and suffering) in Babel.

Lord, keep before my mind my three friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. May their faith help me live in a greater, more constant confidence in You and the assurance of Your kindness. May that faith make me brave when I need to be. May it make me more faithful. You certainly deserve it. You deserve servants who totally trust You, who “for the joy set before them, despise their crosses, lay aside every weight that hinders, and, looking unto Jesus, run with endurance the race You set before them.”

Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we are servants of the Most High God.

And our God wins!